Master Versyrs #2

Strapped to the chair, Cassian tried to distract himself from the gravity of his predicament by inspecting his surroundings,.

In the center of the laboratory, a massive tank dominated the space. Inside it, a leviathan curled like living smoke, its engineered flesh rippling with bioluminescent patterns that pulsed in hypnotic sequences. The creature's form seemed to defy conventional physics, existing somewhere between solid and liquid state.

Another toy for the wealthy, Cassian thought bitterly, recognizing the telltale signs of Ixaytl genetic artistry. They're not content with merely owning beauty anymore – now they need to own monsters too.

Versyrs stood before the tank, one mechanical hand pressed against the glass. His bird mask's reflective lenses reflected in the surface, creating the illusion of twin copper birds watching the creature within. The greatcoat he wore seemed to drink in what little light reached it, making him appear as a void in the shape of a man. 

"Beautiful, isn't she?" His voice emerged precise and emotionless from behind the mask. "A custom creation. Designed to survive the crushing depths of Venus's oceans. The Mareska family paid quite handsomely for her... though I suspect they'll find her temperament rather challenging."

Cassian remained silent in the chair, fighting the urge to struggle against the restraints biting into his wrists. The metal was cold, but his skin felt feverish where it made contact. His mind raced. The Mareska family controlled Veridius, one of the eight great island-cities. Their wealth came from deep-sea mining operations, but lately they'd been pushing for more influence in Nova Athena's politics.

Why would they want a leviathan? he wondered, drawing on Cassian's memories of political intrigue. Unless they're planning something against the Astra family's rule... The thought sent a chill through him. If the Mareskas were moving against Venus's ruling family, this interrogation could be part of something much bigger.

"Most Ixaytl content themselves with manufacturing simple homunculi," Versyrs continued, taloned fingers trailing along the tank. Each digit moving independently "But I've always found such work... pedestrian. Tell me, what do you remember of your creation?"

The barisan device sat on a nearby table, its presence a constant threat. Cassian's throat went dry as he studied it, remembering the pain from earlier. He needed to be careful here. Versyrs wasn't just asking questions, he was probing for weaknesses, testing the boundaries of his creation.

"Darkness," Cassian said carefully, measuring each word. "Then light. Then waking here." Keep it simple. Don't give him anything he can use.

"Interesting." Versyrs lifted the device, his mask tilting slightly as he studied Cassian's reaction. "You see, normally when I create a shade, there's a certain... pattern to the awakening. But yours was different. Would you like to know why?"

Cassian's heart hammered against his ribs. He knows something about how I got here. The scientist's tone carried a hint of genuine curiosity. This was dangerous territory for anyone who caught an Ixaytl's interest.

"Someone paid me an extraordinary sum to use a particular device during your creation," Versyrs said, studying Cassian through those mercurial lenses. "A quantum apparatus of remarkable sophistication. It self-destructed immediately afterward, unfortunately. Most inconvenient."

A quantum device? Cassian's mind whirled with possibilities. Could that explain his presence here, not just his memories of being Cassian, but his consciousness from another time? But he kept his face neutral, drawing on his military training as Kai from the X-23. Don't show interest. Don't give him a reason to dig deeper.

The moment stretched between them, a battle of wills. Then Versyrs pressed the barisan's trigger.

Pain exploded through Cassian's skull like liquid lightning. Memories crashed over him in waves of agony—

the Institute's gleaming towers rising from Nova Athena's heart, where Palatines were created through the Passage, a set of deadly trials—

the smell of ozone and vyshardium during training, someone laughing beside him, a girl, a lover?—

faces he should know but couldn't quite remember—

"Tell me about your parents," Versyrs commanded, his voice cutting through the haze of pain.

"Argave and Emma Von Deyrs," Cassian gasped, the words torn from him. "Institute instructors—" The Institute, where Phoebe Aurelius had died investigating something secret, where his parents had discovered something they shouldn't have— "They were going to defect to Severian Aurelius—"

"Why Severian specifically?" Another twist of the device sent fresh agony coursing through him.

Through the pain, Cassian's tactical mind raced. This wasn't just torture – Versyrs was searching for something specific. The questions were too pointed, too deliberate. What does he know about Severian's connection to all this?

Another wave of agony. Through it, Cassian's knowledge surfaced: The Aurelius family, rulers of Sullis, the smallest island but once among the most powerful. Now at war with the cardinal families—Sahelian, Akua, Pallino, and Mareska—after Octavian's failed rebellion the whole family wiped out apart from Severian, the last survivor, protected by the Sovereign's decree...

"They...they knew something about his sister's death, so he offered them protection, " Cassian managed, trying to focus through the pain. "From Akua's death squads—" Give him just enough truth to satisfy, but not enough to be useful.

"Ah yes, the Furies' enforcer." Was there amusement in Versyrs's voice? "Tell me about the night they died."

The barisan's frequency shifted. Cassian's spine arched as memories tore through him like shrapnel—

alarms blaring through their quarters—

his mother shoving him toward a hidden passage—

her last words: "Find Severian, he'll understand"—

blood on the marble floors, spreading in patterns like broken wings—

"They were betrayed," he choked out, tears streaming down his face. "Someone warned the Furies—" But who? Who knew about their plans to defect?

"And then?" Versyrs leaned closer, the mask's eyepieces reflecting Cassian's contorted expression. "What happened after you escaped?"

The Atticus Rising found me, Cassian thought. Rebels fighting for homunculi rights, led by... He tried to focus on the memory, but it slipped away like smoke. Every time he reached for it, the details scattered. That's not normal. Someone's tampered with those memories specifically.

"The Atticus Rising," he said, choosing his words through the pain. "They sheltered me, but Akua's squad caught up—" Let him think that's all you know. Don't let him see the gaps.

"Yet here you are." Versyrs adjusted the device again, sending fresh waves of agony through Cassian's nervous system. "Reborn through forbidden science. Do you know how much your revival cost? Who would pay such a price for a dead Palatine's son?"

Each question brought fresh waves of pain. Behind them, the leviathan thrashed in its tank, responding to Cassian's distress. Its movements became more violent, its bioluminescence shifting to angry reds and purples. It's empathic, Cassian realized through the haze of pain. They engineered it to respond to emotions.

"I don't—" Cassian started, but Versyrs cut him off.

"The neural patterns are fascinating," he mused, studying a holographic readout that appeared beside him. "As if there's something else beneath the genetic memory. Something... displaced in time." He set down the barisan and lifted Cassian's chin with one taloned hand. The metal was cold against his skin. "What are you, really?"

He knows, Cassian thought with rising panic. He knows I'm not just a shade. But how much does he know?* He tried to form a response, to craft some plausible lie, but before he could speak, the laboratory's doors hissed open.

"That's quite enough, Versyrs." 

The voice cut through Cassian's pain like a knife. A short, powerfully built woman strode in, her prosthetic arm gleaming under the laboratory's sickly lights. Despite her diminutive stature, she moved with the confident swagger of someone used to being obeyed. Two heavily armed figures flanked her, clippers, Cassian noted, but more heavily modified than the ones he'd seen before. Their chrome eyes tracked every movement in the room with predatory focus.

*Another player in this game*, Cassian thought, forcing his mind to work through the lingering pain. But whose piece is she? He studied her prosthetic arm – top-tier Venusian tech, with modifications that suggested combat capabilities. Not someone to underestimate.

"Camilla," Versyrs said, his tone cooling several degrees. The way he shifted his stance, told Cassian volumes about their relationship. There was history there, and not the pleasant kind. "This is a delicate procedure—"

"This is a business transaction," she cut him off, her voice carrying the hard edge of command. "One that's concluded. We're taking our property now."

Property. The word hit Cassian like a physical blow. After everything, the pain, the memories, the hints about quantum devices and displaced time, he was still just an asset to be traded. His fingers tightened on the chair's arms, but he forced himself to remain still. Watch. Listen. Learn who's really pulling the strings.

"Property?" Versyrs's mask tilted, the gesture somehow conveying both amusement and disdain. "This specimen is far more interesting than a simple shade. The neural readings alone—"

"Are no longer your concern." Evey's prosthetic hand flexed, panels sliding back to reveal weaponry that definitely wasn't standard issue. "Unless you'd like me to inform Cornelia about your... side projects?"

The name hung in the air like poison gas. Cornelia, Cassian thought, drawing on his memories. Youngest of the Furies, who controls all legitimate genetic engineering on Venus through her alliance with the Ixaytl clan. The implications were clear. Whatever Versyrs had done to create him, it hadn't been sanctioned by the proper authorities.

A long moment passed. Cassian could almost see the calculations running behind Versyrs's mask; weighing risks, assessing potential outcomes. Finally, the Ixaytl lord stepped back with artificial grace. "As you wish. But remember, my dear—" The mask turned toward Cassian, its eyepieces reflecting the tank's green light. "Quality work always leaves a signature."

The threat in those words was clear enough. He's not done with me, Cassian realized. Whatever he discovered during the interrogation, he's not letting it go.

Camilla's people moved quickly, picking up the barisan device, releasing his restraints. As they led him out, Cassian caught one last glimpse of Versyrs reflected in the leviathan's tank. The copper-masked shadow studying him with cold, calculating interest. The creature itself had grown still, its bioluminescence dimmed to a deep, brooding purple.

A quantum device, Cassian thought as the laboratory doors closed behind them with a final, ominous hiss. Someone on this end knew I was coming. But who? And why? The questions tumbled through his mind, mixing with the lingering pain from the barisan device. One thing was becoming increasingly clear. He wasn't just a simple shade, created to replace a dead man. He was part of something larger, something that had been set in motion long before he opened his eyes in this new world.

As Camilla's clippers marched him through the Andromeda's corridors, Cassian began to plan. He might be property now, a piece on someone else's game board, but he had his own will, his own agenda. I'll play their game, he decided, his mind already mapping out possibilities and contingencies. But I'll play it my way. After all he still had the knowledge of that was coming.

The real question was: who would he be when the game was done?

The doors of Versyrs's laboratory sealed behind them with a sound like a tomb closing, and Cassian stepped forward into an uncertain future, carrying the weight of two lives' worth of memories and one burning question: what exactly had he been sent here to do?