A/N: So I'm back again, hopefully for good this time. Due to trouble with my computer I'm having to upload from my phone. It actually makes it easier with the C+P function :P. But my main focus on this first note is to explain why my stories have kinda fallen through, namely resulting from my lack of experience and little confidence in my own writing. What my stories evolved into and my old writing style left me feeling scared of publishing anything. I appreciate the support I did receive, and I hope to finally publish a story that I can be proud of. With that, I'll leave you to it. :D P.S.- This is actually the second time I uploaded this chapter, revisions were needed as the format was all wonky.
"Are you a God fearing kind of man Rodrigo?"
In his whole life, Rodrigo Montoya Fox had never truly felt he was in a hopeless situation until now. The query was enough to draw a stir from the barely conscious fox, and he tried to mumble a response through his swelling mouth and broken jaw. The figure stooped in front of him, and Rodrigo spat a short spray of blood in defiance. This act was rewarded with the sharp crack of a baseball bat on his arm, which further broke the already fragmented bones. Stars danced on the edge of his vision as the burning pain shot up his shoulder through the rest of his body. The pain was enough to cause him to black out momentarily, and he felt his head be forcibly pushed back as a putrid liquid was forced down his throat. His eyes shot open at the taste of the concoction, and he convulsed and spat to remove the liquid that was making its way through his mouth. After a short fit of coughs, he looked up at the figure again.
"I've never been given a reason to fear God, nor should I." The figure chuckled and paced a clockwise circle around the chair Fox was strapped to, taking his time as Rodrigo's breathing steadied again. As he completed the rotation, the figure crouched down and met Rodrigo's bloodshot eyes with a pair of metallic blue orbs. The sight was enough to cause a shiver to go down Rodrigo's spine.
"Why did you do it? After all we accomplished together? Why Fernando?" The figure smirked and drew a knife from his coat pocket, twirling it casually in his hands before ramming it down through Rodrigo's wrist. A bright spray of blood shot out as the steel blade pierced all the way through flesh and bone before solidifying itself in the wood of the chair. Fernando released the knife and stepped away as blood continued to flow from the wound, his body language expressing anger with a clawed finger pointing at the bound Fox.
"Because of what you did! Because of what more we could have accomplished! All the work, the hours, the research, all of it! You threw it away to keep your bosses happy! You tarnished your name to me, M, and Cooper! Why? Because you single-handedly destroyed my life's work to keep your job. A paycheck, benefits... At the cost of revolutionizing modern medicine!" Fernando's rant had hit home with Rodrigo, and he was angered by the accusations being made.
"It's not like I had a fucking choice! I was trying to provide for my family, to have a life! And don't fool yourself Fernando. Modern medicine? I saw the schematics! I knew your plans! That's why I scrapped the project!" Fernando let loose a barrage of punches on Fox, hitting one after another on the wounded man's face and body. By the time he had finished, Rodrigo was on the verge of blacking out again. He could only see out of one eye now, as the other began to swell shut. A steady drip of blood now flowed from his mouth, down his chin, and onto his shirt. His breathing was now a barely audible wheeze, like the sound of air being blown into a paper bag. Had it not been for the chair he was bound to, he would have collapsed long before now under the heaving motions that his lungs were making. Fernando roughly lifted his head with a bloodied hand and stared into his one eye, speaking in between short, frustrated breaths.
"You can't stop me this time." He pulled out a cell phone from his other coat pocket and kneeled down beside Rodrigo, adjusting the device so that they could both see the screen. He began to scroll through the photos on the phone, all taken from a distance and of poor quality. Despite most pictures being unrecognizable, he stopped on the last one of the set, allowing Rodrigo to see it. Even though the photo was fuzzy, the long blue hair was unmistakable. Rodrigo immediately shifted in the chair, pulling with all his strength to break free from the restraints. The reaction was apparently what Fernando was looking for as he wrapped a hand around Fox's shoulder.
"I think it's time I pay your daughter a visit." He could see the rage building in the eyes of Rodrigo, as desperation turned to pure hatred. His voice was frail but absolute as he spoke through broken teeth.
"Leave her out of this! This is between you and me!" The jaguar threw back his head in a short laugh as he repositioned himself in front of the dying Fox.
"You're right, but what you did to me can't be repaid in blood. Your blood anyways. After that, I will finally show the world what I'm capable of..." Fernando turned back to Fox.
"What we could have been capable of." Rodrigo's face was still a defiant grimace, but tears were visibly running down his face.
"You're a fucking psychopath, and your creation won't fare any better than M. He's currently sitting at the bottom of his island, with the Cooper vault on top of him." Fernando scoffed and shook his head.
"However much of a genius M was, his works could only be considered abominations, bastard children to science. He was blinded by greed, and it cost him in the end. I asked if you are a God fearing man because I have harnessed the power of God, the ability to create and give life." Fernando, despite the grave nature of the situation, seemed almost giddy talking about his own accomplishments. Rodrigo scoffed.
"I won't beg to satisfy your vain affection for yourself as a god. You're blinded by ambition."
"Ambition that you so rigorously drilled into me back in Barcelona. Do you not see Rodrigo? My work will change the world, and to hinder such a revolution is simply an act of foolish pride."
"By causing the genocide of millions of people? By having rivers of blood flow through every country on the globe?"
"Wasn't it you that told me that not everyone is as sweet and innocent as your daughter? As your family?" Rodrigo looked up with blood now flowing from his swollen eye.
"The ends justify the means? Bring the world to the brink of global catastrophe just to show off your genius? Do you honestly believe any of this will work?"
"Once the world sees me for what I am truly capable of, no one will challenge me. I have all the of the pieces on the board..." He turned to look out the bedroom window to the skyline of Paris.
"It's just a matter of when I decide to begin my turn."
"So that's it then? I'm the last pawn on the board?" Fernando laughed wholeheartedly and paced back to the center of the room.
"There would have been three, and let me assure you..." The jaguar leaned in closer to the Fox's face. "I took great pleasure in telling the bird where the Coopers were. A favor, so to speak." The thought of his friend being ripped apart by Clockwerk was too much for Rodrigo to bear, and the tears returned in a steady flow.
"You're the devil Fernando." The jaguar pulled a small lighter from his coat and lit the cigarette that was in his pursed lips and blew a huff of smoke into Rodrigo's face.
"No, but you'll be seeing him very soon. Goodbye my friend." Fernando motioned to the two men who had occupied the room the entire time and they marched back out the front door. Fernando stopped just short of the cold, Parisian blast of air and stared at the fox with a wicked grin plastered across his features.
"And Rodrigo..." The wounded fox looked up from his hunched position.
"Enjoy the fireworks." With that, Fernando tossed the cigarette to the entry hall floor, causing a wall of flames to shoot from the ground. The jaguar's now mirage like image disappeared from the doorway, and that's when the reality of the situation hit Fox. The liquid they had poured down his throat was gasoline, and they had apparently left some in the house to burn with him. The flames were now licking at the blood soaked carpet that occupied the living room, buying Rodrigo enough time to think. The jaguar's prior actions gave him his only current means of escape.
"The window..." Using the last bit of strength he possessed, Rodrigo was able to shift the chair back and forth to create a rocking motion, a motion that allowed him to move towards the window gradually. The acrid smoke of the fire filled his lungs as the flames had begun to consume the carpet, quickly closing the gap to where his chair had been. Upon reaching the window, his plan hit a standstill. He hadn't figured a way to get out of the room, and the window was 3 floors above the street. The heat of the the flames licking at his back was enough to stir desperation from Rodrigo. He rocked forward and slammed his head into the window, but only yielded a slight cracking sound. Blood flowed from the cuts in his forehead that were reopened after the impact with the glass. He tried again, with the same result as before. He could see flames at the edge of his peripherals, and his back felt like the chair had already caught fire. Exhaustion and the fumes of the smoke gave Rodrigo one last push, and he slammed his head into the window again and again. His thoughts were not troubled by Fernando of Carmelita, only survival. The window finally shattered and he went tumbling onto the balcony and over the edge. His last conscious thought was the feeling of free fall as he approached the street below. He never felt the impact, as his body had now become cold and the brilliant blaze behind him had faded into a stark, white landscape.
A/N: Well that got kind of intense... So who is Fernando? Why would he want Fox dead? What was this "project" they were working on? What will happen to Carmelita? When will these ambiguous and vague questions stop? As I said before, I will devote my efforts to shaping this story into my vision. Expect an update soon, and y'all take care!