Freedom Fighter

ACT 4

Chapter 34: Someone's knocking

Trix shouted at her men and they ran; guns blazing- shooting at every booby trap Aiden threw at them. She knew where they were hiding. This was a bunker that the city's main security contractors had abandoned years ago.

And according to her bribed sources there was a back entrance hidden behind a dumpster. Not a very clever place to hide it, but hey, the man who built the secret tunnel was a drunk most of the time anyway.

Steadlers marched behind her as she walked to the hidden entrance. Her men fell to the floor like dead flies, but she could hardly care about them. She came here for one thing only. Trix shoved away the empty trash bin- bouncing off the bricks with a clang- and stared at the deadbolt hatch.

"That's things not coming open unless someone's knocking." She snapped her fingers and one Steadler stepped forward. "Burn it open- I want to be in that bunker before I can say blockhe-" The door swung open.

Trix blinked and stopped mid sentence. "Well I'll be damned." Hiro's eyes adjusted to the piercing light and covered his eyes with his hand. The woman smiled behind her helmet and snapped her fingers. "Tie him up!" The Steadler shot forward and before Hiro could even vocalise his surprise he was cuffed and dumped into the dirt.

The little hybrid struggled, kicking up soil. Trix rolled her eyes and took her prodder- slamming it into his side. Hiro shouted into the air as electricity abused his blood and made him burn.

He writhed, his hands begging to be released, and pushed his head into the ground. Trix smiled and increased the voltage. Hiro screamed, his throat burning as much as his insides. He didn't realize he was seeing black until his throat stopped working. He fell to the ground as limp as a wilted flower.

Trix buckled her prodded and kicked him in the side. "No one escapes the arena." She snapped her fingers and a Steadler picked him up by the tied hands with ease. "We're leaving." The gunfire behind her popped and the last booby trap was destroyed.

"Frag their little hole and move out!" One of her men nodded and removed a grenade from his belt. He ran to the hatch and pulled the pin. "Fire in the hole!" he shouted down before throwing it. Her remaining men ran to their vehicles- got in and drove off- letting the rubber on their wheels screech as they chased over the hacked bridge and into the city.

The Steadler threw Hiro into the back of the armoured vehicle and Trix raced away- her minions running to get in as well. A minute later the grenade went off- setting light to the sky as a chain reaction was triggered.

All the bombs in the bunker went off in concord and fire ate at the occupants. She smiled. "The Fox and the Hound won't be bothering us anymore." Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. 'And neither will Baxter Blockhead.'

The doors to the vehicle clanged shut and locked in place. "Good work, boys, tonight you'll have your reward." She peeked through the small plastic slot at her little bargaining chip. "And you'll get yours."

Tadashi and Aiden coughed as they crawled out of the smoky remains of their base. Flecks of fire rained down and twirled in the air. He dumped the two boxes on the ground and sunk into the soot already covering it.

His chest rose and fell as he stared into the splatter of stars above. "They got Hiro." Aiden brushed flecks from his trench coat. "They got Hiro." He repeated like a broken record. The heat caressed his cheeks- even from a distance- and bathed them in demon light.

The man got up and trudged through the long grass. Tadashi looked at him. "Where are you going?" He didn't stop walking. "If you hit a wall push through it."He jumped up. "My brother just got kidnapped and you're acting like I lost a roll of toilet paper!"

Aiden stopped walking and turned to him. "We've got a job to do- a duty to the entire city- we can't just sit here and sulk!" He didn't raise his voice, but he spoke with conviction. Tadashi stepped closer; over the rocks and weeds. "My duty is to my brother and he just got taken away by someone who can kill him!"

The man straightened himself- ignoring the soot gathering on his cap and his shoulders. "You asked for Biltong, but I gave you the bull. And if you mess with the bull you get the horns. We're dealing with a demon bull over here- a demon bull with guns and a shitload of evil demon minions. We can sit here and sulk, or we can plan on how to make Biltong out of the beast."

He turned around and walked off- removing his phone in the process. Tadashi stared at him, his lips drawn tight, and his eyebrows lowered. His shoulders sagged. "I hate it when people are right." He grabbed the boxes and ran after the man.

"Jordy, just get me the car."

Tadashi came to a halt a few steps behind him. He was swearing into the phone. "I know you already gave me a car, but it got shot to hell by demons." His hands tightened around the phone. "Jordy, I swear if you don't get me that car-"

Aiden took a deep breath and his shoulders relaxed. "Leave it at Dot Connection- yeah the club- I'll pick it up there." The man turned around and looked at him with narrowed eyes. He shoved his phone in his jacket.

"I'm going to take you to one of my Hideouts. You build those chips while I look for your brother- you don't strike me as a fieldwork person. You've got one day. After that the man comes to get your brother and you'll never see him again."

Tadashi swallowed and his insides shattered. His hands tightened around the boxes as flames rained down on them. Another explosion rocked the ground and he turned around- watching the building on the island burn.

A flash snapped behind him and he turned. Aiden looked at the photo. He shrugged. "For the portfolio." Tadashi stared at the burning bunker. A page floated on the wind and landed in the grass- singed at the sides.

It was a page from Hiro's book.

The corners blazed and glowed. The picture of a smouldering arena with Hiro fighting against Steadlers seethed into his mind; never to be erased.

When he'd told his brother to draw anything he didn't think a memory would be shown on paper from a past best left burned.

"The childhood years are the best years of your life... Whoever coined that was an unimaginative fuckwit, a bullshit artist supreme. Life gets better the older you grow, until you grow too old of course."

-Keri Hulme

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