Chapter 25
"Keep walking" Blaze orders the General as the two of them walk through a forest within a mile of RoboCy HQ.
General Petrov: "Where are you taking me?"
Blaze: "You see that building over there? Hundreds of civilians were taken there to be transformed against their will because of your alliance with Neo Chaos".
Petrov: "I don't know what you are talking about".
Blaze: "And I know exactly who you are".
They walk a further half mile until they reach an abandoned underground tunnel. Blaze then ties him up to one of the pipes on the wall of the tunnel.
"Those cyborgs in that building are already dead! I know this" he remarks.
Blaze: "And I've already freed them, well the ones who are still functioning humans. And all those scientists you funded to destroy this city are now dead. Just take a look over there".
She shines her torch at the back of the tunnel where three scientists in blood stained lab coats are hanging dead.
Petrov: "You don't know what you've done, you will die for this!"
Blaze lights up a ball of energy from her hand then takes down her hood. "That's what you said last time you tried to have me killed…. I wonder how long it will take to burn you alive".
Petrov glares at her with shock: "Why are you doing this!? I am a hostage here!"
Blaze: "Cut the bullshit. You still have no idea who I am do you? You persuaded my parents to have me killed but my father refused to do it so he sent me away. Then thanks to you, the rest of my family are now dead!"
Petrov looks at her with confusion "I don't understand".
Blaze: "Miraculously, somehow Mr X failed to kill you and now you are forever in his debt working alongside his syndicate. You fled to the Lima nations, changed part of your name and rose to power. Smart but I knew as soon as I saw you at City Hall that I had to kill you".
Petrov: "Who are you? What are you talking about? After the accident Dr Dham saved me. I owe him my life! I was born and bred in Lima and I will die in Lima!"
Blaze looks into his eyes realising that he has no recollection of her.
Blaze: "It's all a lie. You never had an accident, Dr Dham saved you alright but wiped your memory and made sure things would stay that way by sending you to Lima."
Petrov looks into her eyes: "Who are you?"
Blaze looks at him with sadness: "Blaze, your niece. You're supposed to be dead, Mr X killed you along with the rest of our family".
Petrov: "I have no niece. I don't know what you're talking about".
Blaze: "Once you ordered my parents to kill me, I'll never forgive you for that".
Without saying anymore, she takes out a petrol tank from her bag and pours the liquid over him.
Petrov shouts and pleads with her "No! Please don't! I don't remember you have the wrong person!"
Blaze: "It's too late for that, Uncle". She lights a small orb from her palm, ready to torch the General up in flames.
"WAIT!" calls a voice from the outside of the tunnel. As Blaze turns around when Axel runs in.
Blaze: "He's a traitor, just like Zan and he needs to die".
Axel: "he has access to the bombs we've been searching for. I can't let you do this"
Blaze: "Get out of my way, this is between my uncle and I!"
Axel: "your uncle? I thought he was dead".
Blaze: "Yeah well he is about to die" she creates another energy ball.
Axel: "Blaze I'm begging you not to do this, we need him alive".
Blaze: "What kind of man orders the murder of his 11 year old niece? He doesn't deserve to live!"
Axel stands in her way to stop her projecting the energy ball. "I'm sorry you had to go through that and when this is all over, you can do what you want with him but if we don't take him to sky tower by sundown, Electra will kill Tim's wife and daughter".
Blaze: "I set those civilians trapped in that building free last night, we don't need him to rescue two hostages or to find the bombs".
Axel: "I know you and I know your angry right now, you have every right to be but if you go through with this and an innocent woman and child dies when we could have prevented it, you won't be able to live with yourself".
Blaze closes her palm and sighs knowing that Axel is right.
Blaze: "Ok, have it your way". She walks away feeling defeated.
Axel: "Blaze, wait"
She turns around and gives him the 'what?' stare as Adam and Max walk past them to untie General Petrov.
Axel: "we need to talk".
Blaze replies unenthusiastically: "What is there left to talk about?" They start walking out of the tunnel deeper into the forest. It's noon so the day is much brighter than it was earlier when Blaze arrived here. As they walk further away from the tunnel, the smell of the fresh summers air kicks in and the winds blowing blossoms from the end of spring create a mixture of colours throughout the forest.
Axel: "Since you got your chi back, you seem different".
Blaze: "How?" She continues to walk slightly in front of him.
Axel: "Jet, the General, your anger with Zan, those scientists you hung…"
Blaze: "I'm just using this power for some good for once- to clean up the city."
Axel: "Are you still planning to kill Zan then?"
Blaze: "Is that what this 'talk' of yours is about? You're so concerned about your friend but he's a traitor, I have no disregard for traitors".
Axel: "no, you have no mercy on people who you think are your enemies. He made a mistake now Zan has to live with it."
Blaze stops and turns around to face him: "and where was that mercy when my enemies took my power away?" She turns her arm and raises the sleeve of her jacket to reveal the red circles still there from Dham's experiments.
Blaze: "I hate this world more than ever right now".
Axel: "and we will bring to justice and arrest every one of them in this world who took your power."
Blaze shakes her head: "No, I made myself a promise. The day I got my chi back is the day I kill all of those who ever made me suffer. General Petrov is just one of many lives I will end".
Axel: "You can't just go around and kill…"
Blaze: "You heard it yourself, I'm the one who will end this. I'm the chosen one who will destroy the Yamato warriors and the rest of the syndicate, that's my purpose. My power is stronger than yours and Shiva's put together".
Axel: "No it's not".
"Kikosho" she pushes two strong blue energy flames from the palms of her hands out in front of her that stop centimetres from Axel's face. He then counteracts with flames from his own hands. As they struggle to defeat each other's power, between them is a blinding green flame as a mixture of both of their chis.
The flame intensifies in a vacuum until they cannot see or hear one another even from a metre away from each other. It lasts for what seems minutes until eventually the vacuum sparks and the impact throws both of them apart backwards through the air then onto the ground.
It feels like it has been hours when Blaze finally opens her eyes and sees the top of the trees and the now cloudy sky. She catches her breath then crawls over towards Axel who seems to be lying on his back unconscious on the ground a couple of metres away.
Blaze nudges him: "wake up, we're ok. I hate to admit it but you were right".
She nudges his body again "come on wake up, your head will hurt when you adjust to the light… Axel?... oh my God, oh my God, no, no, please wake up". She starts to panic as she puts her hands on his face.
Blaze "come on, you have to wake up… I'm so sorry I did this, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. Axel?"
A few more seconds pass but there is still no response from him.
Blaze: "Please wake up… I love you so much".
He finally opens his eyes with a grin on his face that turns into hysterical laughter in front of a puzzled Blaze… "Ok I'll stop now!" he says.
Blaze slaps him across the shoulder "are you crazy?! Don't ever scare me like that again!"
Axel: "You're the one who wanted to test your chi against mine! And you admitted I was right… amongst other things". He looks up and gazes into her blue eyes before touching her face and leaning in to kiss her. She closes her eyes and suddenly feels like she is no longer alone. It's almost as if he knew all along what she was thinking.
"You can stop hating the world now" Axel calmly says to her as Blaze smiles back at him.
#Phone rings#
Axel: "Adam?... Yeah we're on our way".
That phone call couldn't of come at a worse time Blaze thinks to herself. If only that moment of serenity lasted forever.