A blue light then enveloped Dee's head without warning, and the light grew ever brighter until it shone out from her eyes, ears and mouth. Relovan watched the light show with his most impressive poker face. Once it calmed down, Dee spoke once more, however with a completely different sounding voice. It was a lot deeper, yet also a lot gentler, and came across as though it was trying to calm him down or soothe him.
"Enforcer." Juxtae said as she nodded slightly. "First, let me thank you for accepting my invitation – especially considering how things went the last time we were in each other's company."
Relovan simply looked at the Void Lord in silence, which clearly annoyed the Dee that was not being used as a mouth piece.
"Secondly." Juxtae continued before her subordinate could say anything. "Allow me to convey my sincerest apologies for injuring you the way I did. I was trying to help and clearly used too much strength, resulting in more harm than good. I truly am sorry."
"You were trying to help?" Relovan asked incredulously.
"Yes, I was." The Void Lord said with a simple nod.
"By destroying my chest?"
"…yes, well… you had single-handedly taken down a few Knights, so I thought that I had held back sufficiently so as not to hurt you further."
Relovan just glared at the Void Lord silently for a bit, before speaking.
"Is this really the reason why you have summoned me here, Void Lord?"
"Certainly not, however I did feel the need to explain my actions to you."
"Wha?" Dee said as she looked completely flabbergasted. Even the one under Juxtae's control looking surprised for a second.
"I beg your pardon?" Relovan asked as he too seemed to be a little taken aback.
The notion that a Void Lord would feel the need to explain herself to a mere Enforcer, stationed on a backwater planet boggled the minds of both Dees and Relovan. Relovan looked at Juxtae with an intense gaze. Despite her mask having no eye slits of any kind, he could feel that he was looking directly into her eyes, and she returned the gaze. The pair was quiet during the stare down, but Relovan eventually nodded at the Void Lord.
"Please continue, Void Lord."
"Very well. My pushing you aside was indeed my way of trying to help you, because the moment you ran towards him with the intention of striking him down, Vox was committed to cleaving you in two with his blade. I intervened to prevent that from happening, because if he did kill you, that would have made our lives complicated – especially considering how yours would have been the only fatality."
"Worse still because I am Law Enforcement." Relovan said with a slight nod.
"Precisely. I thought that if I pushed you away and engaged Vox long enough, he would forget about you and target me once more. I did not anticipate that I would almost kill you."
"Really? I find that rather strange - I am a Human after all, and we have a reputation as being easy to kill."
"Yes, however the things you accomplished that day, and the signs I saw from you in that brief exchange led me to believe you were…"
The Void Lord's words tapered off there, and it seemed as though she was carefully formulating her words in her mind. After a few moments, she spoke again with a slightly tilted head.
"…powerful."
"I had a shattered arm and was already on the verge of death, Void Lord."
"Yes, but you still displayed… power."
Relovan, who was looking increasingly fatigued as he stood there sniggered slightly at the irony of the situation.
"Skill, maybe. Power? Certainly not."
Juxtae saw that Relovan was beginning to look a little ragged and waved her hand. Instantly, a strange chair like thing grew out from the floor and formed behind the Enforcer. She then signaled for him to sit down and after a moment, he did just that.
"Should you really be out of the hospital though, Enforcer?" Juxtae asked.
"I can't stand hospitals." Relovan answered as he looked at the woman. "They never smell how they're supposed to."
"How are they supposed to smell, Enforcer?"
"Like hope. Like relief. Like life."
"And instead they smell like?"
"Death." Relovan said in a chilling voice as he clenched his right fist rather tightly.
"Either way Enforcer, you are still unbelievably injured. That you have recovered this much in such a short space of time is nothing short of remarkable."
The Dee who wasn't being used looked at Juxtae with bulging eyes and her mouth agape. She just couldn't believe that her boss was praising this broken-down Human this much. Juxtae looked right back at Dee, and Relovan looked at both women silently. It appeared as though they were speaking, but due to the way they spoke, Relovan couldn't even begin to guess what they were saying. Whatever was being said died down quickly however, and the Void Lord looked back at Relovan.
"Enforcer." She said as she began to float towards him. "I have something of yours that you left behind on the battlefield."
"Something of mine that I left behind?"
"That is correct."
The Void Lord gestured and then a long, narrow box floated in from inside some kind of lockbox. It wafted over towards both Relovan and Juxtae, who had reached the Enforcer by then. It gently landed on a small platform that Juxtae raised from the ground, much like with the seat Relovan was sitting in. Once it had landed, she looked down at Relovan who was eyeing the box. She then created another chair and down floated down into it, her eyes gaze seemingly never leaving Relovan. She then gestured with her hand for Relovan to open the box, and after a moment or two, he did just that. Inside was his stun saton, although it looked completely different. It looked burnt, and had multiple streaks all along the rod that had been melted into it. Each streak led to the plates on the baton that had popped open during the engagement with Vox, and resembled flower petals. These 'petals' made their way up the baton to the three-pronged trident head – which was also incredibly warped and distorted. All three prongs were black, and the entire baton – including the handle – was covered in a multitude of strange bubble-like growths. Relovan looked at the baton carefully, before looking back at the Void Lord.
"What happened to it?" He asked rather simply.
"What do you mean, Enforcer?"
"I mean how did this happen to my baton? These things are provided by the Department. The type of voltage required to do this much damage to one of these standard issue batons is far higher than anything it can produce, and I do not recall ever parrying away a lightning attack four weeks ago."
"Yes, this is true, Enforcer."
"Then what happened to the baton in the interim? Did Void Lord Vox do something to it? He predominantly uses flames, so…"
"He exclusively uses flames, Enforcer. You were the only one who used this baton, and I picked it up immediately after you dropped it."
"I didn't drop it as much as I was blasted away, Void Lord. Also, did the Regulator not do anything to it? Although why would he?"
"Nobody touched your weapon, Enforcer. You did this when you used it." Juxtae answered, successfully masking her amusement.
"Me? How could I have done this? It didn't seem like it malfunctioned when I was wielding it."
"There was no malfunction, Enforcer. These batons all have a small core in which the Essence they use to fuel the lightning is stored."
"This I know." Relovan stated clearly. "These cores have to be recharged after a certain number of uses."
"That is correct. Did you know however that they also have the ability to absorb Essence from those who are wielding them in the event the core depletes during an altercation. I suspect that is what happened."
"What? That this baton drew out Essence from an external source?"
"That is correct Enforcer. The Essence it drew from this source was either too powerful for the weapon, or it's innate properties brought about the degradation of the baton."
"And you believe that this Essence came from me, Void Lord."
"That is precisely what I believe. I believe that unbeknownst to you, you possess Lightning Essence so pure that it caused a weapon created for the express purpose of using Lightning Essence to break. I believe that if you were to harness this Essence and train yourself, you could become infinitely more powerful than you already are, Enforcer."