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Chapter twenty-one

Ready For Destruction

Three days had passed since Niko watched Cleo’s—and Elliott’s—video.

Elliott had kept mostly to their room in the daytime, seeming exhausted and needing time to recover.

Niko had stuck by his side all the while, planting gentle kisses on his temple and rubbing at his back.

When his fingertips had glanced the subtle ridge of Elliott’s scar where it lay hidden away beneath his shirt, his heart ached.

Oliver and Loolae cooked for them in Niko’s absence, bringing trays of food with extra helpings of the more indulgent parts for Elliott, which made Niko smile.

They quietly asked after him when Niko accepted the food.

All he could tell them was that he’d just needed time.

Their genuine care and concern for him made Niko feel such gratitude he didn’t even know how to process it.

They’d spent the days together in a timeless sort of cocoon, hidden away from everything that was outside.

Niko could grant him that, at least. For those few days, they were just people, boyfriends simply existing and lounging lazily around their shared bedroom.

They lay in bed and talked. They watched Niko’s favorite romance movie, When the Stellar Wind Comes Calling .

And they watched the newsfeed, laughing over some of the press speculation of why Niko had abandoned his former job to work with Elliott and the nature of their relationship.

To one particular major news outlet, they were the most infamous professional roommates around.

Ones who’d enigmatically called each other ‘babe’ on live broadcast.

To Niko’s shock—though as usual, the response was complicated and varied across a wide spectrum—they truly were gaining sympathy. Elliott had seized the attention of an entire galactic civilization with his actions, and now that he had it, he’d asked them to listen.

They were.

Planets, space stations, moons, scattered all across the stars. Every known and sentient alien species. They were listening. And many of them, just as Niko had, were beginning to see why Elliott had done what he had.

Endless videos, photographs, and newscasts showed the shockwaves Elliott’s speech and the distribution of his painfully curated files had made across the galaxy. Headlines filled Niko’s vision in hologram blue, hour after hour.

PROTESTS ERUPTING ACROSS GALAXY ‘STARHAWK INITIATIVE’ FORMING IN SUPPORT OF KESTREL QUEEN DALATH UNDER ARREST GALAPOL UNDER FIRE FOR POTENTIAL COVERUP CHANCELLOR IINCHA’CUL TO BE INVESTIGATED KESTREL AND ESTRELLA CALLED ‘HEROES’ BY SOME

On the morning of the third day, a new headline filled Niko’s vision that made his eyes prick with the sting of warm tears.

BOUNTIES ON KESTREL AND ESTRELLA CANCELED

He lay side by side with Elliott, and reached out to pull the other man into a tight embrace. Elliott returned the gesture, holding him so tightly the pressure of it made Niko ache. It was a good sort of hurt, though.

“ Niko …” he murmured, face buried in Niko’s shoulder. “Niko… Niko… Niko…”

Elliott spoke his name again and again. Niko had never heard another person frame it in their voice with such reverence, such love. It made him ache all over.

“Hey,” Niko said, pulling away and taking his face in his hands. “It’s only going to get better from here. We’re almost done, Elliott. We’re going to win this.”

“They’ve gone into hiding—”

“I know. I know. But we’ll figure something out. Don’t we always? With your intellect, and my good looks…”

Elliott laughed, a sound that had become so precious to Niko.

“Hell, who am I kidding?” Niko continued. “With your intellect, and good looks, and charm… You have the whole package. It’s not even fair.”

“Niko,” Elliott complained. “You have all of that too. You’re my favorite roommate.”

This time, Niko laughed. “But seriously, we’ll figure out a way.”

Elliott smiled, a warm joy painting his features brightly. “You’re right. We will. I believe it now. I believe it, when it comes from you. We’ll find a way through, won’t we?”

Niko leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. “We will. We—”

The ringing of his phone interrupted their moment. He sighed and brought up the holographic caller ID—Lady Death.

“Give me a few, okay babe?”

“Take however much time you need, Niko.”

Niko slipped out of bed, transferring back to the chair, then wheeled out of the bedroom and into the nearest empty room. “Hey, Deleera. Is everything good?”

“Everything’s great, Niko. Have you looked at the news?”

He felt the smile make its way across his lips. “Yeah. We did. They canceled it.”

“Even governments can still have some common sense, it seems.”

“Yeah, sometimes,” Niko said.

“I tried texting you about it, but your phone is rejecting new messages. I think your cache has gotten too full from spam. It takes a hell of a lot of messages to get to that point. You’ll probably want to clear it out soon. I thought I’d let you know.”

“Oh,” Niko mumbled, shocked. He hadn’t even known that was possible. “Oh, shit. Okay. Thanks, Deleera.”

An icy discomfort snaked its way up through him at the memory of the last time he’d dared comb through some of the thousands of messages left by strangers on his phone.

So many people had wished death and suffering on him—and on his family.

Strangers had gone out of their way to tell him they were glad his mother and brother had died. Niko felt sick at the thought.

And there were undoubtedly a hundred times more now, likely pouring in by the day, unasked for, unwanted. So many filled his phone now that he couldn’t accept new messages at all anymore.

“No problem. Hey. And let me know when you guys need help again. We’re ready to go, over here.”

Niko blinked. “I— Deleera, I’ve asked so much of you already.”

“And? What, do you think we’re soft? That it’s too much? Do you think we’re getting tired?”

He winced. Should have known better than to put her pride on the line. “No. No, of course not. I just—”

“I told you, Niko. This is bigger than any of us now. There’s no favor for this one. It’s not personal. This is just trying to hit back at people who do nothing but punch down. And that is exactly what I live for.”

He knew that. “I… Alright. Yeah, we will. We’ll let you know. It’s getting harder to find them now, and it’s going to stay that way, I think. We tried to hit Enva’ruu, but he wasn’t there. It turned into an ugly ambush by another hunter who was being funded by Honeybliss.”

“Mh,” Deleera grunted. “Yep. Getting those files out is going to change up the whole game in a big way. Everyone knows what these insects did now. But it also means you just turned on the light, so the roaches are going to scatter and hide.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll look into it. See what I can find. See if any of my connections can dredge anything up.”

“Great. Just… be careful, D. I’ve been bitten before.”

“I will. You too, Niko.”

He hung up with her, then drew in a long, grounding breath. Niko opened his text messages, trying not to look at nor read any of their previews. He moved his thumb over the holographic DELETE ALL button, figuring it was best to just purge and not look back. But something stopped him.

He was too curious. He had to know. Even if it was to his own detriment.

It seemed he still didn’t know when to hold back.

Niko let himself glance through a few. To his surprise, they weren’t anything like the same messages he’d been getting shortly after joining Elliott.

They were something entirely different now.

Those guys had it coming. Monsters. Don’t s

Thank you for doing it.

hi is this niko? my daughter was killed whe

You guys are just doing what should have be

FUCK THE GOVERNMENTS WE LOOK OUT FOR OURSEL

u know what u guys kinda have a point

Niko Estrella? I’m Nhanri Dunn with AV News

TELL ELLIOT KESTRAL I LOVE HIM HES MY HUSBA

Thank you

THEY TOOK MY brOTHER NOBODY BELIEVED ME THA

Im an actress. Horu Duu’mari had a reputati

You guys want help? CALL ME!!! I’M READY

REMEMBER THE LOST — STARHAWK

you guys are so freaking hot lol just sayin

thank u thank u thank u…

I believe in Starhawk!!!!

I miss my dad everyday someone took him too

DEATH TO RAPISTS KEEP IT UP

I didnt understand why you did it but now i

We salute you STARHAWK

CVN News. Would you and Elliott like to spe

Somehow, Niko had become the receptacle of the galaxy’s whims. First, their condemnation and fears.

And now, the pleas and quiet gratitude of those who’d suffered similarly to Elliott.

People who had lost loved ones of their own to Honeybliss or other situations like them.

People who couldn’t abide by that wounding injustice that turning a blind eye to it all had caused.

He scrolled through hundreds upon hundreds of similar messages. So much for glancing. Occasionally there were still the same hateful messages and death threats as from previous weeks, but they were swallowed up in a sea of what, shockingly, was support. Approval. Gratitude.

Niko was about to delete them all and wipe the slate clean, when a message from several days ago caught his eye.

My name is Angela Kelsa. I have something

He didn’t know why, but the name stood out to him.

It was on the tip of his tongue, buried somewhere deep in the corridors of memory.

Then it came back to him: he'd read that name before. And it had been delivered on Elliott’s handsome voice once, desperate and pleading as he’d listed Honeybliss’s victims before the ears and eyes of trillions.

“Daranu. Jayson Cohl. Angela Kelsa. Marco Fulari.”

Niko blinked. He hesitated, goosebumps prickling up along his skin, before archiving this particular message thread, then finally wiping the rest.

Was someone fucking with him? Was someone pretending to be a dead woman? The absolute and utter cruelty of that idea made his stomach churn.

He opened it.