Chapter 29
"Rip, if you ever come this close to death again, I'm not sure I can bring you back," Sabra said putting a bandage on my back. "Damnit, this is worse than what happened to you when we were caught in the ki ropes."
I kept myself silent. I had gotten some rest earlier. Sabra and bandaged me up, right now she was cleaning them again and redressing the wound, and I had gotten to tell my story.
"I'm sorry, Rip," she said. "I had let him play with some other children on the floor with the balloons."
"It's not your fault," I said. "It's mine. Don't blame yourself for my mistakes."
"But it wasn't…."
"Yes it is!" I yelled. "All of this happened because of me and my mistakes. Everything that's going wrong is because of my mistakes!" Everyone had stopped and looked at me. It was my fault. All my fault.
"Rip, it isn't your fault the Visser came back to life," Rat Trap said. "You killed him that day. We saw it and we can vogues for it."
"Then how did he come back?" Keensan spoke up.
"Crayak," I said.
"Who?" That's right they had no idea about Crayak or the Ellimist for that matter.
"I have dreams sometimes," I replied. "About this eye, this huge eye that stares me down. It keeps trying to control me at times. There are other things in those dreams of course but the eye is what matter. On Earth an alien approached me, an Ellimist."
"Are you serious?!" Zane demanded. "You've actually talked to an Ellimist? Jake told me they've encountered them before, but I never really thought much of it."
I nodded. "I met him there on Earth. He told me the 'eye' was a being called Crayak. That he wanted me to play in his chess game of wars. However, he can't seem to get his dirty hands on my directly for some reason like he can any other person. So he uses the people and beings around me to manipulate me and con me into things. And now, now he's brought back the Visser from the dead, along with near perfect clones of myself, and he has kidnapped my son. Using him as bait for my death and I am sure without a doubt he'll used my baby for what ever evil plan he has in that sick mind of his." My fist clutched together and a low growl escaped my throat. "He is not going to get away with this!"
"There has to be away around this," Zane said. "You said yourself he can't have direct control over you, which means you are in fact more powerful than him. We have to find what he's using to pull your strings. Who he's using and how he's doing it. Also, you your clones were near perfect copies of yourself, how did you figure that?"
"There eyes were green," I said. "Other than that, they are perfect like me. Only perhaps more perfect, because they don't have a soul like I do or a conscience for that matter." Sabra tended to a wound on my arm.
"It's not a good idea for you to go after them right now," she said. "Not even your body could take it anymore. And, I hate to say it Rip, it has also become weaker these past few years."
"Weaker?" Copper questioned. "How can that happen?"
"Child birth weakens every woman's body permanently," Sabra replied. "Especially woman with so thin of blood like Rip does."
"Which is another advantage they have over her," Rat Trap pointed out. "They've never had a kid."
I remained silent. I had nothing to reply to that, especially with Copper right there. Grae was indeed our son. How was I supposed to talk about him with his biological father standing right there in front of me? How could they talk like that with the both of us here? Or, with Copper's expecting wife there as well.
The poor girl felt so betrayed when she found out that Grae was Copper's son. I don't blame Copper for keeping it secret. I haven't even told Kerry whose Grae's real father is. Of course when he got older she would be able to tell no matter what. Keeping it secret from the world was what we wanted. Copper, Cray, and myself. Speaking of Cray, that jerk wasn't even around!
"I have not time to find the way around it," I finally spoke out.
"Hmm?"
"I have no time," I replied. "Crayak and the Visser will do something to Grae by that time. I have to act as soon as possibly. I should be acting at this very second, but I'm sitting here listening to a bunch of crack pot ideas that'll take time to figure out. Time is something I don't have!" I stood up.
"Rip, you can't," Sabra said. "You're not in the condition!"
"I don't care," I said. "I have the enough will to get out of this mess and I will. And I'll bring my son out of it as well. They won't have him. They won't make him another me."
"Rip, how do you expect to do anything right now?" Copper demanded. "What do you plan on doing?"
"I'm going to do what I should've done in the first place," I replied. "I'm gonna surrender myself to it."
There was a short gasp from everyone who knew.
"I'm gonna let myself just surrender," I said. "She's been aching to come out for a long time. It's been awhile sense she's tasted blood."
"Grreh, Rip, don't you dare start with that crap again!" Copper yelled. "You almost didn't come back last time! There's chance you won't come back this time! There's a chance we'll loose you forever!"
"I know that," I said, looking down. "I know the risk of that. But, I'm willing to take if for Grae. If it's the only thing that can save him right now, I'm willing to take that chance."
"Rip, there's a chance you can die if you do something like that!" Sabra yelled.
"I know that!" I yelled. "I know! But there's something you don't know you damn cat!"
"Eh?"
"I am a mother!" I yelled. "I don't care what the expense is to save my son! I don't give a rat's ass what happens to me. If it can save my son and give him his chance, then that's all I care about! That is something you will never understand unless you become one yourself. Nothing matters about yourself anymore when you have a child, nothing! Because your child is your everything. Your child is all you have and is all that matters." I felt my soul become weak and I began to cry. "I don't care; I just want to get him out. I don't care."
The room was full of silence. No one in that room had expected words of any of that matter to come out of my mouth. These were the people that knew me my whole life. They never expected something like that from me. I said it though and did I mean it. I changed. Right before their very eyes I had changed. They kept treating me like I was the person that was at the end of the war. They realized how wrong they were for doing that.
"Now," I breathed. "I need help rescuing my son now. Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month, but right now!" Everyone stood there. They didn't know what to say or what to do anymore. What to do with me. I breathed a few times. "I'm going now. Thanks for the treatment and rest." I began to walk forward.
"Rip, hold up!" Copper ran to my side. "I'm coming with you."
I nodded at him.
"Copper!" Dusty scolded.
He looked at me. "One second alright BG?" I simply gave him a nod. He went over to his wife and grabbed her shoulders. "Dust, listen, this is something I have to do. Don't worry, I've been in worse situations before."
"It's not that, she has no right to…!"
"Dusty, you are my wife and I wouldn't change that for the world," he cut her off. "Sindel Rip Raptor is my best friend, and I wouldn't change that for the world either. Right now, my best friend needs my help." He took her face and kissed her. "I'll come back safe." Her eyes watered up and she nodded.
He turned back to me. I was smiling at him and gave him a nod. "As for the rest of you," I said. "Do us all a favor, and pray."
* * * * * * * *
"So where is the Visser located at?" Copper asked.
"The base," I replied. "Our base. No telling how many people he and Crayak slaughtered to get that base." My fists clutched together "They're coming."
"What?"
Sure enough my freak clones bladed their way from the building in front of us. They had the same grins they had on there face as they did before. And, their chuckles were the same. It was as if they were children that were easily amused. At least this time Copper could possibly ward off one while I took down the other. If I could just kill one then the other wouldn't stand chance.
"You were wrong, Rip," Copper said.
"How's that?"
"They are nothing like you," he replied. "You're way much hotter."
"Thank you for pointing that out to me," I replied. I didn't find it funny, even though I knew he was saying that to cheer me up. I was in no mood for cheering. I was just looking forward to a little blood spill. I knew my eyes were glistening. I knew they were darker than usual. I knew he knew it too. I couldn't afford to hold back anything. "Alright ladies, let's dance."
Black decide I was her prey and red decided Copper was hers. I didn't have to worry about Copper. He was faster than even me. And, if he was faster than me, than he was faster than them. I grabbed Black's head has she came for me. She looked up at scoldingly as if I wasn't supposed to do that. Boy was she in for a surprise. I flung her over my shoulder and slammed her into the ground. I didn't let go of here though. I lifted her up again and slammed her again and again into the cement ground. Yes, I was a different fighter when I was angry. Don't get me angry.
My little joy ride was ruined when she grabbed my legs and brought me down with her. We twisted around until we were both on out feet again staring dead at each other. She glanced at her sister. Red was having a hard time actually catching Copper. They both wanted to team up and get rid of us one at a time, but they couldn't without of us jumping them. And they knew if I jumped on them I'd kill them. I was going to kill them either way. I smirked in the back of my consciousness. The Visser and Crayak didn't expect me to get angry. "C'mon sweetheart, what are you waiting for?" I asked. "Whether it's quick or slow, you're going to die. And, so are those two 'masters' of yours."
She frowned at me. I was too confident for her. I was getting on her nerves. I wasn't in any better shape than I was when she last messed with me, but I was more confident than ever. It was because I let a piece of myself loose. I could do something she couldn't. She decided she was dawdling too much and came back for me.
"Good choice," I smirked. I braced myself as if I was gonna counter attack with my body but instead I merely held out my hands. Black stopped in her tracks, even before I could make her do so at my own will. "What's wrong? Now you want a slow death?" I was smug, I knew that. "Too bad you're not a perfect copy." I laughed at myself. I wander what Crayak and the Visser were thinking when I said that. I know I was getting big headed. So what, I was having fun. With a movement of my hands Black was into the wall and then back to me. "I've been practicing."
Black stood there on her knees in awe. She could not believe that I got the best of her. She was struggling to break from me. She was just not understanding. And here I was wandering why I hadn't done this in the first place. It would've been so much easier.
"I'm sorry, Rip. I tried."
"You did fine, don't worry about it."
"I…I…"
Now wake up and let me kill.
Oh, that was the reason why. "Greh!" I threw her against the brick wall. I couldn't afford to let it happen again.
Why not? It was fun.
I had slaughtered people. I slaughter the innocent along with the guilty.
They were better off dead.
I did it in front of the people I care about.
So what. It's not as if they didn't expect it. You are the weapon after all. They didn't expect to do the mass murders themselves. They all depended on you to do it. It was because they knew that you could and that you would.
"Would you shut up!" I yelled. The last thing I needed was my inner demons messing with my head right now.