(WotH) The Breach - Epilogue

    Gaster drummed his fingers on the enormous ebony table. Seated near him were Mirauth, Soakosh, and one of Wendellor’s remotely-controlled constructs. This one was a highly advanced mithril humanoid with glowing yellow eyes and a belt of alchemical vials.

    “Will Verk be joining us today?” the CEO queried, his voice magically projected from the automaton.

    “The lunatic of a cultist got him pretty good. He is staying in the medical wing,” Dr. Gaster responded.

    The room’s terrific double doors silently swung open, and a new figure strode into the room. He was clad in ceremonial armor made from gold and brass, and what little of him could be seen was wrapped in runic bandages. Two points of sickly green light shone from within his helmet as he approached the boardroom table.

    “Amenhotep?” Mirauth raised an eyebrow. “I was not aware another member of the Undying Council would be attending our meeting.”

    The mummy rasped, “Wendellor surmised that my extensive knowledge of religion and the occult could be of use in this discussion and requested my presence.” His armor rattled slightly as he took his seat.

    “Well, everyone is here except for Koth-“ Gaster began before turning to see the head of marketing reclining in her chair. “Of course.”

    “Alright everyone, our first order of business is to determine who exactly was responsible for the attack and what their intentions were,” Wendellor explained.

    “My laboratory was assaulted by a mob of masked and robed men, armed with knives and scimitars. Their leader wore a beaklike mask and wielded magic indicative of a mighty warlock,” Soakosh coldly detailed, his voice underlined by a slight hiss.

    “Robed men and a warlock. A cult no doubt,” Amenhotep responded. “Were you able to glean who, or what, they serve?”

    “Their leader was babbling incessantly about someone called Nihil,” Gaster answered.

    “Nihil… this is grave news indeed.”

    “You know who he is?”

    “Unfortunately, yes. Nihil is an archaic deity of secrets, darkness, and terror. He seeks only to destroy the works of the other gods and remake the world in his vile image. I, and the other leaders of Phoros’ various churches, have worked to destroy most records of his existence and prevent more from being seduced by his dark promises of power.”

    “That is rather grave news.” Wendellor’s tone was calm and thoughtful. “What do you propose we do?”

    “There is little we can do without knowing where the cultists came from. Your first priority should be to task some IAD agents with finding their lair. Aside from that, all we can do is wait and make ready. You may have defeated them for now, but I suspect another war is in our future.”

    “Yes. I will bring the matter to Katara,” Wendellor agreed. “Now then, is there anything else to report?”

    “I for one would like to address the actions . . . and inactions, of Director Soakosh,” Gaster scowled. The head of genetic engineering eyed him coldly from across the table.

    “Proceed with your complaint, William,” Wendellor impassively replied.

    “My complaint is twofold. Firstly, each of his creatures that we encountered attempted to kill us on sight. I do not believe that he should create them to be so hyper aggressive.”

    Soakosh spread his hands. “I am merely adhering to our company motto: ‘Progress at any cost’.”

    “As I was saying. My second, and greater, complaint is Soakosh’ complete inaction over the course of the mission. First of all, he simply locked himself in his office while his security team was slaughtered. Even worse, he watched on from behind the safety of reinforced glass while we fought for our lives against the cult leaders. All this despite his formidable spellcasting prowess.”

    “Mirauth, Kothar, do you corroborate this?” Wendellor questioned.

    “We fought a massive battle against two cult leaders and a giant floating eye in the monster testing chamber while Soakosh simply watched and took notes,” Mirauth pointedly replied.

    “And he was nowhere to be seen while William and Mirauth took down his mutated hydra,” Kothar added.

    “You were there for that?” Dr. Gaster’s question was met with a cool grin.

    “Well, Soakosh, what do you have to say in your defense?” the CEO impartially asked.

    The director sat up and stared sharply into the construct’s impassive, glowing eyes. “’Progress at any cost.’ My life and research are far too valuable to put at risk in a fight.” He sat back and waved a hand dismissively. “Besides, they clearly had everything under control.”

    “Our motto was never meant to be taken as entirely literal, Soakosh. And judging by the statements of all three VPs, and Verk’s trip to the medical wing, they did not ‘clearly have everything under control’,” Wendellor retorted. “In the future, you are to only engineer creatures to be hyper aggressive if it is necessary to their purpose. In addition, I expect you to make yourself of use if something like this occurs again.”