Chapter 10: Hades…
"Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…Thunk!" What happened? "Brrrrrrrrrrrrr…whir…thunk! Tick, tick, TICK!" Ouch. My head pounded like the devil had just taken a stab at it with his little fork-thingy. What do you call those? Pitchforks? No. Ah, a triton. Wait. What? I peeled open my eyes and I was almost blinded by… nothing? Huh! I was half expecting a bright stream of light. Like in those police dramas. It was pitch black and all I could hear were the sounds of gears grinding against one another. Two long poles were moving side by side. It was almost as if I were inside of a huge… CLOCK!
What was I doing in Big Ben? I looked around as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark. I had memorized the interior of this architectural masterpiece and there was not denying the fact that I was inside the most well-known time-telling utensil in the entire world. There was a dim light spewing through the roof of the room I was in. Hmm… I must've been placed in the lower half of the clock face. But how did I get all the way to London?
There is not way those creatures could've carried me all the way here without getting noticed. Maybe they didn't. While I pondered the possibilities, the door to my far left creaked open and the hideous monstrosity I had grown rather used to entered. It bowed slightly, if that's what you would call the small bending of its body, and spoke in that raspy I-need-a-lozenge voice. "Finally, you have come." I gave him a 'DUH' look and quickly interrupted. "Well, actually, I was abducted. I didn't come of my own free will or even out of intuition. So the fact that you just said 'finally, you have-." "SILENCE!" I grinned. Mission successful. So far.
"My master has been greatly displeased. But now that we have you here, he would like you to have an audience with him." I nodded placidly. "The last dozen or so of your buddies I, what was the word, yeah, shish-kebab-ed, told me that exact same thing. What a coincidence. So, if you could just untie me right now, I would probably go see this master guy of yours just so you can stop nagging me." The creature hissed as I grinned back at it. "How can you puny humans talk so much?" He pulled out a knife and I thought I had pushed him a bit too far before it slashed at the rope around my ankles. I stood up, wobbled and was just about to thank him when he poked me in the back with the dagger. 'Oh, now you've done it. Just for that, no thank yous.' We walked the rest of the way down dark, dank hallways with it poking my back like it was trying to impale me on the thing.
"Cut that out!" It poked me even harder. I wanted to turn around and bitch slap it but it gave me one last shove and I stumbled into a large room. Bats hung from every crevice and rung from the ceiling. Some of them were perched on the chairs and tables in the room. The only source of light was the stream coming from a large window. It shone directly onto a large ivory throne. I thought it was beautiful before I saw what it was made of. Large bones were polished and skulls were placed at the tips of the armrest. All in all your typical bad-guys office chair. The creature sitting on it was nothing to speak of either. But you could actually tell its gender this time. But as I got closer I saw his form shift and fuse into a handsome youngish man dressed entirely in a black suit.
I finally reached the foot of the slightly elevated throne and allowed the others a minute to ogle me before turning my direction towards the guy slung on the cushions. "So… what's up?" I put on my best casual look and stared him down… up… whichever way you would like it. "So the blue-eyed wonder decides to join us." His voice was like millions of little spiders crawling up my arm. I felt a shiver tingle down my spine as I continued the staring match. "She hasn't decided ANYTHING! It just so happens that she was abducted against her own free will, had sharp objects poked into her back and a rope burn enough to scathe the devils own butt." I heard a sharp intake of breath and a few snickers behind me. Obviously I was one of the rare ones who could get a way with a swipe at this guy in charge and they were taking full advantage of it.
"Oh, how rude of them!" His exclamation mark was so genuine I almost believed him for a second. He snapped his fingers and a long dark thing flew from behind the throne at breakneck speed and the only thing I saw were its glinting razor fangs sinking inside the neck of the Thorakh that had brought me to the "throne-room". A piercing scream slashed through the heavy atmosphere and the dank, stale air now had a rusty smell of dried blood. I took another glance at the attacker and saw that it was a HUGE python. WAY bigger than the one wrapped around Sydney 24/7. It's eyes glowed blood red. I almost laughed at the cliché. The scene was straight out of a movie. I even had to check to make sure I wasn't pinching myself. The urgency to close my eyes and wake up to find that this was all a bad dream was overwhelming.
The man on the throne sat there smiling as his little pet chewed up the remains of the writhing Thorakh. The bone-crunching sounds were enough to deafen people in a twenty mile radius as they echoed around the room. "As you can see, I do put the manners of my people of first priority. Now to the introductions." He raised his eyebrow at me. I shrugged. "You first." He chuckled lightly. "Spunk. I like it." I rolled my eyes. "Actually my dear, I believe you already know." He took a step towards me and extended his hand. "Hades – God of the Underworld. I believe we were acquainted in the past life." I knew it. I'm sure my abductors must've knocked me around quite a bit for me not to figure that out. 'Should I shake his hand? What if I do the defensive thing? Will he think I'm already weary and just get rid or me? Maybe he'll think I'm scared. Do I want him to think that?' The answer was 'NO'. I slowly raised my hand.
Suddenly, I heard another scream. But this one was more human. Three of the biggest Thorakh I had seen so far swooped through the window. But they were slightly different from the other Thorakh. Their bat wings were thicker and their veined fluid covered bodies were a darker, bloodier red. What made me want to throw up was the fact that between them, they carried a person. Just a normal man…. With wings? (0.0) Wait. He was one of us. I mean me. Screw how grammatically wrong that was. I heard him gasp as he tried to pull himself from the merciless grip of the creatures. "Now my children, what you have brought before me and my guest is rather unnerving. Why don't you go find a table and eat somewhere private? Don't forget to clean up the mess later."
His voice was beautiful and melodic as he reprimanded them like a mother, but I still couldn't stop the chill from raising the hairs on my neck and arms. And Raven's instincts are rarely mistaken. All I could do was stare and watch as the red Thorakh pulled the almost lifeless body to a corner and began ripping his limbs apart. Blood flew in different directions as they pulled off chunks of his flesh and to my utter horror, they began to eat it. It was absolutely repulsive, but I couldn't help and notice that they had left the wings completely untouched. Not that they looked like it tasted disgusting, but they regarded it with weary eyes and continuously sneaked suspicious glances at it. They squinted as if the dull, dirtied thing was messing with their vision. Or maybe it DID. I stored this little piece of information away for another day… if I ever lived to see one.
"Those are my new inventions. Quite pleasant… when their locked up." His smile widened as I slowly twitched into defensive mode. "What do you want with me?" "Ah, I almost forgot. We were having such fun." Another wave of nausea washed over me as I heard another ripping sound but I remained silent. Better to not put myself in a compromising position. "Well, my darling, as you can well see, we are preparing for a war. With someone I believe you are quite familiar with by now – the Zarikh." I raised my eyebrows but listened intently. No surprises there. "As the organization these things are involve in, he jerked his hand towards the blood on the cold stone, you already know the story. BUT, do you know the true intentions of these blasphemous creatures?" I could feel my forehead crease slightly. "Confused now are we? Did they tell you that in – at the very least – six months, that beast will appear? Did they tell you that almost none of them believe that you'll complete your training in time? You see, because your shielding made you hard to detect, they now have limited time to prepare you for the Zarikh's resurrection."
Those words hit me. 'They didn't trust me? NONE of them think I can do it? Then what are they actually planning to do? Why do they even bother?' "Because they have no other option." I jerked up. "Do you think they would actually give a care about you if you weren't 'The Chosen One'?" I glared at him. "That's it! Cut the crap. Send me back. I don't need to take any of this rubbish from you or ANYONE else!" I turned around and headed for the door. "Oh! Did I happen to mention that their theory that your music will be able to calm the Zarikh is an absolute LIE?" His voice rang clearly as it echoed all around the hall as I stopped dead in my tracks. Slowly I turned around. "What?" My voice was barely heard, even by myself, but he smirked. "Yes. Your music is not needed. Not for anything. I'm sure you've even had visits from Yumael as well. She's the one who plans everything. This organizations prayer isn't to the Zarikh. No. They are all advocates of the siren-goddess."
My head spun with the new information. 'Yumael had planned this? All of it?' "If my music or voice is not needed, then what am I doing here in the first place?" He slowly advanced towards me, the smirk remained. "They wish to sacrifice you to the beast." I reeled back. I felt the shock slowly register as I dropped my head to face the tiles. 'Sacrifice? Why? Couldn't they just have tied me up and kept me until mister beastie showed up? And how does Hades know so much?' I saw his hands reach up to my face. I wanted to dart back, but the shock had rooted me to the spot. I felt his hand brush my eyes as he wiped away the tears I hadn't notice before. 'Why am I crying?' "Poor child. Betrayed by the people who had first granted you hope. The most crushing emotion to ever walk this universe. Hope." I gazed up slowly. His face was full of nothing but sympathy and his eyes were black abysses. I could see nothing in them but a reflection of my face and the tears streaming down my cheeks.
"There, there. Why do you cry for the people who never will for you?" His voice was so kind and gentle. "If you join me and my people. We will protect you. There's always another way to defeat the Zarikh. My people and I have been trying to make contact with the reincarnated Dragon Child's but they were always completely influenced by the organization, never knowing the threat they faced before it was too late. Now we have a chance to save you. Let us protect you and you will help us. There are always other ways of solving this problem and we shall help each other along." He once again extended his hand. I felt my resolve and trust slip away from me with my tears. I slowly raised my hand. "Help me… Soreya."
Back at HQ…
(Fang's pov)
I was pacing back and forth. What else was there to do? Sydney had just called us for a conference to discuss the sudden disappearance of several members when the alarm blared around us. Sirens wailed as we ran to the source… the new simulation room. Raven was there just a moment ago. The surveillance cameras were smashed into tiny bits and glass was all over the floor. We found small spots of blood but nothing else. It was as it she had disappeared as well. Well, needles to say, our hopes that she had simply gone for a coffee break were smashed when we found small pieces of black, leathery material. These were similar to samples of Thorakh wings we had in the lab.
Then Sydney HAD to go and initiate temporary shutdown. Our system had been broken into TWICE! Who wouldn't be frustrated? But no one could get in or go OUT! Oh, and that was the most important bit because we had to find out where Raven was! Some people just didn't get urgency… I sighed and slammed a chair into the wall. Ouch! That was gonna leave a dent in the linoleum. But who gives a !#$!%#$%#. Oh, and in case you're wondering what walls are lined with linoleum that can stand level 7 earthquakes off the Richter scale, it was kind of like a lock up cell. Why was I in there? Simple. Sydney initiated lockdown, I blew a hissy fit, punched a couple (okay, more than that) of guys and then the twins conked me out.
I was about to just throw my head back and scream when suddenly the twins came though the doors. "We can hear you throw things you know?" I groaned. "If you came in here to calm me down, you're not succeeding." I stubbornly shut my eyes and blocked my mind but nothing came. I dared a peek at them but they were still staring sullenly at me. Without any noise, they had slowly moved all the detachable objects in the room to their side of the room. "What now?" They shrugged. "Sydney says she'll let us out to look for Raven if you stop throwing things. So we came in to help." I glared at them. "You didn't have to remove everything in the room just to make sure. If it's to go look for that idiot, of course I'll stop throwing things." The twins glanced briefly at each other. I growled lightly and sat on the bed. "So, how long is she giving me?" They smiled and sat down next to me. "5 minutes. Red gave you 2." I smiled back. "Then, lets surprise them."
(End of pov)
(Raven's pov)
I snapped back. 'Soreya? That's not my name. He still thinks I'm the real one? I pulled my hand back at lightning speed. The words still resounded melodically in my head but now they were more forceful. Almost too melodic. 'Hmph! Try to mesmerize me now, eh?' I took a slow step back and smirked at him. He looked confused but I could see his disciplined maintenance of a caring expression. A nerve twitched and he took a tentative step towards me. "Soreya?" My smile grew into a menacing snarl. "That's not my name. Now that you've given me a little hand at confusion, I've come to a conclusion." His face twitched. "What on earth do you mean, my dear?" "I don't really care what's going on between you and the organization. My answer is 'no'." He recoiled.
"Why? If you come to our side, you may resist being their next sacrifice. You're nothing but a TOOL to their side!" he was shouting now. I slowly bent my knees as much as not to be noticed. "Pfft. Your side? Their side? I'm on MY side." And with that I had enough annoyance pumped into my veins to snap my wings out as hard as I could to generate a gust of wind, knocking a few Thorakh into the walls. As the light burst through the room, I heard screams as I raced across the rooms and grabbed the wings left by the wall. With a quick rush of speed I smashed through the window. The glass scratched my arms and face but my last look at Hades and his face contorted in anger, throwing a bitch-fit, screaming "GET HER! GET HER YOU USELESS SONOFA!%$#%^#%^%!" was compensation enough. Now the problem was… how to be getting home?
(End of pov)
Somewhere outside the perimeter of said location…
(Fang's pov)
"Alright, team. We have exactly 10 minutes to get in there, tear up the place and find Raven." As soon as the words 'tear up' left my mouth, I could see the others tuning out my voice. Only sheer will was holding back my exasperated groan. "Oh, and if ANY of you are actually thinking logically… Raven is the main priority. GOT IT?" Red raised the visor on his multi-function sensor goggles and rolled his eyes at me. "Relax and take a load off, grandma. We got this all down a pat. We'll be in and out before you can say '' with your damsel in distress." This time, I DID groan. Loudly. "Shut up, Red! Put your damn goggles back on, Red." Sydney was obviously just as agitated as I was. She had said Red's name. TWICE! In the same SENTENCE! Obviously, Red had ALSO noticed and had no trouble informing the twins who were acting back-up in the back of a pest-control vehicle with winks and nudges. Rented of course.
Sydney's glare though was enough to put Red's goof-balling to a stop. "Remember guys. We do not. Repeat. NOT. Want a repeat performance of the Russian incident." Everyone drew a breath. The Russian incident was not something Sydney brought up often enough for it to be a normal situation. "What's the Russian incident?" I waved off the question with my hand. "Everyone knows about the Russian incident. I'm surprised no one told you, Rae." I stopped short of a heart attack. Red fell off the seat. "RAVEN?"
(End of pov)
On the way back to HQ…
"You have some explaining to do, little miss!" Red's expression was pissed. 'Red look's pissed.' Raven's eyes scanned the small area just in case she needed to fend herself from anybody. Sydney sighed. "Don't take it out on her just because you didn't get to exhibit your not-so-elegant pounding action." The twins were back at the computers, hacking into the global-London security system. "No obvious damages. Only a small tourist group. Five Eurasians. Middle-aged. One minor. We're sending some guys to do a patch-up. You smashed through a window, you say?" Raven turned her attention to the multiple screens in front of the twins. "Yep… third from the right. The one right under the clock."
"We have a visual shot. We'll send in others to clean that mess up later." Alex nodded at us. "In the mean time, we can talk about your lovely 'escapade'." I felt a small vein pop up. "Well… you see… um… how do I put this… It actually happened a couple of days back…"
5 minutes later…
(Raven's pov)
"You did WHAT?" "You sand WHAT?" "He said WHO?" "It did WHAT?" All these questions were directed at me (in particularly loud Caps locks) in unison. So… here's a recap. I'd just finished telling Red, Sydney and the twins (Fang had mysteriously disappeared) about the parts I happened to not mention during my first encounter with the Thorakh. You know… about how they wanted me to meet their master and all that jazz. (Yes, I conveniently left out Hades' speech) The questions pretty much started popping in at around that moment. But the most embarrassing was then I recalled my mistaking a real Thorakh for the simulated one and getting knocked out in one hit. "It was a pretty hard hit." I mumbled feeble as Red and the twins cackled on the floor. It was hopeless. Even Sydney was giving that god-awful sneering smile. I stood up and walked out of the room with whatever dignity I had left.
I groaned as I searched different rooms (the ones I were allowed into) looking for the idiot who passed up the chance to tease me. Which, by the way, is a real 'WTF' moment. I finally reached the last room. Duh! Simulation room. Why didn't I think of that? The red light was on (which in case some of you don't realize either means STOP! Or Do Not Enter!) But I rammed in anyway. (Do not try this at home kids) Because what happened next is just waaay to boring to document I'll do this in point form.
-Me opens door… Forcefully
-Alarm goes 'BEEP' 'BEEP'
-Foot comes flying at me face
But luckily I blocked it in time. Of course I did. If I didn't I would be lying on my back in the middle of someone else's bed. Wait… what am I doing here? Oh, yeah… he DID kick me. In the gut actually. Mostly due to shock. Or else he would have clobbered my head and I would be in a hospital instead. (But nuff said about that! =.=) I sat up and glared at Fang, sitting in a corner. He glowered right back at me. "Well?" He moaned a little and looked up, exasperated. "I can't take this anymore." Standing up and walking over to me, amidst great protest (by me) he crushed me into him, my head resting against his chest. "I'm sorry. You scared the blinking HECK outta me. You disappeared without a trace. I thought you left me." The heart-breaking voice of his was enough to melt ANYBODY!
"Uh-." He cut me off again. "Don't you ever, ever do that again. You could have been hurt. I've no doubt in your combat abilities but please give me some form of security. I searched all around for you." I struggled just enough to loosen his hold and lifted myself to my knees so I was at eye level with him. His eyes were black pools tempting to absorb the very life out of me. I sighed and reached up to hold his face in my hands. "First of all, I was in more danger of getting hurt when you kicked me out of the blue compared to being kidnapped by Thorakh and mesmerized by Hades. Second of all… *sigh* I can't and I won't go anywhere. So you can relax for now." His arms settled around my waist and his head dropped to my shoulders. "I'm sorry." I casually stroked his hair, running my fingers through it. "Shhh…it's not your fault. Stop apologizing." His voice was thick as he breathed on my neck. "But I could have been there. I could have done something to help you. But I couldn't even save you before you saved yourself." I smiled. It did sound kinda funny when he put it that way. I just nodded and held him for that moment we shared.
(End of pov)
In the lab…
"What've you got for us, Eva?" A young lady, in her mid-thirties. Attractive, bespectacled and donning a white coat looked up. "'Ello, Eduardo." Her French accent was thick and accentuated. "Ve 'av 'ere some very interesting find. Who did you zey found zis, again?" Red smiled. "That's confidential for now. But please do me the honour of filling me in. Icy wants the know." She nodded and smiled, her petite frame leaning back against the chair. "Ah, yes. And 'ow iz Sydney? Ve 'aven't seen each ozzer for qvite some time." Red pulled up another chair. "She's doing great. Better than ever actually. And I'll make sure she'll visit personally next time." She nodded and turned back to the screen.
She tapped a few keys and one of the two wings Raven had brought back levitated in one of the cylindrical tanks. After a quick scan, an exact copy appeared on the screen. "Now… our DNA scans show zat zees vings belong to vun of our organizations top assassin, Johann Krist Von Berret. It appears zat zees vings vere cut off from ze body vit an extremely sharp veapon, easily mistaken for a newly sharpened object. But if you look closer, you can see jagged indentations at ze tip vere ze vings meet shoulder blades." Red nodded. "So what you're saying is that the wings were ripped off. But I don't see anything interesting about that.
It's happened before. What I really want to know is HOW they killed our BEST assassin?" Eva smirked. "Patience, Eduardo. Ze rips ver med by teeth." Red let out a low whistle. "So now you're telling me that something ate Johann?" Eva nodded. "But what on earth would be ABLE to catch, immobilize and eat an E-level, weapon authorized, winged AND 7th rank gift-possessing, assassin? The last time I checked, it was an assassin's job to assassinate."
She sighed and nodded again. "I can agree wit you zat eet is qvuite difficult to keel such a top-level member, but it is not wizout it's possibilitees. 'E could 'ave been caught unaware or up against many strong enemies by 'imself." Red had to reluctantly agree that these were some acceptable possibilities. But Eva interrupted his thoughts again. "But I am also curious to see vut kind of creature could attack, keel, consume and digest someone such as Johann."
Red smiled at her blunt humour and stood up from his chair. "Leaving already?" Red patted her shoulder. "I'll come visit again. Have to let Sydney get a load of THIS. Thanks, Eva. I promise, I'll bring her next time." Eva let out a snide smile. "She is not ze only vun I vant to see." Red didn't respond but his body language was easily read as a giant 'how-did-she-know' triple question mark. He nodded anyway and took his leave. 'Oh, boy. This could get messy.'
Later in the conference room…
Sydney hummed with impatience. It was a rare sight to see her agitated and she knew it. But it couldn't be helped. All in the same day, her Dragon Child ward had been abducted and possibly influenced by her kidnappers, brought back a pair of wings yet to be determined belonging to whom and everyone was acting as if things like this happen everyday. It was excruciatingly frustrating. Anyone could tell at first glance that Sydney Lindren was NOT one for surprises. Nor did she like being kept waiting. And someone by the name of Eduard Cutter was about to find out just how much she didn't like it.
She was about to get up and start pacing (also a very un-Sydney-like character) when Eduard walked in carrying a few sheets of data. Sydney immediately impaled him with a glare. "What on earth could have taken you so long?" He looked up from the papers and smiled lazily. "Oh, nothing much." *insert melting smile here* Sydney growled and grabbed the papers. "Give me those." Eduard quickly reached to grab them back. "Wait, those aren't-." "Add two cups of flour to the batter while mixing gently and then add the eggs until turn's yell-." Eduard sighed. "…" Sydney looked up. "What is this?" He grabbed the papers back and grunted. "Nothing that would interest you. He reached behind him and pulled out another sheaf of papers. "These are the reports. Enjoy. Take your time." Sydney walked away and sat down with the practiced self-control of a truly well trained politician.
After a quick read-through (and when I say quick, I mean quick) Sydney dropped the papers onto the table and rested her chin in her hands, hand folded facing downwards. "Teeth marks…" Eduard simply nodded. "Then I suppose we would have to conclude that Hades has succeeded in creating a new breed of Thorakh. Ones not easily dealt with." Eduard came to collect the papers in a neat pile. Despite their appearances and attitude, he was the OCD neat-freak while she was the behind-the-scenes panic-attack-just-waiting-to-happen. "I've already doubled the training for all the members on account that information on newly developed Thorakh that have been produced. Sources remain trusted and private." She nodded and looked up at Eduard who was arranging the pages on a side table. "Thank you." She said softly. He knew this routine well enough and said nothing. Smiling happily on the inside, he bowed slightly. "I shall take my leave now if there is nothing else to see to." Sydney inclined her head. "I'll handle the rest. Take a break for now." This time he did smile and walked out.