Here we are, i had a bit of a writer's block and this chapter was a close call, but i would also like to dedicate this chapter to a friend of mine who just passed away, so this is for you C.R.M.!!!
Enjoy!!!!
Chapter 14: Old friend
"Commander we have an incoming call, its agents Cross and Logan."
"Bring them up on screen." Nick said.
The call was brought up on the big screen and all that was seen was a man surrounded in darkness.
"Sorry agents Cross and Logan are unavailable, would you like me to take a message?"
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Well I must say you've aged well since we last saw each other."
"What are you talking about, wheres Cross and Logan!?" Nick demanded.
"Don't worry they're my prisoners, but however we have unfinished business."
"Who are you?!" he demanded again.
He revealed himself from the shadows and it brought shock and fear to Nick as it was a face from the past.
"Ling?! it's impossible?!" he said stunned by the revelation.
"No actually it is, you just didn't finish the job, now I'm back and yes it's still inside of me but I now control it." Ling said.
"How did you manage that?" Nick asked.
"Let's just say the technology they used to cloned themselves saved me." Ling answered.
"A side effect...Now you're in no position to threaten me or the Alliance so let my agents go or else." Nick stated.
"And there you go again always making empty promises when we both know that you wont make a single threat stick." Ling said.
"You wanna try me." Nick said.
"Like you did ten years ago." Ling said.
Nick remembered what he was talking about, the incident ten years ago, his children were only in their teens and had just finished another day of high school and this day was like no other as they were abducted and taken to some undisclosed location by Ling who had escaped the cryo stasis prison with Agasas help but she was killed during the escape. They eventually located him to an abandoned villa out in the Philippines, the place was an old CIA safe house, Ling had learned of it and knew it would be the perfect place to exact his revenge. Nick decided to go alone as he knew this was personal, he entered the building with caution, he searched the place until he heard some sounds upstairs and crept up the stairs and heard it coming from a room upstairs, he listened in on the voices. "Why are you doing this??!!" "Little boy, this is all your father's fault, he thinks he's better than me!!! He destroyed my life, he imprisoned me in stasis, eight years...eight years in that personal hell but now I plan to take everything away from him just like he did to me...DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE??!!" Nick heard enough, he just kicked the door in and saw that his son and daughter were tied to chairs each and his son was itching as much as he was to get a piece of the madman while his daughter was gagged and had been crying her eyes out in fear. This just made him boil as he just raised his gun at Ling. "Ling!!! Let my kids go and surrender you've got no way out!!!" "Logan, I knew youd come as always and no I will not until you pay for what you did to me!!!" "You brought it on yourself, I'm gonna ask again surrender now or else." "You're threatening me? I have nothing to lose but you do!!!" He went over to a terrified 14 year old Raine and pulled her out of the chair snapping the ropes and dragged her towards him by her hair. Nick knew it was do or die, he had his gun pointed at him ready. "Looks like her doesn't she?" But as he went to take his gun out and pull the trigger John managed to get himself loose from his restraints and smack Ling in the face as John grabbed his sister fast and got out the way Nick did'nt hesitate and fired a few rounds off as they tore into the madman he stumbled and crashed through the window and fell out to the ground below. He quickly ran to the smashed window to see what was Ling's fate, he saw the blood but his view saw he fell into the ocean below. He went straight to his now traumatised children who had been through something they couldnt understand. Hours later the Alliance arrived and did a thorough search of the area but no sign of Ling, this did startle Nick but his main priority was to the welfare of his kids as he had to get them back to base and erase the last 24 hours from their minds using Alascano's machine. It was a close call but that day was glued to his mind as he knew at some point they would meet again.
As he snapped out of his small flashback both Shlainn and Raine came in and saw the infamous Keung Ling alive and well.
"Ah the entire family's here I can now begin the show." Ling said.
As his comm link cut to a clip of a dimly lit room with a man hung up by his hands and his face covered up by a sack and was shirtless as two men questioning him in Spanish and hitting him repeatedly in the body and the face.
The show continued with him being cut with a blade on his arms and one cut across his chest as a muffled scream was heard.
People watching the entire thing began to leave in disgust as some tried to look away but couldn't.
They then stopped and threw water over him and had these rods on them and some bolts of electricity came out of them, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going to happen next as they forced the rods of shimmering, deadly electricity into the vulnerable body of the prisoner whos muffled scream could be heard for the next several seconds until he seemingly passed out.
"Now then lets see whos behind the mask." Ling tauntingly said.
They took the sack off his face and it was revealed to be John, his face was covered in bruises and his head, upper nose and lips were cut as he hung from his wrists unconscious and then shot him up with the serum and took him away.
"Why it's your son, I have to be honest with you here but he was no fun, he passed out before I was about to get to the good stuff." he said mockingly.
Nicks blood began to boil like it had never done before as his wife was holding her distraught daughter after seeing that display of inhumanity, but the show wasnt finished as Ling appeared again.
"Now that was part one, heres part two, now your new boy, Travis Cross wasn't it? He was my favourite, he put up more of a fight and even let me get to the good stuff". he said.
As it cut to another clip of a man who was also strung up by his wrists with a sack over his head and was also shirtless as they all knew it was Travis.
They gave him the same amount of punishment as John but was beaten twice as bad as his interrogation involved, cutting tools, heated metal rods, drowning and electricity as they tried to beat information out of him.
As it went on people began to even leave to throw up even more as it was too unbearable, but the one person who was in more despair and fear was Raine, she couldnt even look away as she watched first her brother and now her partner being tortured as part of some sick mind game by a deranged madman.
Her eyes filled with nothing but tears as it went on, with them removing the mask and seeing he had taken equal amount of damage a John, as they were demanding answers from him again he spat blood in one of their faces as this just antagonised them as they beat him just as bad as before as it then showed him getting a shot as well as they then took him away.
Why do I know that man? I feel we've met before.
"So that was my little gift to you, now if you want your boys back I want a few things in return." Ling demanded.
"How do I know youre not going to go back on this?" Nick asked.
"Well you have a point but still I know you're a father first and an agent second so I suggest you hear what my demands are." he answered.
"Fine what are they?" he asked reluctantly.
"First I demand the Global Alliance release the prisoner known as Lance Smythe, second I want the prisoner in stasis chamber H....
Hearing that sent chills up Nicks spine as he knew what was contained there and planned for it to never be released into the world again.
"And third and finally I want the surrender of the Global Alliance!!!" he demanded to him.
"First of all I can make the first one happen, the second you dont want to do that, no one can control what's contained in there, that's why since weve contained it, it's never been spoken of again!!! And finally your third demand, the Alliance will not surrender to some twisted, gutless, spineless, bitter, nutjob like you!!!" Nick stated.
"NUTJOB??!! SPINELESS??!! BITTER??!! Oh you think I'm afraid of you!!! And I know I'm better than you...I'll show you...you'll see!!!!" Ling shouted as he cut off the comm link.
Ling turned to one of his men.
"Activate the soldierswe begin the attack now!!!" Ling ordered.
"But sir the board of directors said...
"I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY SAID, THIS IS MY REVENGE, SCREW THEM!!!" he shouted.
"What about the prisoners?" Malik asked
"Kill them they're no use now." Ling said.
As Malik ordered the kill to two guards.
"We'll see who's coward Logan." he said to himself.
Meanwhile Travis was explaining about his exploit in Taiwan.
"It took me several days to get to him due to the fact he was under armed guard and the village was under lockdown I had to trek through thirty miles of nothing but landmines, barb wire fences and collapsing trenches." he explained in detail.
"Wow, how did you get to him in the end?" John asked.
"I managed to steal one of the guards clothes and equipment to get myself into his fortress I was also able to lure the soldiers out of his panic room and make my move, he did put up a fight but having a knife fight with me is like a three year old against an adult in a boxing match...nuff said." Travis explained further.
"I just had a thought, if your mom is Banshee doesn't that make you one?" Travis asked.
"Well not really, you see there aren't any male Banshees only the females can become Banshee, so it means I don't have their powers or abilities I only got what my dad has." John explained.
"That explains it, so do you know that guy?" Travis asked.
"What that lunatic?! No not that I know of? But I felt like we met a long time ago." John answered confused.
Just then they heard footsteps and the door swung open with two guards dressed in black combat gear and a form of face wear come in armed.
They just opened the doors of their cells and brought them both out.
Both of them were still groggy and physically unable to defend themselves.
John was knocked in the back of the head and Travis was held back as the one raised his gun and aimed it on John.
Travis seeing this just had a burst of strength as he broke free and decked the one guy and grabbed the other guys gun and flipped him to the ground and then smashing him in the face with the backhandle of the gun, he then saw the other guy get up and threw the gun at him, he caught it and hit a high heel kick knocking him unconscious.
"A bit geared up for prison guards, guess they came to kill us, but why shoot us up with truth serum then decide to just kill us?" Travis asked.
"No idea but were out now and these guys are Vodun all right but they're not like the ones I've heard of." John said.
He then wanted a closer look at these guards and removed a helmet from one of them to see he was human and had also noticed there were some sort of device attached to the back of their necks.
Travis had noticed this and remembered the incident in Siberia, he didnt say anything about the control device until he remembered why it was significant to him but seeing it now made him think about it.
Now they have these, whats the connection to me?
"Travis, I have an idea." he said looking to the guards.
"Lay it on me, but let's get our wounds patched up before we move." Travis said.
John knew it was a good idea so Travis searched the place and on the wall next to the exit door was a first aid box and their equipment in a metal container.
Both of them had basic medical knowledge on how to stitch themselves up, they bandaged and sealed their wounds up.
"So what was your idea?" Travis asked.
"I thought about when you said you used an enemy's uniform to sneak past every guard, well why don't we use their uniforms and try to find out what their up to?" John explained.
"That's actually a good idea, let's do it." Travis agreed.
They took the gear off the guards and put it on themselves, as for the guards they threw them in their cells.
"How long are they gonna be out?" John asked.
"A few hours at least, gotta be honest here, these things are not comfortable." Travis said.
"Mine fits perfectly." John said.
"A little tight around the crotch though." Travis said irritantly.
"Oh yeah mine too." John said nervously.
They put on the masks and had the guns ready and exited the room they made it past several cells which held dead bodies in them as they just kept walking until they reached the stairwell, they exited the area and went up the flight of stairs and made it to the first floor.
As they opened the door they found an entire platoon of Human-Vodun soldiers just standing still like statues they hid behind some crates to see what was going on until they saw on an upper platform, Ling, Malik and Li'Kara.
"Are you sure the test subjects are ready to be used in actual combat?" Malik asked.
"Only one way to find out." Ling said.
The soldiers just moved as Ling looked at them and they began to march out to the main doors.
"Let's follow them." Travis said.
"Do you think they'll notice anything?" John asked.
"No idea, but we have to try." Travis said. As he slid into the line undetected.
John just shook his head.
God help me!!!
John just slid into the line undetected as well.
They all marched to a huge sort of platform which then opened some kind of portal as Ling, Malik and Li'Kara stepped through it the platoon followed as did John and Travis.
A flash of light had engulfed them and they ended up in a different location, as the both of them opened their eyes they looked around at their surroundings, they were on top of a small mountain and as soon as they moved forward, Travis quickly slid out of the line as did John and they hid behind some rocks.
"Where are we now?" Travis asked.
"Not sure but this all does look familiar." he said looking around.
"Well let's follow them and try to stick to the shadows." Travis said as they followed the platoon.
They followed them for miles until they stopped at a point where both John and Travis knew where they were.
"We go in you retrieve the subject, I begin the takeover and have my revenge and instigate Samedi's plan." Ling explained.
"Yes and soon we will give rise to a new empire." Malik said.
"In her vision, it will be magnificent." Li'Kara said.
They then marched forward and as both Travis and John heard what they said they looked over the rocks and saw what they were attacking.
"Oh crap, they're going for H.Q!!!" John said.
"Damn, let me try and get them on comms...dammit!!! I can't get a response, is there another way into the compound?" Travis asked.
"Yeah it's an emergency tunnel, it's a couple of miles away in an abandoned mineshaft." he answered.
"Let's do it, hopefully we can stop them in time!!!" Travis said as they raced to the mineshaft.
The alarm sounded with an explosion which rocked the parking lot of the bunker as some agents were sent to investigate it and were all armed as they then saw two men dressed in black holding a couple of hand cannons.
"Identify yourselves!!!"
They just stood there.
"I repeat identify yourselves, now!!!"
They still stood there completely still.
"Alright you have ten seconds to surrender right now or else!!!"
They then turned to them and raised their weapons.
"AHHHH!!!"
They began to march through the lot and they blasted the doors open and entered the main hall of the bunker.
As the smoke cleared the agents of the Alliance all armed their weapons and fired on the hostiles, they all got direct hits.
But they stood still as they just looked unfazed by the shots as they retaliated with shots of their own.
"AHHHHH!!!"
The screams of the agents were heard as the soldiers marched forward through the area and secured it.
Then walking through the smoke and smouldering bodies was Ling, Malik and Li'Kara, they surveyed the carnage that was before them and seemed pleased with the results.
"The field test was a success, now then let's begin the negotiations, open up a channel." Ling ordered.
Meanwhile down below the rest of the Alliance was in a ruckus from the explosion and the intruder alert that sounded, everyone was in turmoil as every staff officers were trying to restore some order in the bunker.
"Okay listen up weve lost contact with the reception area and we are switching to alert phase three, so all civilians please head for the medical bay, every available agent please standby." Fitz explained.
But as they began to do so the big screen flickered and displayed the image of the reception area and then the face from the past showed itself and that shiver crawled up Nicks spine.
"Who's the coward now Logan huh?!" Ling said.
Nick was speechless as he just did not know what to say.
"I've taken the liberty of disabling the security system so don't try to escape!!! I'd also like to introduce you to my creations, my triumph over you and your Alliance." he said showing his soldiers.
"You have no chance against us, surrender and I might consider letting you all live!!!" he said giving the ultimatum.
Nick looked back to the entire Alliance they had the look of defiance in their eyes as he went to give him an answer.
"We'll never surrender, especially to a nut job like you!!!" Nick stated.
They all agreed with his decision, as the entire Alliance stood defiant against the madman and his soldiers.
"Well I guess you've made your choice, why don't I give you a demonstration of their power." Ling said as it showed some Alliance agents being dragged into view.
As one of the soldiers then poised itself for hand to hand as then one of the agents was given a chance to fight, the agent landed a few hard strikes but the soldier just stood there like it was nothing, he grabbed the agent by the head and just crushed it like it was made of paper, all that was left was a headless corpse.
He then made another demonstration by giving another agent a gun to shoot the soldier, he fired one round, nothing, he fired another, still nothing, he emptied the entire clip into the soldiers body but he was unfazed from every shot as his wounds just healed rapidly as he just took out its gun and shot the agent point blank killing him.
The other soldiers just let loose a barrage of gunfire killing the other helpless agents.
"So I hope you made the right choice? see you soon." Ling said cutting transmission.
Nick knew this could be futile but he knew if theyd surrendered they wouldve been killed anyway as he then turned to his wife.
"Listen take Raine, Jim and every other civilian to the med bay, were gonna give you all time to escape. "Nick said quietly to her.
"You don't have to do this!!!" Sh'lainn pleaded with him.
"I can't let him unleash this evil on the world Im going to alert phase five, please get out of here." he pleaded with her.
He brought her close to him as they kissed.
She then took the everyone to the med bay, ready for their escape as Nick got the agents together for one final resistance against Lings forces.
As the others began to make their escape they went to open the emergency escape tunnel but as they did two of the soldiers emerged.
They were all terrified as they knew none of them had no chance as Sh'lainn just turned into her Banshee form ready to fight.
But the two soldiers threw down their weapons and were trying to say something as they then took their helmets off.
It was both Travis and John and was everyone happy to see them alive.
"John!!! You're...oh god, are you ok?" Katya rushed over to him as she surveying his bruised face.
"Travis!!! We thought you were both dead!!" Raine said rushing over to him also checking his injured face.
"Everyone else is about to fight them off while we escape." Sh'lainn told them.
"Ok but we're not going, we have to stop him, but the only problem is how?" John said.
Katya looked at the suit John wore and noticed there was something odd about it.
"What is it?" he asked.
"This attached to the belt here looks like a breathing apparatus." she said.
"Why do they need that for?" John asked.
"I suspect they cannot live in our atmosphere and they use these to keep them alive, without them they would choke on our air." Katya explained.
"So they have a weakness, but how do we turn these things off?" Travis asked.
"There should be a way but first we need to get you guys to safety." John said.
"Yeah and you need to go with them." Travis said to him sternly.
"What are you talking about, I'm coming with you!!!" John answered back.
"No, you're not, they need you to protect them." Travis said.
"Yeah but you need my help if you're gonna take them down!!!" John said.
Travis grabbed John by the shoulders and just came out with it.
"John listen to me!!! You've got something to lose!!! I've got nothing to lose!!!" Travis shouted to him.
John was taken aback by that statement.
"Now do me a favour, keep them safe." he said.
"Ok I'll do that, but before you go I need to say something." John said.
"I respect you." he said straight.
Travis was taken aback by what he had said.
"The serum must be going into overdrive." Travis said.
"No I'm saying this outta my own accord, listen please save my dad and stop them." he said.
"Yeah, I'll do what I can, just get everyone to safety." he said as he was leaving to help the others.
"Travis?" It was Raine who has mentally invaded his thoughts. "Yeah?" he answered. "Be careful, please, save my father and come back in one piece, for me. "she said. "I'll bring your father back and I'll probably be in more than one piece." he said. "Better not be, you're no good in that state." she said. "You be careful too, I got a psycho to deal with!!!" he said.
Travis made his way to the stairwell.
Maybe this is the one...the one I won't come back from.
So he's decided to go alone and assist the others and try and stop these soldiers. Will they stop the evil plot of Ling, Malik and Li'Kara? who is his thing in stasis chamber H?
What you think? Reviews please!!!