Chapter 1:
(March 3, 3060 AD: Vatican)
"How old did you say you were?" this was Leon. The roguish Spaniard was currently laying on his stomach as he looked through the scope of his rifle.
Abel responded with his default answer, "thirty." Rifle set, he took his position on the other side of the roof. While Leon would take down some of the clergy men, Abel would be acting as a scout ensuring that no one spotted them.
"Thirty?" Leon barked. "You told me that five years ago!"
"Did I? I'm thirty five then." Time sure did pass quickly when you were an immortal. Or close to it at least. Abel really hoped he wasn't immortal.
Abel heard the click of a trigger and the soft pop of the rifle. The colored glass of the church shattered and people screamed. A few more shots went off, and one by one Leon felled at least five clergy men.
"You still look thirty to me," Leon stated. By the sound of ruffling leather, Abel could tell the man was now sitting up and looking toward him.
"Oh?" Abel turned, no longer looking toward the now hectic street but to his padre of five years. He pushed up his shades, trying to hide the turmoil he felt. Now would be the time of truth. Would Leon hate him for what he was? Or would he be ok with it?
From Abel's experience no one was ever ok with an immortal. No matter what they said at the beginning, they would soon become jealous and greed would make them do crazy things. The thought of the same immortality that Abel possessed, could cause even the greatest men to fall.
Abel raised a brow, waiting for an answer. He didn't get one though, and soon found his gaze drifting toward the church. The lenses which covered his eyes seemed to hold no boundary between him and the cold steel eyes he locked with. Shit!
Abel ducked down, lunging at Leon as he did so and forcing the other man down with him. Away from the woman's view. "What the hell Four-eyes!" Leon growled.
"Someone saw us!" Abel hissed, he flipped his hood back on. "I think it was Caterina Sforza."
"What! You mean the lady Cardinal?"
Abel hummed, "we'll rendezvous at the hotel. Take the side alleys. Circle it a few times, don't-"
"Don't go straight to the hotel," Leon huffed. "Yeah, yeah. I know already, jeez." He drew a hand through his black mane like hair.
Abel turned back to his rifle, quickly trying to take it apart but froze. Not too far away, the clanking sound of armor could be heard along with the thump-thump-thump, of heavy foot steps.
"We have to go!" Abel hissed. He paused, eyes widening behind his shades. "Now!"
"Just gimme a sec," Leon growled back.
"Seize at once. For crimes against the Vatican you are now under arrest," came a monotone voice.
Abel clucked his tongue as he eyed what must have been a machine, or at least a cyborg if the glowing red eyes was anything to go by. The cyborg had auburn hair and looked no older than twenty, much to young for the priest robes he wore or to be holding twin pistols aimed at Abel and Leon. Then again in these times it was common for the young to lead. Even the current pope was only 16 years old.
Spinning on his heals, Abel ditched his rifle and leapt from the roof. They were about six stories up, but Abel didn't care about this and landed with cat like grace at reaching the ground.
Gunshots could be heard and then swearing, and finally Leon jumped right after him. Abel sighed as the man fell through a vendor's tent and continued to tumble into a roll. Elegance aside, did Leon really have to bring his rifle along? It would only slow him down, especially in that bulky case it was in. Plus… Abel found himself taking in the small spot of red on the ground…
"You got shot."
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Four-eyes!" Leon growled, now standing. "Shit!" A rain of bullets flew at them from over head.
"Run!" Abel ordered. He dashed forward, grabbing Leon by the wrist, and headed into the same building they'd been on only minutes before. "I'll take the back exit. Wait a minute, then take the left. I'll see you back at the hotel… And give me that," Abel yanked away the large rifle case. It would slow him down some, but with Leon already injured it was better for Abel to carry it.
Once at the exit, Abel pierced the air with a whistle. He didn't even have to wait long for the cyborg to look over the edge of the roof and start firing at Abel. The silver head danced back, smirking as none of the bullets came even close to hitting him. To him this was child's play.
"Aim calibrated," the cyborg priest stated. "I will not miss the next shot."
Abel flicked him the middle finger. Grin plastered on his face, he raced toward a shadowed alley way. It gave him enough cover from the priest's fire, but still allowed him a view. He needed to give Leon a bit of a head start and act as a distraction for at least another five minutes. Abel blinked when instead of shooting the robot jumped to the ground and landed with a heavy thud. Abel couldn't help but wince at the spider web like crack the cyborg made on the ground.
-Bang-
That was close. A few strands of silver hair floated to the ground. Abel winced, it took him a second to realize the small sting in his cheek.
"Aim calibrated," the cyborg stated again.
Was this man serious!? He was aiming for a death blow! No one could survive a shot to the head. Not even an enhanced human like Abel. Sure he may have lived this long, and had experienced gun wounds multiple times as a child, but he'd never been shot in the head before! And darn it, Abel was not crazy enough to test out if he could survive such an injury or not. He was not suicidal, thank you very much.
Abel threw a rock into the air and the killing robot shot at it, once, twice, no three times. A pistol clicked. Now! Abel dashed from his hiding spot and whipped around a corner. Hahah! He could keep this up for ages!
From the sound of it, the cyborg had finally reloaded his guns. Abel peaked around the corner, expecting the priest to still be at the entrance of the alley.
His smile dropped as his face met the barrel of a pistol.
Oh hell no! Abel flipped back just as a shot was fired. Thankfully a hand kept his hood in place. Another shot just barely missed and Abel found himself having to block a heavy arm that was aimed at his face. For such a heavy machine, this guy was fast!
Faster than any human could hope to achieve, Abel bolted down a street. Not fast enough though. Abel grunted as he found the killing doll keeping up with him. A gun aimed at his face. Abel skid, kicking up dirt as he turned. A knee found itself in his stomach, Abel spun and returned a punch. A bullet lodged itself into Abel's arm, forcing him to release the rifle case.
"Damn it," Abel cursed. He just managed to duck another bullet as he grabbed the case with his good arm and brought it up to hit the robot with. Pushing forward, and using the case to block the cyborg's view, Abel managed to land in a few good hits. The fact the priest was now wasting bullets also helped.
A click sounded.
Empty!
Abel smirked, leaping away from the machine as it reloaded. This time he knew better than to wait for it to catch up.
Abel's put pressure to his wound as he took off, heading for the hotel he and Leon shared, but taking a path that didn't lead straight to it. He glanced back, spotting the machine not too far behind him.
Now to loose his tail. Abel sped up, heading straight for the wall of a building. He didn't even slow down as he forced himself to run up the wall, then jump for a window ledge and vault himself onto the roof. He didn't stop though, and continued to run, jumping from roof to roof.
When he couldn't hear the clicking of armor, nor the heavy foot steps the machine seemed to take Abel came to a stop, good hand on his knees and panting. Looking around, then below the building he was currently on, Abel finally concluded that he was in the clear and easily jumped down to the balcony of his hotel room.
Leon should be here by now. Abel slid the glass door open and stepped into the large room. The silver head scowled. He'd distracted that machine for how long, and Leon hadn't made it back yet!?
xxXxx
(The next day- March 4, 3060 AD: Vatican)
Caterina Sforza, Duchess of Milan and the first lady Cardinal, sat behind her podium, waiting for her agent, Tres, to return with their suspect. Sighing, she flipped through an old newspaper. The particular story she wanted to read, told of an attack which happened five years ago.
Criminals Killed in Krakov
April 24, 3055
By James Barrie
The bodies of several known criminals were found yesterday in Krakov. As rumors go, the small town has a reputation for harboring criminals since the early 20's and now we finally have our proof. All the bodies found, belonged to those of criminals and they were all killed by some type of bazooka or bomb. The person responsible for the deceased is unknown, however Cardinal Francesco di Medici made the announcement that vigilantes are unwelcomed and even if the vigilante rid the world of some evil, those people were still children of God.
Caterina folded the newspaper when she reached the end of the article and grabbed another newspaper from two years ago. Like the attack on Krakov, the attack two years ago was on another small town and the people who died received wounds from a bazooka. It wasn't hard to connect the two attacks.
Readjusting her monocle Caterina began reading the next article.
Clergymen Murdered
August 13, 3058
By James Barrie
During mass yesterday night, a bazooka fired into a church in Prague, killing over twenty clergymen. One of the survivors of the brutal attack, said it was her father, Leon Garcia who was responsible for the brutal attack. Garcia is a rogue soldier from the Kingdom of Hispania. It is unknown why, Garcia committed such a crime against the Vatican and Hispania claims that they have nothing to do with the attack. The Vatican aren't pushing any charges against them, however if anyone is caught harboring Garcia, they will be charged-
"Cardinal Sforza."
She jerked up, eyes locking onto the man brought before her.
Messy black hair fell to his shoulders and framed his tan rectangular face. Hands cuffed in front of him, then brought up to scratch at the stubbles on his chin. Even given the circumstances he didn't seem nervous at all, his calm dark eyes just took in everything with curiosity. Caterina raised an eyebrow at the lion like man, even from behind her podium she could smell the smoke wafting off of him.
Last night, Tres, the cyborg, had returned with Leon in tow. The man's partner had escaped but Tres assured Caterina that it would be easy to track down the silver head. A trail of blood left by a gun wound would be quite easy to follow after all.
"Thank you, Gunslinger," Caterina nodded to Tres.
The killing doll, Tres, nodded, moving a bit away from their prisoner but not so much that he wouldn't be able to reach Leon if the man tried something.
The Vatican had been trying to catch Leon for two years now, possibly even five. Luckily for Leon he was only being charged with the attack from two years ago and the shooting that he caused the day before. However, it was unfortunate that no one would ever know the true reason Leon murdered the clergymen. Or rather, the public would never be privy to that information.
The murdered clergymen, were as much criminals, as the men killed five years ago. They were part of an entire underground network for human trafficking.
If the public ever found out - it would be trouble for all of the Vatican.
"Hey there hottie," Leon spoke, shooting Caterina a wolfish grin and shaking her from her thoughts. "You know if you wanted to meet me, all you had to do was ask. There's no need for these," he lifted his hands up showing the cuffs.
Perhaps she should have requested a private audience with Leon before going to court. Unlike the many people who couldn't see past the death's he caused, Caterina could. She could recognize an asset when she saw one, and someone like Leon was needed. It was risky, but to protect her younger brother, Caterina would go as far as to hire the devil himself. Well… maybe not that far.
At his brashness, the room erupted into whispers in disapproval. The other political figures in the room looked at one another with disapproval. Leon did realize he was being prosecuted, right? Caterina sighed, figures the man she wanted to recruit would be another odd ball. But then, what would the AX be without their fair share of odd members?
Caterina leaned back in her chair, brushing away her blonde locks as she did so. "Do you know why you are here?" she asked. She needed to play this cool if she wanted this to work.
"To see you?" Leon wiggled his eye brows.
Caterina sighed. "You're being charged with the murder of thirty clergymen."
"Eh?" Leon hummed, now looking serious. "I only got about five the other day, and I thought the Vatican would overlook the death's of the clergymen who were responsible for human trafficking." His eyes flickered to the people in the room.
"There's no evidence for that," Caterina held back a smirk. She liked this man already.
"Well, no surprise there. So what's my sentence? Death?" Leon asked.
The whispers rose. Many agreed that death was for the best, but a few looked ill at the idea.
"Leon Garcia, do you admit to killing thirty clergy men?" Caterina's older brother, Francesco asked. He was the exact opposite to her shy yet kind younger brother, Alec. Caterina had to bite her tongue to stop herself from yelling at the man. She was the judge here, not him. He may be a fellow Cardinal but it was agreed upon! This was her case!
"Eh, I guess," Leon shifted to run his cuffed hands through his hair.
"Then in the name of God I sentence you to death."
"No," Caterina's voice was echoed by a much deeper voice.
A hooded figured dropped down next to Leon. In a second, hand cuffs fell to the ground.
Wha- but how did- was he hiding on the ceiling this entire time!?
"Guards! Seize that man at once!" Francesco ordered. Did his voice just shake? Caterina would have laughed if she wasn't so shocked herself.
"Stop," the figure said. All movement and sound halted, even the guards were frozen. His voice was that of glass, cutting straight to her, but so fragile that if one were to make the slightest noise, it would shatter. "If there is anyone who should be judged it is you, Francesco," the man said. Caterina had no doubt the man was glaring at her brother from behind his sunglasses.
"F-Four-eyes?" Leon stuttered, being the first to break the silence. The glass cracked. Everyone in the room breathed.
"Come Leon," his voice was angelic… that was the only way Caterina could describe it. Everyone was hanging onto every word he said. They were practically allowing him to walk away with their prisoner!
Leon shook his head. "I shouldn't. They're right, you know. I am a murderer."
"What about your daughter?"
"She would be better off without a father like me," Leon frowned. "Sh-she saw… she saw what I did. Besides you'll t-"
"Enough," Caterina found her voice. The glass shattered. Caterina had a pretty good idea that ice blue eyes were staring at her. And how strange was that? She couldn't see through the dark lenses of his glasses, and had no way of knowing his eye color but light blue sounded right. "Leon Garcia will be sent to prison for a thousand years." She shot a look at her now pale brother. "Court is adjourned."
Caterina was pleased to note that the strange man followed after Tres and Leon. If she was correct then that man was the same one she'd spotted two days ago on the roof with Leon. Shouldn't he be injured though? Tres reported shooting the man- ah- her eyes landed on the trickle of blood.
xxXxx
Abel followed after the machine and Leon, only distantly aware that they weren't being led to the cells but an interrogation room. He barely stepped into the room when the killing doll whipped around and pressed a gun to his head.
"Why are you here?"
Clearly he was here to see Leon, Abel raised a brow. Well that wasn't entirely true, he was here to break Leon out.
"Answer required," the robot said.
To threaten and demand something was never going to get anywhere with Abel. Glaring, Abel's hand snapped up. The machine was faster, he fired, Abel rolled to the side, coiled, then sprang. Good fist pounded into the machines jaw, his hand crumbled. Abel really needed a weapon. He stretched his fingers, momentarily distracted; and then pain shot up his right arm.
Damn robot going for his injury!
"Tres," someone stepped into the room. Abel chanced a glance at Caterina Sforza robed in red. He hissed when 'Tres' tightened his grip on his arm. The bullet in his arm from yesterday was still there and Abel could practically feel it shift deeper into his bicep. "Stand down, Tres."
"Affirmative," the cyborg monotoned but he didn't release Abel's arm, just stowed away his pistol. Or should he say Tres, since that's what Caterina Sforza called him.
"Who are you?" Caterina questioned Abel.
He didn't answer, just eyed the robot who was slowly beginning to crush his arm in warning. In the corner of his eye, Abel could see Leon's face morph into wonder then confusion.
Leon scowled, he opened his mouth then closed it again. "I… even I don't know. After five years, I don't even know your name!" Leon turned from them and brought his hands up to his head to pull at his hair. "Damn it, Four-eyes!" He spun back, finger pointed at Abel. "I thought we were friends."
"I came for you didn't I?" Abel murmured. Friends? Impossible. Immortals didn't have friends. Abel was only here to make sure that Leon didn't make his daughter an orphan. He'd break Leon out of jail, get Leon and his daughter set up for life somewhere in Londinium then 'die' and move on with his immortal life.
"But your name!" Leon growled. "All this time I've been calling you Four-eyes!"
Abel sighed, not sure what the big deal was, but before he or Leon could say anything more, Caterina coughed. "I have a proposition for you," she stated.
"For what?" Abel asked.
"Your freedom for a favor," Caterina responded, smiling slightly.
"You mean his freedom," Abel nodded toward Leon.
Ignoring the shout of, 'hey!' from Leon, Caterina shook her head, "no, I need the both of you."
"And what if we don't want to help you?" Abel growled.
"Leon doesn't have a choice. He has already been sentenced to jail for a thousand years, and," Caterina continued, not even giving Abel a chance to interrupt her, "if he does, some how manage to escape, we won't hesitate to aim for the kill instead of simply capturing him, on sight."
Leon hummed, "but you were saying something about my freedom?"
"In exchange for doing missions I'll mark two decades off of your sentence," Caterina nodded. "When you aren't doing missions, you'll spend your time in jail."
"Eh, sounds like a deal!" Leon declared, grinning broadly.
"Why would you require the assistance of a known criminal?" Abel glared. None of this added up. Someone as powerful as a Cardinal should have many agents she could send out on missions. Plus as a Cardinal, Caterina was a child of God. What could she possibly want, that she would go as far as to enlist the help of a criminal? And not just a regular criminal, but a murderer?
Caterina's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed together before she took a breath. "Before I answer that question, I'd like you to answer one of mine." Abel inclined his head. "Why did you say that Francesco should be judged instead of Leon?"
Because as the bastard child of the late Pope, Francesco was power hungry. Because without any evidence and with the slightest provocation he sent many innocent men to their early graves. It was in the name of God, he would say. Because there was no such thing as peace to Francesco, he loved violence and would go through a lot of trouble just to cause problems with neighboring towns. If it wasn't for Caterina, Francesco would have used deadly force on all the smaller towns who shared borders with Rome, just to claim their land. Yes, if anyone should be judged it would be Francesco di Medici. Power hungry bastard that he was… but what did he have anything to do with Caterina wanting more help?
Abel's eyes widened, understanding dawning on him. "He wants to kill your younger brother, The Pope," it was a statement. "And to protect The Pope you want Leon's help."
"Yes," Caterina nodded. "Leon specializes in Guerrilla tactics, and I could use that to gather information and sabotage any plans that could lead to Alec's assassination."
"I see," Abel mumbled. It looked like Leon would be ok even if Abel didn't help him escape. "I'll be going then." Abel ripped his arm away from Tres' grasp.
"Tres!"
Abel sidestepped a bullet. "I'm leaving," Abel growled harshly and walked out of the room.
No one followed him and Abel ignored all the looks he was getting as he headed back to his hotel.
It took a while, but eventually he found himself at his hotel and just like yesterday, he scaled the wall and entered his room via the balcony.
Abel huffed, blinking at the day old blood splattered in the room. Sighing, he slowly lifted his arm and eyed the wound, he got from Tres. He really should have taken care of it yesterday… The blasted bullet was still in his arm!
Abel prodded the wound, and it felt like a kindling fire, ready to burn off his entire arm if he stoked it far enough.
Gasping, Abel brought his good hand to put pressure on the wound and quickly scrambled toward the bathroom in hope of finding tweezers, barely paying attention to the blood getting all over the walls and ground. Abel growled when he found nothing.
Abel being the immortal that he was didn't see the point of having a first aid kit. Besides, over all these years he'd always traveled light. The only thing he owned being the cape and clothes he wore, and recently the rifle… though that was more than likely taken by the Vatican by now.
Slamming drawers open and close, Abel growled when he didn't find any signs of a first aid kit. Face set in a grimace, Abel made his way toward Leon's suitcase and started rummaging through it, giving no mind to the blood dirtying all of Leon's things.
Upon reaching the bottom of the suitcase and finding no signs of a first aid kit, Abel kicked the suitcase toward the wall.
Seriously, type of normal human doesn't carry around a first aid kit!? All humans were so fragile, getting hurt in some silly way. Abel scowled over at Leon's now bloodied suitcase, really, the man should have had some thing for injuries! Especially with his profession!
Great, only one way to do this then. Abel huffed, slipping out a knife from the sole of his boot.
With great care, Abel stuck the knife into the wound, opening it up a bit more, but finally managing to see the bullet. A few more minutes of trying to angle the blade into every which way, and finally the bullet was out. Abel sighed with relief as he wrapped his arm using scraps from his cape. It would heal within the day, without even a scar to show.
Abel dragged his eyes away from his arm and toward the room. He inwardly winced at all the blood. His eyes following the small trail of blood and leading him to the balcony.
A shadow passed over head, and for the first time in years, Abel found himself looking over the rim of his glasses. He froze. A meteor!? And it was heading - it was heading straight for the Vatican!
Abel pushed his sunglasses back up, his eyes locked on the meteor, and followed its trajectory straight for Vatican headquarters. Should he follow it? Even knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop the oncoming crash? But… it would crash any second now. There was no way he could run to the Vatican fast enough to see the crash. He'd be able to help the survivors sure…
Wait… it hadn't crashed yet. But the trajectory…
Abel hummed, quickly becoming disinterested once it was clear the meteor wasn't going to crash into any populated area. He'd let the Vatican deal with it. Right now, Abel had more concerning things to deal with, like planning his death and heading underground for a couple years.
This old man had enough excitement in the last two days to last him a couple decades…
Who cares about meteors anyway? Aliens don't exist.
A/N: I'm super rusty. Haven't written in a while.
POV Characters- Abel, Caterina, Seth, (maybe Esther)j
