Chapter 10
Why won't you be a good boy and Die?
"Wow, this place is really nice." Samantha said in a tone of wonder. Eric nodded as he hopped the gate. He knocked out two guards and opened it up so Samantha and his partners could walk through.
"Come on, Pat should be in the dungeons." Eric said coldly.
"I'll take nimrod with me on an annoyance run to keep the heat off your backs." Draken said grabbing Streaker and jogging to a clear opening. Eric led Samantha to two giant double doors and waited until they heard the shouting of guards. As soon as they did they moved in quietly. Eric moved quickly down a flight of stairs and walked along the dungeon walls. He then saw something that caught his eye.
"Is that my imagination, or did I just see." Eric started.
"Electricity? I saw it also." Samantha finished. Eric walked over to the cell and peered inside.
"Who the hell are you?" came a disturbingly familiar voice.
"My name is Diss, who's that?" Eric lied.
"My name is bobo the monkey." The voice replied. Eric stood for more than a half second too long as the walls near the door erupted open, and Shaun and clone Shaun made their way out of the debris. The door fell flat on its back revealing Diss who lobbed a punch at Eric and connected. Paul got between Eric and Diss and looked at Samantha.
"Not you again." Paul muttered. Samantha jumped into Diss' arms and began kissing him wildly.
"OH PATRICK I FOUND YOU!" Samantha yelled. Diss dropped her.
"I'm Diss, Pat's locked up in a cell." Diss said slowly.
"THERE ARE THREE OF YOU GUYS?" Samantha said confused. Diss nodded as clone Paul grabbed Samantha by the hand and Paul picked up Eric.
"Come on, we need to find Pat now."
"He can't know I'm here just yet," Samantha said quickly.
"What?" Paul asked confused.
"As far as Patrick goes, I'm not here," Samantha growled.
~*~
Patrick leaned back against the wall as he sighed. A large racket was going on and no doubt he would be blamed. He looked over as the door opened. Paul popped his head in and smiled.
"Room Service," Paul joked stepping forward.
"Leave now before you get me in trouble!" Patrick yelled at him.
"What?"
"You heard me, get your lazy butt out of here!"
Paul sighed, "Once again you're going to force me to save your ass."
Patrick's hand went alive with fire and he held it in front of him, "Just try it. You'll be well done before you even get a finger on the chains."
Paul stood where he was, "You're that determined to sit here and rot?"
"Yes I am. I don't need nor do I want your help. Now leave me be. I want to die a slow non-painful death, not one for escaping," He shouted. Paul backed up before he muttered something and motioned to someone he couldn't see. Shaun walked in and threw an unconscious Dissinger on the floor. Then another one stepped into the room. "We got him? How did that happen?"
"Long story, now you coming or not?" Paul asked irritably.
"Lets just wait a couple of days to clear our names then we can leave him to whatever the hell Viper wants with him. Please?" Patrick asked looking him in the eyes.
"Alright, but if anything happens to the contrary its all-"
"My fault I got it," Patrick finished for Paul.
"So what do we do with poster boy?" Shaun asked.
"See those chains over there?" Patrick asked nodding his head over to the wall next to him.
"Yeah?" Shaun asked.
"Put him in those and get back in your cell. The rest will be taken care of got it?" Patrick said earnestly.
"I sure hope so." Shaun said threateningly.
~*~
If Fate ever felt a moment of pure hate it sure was now. Not only did he get screwed over by the girl, but now his plans had a wrench thrown in them. Lynx walked into the room with a little box. Fate looked at it and then to Lynx who shoved a triangular object into his mouth.
"They call it.pizza." Lynx said amused with a long piece of cheese dripping from his mouth. He twirled it around his finger and then ate the piece.
"Where did you dig that from?" Fate said icily.
"It came from the world where our 'friends' came from. Very intriguing." Lynx said with his mouth full. Fate swiped the box away and glared at Lynx.
"We are being screwed left and right and I have no idea who this girl is. She did a nice job messing up our plans and now we need to develop a new defense system for Chronopolis!" Lynx looked at his pizza on the ground.
"Her name is Samantha, and she is very close to Patrick." Lynx said coldly. Fate looked at Lynx like he was on fire.
"How do you know this?" Lynx sighed.
"I did my homework. I dug that information up along with the pizza." Fate grumbled a few vulgar phrases before he sat down.
"Okay, let's get to work on the defense." Lynx took a seat by him.
~*~
Paul shut the cell door and grinned as the others began to curse loudly.
"Sorry guys, I had to do it." Paul left the dungeons and went outside. The first thing he saw was Steena and Miguel tied up to a tree being guarded by a big muscular guy and a small skinny one next to him. Paul growled deeply as he walked up to the two men.
"Streaker, sic him!" the skinny man said. The muscular man made a move towards Paul before he was blasted into the tree by Paul's electrical blast. The skinny guy cursed and began to chant. But before he could finish his spell he was twitching violently on the ground. Steena and Miguel both smiled as Paul untied his friends.
"Thanks! Christy is." Steena started. Paul naturally turned around to see Christy walking up.
"Hi-ya!" she said cheerfully. Paul turned back to Steena and held her closely to him. Then Henry the squirrel jumped onto Steena's head, then jumped onto Miguel's hat getting comfy.
"Henry tried to gnaw through the ropes." Miguel explained. "But the wires were too tough for him." Paul nodded as he led the others back inside the manor into the cells. He opened the door and everyone walked inside.
"I hope Pat finishes acting like a stupid moron. I really want out of this hell hole." Paul said tiredly. Christy and Steena both nodded as Samantha walked by.
~*~
Finally after three days the entire group was assembled in Viper Hall. Samantha was hiding in a hooded cloak towards the back out of Patrick's immediate sight. Patrick on the other hand was a wreck. A beard now covered his face and his eyes had a deep look to them as he looked very tired. He was leaning on his staff barely conscious to the world around him.
"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting," Viper said walking into the hall from his private room.
"So nice of you to stop by; come to give us a formal goodbye?" Patrick said dryly.
"Calm down Pat, it's not his fault mate," Kid said. Patrick turned to the group.
"Yes, for you guys it might not be his fault, but for me? He could have pulled Karsh off at anytime he saw fit. Instead he decided to let him do his thing. For that I hold him personally responsible," Patrick replied giving a glare that would have melted steel.
"And for that I offer my sincerest apologies. The way you resisted arrest had made it seem like you were the kidnapper so I decided that Karsh should be let loose on you. Unfortunately we found out too late that it was this Eric fellow," Viper began.
"So you see the unethical treatment of a fellow human is necessary when it involves your own daughter?" Patrick cut him off.
"You've made your point Pat," Serge said putting a hand on his shoulder only to be shrugged off.
"I'm still not through," Patrick growled. He pointed accusingly at Viper. With him leaning on his staff it made him appear like an old man. He continued his rant, "Viper I know more about you than you realize. And if I knew this back when I first met you I would have never come here again." He tiredly dropped his arm before he spoke the last of his speech, "I just hope you have enough decency to learn from your mistakes."
Viper stood calmly taking in the entirety of Patrick's words before he spoke slowly, "I realize that you were unnecessarily harmed and on a couple of occasions nearly killed. I would have expected a Deva to show more restraint in his interrogations, however with the kidnapping of my daughter it made it personal to every one of my men. I am offering an apology to everyone involved in this. Including the loved ones of those imprisoned."
Patrick suppressed the angry retort that Diss knew would have come. Diss stepped forward speaking for the group, "Thank you, we accept your apology."
"I'm not finished, much like your vocal friend," Viper continued, "I have decided to register you all for a cruise aboard the local cruise liners. This is in addition to the apology I've given you. You are all fighters and I thought a little rest and relaxation could help you reach your respective peaks again."
"Again we accept," Diss spoke clearly. He stepped forward to meet with Viper turning only briefly to the others. "You guys go ahead onto Termina, I'll finish the details."
Patrick merely nodded before he turned to leave still tired from the torture room. He moved at a slower pace leaving him straggling. Samantha fell back to help him out of pure force of habit. He shrugged off her helpful hand as they stepped outside for the first time in days. "I don't want nor do I need any special help!"
Samantha finally decided now was the time to reveal herself she pulled back the hood stepping in front of him and stopping him with her hand, "I know that, but right now you aren't at your best and I'll be damned if you collapse from fatigue before you get to a bed."
Patrick stood there taking her appearance in before he spoke, "So Belthazar kept up his end of the agreement."
"What are you talking about?" Samantha asked coldly.
"Its nothing, I'm just glad you're with us," Patrick mumbled before moving on. He continued to use the staff like walking stick leaning on it to move forward as he did so. Samantha stood where she was a second before she rushed to his side.
"So I save your ass and you're telling me that you were expecting all this?" She yelled at him. The group stopped looking back at them as Patrick sighed facing her.
"I asked for you to be brought back so you could help me," He said exasperated. "If I had remembered half of how annoying you could get I would have chosen someone else."
The group stood in shock. The words had been said. It was only a matter of time before she did something. Christy tried to jump into both their minds but both blocked her access. Finally Kid spoke up, "Pat mate, why ya so mean?"
"Because he's tired, and he's always an ass when he's tired. I thought even Christy could have answered that," Samantha gave the reply. Christy started moving forward only to be restrained by Diss. She turned to face him expectantly only to receive a look that stopped her cold.
"Let them work it out," He said softly. "For once let others solve their problems; we don't need to solve every one." Christy tried to contain her anger nodding briefly.
"I believe we have a long journey before us to get to Termina. I would suggest we start now unless you are still too shocked to realize that in order to walk you need to put one foot in front of the other," Patrick said coldly moving through the gate still leaning on the staff for support.
The others had very little choice but to take the abatement and follow him to Termina.
"Wow, this place is really nice." Samantha said in a tone of wonder. Eric nodded as he hopped the gate. He knocked out two guards and opened it up so Samantha and his partners could walk through.
"Come on, Pat should be in the dungeons." Eric said coldly.
"I'll take nimrod with me on an annoyance run to keep the heat off your backs." Draken said grabbing Streaker and jogging to a clear opening. Eric led Samantha to two giant double doors and waited until they heard the shouting of guards. As soon as they did they moved in quietly. Eric moved quickly down a flight of stairs and walked along the dungeon walls. He then saw something that caught his eye.
"Is that my imagination, or did I just see." Eric started.
"Electricity? I saw it also." Samantha finished. Eric walked over to the cell and peered inside.
"Who the hell are you?" came a disturbingly familiar voice.
"My name is Diss, who's that?" Eric lied.
"My name is bobo the monkey." The voice replied. Eric stood for more than a half second too long as the walls near the door erupted open, and Shaun and clone Shaun made their way out of the debris. The door fell flat on its back revealing Diss who lobbed a punch at Eric and connected. Paul got between Eric and Diss and looked at Samantha.
"Not you again." Paul muttered. Samantha jumped into Diss' arms and began kissing him wildly.
"OH PATRICK I FOUND YOU!" Samantha yelled. Diss dropped her.
"I'm Diss, Pat's locked up in a cell." Diss said slowly.
"THERE ARE THREE OF YOU GUYS?" Samantha said confused. Diss nodded as clone Paul grabbed Samantha by the hand and Paul picked up Eric.
"Come on, we need to find Pat now."
"He can't know I'm here just yet," Samantha said quickly.
"What?" Paul asked confused.
"As far as Patrick goes, I'm not here," Samantha growled.
~*~
Patrick leaned back against the wall as he sighed. A large racket was going on and no doubt he would be blamed. He looked over as the door opened. Paul popped his head in and smiled.
"Room Service," Paul joked stepping forward.
"Leave now before you get me in trouble!" Patrick yelled at him.
"What?"
"You heard me, get your lazy butt out of here!"
Paul sighed, "Once again you're going to force me to save your ass."
Patrick's hand went alive with fire and he held it in front of him, "Just try it. You'll be well done before you even get a finger on the chains."
Paul stood where he was, "You're that determined to sit here and rot?"
"Yes I am. I don't need nor do I want your help. Now leave me be. I want to die a slow non-painful death, not one for escaping," He shouted. Paul backed up before he muttered something and motioned to someone he couldn't see. Shaun walked in and threw an unconscious Dissinger on the floor. Then another one stepped into the room. "We got him? How did that happen?"
"Long story, now you coming or not?" Paul asked irritably.
"Lets just wait a couple of days to clear our names then we can leave him to whatever the hell Viper wants with him. Please?" Patrick asked looking him in the eyes.
"Alright, but if anything happens to the contrary its all-"
"My fault I got it," Patrick finished for Paul.
"So what do we do with poster boy?" Shaun asked.
"See those chains over there?" Patrick asked nodding his head over to the wall next to him.
"Yeah?" Shaun asked.
"Put him in those and get back in your cell. The rest will be taken care of got it?" Patrick said earnestly.
"I sure hope so." Shaun said threateningly.
~*~
If Fate ever felt a moment of pure hate it sure was now. Not only did he get screwed over by the girl, but now his plans had a wrench thrown in them. Lynx walked into the room with a little box. Fate looked at it and then to Lynx who shoved a triangular object into his mouth.
"They call it.pizza." Lynx said amused with a long piece of cheese dripping from his mouth. He twirled it around his finger and then ate the piece.
"Where did you dig that from?" Fate said icily.
"It came from the world where our 'friends' came from. Very intriguing." Lynx said with his mouth full. Fate swiped the box away and glared at Lynx.
"We are being screwed left and right and I have no idea who this girl is. She did a nice job messing up our plans and now we need to develop a new defense system for Chronopolis!" Lynx looked at his pizza on the ground.
"Her name is Samantha, and she is very close to Patrick." Lynx said coldly. Fate looked at Lynx like he was on fire.
"How do you know this?" Lynx sighed.
"I did my homework. I dug that information up along with the pizza." Fate grumbled a few vulgar phrases before he sat down.
"Okay, let's get to work on the defense." Lynx took a seat by him.
~*~
Paul shut the cell door and grinned as the others began to curse loudly.
"Sorry guys, I had to do it." Paul left the dungeons and went outside. The first thing he saw was Steena and Miguel tied up to a tree being guarded by a big muscular guy and a small skinny one next to him. Paul growled deeply as he walked up to the two men.
"Streaker, sic him!" the skinny man said. The muscular man made a move towards Paul before he was blasted into the tree by Paul's electrical blast. The skinny guy cursed and began to chant. But before he could finish his spell he was twitching violently on the ground. Steena and Miguel both smiled as Paul untied his friends.
"Thanks! Christy is." Steena started. Paul naturally turned around to see Christy walking up.
"Hi-ya!" she said cheerfully. Paul turned back to Steena and held her closely to him. Then Henry the squirrel jumped onto Steena's head, then jumped onto Miguel's hat getting comfy.
"Henry tried to gnaw through the ropes." Miguel explained. "But the wires were too tough for him." Paul nodded as he led the others back inside the manor into the cells. He opened the door and everyone walked inside.
"I hope Pat finishes acting like a stupid moron. I really want out of this hell hole." Paul said tiredly. Christy and Steena both nodded as Samantha walked by.
~*~
Finally after three days the entire group was assembled in Viper Hall. Samantha was hiding in a hooded cloak towards the back out of Patrick's immediate sight. Patrick on the other hand was a wreck. A beard now covered his face and his eyes had a deep look to them as he looked very tired. He was leaning on his staff barely conscious to the world around him.
"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting," Viper said walking into the hall from his private room.
"So nice of you to stop by; come to give us a formal goodbye?" Patrick said dryly.
"Calm down Pat, it's not his fault mate," Kid said. Patrick turned to the group.
"Yes, for you guys it might not be his fault, but for me? He could have pulled Karsh off at anytime he saw fit. Instead he decided to let him do his thing. For that I hold him personally responsible," Patrick replied giving a glare that would have melted steel.
"And for that I offer my sincerest apologies. The way you resisted arrest had made it seem like you were the kidnapper so I decided that Karsh should be let loose on you. Unfortunately we found out too late that it was this Eric fellow," Viper began.
"So you see the unethical treatment of a fellow human is necessary when it involves your own daughter?" Patrick cut him off.
"You've made your point Pat," Serge said putting a hand on his shoulder only to be shrugged off.
"I'm still not through," Patrick growled. He pointed accusingly at Viper. With him leaning on his staff it made him appear like an old man. He continued his rant, "Viper I know more about you than you realize. And if I knew this back when I first met you I would have never come here again." He tiredly dropped his arm before he spoke the last of his speech, "I just hope you have enough decency to learn from your mistakes."
Viper stood calmly taking in the entirety of Patrick's words before he spoke slowly, "I realize that you were unnecessarily harmed and on a couple of occasions nearly killed. I would have expected a Deva to show more restraint in his interrogations, however with the kidnapping of my daughter it made it personal to every one of my men. I am offering an apology to everyone involved in this. Including the loved ones of those imprisoned."
Patrick suppressed the angry retort that Diss knew would have come. Diss stepped forward speaking for the group, "Thank you, we accept your apology."
"I'm not finished, much like your vocal friend," Viper continued, "I have decided to register you all for a cruise aboard the local cruise liners. This is in addition to the apology I've given you. You are all fighters and I thought a little rest and relaxation could help you reach your respective peaks again."
"Again we accept," Diss spoke clearly. He stepped forward to meet with Viper turning only briefly to the others. "You guys go ahead onto Termina, I'll finish the details."
Patrick merely nodded before he turned to leave still tired from the torture room. He moved at a slower pace leaving him straggling. Samantha fell back to help him out of pure force of habit. He shrugged off her helpful hand as they stepped outside for the first time in days. "I don't want nor do I need any special help!"
Samantha finally decided now was the time to reveal herself she pulled back the hood stepping in front of him and stopping him with her hand, "I know that, but right now you aren't at your best and I'll be damned if you collapse from fatigue before you get to a bed."
Patrick stood there taking her appearance in before he spoke, "So Belthazar kept up his end of the agreement."
"What are you talking about?" Samantha asked coldly.
"Its nothing, I'm just glad you're with us," Patrick mumbled before moving on. He continued to use the staff like walking stick leaning on it to move forward as he did so. Samantha stood where she was a second before she rushed to his side.
"So I save your ass and you're telling me that you were expecting all this?" She yelled at him. The group stopped looking back at them as Patrick sighed facing her.
"I asked for you to be brought back so you could help me," He said exasperated. "If I had remembered half of how annoying you could get I would have chosen someone else."
The group stood in shock. The words had been said. It was only a matter of time before she did something. Christy tried to jump into both their minds but both blocked her access. Finally Kid spoke up, "Pat mate, why ya so mean?"
"Because he's tired, and he's always an ass when he's tired. I thought even Christy could have answered that," Samantha gave the reply. Christy started moving forward only to be restrained by Diss. She turned to face him expectantly only to receive a look that stopped her cold.
"Let them work it out," He said softly. "For once let others solve their problems; we don't need to solve every one." Christy tried to contain her anger nodding briefly.
"I believe we have a long journey before us to get to Termina. I would suggest we start now unless you are still too shocked to realize that in order to walk you need to put one foot in front of the other," Patrick said coldly moving through the gate still leaning on the staff for support.
The others had very little choice but to take the abatement and follow him to Termina.