Chapter 4: Soldier
"A soldier accepts personal responsibility for the safety
of the body politic of which it is a member, defending it,
if need be with his life."
Starship Troopers
Robert Heinlein
Memories flashed across closed eyelids. A hail of bullets. A sea of destruction. Corpses with familiar faces. Then.blackness. Total, infinite, complete dark. He was a soldier, willing to die for what he believed in. His memories turned to a violet-haired woman, gun held steadily at his head. She didn't understand and he didn't have time to explain. She thought he left for Julia. She was right but there was more to it. More that she had no knowledge of.
As consciousness returned, Spike remembered killing Vicious and he remembered his reasons. His friend, his former best friend, had lost his sanity completely. He lived only for destruction now. Mao was dead. Annie was dead. Julia too. Spike knew that he had to stop the killing and that meant stopping Vicious in the only way he knew how. He had no choice but to kill him. That didn't make it hurt any less.
He groaned softly. Everything hurt. He'd really done it this time. "Mr. Spiegal?" The voice was vaguely familiar but not worth opening his eyes for. "Mr. Spiegal, can you hear me?"
Heavy eyelids fluttered open at the insistence of the voice, already knowing what he would see. There were two men in suits on either side of the bed and another, the speaker, was at his bedside. They were all Syndicate.
Spike evaluated his injuries silently before speaking. Pain radiated from everywhere and it occurred to him that he must not be on much in the way of painkillers. Good for clarity, not so good for comfort. "What?"
"It's good to see you awake. Do you remember me?"
Spike focused on his face. "You were one of Mao's aids. Lucas, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Mao always wanted to pass his position on to you. He just thought he'd be around to do it formally."
Spike frowned. "I know what you're going to say and I don't want it. There has to be someone else."
Lucas shook his head. "There's no one." He sighed heavily. "If you don't take it someone else will and the Syndicate will destroy itself. It's already falling apart and you know what that means to the people who live within it."
It was Spike's turn to sigh. "I can't. Too many things have changed. I'm not the man I was when I worked for the Syndicate."
"You're all we have."
"The elders won't accept me as leader. I was a traitor." Memories of the life he left behind long ago flashed before one of his eyes and visions of the future across the other.
"They don't have a choice. They'll accept you or the entire organization will die." Lucas moved toward the door. "We'll all be wiped out by rival organizations. Everyone, even the ones who don't know they're a part of it. Think it over. I'll be back to get your answer. Rest now."
Spike's mind churned with possibilities. All but one brought about the destruction of the Syndicate and the deaths of innocent people. Not all of the people in the Syndicate were hardened criminals. Some of them were like Annie, good people who were just sucked in by others. Thoughts of Annie reminded him of the amount of death he had already been witness to and his decision became simple. As usual, Spike Spiegal was fighting for his life but this time thousands of other people depended on his ability to survive as well. The choice was made before Lucas even entered the room.
"A soldier accepts personal responsibility for the safety
of the body politic of which it is a member, defending it,
if need be with his life."
Starship Troopers
Robert Heinlein
Memories flashed across closed eyelids. A hail of bullets. A sea of destruction. Corpses with familiar faces. Then.blackness. Total, infinite, complete dark. He was a soldier, willing to die for what he believed in. His memories turned to a violet-haired woman, gun held steadily at his head. She didn't understand and he didn't have time to explain. She thought he left for Julia. She was right but there was more to it. More that she had no knowledge of.
As consciousness returned, Spike remembered killing Vicious and he remembered his reasons. His friend, his former best friend, had lost his sanity completely. He lived only for destruction now. Mao was dead. Annie was dead. Julia too. Spike knew that he had to stop the killing and that meant stopping Vicious in the only way he knew how. He had no choice but to kill him. That didn't make it hurt any less.
He groaned softly. Everything hurt. He'd really done it this time. "Mr. Spiegal?" The voice was vaguely familiar but not worth opening his eyes for. "Mr. Spiegal, can you hear me?"
Heavy eyelids fluttered open at the insistence of the voice, already knowing what he would see. There were two men in suits on either side of the bed and another, the speaker, was at his bedside. They were all Syndicate.
Spike evaluated his injuries silently before speaking. Pain radiated from everywhere and it occurred to him that he must not be on much in the way of painkillers. Good for clarity, not so good for comfort. "What?"
"It's good to see you awake. Do you remember me?"
Spike focused on his face. "You were one of Mao's aids. Lucas, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Mao always wanted to pass his position on to you. He just thought he'd be around to do it formally."
Spike frowned. "I know what you're going to say and I don't want it. There has to be someone else."
Lucas shook his head. "There's no one." He sighed heavily. "If you don't take it someone else will and the Syndicate will destroy itself. It's already falling apart and you know what that means to the people who live within it."
It was Spike's turn to sigh. "I can't. Too many things have changed. I'm not the man I was when I worked for the Syndicate."
"You're all we have."
"The elders won't accept me as leader. I was a traitor." Memories of the life he left behind long ago flashed before one of his eyes and visions of the future across the other.
"They don't have a choice. They'll accept you or the entire organization will die." Lucas moved toward the door. "We'll all be wiped out by rival organizations. Everyone, even the ones who don't know they're a part of it. Think it over. I'll be back to get your answer. Rest now."
Spike's mind churned with possibilities. All but one brought about the destruction of the Syndicate and the deaths of innocent people. Not all of the people in the Syndicate were hardened criminals. Some of them were like Annie, good people who were just sucked in by others. Thoughts of Annie reminded him of the amount of death he had already been witness to and his decision became simple. As usual, Spike Spiegal was fighting for his life but this time thousands of other people depended on his ability to survive as well. The choice was made before Lucas even entered the room.