MY CRUEL PROTECTOR
He was surrounded by a dozen screens, all of them tracking our movements.
"Beautiful," the man said, his voice smooth and devoid of emotion. "The resonance is perfect. The Heir is already at twenty percent integration."
He turned around. He was old, his face a map of surgical scars and faded Syndicate tattoos. He looked at us not with fear, but with the adoration of an artist looking at a masterpiece.
"I am the Custodian," he said. "And I have waited thirty years to see a Sovereign with a Shield. You are the perfect binary unit. The world has been chaotic for too long. It needs a mind that can see everything, and a hand that can strike anyone."