Chapter 21: Wrath, Ruin and Resolutions

“Orphe’s villa is almost in sight, sir,” the driver announced to his passengers in the back seat of the vehicle.

Iason nodded. “Do it now,” he ordered.

The car slowed to a crawl so that Raoul and Katze, both dressed in black, could dive out, under the cover of darkness, then the vehicle continued down the road.

“Did you break anything, Furniture?” Raoul asked as he rolled swiftly to his feet and looked down the road where the redhead had leapt from the car after him.

“I’m fine.”

The Blondie swung around, startled. How the hell had he gotten behind him? He nodded, impressed. “You are quick on your feet; I will give you that.”

“I asked for nothing from you,” Katze said as they started into the trees. “I follow my master’s orders.”

“Your master has a penchant for finding unnecessary trouble. Perhaps it is time you had a new master.”

“That is up to Iason.” Katze was moving quickly and Raoul kept up with him easily; in fact, he sensed the Blondie was slowing himself so as not to pass him by completely. “Don’t wait for me, Raoul.”

“We go together,” Raoul stated. “If I leave you here you could get hurt and then Iason will be annoyed with me.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I have not claimed otherwise, although, if you insist, we move faster.” Raoul suddenly scooped Katze up and over his shoulder as he started to run. “This would be better.”

“What the ... Put me down!”

“Hush now. This is an undercover operation and you are being far too loud.”

Katze allowed himself to be carried as they covered the terrain at terrifying speeds.

Iason’s vehicle pulled through the opening gates and drove up the curving drive of Orphe’s villa to stop by the staircase that led up to the main door. There were several lights lining the house, as well as lamp posts that cast sufficient illumination against the pitch dark, moonless night.

He waited for the driver to open his door, using the time to conserve his strength and force his legs to move, then he stepped out as smoothly as he could manage; the epitome of a perfect Blondie in his red, blue and white slack suit and cloak and white gloves and boots.

“Iason Mink.” Orphe appeared on the balcony above the doorway, two guards on either side of him, as well as a Sapphire Elite that Iason did not recognize, and a glass of wine in his hands. “The prodigal son returns.”

“I believe you have something of mine, Orphe.”

“Ah yes, your little pet.” Orphe lifted his glass of wine in toast. “I must say, I can finally see why you chose him, Iason. He does handle pain very well.”

Iason pushed back the rage that rushed up inside of him. He had an idea what Orphe was planning and if he was right, he needed to give Katze and Raoul time to do their jobs. “He does indeed.”

“Is that why you keep him? Does he fulfill some sort of sadistic tendencies within you?”

“My reasons for keeping a pet are not your concern, Orphe. What is your concern is the fact that you have stolen from me and that will not be tolerated.”

Orphe simply smiled. “You forget yourself, brother. You are no longer the leader of the Syndicate, I am, therefore, you will award me the proper respect.”

“I cannot award that which does not exist.” Iason folded his hands behind his back. “While I find your delusions of grandeur mildly amusing, there can be only one true leader. You will, of course, be compensated for your efforts in my absence.”

“Compensated?” Orphe snapped before he regained control. “You over estimate your appeal, Iason. Our brothers have delegated me as their leader now; and Jupiter has not contested their decision. Our creator understands that I am what our people need.”

“A choice to remain silent does not constitute approval. Even you must know this.”

“I will change the face of Tanagura, and restore propriety as ruler of all Amoï.”

“Careful, brother. Your words border on treason.”

“Treason? What I do is for the betterment of our kind!”

“Your devotion is admirable, however Jupiter rules Amoï, we are but Her tools. I am the last of thirteen, the perfect specimen and the favored son.” Iason used his fury as strength to force his legs to slowly move toward the steps, appearing even more dangerous; a predator stalking its prey. “I am Her strongest tool and Her most divine weapon.”

Orphe noticed the guards behind him had unconsciously backed up a little further on the balcony as Iason started to climb the steps below. “Stand your ground!” He lifted his right hand and multiple red targeting beams focused on Iason’s head and chest; the Blondie’s forward movement ceased. “I am the voice of justice now, and it is time that justice was served.”

“Best served cold,” Iason murmured as he scanned above with his enhanced vision, and spotted a dozen snipers lining the roof top.

“I beg your pardon?” Orphe asked, curious.

Iason turned his attention back to Orphe, just as the overhead lights flickered once, then glowed brightly once again. “It is an old Earth saying,” Iason replied calmly and kept his eyes focused on his prey. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

“I do not understand its meaning.”

“I do not expect you to.” Riki would understand it, Iason realized and almost smiled. He could not wait to hold his pet in his arms again; but before that, he would make Orphe pay for harming Riki. “I will ask this only once. Where is my pet?”

Katze dragged the man he had just knocked out behind a large sculpture, retrieved the access card and moved further down the corridor. He was lucky there were more regular guards than Elites; he’d never have stood a chance taking down an Onyx. He tried several doors on his way, but did not find any sign of Riki. Unfortunately, he could not linger as he had another mission to get to.

His palm computer brought up the villa’s schematic and he located the room that housed the main power grid; second floor right side. He hurried up the stairs and headed straight for that room. The access card did not open it, but his watch, much like the one he had given Riki, could bypass any lock.

Within ten seconds the panel light clicked green and the door opened. A blast of red fire came towards him and he ducked back. “Shit!”

He pulled a gas grenade from his belt, slid a small filter mask over his face and tossed the grenade inside. Within a minute the firing had stopped and all was silent. Stepping over the threshold, and the two bodies inside, he found the main computer panel and switched on the internal exhaust fans to suck out the lingering gas before working his magic on the console.

“It’s you!”

Katze spun around, raised his weapon and stared at Guy. “Fuck me! Didn’t I tell you to stay gone?”

“Are you here for Riki?”

Shit! Guy remembered Riki? How was that even possible? Was this damn Mongrel responsible for this cock up too, as he had been for Dana Bahn? The idea of it incensed him. “I should have tossed you back into that fucking fire and let you burn.”

“I almost wish you had.” Guy lowered his weapon. “I am part of this, but I never meant for Riki to get hurt.”

Katze crossed the room, grabbed Guy by the throat, and, despite the fact they were almost near the same height and build, he lifted the younger man off the floor. “Where’s Riki? What have you done to him this time, you bastard?”

“Nothing! We were ... e ... escaping! We got s ... separated. I ... Riki climbed outside.”

“Outside where?”

“The ... house ... on a ledge, three stories up...”

Kaze paled and let Guy drop, ignored the man’s horrific gasps and coughing. “Are you fucking stupid? What if he falls?” Oh God! If Riki fell while escaping from that high up. Katze closed his eyes, even as a voice sounded in his ear.

’Is your task complete?’

“Fuck!” He didn’t have time for Guy and there was no time left to go look for Riki now. He turned back to the console, his fingers flying over the keys, then crouched and reached his arm up inside the desk and ripped out the panel box. “If I were you, I’d disappear quickly because if Iason sees you, you’ll lose more than just your arm this time.” He pressed his finger to his earpiece to answer Raoul. “Done. You’re good to go.”

Katze moved out of the room and headed back down the stairs. “Not that way,” Guy insisted. “There’s a back stairwell we can use and it isn’t hooked up with any cameras.”

“How do you know?” Katze demanded, even as he followed behind.

“Let’s just say I found it. Where is Iason?”

“Why, you planning to blow him up again?”

Guy pressed the wall panel he had discovered on the first day he had come to the villa, cursed himself for not remembering it earlier with him and Riki. “Maybe, if I get the opportunity.” The panel slid shut and they were in darkness for a moment, but then a dim set of orbs appeared on the wall leading down the stairwell. “Follow me.”

“I am afraid that your dear pet is tied up at the moment and so is indisposed,” Orphe smiled down at all the red dots glowing against Iason’s clothing. “I must admit, I was led to believe you were suffering from a horrible infirmity, but you appear to be in excellent health.”

“Yes, I am,” Iason lied easily; he could feel his exhausted legs starting to tremble and hoped that Katze and Raoul had reached their marks. “Orphe, until now your actions can be forgiven, however if you continue on this course, you must accept the consequences of your deeds.”

“Consequences?” Orphe aske then chuckled. “Only a handful of people know you are alive, Iason, and they all work for me. Therefore, there shall be no consequences.” He took a leisurely sip of his wine. “I bid you farewell, brother. I shall enjoy breaking your pet.”

“Before we go further, Orphe, may I ask, did you lay hands on my pet?”

Orphe smiled. “Many times, in many ways. His skin is incredibly pliable, Iason, and his cries made quite a lovely symphony. I believe I shall enjoy testing his limits after you are gone.”

“You may find that Riki will not be an easy subject to subdue. In fact, he is more animal than human, so I caution you against going too far, or he may just rip your throat out.”

Orphe blinked, startled, then recovered. “I am not concerned,” he began, as the lights suddenly went out. “What is...?”

With his enhanced night vision Iason could still see in the darkness and so he moved, swift as lightening, and charged up the steps; deftly avoiding the death beams that rained down on him from above. He leapt onto the balcony, grabbed Orphe by the wrists, twisted viciously, and then tossed the Blondie with all his strength back over the very balcony he had just cleared.

Orphe flew through the air and slammed into the hood of the vehicle that Iason had arrived in, causing the metal to buckle beneath the crushing impact of his android body. He started to push himself upwards but found only bleeding stumps where his hands had been and red and green fluids spurting across his clothing. Before he could begin to compute and adjust to his new situation, Iason had tossed aside the missing appendages and leapt forward once again, this time from the balcony.

Iason landed with his boots squarely in the middle of Orphe’s stunned body, causing the vehicle roof to collapse completely under their weight. Iason did not have the remaining strength to catch himself properly, and so fell to the right side of the vehicle as Orphe rolled to the left; putting them on opposite sides.

Orphe managed to pull himself up, intending to run if he could get to his feet, then something large landed in front of him; causing him to fall backwards again. A second loud thud came from behind him, and he turned to see the twisted body of one of his men.

“What is this?” Orphe focused his vision and watched a sniper fall from the roof, then another, then a third. Each man released a loud cry of terror as they were tossed, one after the other, from their perch. “Raoul!” he snarled even as his traitorous brother snapped the neck of another sniper before moving onto the next. “Stop him!”

Iason’s legs refused to answer his commands any longer, he couldn’t get up, yet he could not let Orphe get away from him. He started to crawl after the bastard, to hell with Jupiter’s laws. He would disembowel Orphe with his bare hands for hurting Riki! A sound from behind caused him to flip on to his back in defense, just in time to see a guard that had been aiming a riffle at him crumble to the ground, unconscious.

Kanin stepped over the fallen guard and ducked low behind the now crushed car.

“Touch me and I will end you, Sapphire!” Iason growled as more men rushed out the front doors and started firing.

“I’m a doctor not an assassin,” Kanin retorted, as he grabbed Iason on the shoulders and dragged the Blondie back behind the vehicle for cover. “I’m just here to patch the holes all you idiots seem intent on making.”

“Orphe,” Iason swore through gritted teeth as he watched several men move in and help their master to his feet. “He will not escape me!”

“You’re hardly in a position...” Kanin began, then watched Iason brace his hands on the smashed vehicle beside them and start to pull himself up.

Two guards ran towards them and several lasers pierced the Blondie’s shoulder and right arm, before the guards stiffened and fell face forward onto the ground.

“You’re as stubborn as your stupid pet!” Kanin snapped as he pulled Iason back again.

“Iason!”

Both Iason and Kanin lifted their heads and gaped at the mongrel clinging to the outside wall of the villa, one hand gripping the wall, the other firing a weapon.

“Riki!” Iason called back and watched horrified as Orphe’s men turned their barrage towards his pet. A moment later laser beams pierced his beloved’s leg and side. “Riki!”

Iason watched Riki fall, as though he were watching a video in slow motion, and struggled to rise, but Kanin pulled him back and down again, away from the fire.

Orphe’s mocking laughter filled the air as Iason felt rage and despair envelope him. Then, suddenly a blur of shadow streaked downwards from the rooftop, caught the falling body, somersaulted in midair, and landed hard on the ground.

Raoul cradled the injured boy against him. “It really is poor form to get yourself killed before we can rescue you, pet.”

Riki stared up in pain and shock. “Fuck me. Why does it have to be you?”

“I keep asking myself that very same question,” Raoul said as he dodged the lasers that were now firing at them, while still carrying a fully grown human. “I suspect your master may be a sadist.”

“You only suspect?” Riki winced as Raoul hopped over the stone wall that bordered the villa as if it were a three-foot picket fence, and settled Riki on the grass on the other side.

“Stay,” the Blondie ordered.

“I’m not a fucking dog...” Riki began but Raoul had already disappeared back over the wall. He pressed his hand to his side, hissed. “Like shit I’ll just lay here, b ... bastard.” Slowly, he started to pull himself, half crawling, towards the main gates, but he was dizzy and his eyes couldn’t focus. “Awww, fuck me.”

He did not even feel his head drop to the ground as darkness claimed him.

Raoul landed beside his friend behind the mangled vehicle where they were still pinned down by laser fire. None of the guards would risk moving closer, especially now that there were three Elites on the other side.

“Where is Riki?”

“Safe, for now,” Raoul assured and cast a critical eye at Iason and the fluid leaking from his body. “You need medical attention.”

“He needs his head examined,” Kanin insisted, as he tore pieces of his own clothing and used them to wrap Iason’s wounds. “And now I need a tailor.”

“And you are?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Iason snapped. “Why did you leave Riki alone?”

“He’s fine. He’s outside the wall.”

“Damn it, Raoul!”

A concussion bomb exploded within the pack of guards ahead of them, leaving all the men either unconscious, disabled or dead. As silence fell across the court yard Iason pushed Kanin away from him and accepted Raoul’s support to rise.

Raoul nodded to the red-head as he calmly walked down the front steps. “You’re late.”

Katze shrugged. “I stopped for tea.”

Orphe, seeing that all his plans were crumbling around him tried to push a button on his wrist unit, then remembered he no longer had fingers. “Ceil! Engage the armaments!”

The man nearest Orphe that was still conscious, scurried over to press the button on his master’s wrist unit, but nothing happened. He pressed it again, and still nothing.

“Oh, sorry, were you using this?” Katze lifted the control box he had yanked from its connectors; several wires still dangled from it. “Those darn incendiary devices don’t work very well without the control box.”

Orphe grew enraged as two more of his men recovered and moved to his side. “I underestimated you, Iason, but do not think you have won. You have injured me, but you cannot kill me, it is forbidden!”