Dad didn't answer immediately. His body shivering in the night

"The Symbiote not keeping you warm?"

He shook his head.

"It's doing its job." He rebuffed me. Stopping to give Sky Heart a withering glare.

"I have to say, I'm surprised he's still alive."

I scoffed.

"Why? He's done nothing wrong. In fact, he might be the most innocent person here. Next to Granny Golden I guess."

I pointed my thumb back at Sky Heart. Mittens' hands still on his shoulders as he drooled all over him.

"He literally didn't ask for any of this. And he would have punched Deketer himself if grandpa hadn't gotten to her beforehand. Not only that, but he's one of the very few members of a large and important faction who genuinely believes in peaceful co-existence between all species. He doesn't have a problem with you. Nor with mom or Puffin or any of the others. The only one he has a problem with is me and in all honesty, that's understandable."

Dad didn't look appeased.

"Look. Just because he wants to kill me doesn't mean I have to hate him. Do you have any idea how many people have wanted me dead in the last three and a half months? I mean, wow dad. I have had literal government death squads sent after me. And that was back in our own world when I sent Mason after a bunch of human traffickers. Do you remember Mason?"

"The young man who seduced your girlfriend." Dad spoke softly.

"Yeah, about that. Turns out he dismembered her in the woods for (Gnome)s and giggles. Our old world was not a nice place."

Dad didn't even blink at that.

"But I suppose grandpa already brought you up to speed."

I turned to the window. Where Deketer was now calling one booth from the phone in another booth. Still outside of the DMV proper.

"Is this the executive re-entry helpline!?" She half screamed, half wept.

"No! This is Hifis!"

He hung up on her.

She called again.

"Please don't hang up! I need to speak to someone!" She actually started crying. Hunched over without any power on her legs. Supporting herself with only her arms and claws on the booth. "I need a code from the executive re-entry helpline!"

"I don't know any Helwine! This is Hifis!"

He hung up on her.

Deketer sobbed. Then she lost strength in her arms as well and collapsed down to the floor. Curling up into a ball and crying herself to sleep.

I turned away from the window.

"I suppose we can talk in private though. I think this little talk has been a long time coming."

I walked over to dad and took him by the shoulder. Leading him to the inside of the hotel in the middle of the island.

The others stepped away as we made our way there. All except Puffin and mom who followed us wordlessly.

We reached the building in less than an hour. Walking over the fine grains of sand at a leisurely pace.

I bade all of them to come in, closing the door behind us.

"Ok." I said with a sigh. Sitting down on one of the couches in the lobby.

"I think we've waited long enough to have this conversation. We've sort of been dancing around the issues we've noticed and we've all sort of pretended they weren't there. So, why don't we begin with you dad?"

He didn't waste any time.

"That Deketer seahorse woman hurt your mother." He said plainly.

"She did."

"Why?"

I shrugged.

"Because mom didn't immediately kneel and kiss her feet. Or her bottom claws as it were. She felt disrespected."

Dad frowned. So did mom for that matter.

"I didn't say anything to her." She protested. "At least not anything that would justify her hitting me."

"I believe you." I said at once. "I've read your mind and her mind too. I saw it from both perspectives. I completely agree that you didn't do anything wrong. And in retrospect, Deketer is truly sorry she hit you."

I raised a hand to forestall them.

"But not because you're a thinking, feeling person who didn't do anything. Oh no. Deketer would never even consider that being the reason she got in trouble. No, she is sorry because I am in a relationship of sorts with her grandfather. Because I am a valuable asset. Because I am someone close to her in status. If that weren't the case, she would maintain that she did nothing wrong and that it was your fault for not genuflecting as soon as you saw her."

Mom shook her head. Her eyes holding on tightly to the dark circles underneath.

"That's insane."

I smiled warmly at her. Then turned to Puffin.

"Well?"

"Well what?" She huffed. Her emerald green hair shining in what little moonlight peered through the glass windows. Her single spiraling horn looking like a spear of silver as it rose from her brow.

It made her look regal, in a way. Majestic. Like a unicorn bathing in a still lake. Silently judging your sins as you approached.

"You know what I'm talking about." I reminded her. "Better than most. I know you've made the connections. I know you've realized what sort of person we're speaking of. You've known them your entire life, after all."

She flinched.

"Yes, that's it. This princess isn't quite as outright malicious or sadistic as Halkon or any of your old masters. But she shares their outlook. There are people above, those of her station, and there are people below. Who are little better than animals. Less worthy of respect than the dogs in their kennels. Unless they provide some sort of value."

She sat with her legs up then. Hugging them tightly as she recalled how cold her sleeping cell was. The many nights when she went to bed hungry. The last embrace of her own birth mother before a passing warrior took a liking to her.

"Yes. That's exactly it. You recall the artisans and the painters. The cobblers and the tailors. The toymakers and the jewelers. The lower classes who could still enrich the nobles directly. The ones who were allowed to be in their presence without feeling like a fly on the wall. The ones who could at least be called human. Unlike you."

"Don't talk about Puffin that way." Mom snapped defensively.

I raised my arms in a placating gesture.

"I'm not saying that's what she is to me. I'm not saying any of that is right either. All I'm saying is that this is how she was seen. And that this is how people like Deketer see you, mom. How they see anyone who can't defend themselves with overwhelming violence at the drop of a hat. Rest assured, if you weren't related to me or if grandpa and Puffin hadn't been there, that idiot would have killed you. And dad. For no other reason than because you didn't immediately acknowledge that you were less than her."

"That's insane." Mom whispered softly.

I laughed out loud. Genuinely reveling in the absurdity of the situation.

"It is!" I agreed. "It is absolutely insane! And nonsensical! It makes no sense whatsoever that someone as spoiled and dumb as Deketer could ever compare herself to you mom. Like a trust fund kid who bribed their way into Harvard comparing themselves to the kid from the projects who got there on a full-ride medical scholarship! It makes no sense whatsoever!"

I stopped laughing after a few seconds.

"But that is the way her mind works."

I stared at all of them in turn.

"And she is not alone. In fact, the reason why I am being so nice to Sky Heart and to Granny Golden is because they are the exception, rather than the rule. Most other sentient beings you'll encounter from now on will think exactly like Deketer. Though they'll be smarter about the way they approach unknowns. She is what we can expect going forwards."

I let that little truth marinate for a few more seconds before continuing.

"Unless we're strong enough to demand respect."

Mom looked hurt. The idea that these words could be coming out of my mouth feeling like a knife in the gut.

Puffin didn't share her opinion.

"I see." She said evenly. Her voice saddened and faint.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You're crazy. And evil."

"Ouch." I feigned a look of hurt.

"But you're not wrong." Puffin hugged herself more tightly and I could see her eyes watering. Her tears glistening as they fell down her cheeks.

"I do know what you're talking about. Like you said, I've known that world all my life. It's just…"

She choked on her words.

"It's just…"

"You thought you'd escaped." I finished for her. "You met mom and dad and they treated you like an actual human being for the first time. Then you met the others in dad's camp, like Luigi, and you let yourself believe that it was over. That it would all be alright moving forward. That people like Halkon who treated others like cattle were the exception. The outliers. You believed you'd been given powers to stop them and that no one would ever hurt you again."

She nodded.

"And now it hurts, because you've realized that almost everyone outside the Labyrinth will think even less of you for the crime of being weak."

I paused for effect. Chuckling darkly.

"Well, not you per se. You, they'll have to respect. That Tier of yours isn't anything to scoff at. And you're good enough with your powers that any bullies will have to think twice. The ones that don't think twice don't tend to live very long in the first place. No, it'll be mom and dad who are the victims. They'll be the ones who are hurt and who are persecuted. They'll be the ones who get taken hostage or who are killed out of hand for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time."

She nodded again, though she didn't say anything.

"Now then. You've seen me do some awful, awful things Puffin. And I won't lie to you. There are a thousand other awful crimes I've committed that you haven't seen. Just today, before coming back to the Tutorial, I did things to prepare for my upcoming confrontation that would chill your (Gnome)ing blood. Things that would make old Halkon seem like a swaddled babe in his mother's arms by comparison. Things that would make dad vomit all over these nice clean carpets."

He stiffened, but I pretended not to notice. Instead leaning back on the soft leather couch.

"But what you haven't seen is me ever treating people as if they weren't people. Disposing of them like broken tools at the slightest inconvenience. Yes, I am a vile, awful villain. But I've never regarded life as anything but precious. You have to really push me to make me lose my (Gnome). We're talking child murder here. And all the crimes I've committed, all the evil I've taken on with a smile, has been in pursuit of a greater good."

I paused again.

"At least so long as I've been in control. I was a proper menace as a kid, but I couldn't control the Tall Man or half my powers, so that was a bit less clear cut."

"You've tortured people." She accused.

"I have."

"You've used people's lives for your own plans."

"I won't deny it."

She sobbed again. Failing to choke back more tears.

"How is it that this keeps getting worse then?" She asked. "How is it that after all you've done, we're still coming across people who want to hurt us?"

'Well isn't that the question of the year?' I thought to myself.

"Because the multiverse in general is filled with people who are naturally selfish." I told her bluntly. "All sentient species are naturally selfish to some degree. Because all life is selfish to some degree or another. It is within life's prerogative to sustain itself and reproduce and so even animals will seek out the advantages they can get. The ones they understand. A crocodile won't let a hog escape the river if it's hungry. Just like a lion won't tolerate rivals to its harem nearby. The animal wants to keep its advantages and that is that. Humans and some other enlightened species of the multiverse that I've read can plan ahead and even empathise with others who are not of their species. We and sometimes they, understand that violence doesn't really result in a net positive."

"But that is an idealist utopia." Dad muttered. "A world without violence doesn't exist."

I smiled at him.

"Not without a little nudging from me at least."

He didn't smile back.

I turned my gaze back to Puffin.

"The reality is that jerks who want to take and take and take through violence exist everywhere you go. People who do not fear repercussions or who have rigged the system in ways that translate to a lack of repercussions. That's essentially normal crime and white-collar crime in a nutshell. People want to advance themselves at the expense of others. You've seen it in the most literal and in-your-face sense. As a slave. So you understand what's at stake more than my parents. Now tell me. Would you rather have someone like Halkon, the old one before I nudged him in the right direction, leading humanity? Or would you rather have me?"

"Both options suck."

I laughed at that. "Yeah they do! But I don't have slaves. In fact, I go out of my way to not have slaves! Ask anyone here and everyone I left back at the Expert difficulty and they'll tell you that I have taken every step to humble myself at every opportunity."

I stopped laughing. Holding on to an easy smile.

"I know full well just how scary I can be. But I also know that I have to be at least somewhat scary to keep the degenerates waiting for us at bay."

Puffin took all of that in. Finally halting her sobbing.

"You… you've seen the future. Is it true that we'd all be dead without Mittens?"

"Yes." I said plainly.

Dad deflated. Mom blanched. Though I could tell they'd both come to the same conclusion long ago.

"Is all that violence really necessary?" Puffin insisted. "Is all the evil for a good cause?"

"The thing against the gnomes might just be my own insanity talking" I admitted.

"Aside from the children, they really are all irredeemably evil. And not all the children are as nice as children should be. I really do think there's some kind of inherent biological tendency towards sociopathy there." I told her with another shrug.

"But the rest? Yes. Every step I've taken has come with the full knowledge that not taking it would result in lives being lost. That the course of action I followed would result in the greatest amount of people knowing the greatest amount of good."

I sighed again. Bringing up my hands in surrender.

"And before you tell me, I know that almost all lives have the same amount of intrinsic value and no. I don't make those sacrifices easily. In fact, most of the time, I try to avoid making sacrifices at all. My ideal outcome in any Excursion is one where no one dies and no one has to suffer more than they need to when they get powers. And I have to give them powers now because other factions will come probing through inter-dimensional travel. Those that aren't slavers yet will very quickly turn into slavers if they find a world that can't defend itself. As a rule of thumb, you do not want to be seen as weak in the Labyrinth or its associated worlds. That ends badly."

Puffin let go of her legs and sat back on her couch. Relaxing her neck and letting her gaze go upwards to the shut-off lights.

"The strong will do what they will and the weak will endure what they must."

"Pretty much." I confirmed. "If you want peace, which I do, then the easiest way to get it is to simply bring everyone you can up to speed. A rising tide lifts all ships and all it'll take is one look at a planet filled with Tier 3s for humanity to suddenly not seem worth the trouble of harassing."

"You can't be peaceful if you're not dangerous first." Puffin said afterwards.

"That's more or less the truth. Yes."

Her gaze focused on me once more. But mom beat her to the punch.

"Before, you didn't say all lives have intrinsic value." Her tone sounded reproachful. "You said that almost all lives have intrinsic value. Almost. Why?"

"Because you wanted me to be honest." I answered with a deadpan, matter-of-fact expression. "I used to subscribe to dad's view of morality. That everyone deserved to be saved. Listen, I love dad and you. You both mean the world to me. But that way of thinking almost got me killed more times than you'd care to know."

I raised another hand to forestall the incoming arguments once more.

"Listen to me first. I'm not saying you raised me wrong. Or that I don't value that way of thinking. I do. I have no doubt that I would be a very different person today if you both didn't raise me with all the love in the world and all the respect for other people's lives and rights. Every single day, I'm confronted with choices. Where the easy way out would be to simply [Dominate] an entire new universe and tell them to get with the program."

I shook my head.

"I've never fallen to that temptation. Not fully. In part thanks to you."

I took a deep, calming breath. More for the theatrics than to actually calm myself down.

"But I'm also not going to sit here and let you gaslight me into thinking that all lives are equal all the time. That's objectively not true. When I [Dominated] Mason, I felt awful about it. I felt as though I'd crossed a line that could never be uncrossed and that things would never be the same. I felt evil. Dirty."

I exhaled and steeled my gaze.

"But I shouldn't have felt that. Not as much as I did. Mason was a human trafficker and a hedonistic serial killer all in one. And he had a whole support network of people who helped him get away with it. In addition to a whole host of clients who partook in the services he provided. Mason was the rot at the heart of the apple. A worm befouling the whole thing. Him and his clients objectively brought an overwhelming amount of misery into the world. Into society and any good they did could not even come close to making up for it. He murdered people. Framed innocents or Rift-Spawn for those murders. Made people disappear when they looked for their missing family members and refused to accept his story."

I shrugged once more.

"Him and his bosses could have been redeemed, but that would have meant outright dominating them to be different people. I just didn't want to do it. Same with people who hurt kids. Showing them my presence and connecting them to other people wouldn't have been enough to fix them. Giving them a fraction of my memories and showing them their own futures via my power boost wouldn't have been enough to fix them. At that point, either I change who they are at a fundamental level, or I kill them outright."

I looked over at dad.

"I'm not going to expend extra effort to keep people like that alive. I have to say, I'm with grandpa on this one. Some people are just broken and beyond help. Case in point, if I didn't step in and do away with Mason's support network, they would have put out orders to have you all killed as soon as they realized you'd returned."

I saw dad swallow. Hard.

"All for the fact that grandpa had the nerve to try and save a few million people in Hong Kong. Instead of nuking the whole island like he was told to do."

Mom looked hurt. But she nodded anyway.

Puffin nodded coldly. Though she did not look hurt. Despondent and disappointed, like a child who now understood the world a bit better after they were taken advantage of, but not hurt.

'She knew.' I thought to myself. 'She always knew. She was simply deluding herself this whole time.'

I glanced over at dad.

"I don't do this kind of thing willy nilly. I don't do it because I enjoy it or because of some sick perversion. The fact is that you, mom and Puffin would all be dead right now if I hadn't sent Mittens to you. The fact is that this Deketer princess is a useless layabout hopped up on her own farts. But she is by no means unique. Like I said, more people will come. From all manner of societies and cultures. And very few of them will be civilized enough to not shoot your legs and capture you on sight if they think they can get away with it."

I stood up and walked over to him. Towering over his slight frame and staring down at this man I loved and respected.

"You can be peaceful all you want. But you can't be harmless. You can never be harmless."

I pointed to mom and Puffin.

"Because what happened with Halkon will happen again. You will all be caught and you will all be at the mercy of someone who doesn't even grasp the concept of mercy. And you will have no one but yourself to blame."

He at least had enough shame to look down.

But then his gaze went up again. His defiant eyes meeting mine.

"That Sky Heart said someone was going to try and kill you."

"He's correct." I said bluntly. "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, but he's correct."

"Are you going to die?" He asked again.

"That's a bit of a loaded question." I admitted. "I'll get killed a bunch, but die permanently, no. I mean, there's always a chance, but I don't think so. I've…"

I sighed in exasperation.

"I've had to do some terrible things dad. Make some terrible choices. Like, choices I thought I'd never have to make. But they left me no choice. Someone needs to protect humanity. Because we are small and relatively insignificant. A few quintillion souls spread around a couple thousand dimensions. Most of them having no idea what is coming. Most of them having no way to know. Most of them being the very definition of easy pickings."

I crossed my arms.

"In little over half a year, the protective screen humanity has had will fade. At the same time, all the other newcomer species will be picked clean. Almost everything they have, save for a few core worlds where their strongest come from, will be taken and annexed by stronger factions. Uncountable numbers of people, gone. Just like that."

He deflated somewhat and walked backwards to slouch against a pillar. His head looking up at the sky.

"But you can prevent that from happening to humanity."

"Probably." I answered truthfully.

"Like I said, I put a lot of contingencies in place. Not all of them being things I liked the sound of or things I was comfortable with. But I don't know if they will be enough."

He laughed at that. A hollow, defeated sound.

"All right." He said at last. "Do it. Boost me."

He stared into my eyes. His own orbs turning back to a steeled, determined expression.

"Whatever comes, I won't let you do it alone."

He turned to mom. And to Puffin.

"And I'm done being helpless. If the Labyrinth is full of amoral psychotics, then I won't be a victim anymore."

He nodded to himself and mom took his hand.

"We'll be ready." She confirmed.

'And just like that, the last piece falls into place.'

I smiled at them. Hugged them tightly. Knowing that this might be the last time we ever get this chance.

"Don't worry though." I smiled at them. "I got this."

Then I stepped out and opened the doors wide. Shouting off the top of my lungs.

"Okay fellas! Who's ready for their second boost!?"

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