Wings of Destruction
Chapter 16
Burning in Hell
"Vincent Anderson," Lieutenant Evan called out as he crossed his arms behind his back and glanced down at the ground. Vincent stood up from his seat and cleared his then proceeded to standing in formation.
"Sir?" He responded while having a serious expression on his face.
"Come here." Evan glanced up. "We're going to test you on the Zero system to see if you are able to withstand it."
"Yes Sir."
When Justin stepped into the room after taking his shower, his top removed and his brown hair plastered to the sides of his face, he glanced over and saw Uno sitting on the couch, clicking away on her laptop.
"Don't you ever take a break?" He asked as he walked past her.
Uno glanced at him and noticed that his jeans were slacked so far down, just barely riding on his hips, that she couldn't help but picture it in her mind. His muscular form wasn't as sturdy as Vincent's but Justin did have the strength to bare witness to any heavy lifting.
She shook her head and grumbled to herself. Why was she even thinking about that? In place of any other response, she returned to the screen in front of her face and shot back, "Don't you know how to dress correctly?"
"Oh, that was a good one," Chris mused from somewhere behind her. Uno rolled her eyes; the poor kid didn't know how to act his age without starting younger first. She closed the lid and stood, tucked it beneath her arm, and turned to head towards the door. Chris was sitting on one of the barstools beneath the bar and had a crossword puzzle set out before him.
Justin reemerged from kitchen with a bottle of soda and crossed an arm under the other over his chest.
"Where are you off to again?" He supplied a smirk with his remark and took pleasure in the glare he got back in return. "Another mission?"
"I have an inside contact ready to give me more information regarding Clifford Davison and his knowledge," Uno explained as she stuffed her laptop into her backpack and zipped it up. "Tori Spactic works for the Science Division and is willing to take them down."
"Clifford Davison? Tori Spactic?" Justin repeated the names in wonder. "What are you saying Uno?"
Uno paused and glanced at him. She stared at him for a brief moment before finally murmuring back an answer.
"Tori Spactic is a low level of Synodd's Research and Science Department," Uno explained as she stared him in the eyes. She knew Chris was paying attention to her as well rather than his crossword puzzle and God knew where Mandy was. "She knows just enough to get through the outer rims of Synodd."
"And this Clifford Davison? Who is he?"
She tore her gaze away from him just then and muttered beneath her breath, "A name from my past," while she flung the straps of her backpack onto her shoulders. She headed out the door and as soon as it shut after her departure Mandy stepped out of the bedroom very slowly.
"I've read about Clifford Davison," she muttered. Justin and Chris turned to her just then. Mandy's face was partially white and she moved as if she were a zombie from an old horror movie. "Mason's had, hanging in his doctor's office once, an article from the underground papers about a man named Clifford Davison who went missing after a business trip. He worked for the high end security of Synodd and hired by a guy named Ricky Tanners."
"Ricky?" Justin's eyes narrowed. "The guy's name was Ricky?"
Mandy stepped up to Chris and nodded.
"That's the name Uno muttered when she was unconscious," Justin looked down in deep thought.
"She just said the name Clifford Davison was a name from her past," Chris added in. Justin turned and looked at him as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit into place. "Maybe someone she once knew?"
Justin and Mandy looked at each other before a reminder shot back into his face. He turned and glanced towards the living room and the box of 'Uno's past' sitting beneath the coffee table. His brows creased together as the thought rose to the surface.
"I wonder," he mumbled and after setting his soda bottle down on the countertop he proceeded towards the couch.
As soon as he dropped to his feet he reached out and pulled the box in his possession then began digging through all the books and jewel cases for the one in particular that had the portrait stuffed inside. Mandy stepped up and stood behind the couch watching and Chris kneeled down besides Justin, determined to help figure out whatever was bothering him just there.
"No," Justin fumed as he glanced at each photo that had three happy faces and no names to match—but one of them was undoubtly Uno, thanks to the yard-length braid that hung from behind her head.
"Hey—Gone With The Wind," Chris had a grin coming onto his face and he scooped up a big book from beneath all of the objects placed within the box. His brows narrowed at it as he noticed there was a lock on the outside where the person opening it would usually part plastic sides.
"It's locked," Chris pouted.
"Here—give it to me," Justin reached and took it out of his comrade's hands. "It's just a simple lock—I can pick it like nothing."
He withdrew his pocket knife and chose the thin metal prong to use then attempted to pick the lock. It took a few tries but after a while the audible click sounded and congratulated him. Upon opening it a wave of old air surrounded the three of them and Justin began understanding Uno's desperate need for suicide.
"Dear God," he muttered. Inside the fake book where the hallow cutout was to be stacked nearly a thousand pictures, half of them pertaining with Uno—in a much younger form—with some other people while the others were just other people alone.
"Justin?" Mandy leaned over the back of the couch and peered inside to the best of her abilities. "Who… who are they?"
"I don't know." Justin picked up the top most picture where a little Uno stood in front of a man who had a similar yard-length braid and several other men around her. A few women were in the picture as well and one of them they all recognized immediately.
"Is that Vice Foreign Minister Dorlien?" Chris's eyes shot wide. "She knew the Vice Foreign Minister?"
"It appears so," muttered Justin in response. He flipped the picture over and noticed the date and names. "This was taken about eight years ago."
"What are the names on it?" Mandy asked.
"Heero, Uno, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Hildie, and Relena." Justin flipped the picture back over and looked at the photo once more before setting it to the side and taking out another. Chris reached in and took out a few to look at himself but the one that Justin had picked up was what had caused his breath to stop in his throat.
"Justin?" Came Mandy's weary voice behind him. Apparently Mandy had also noticed the photograph in his hands.
"What?" Chris looked up interested and glanced over. There stood a younger form of Uno in the middle—though not as old as the other pictures they've seen so far—and on the right was another girl with brown hair and on the left was a boy with brown hair; each arm was linked together like a line of bestfriendships. Justin turned the picture over and felt his blood run cold.
He read the names out loud, dreading the facts that would come from it. "Best friends forever—Theresa, Uno, and Ricky."
"Vincent said she muttered those names while she was unconscious," Mandy questioned and stepped around the couch to stand behind Chris.
Justin nodded and a thought came to Chris just then, only when he asked it out loud everyone had fear running through their minds.
"Would this Ricky be the same Ricky tanners? Another one of those 'names from the past'?"
Justin turned and looked up at Mandy with set determination. "Mandy, I think it's time we figure out how many skeletons Uno's hiding in her closet."
Uno sighed as she stepped up to the atmosphere of wild and frantic children. She hadn't wanted to go to the park to discuss these situations but Tori had insisted upon it, stating that it would be safer. Uno couldn't argue; after all, who would try and kill somebody while a bunch of little children ran about having fun?
She adjusted her jacket with one hand while her other adjusted the black cap on her head. Her eyes remained hidden behind black visors. After she finished fixing herself up she removed a small package out of one of the pockets and proceeded to pound it against the palm of her hand. She never envisioned herself doing such foul things but war had an effect on people; because of war she had become a ruthless asshole who'd rather see people suffer than let them rule another's life.
Uno brought the package to her mouth and planted her lips around one of the sticks. As she stuffed the box back into the pocket she removed a lighter and lit the end of the cigarette; if only Duo could see her now, smoking these cancer sticks and living life on the high rise, on the run.
She stifled a small chuckle in the back of her throat and pulled the paper covered nicotine stick from her lips as she expelled a breath of smoke from her lungs. She could feel the burning deep within her throat, within her chest, and knew that she shouldn't continue to puff the cigarette, that it would kill her before she could finish her battles. But despite how much she wanted to quite it had helped to calm her nerves and Uno brought the stick to her lips to take another breath of the murderous, toxic fumes.
"Justin… are you sure you know what you're doing?" Mandy asked as she looked out the window of their new Jeep. She didn't know where Justin had planned on going and what he had planned on doing but she had decided to go with him to one, get out of the house and two, help him incase he needed it.
But she didn't expect on him to be driving them towards the dead town of Winner, to the location that was so void of life that it should be burned out from the maps. When Justin pulled off the freeway and entered on to the other side of 'Winston Road' than from where the life of the environment she knew she should have brought more than just a few knickknacks for protection.
"Justin?"
"I know where I'm going, Mandy." Justin winced and peered around their surroundings. "I just… I've never been through a dead town before."
"I never planned on traveling into Winner," she retorted through a snort. "This place died when—"
"When Quatre Winner had disappeared," Justin slowed to a stop at a four-way intersection outside of Winner and fumed over at the girl sitting besides him. "Quatre Winner is the same Quatre that was pictured in that photograph with Uno."
"She knew him too?" She practically grounded out. Justin managed a smirk and a quick chuckle before turning to glance at the street names.
"Oh my God," Mandy sighed and relaxed in the seat. She turned and saw gang writing graffiti on the side of the buildings to her right then glanced around and saw the same things all around her.
"Why is it all torn up?" She asked in wonder. Justin continued driving into town and glanced around at the broken shop windows, boarded up windows, graffiti writings, and even trash blowing about. He felt like he stepped out of reality and into that remake movie of Dawn of the Dead; everything was literally wrecked!
"The town went trashy when Winner disappeared," he explained. "The entire town relied on him and when he wasn't there they began suffering."
"Man."
Mandy glanced out the window and stared at buildings that had once possibly served a great purpose and now only served purpose to destroyed dreams and desperate wild animals for shelter. A few well known-named shops had their windows busted out, their items broken. Some clothing boutiques were practically burned to the ground. There were several cars that were broken into, trashed, blown up, or simply stripped down of any value.
"I don't get it," she muttered and glanced around at the other sides of the car. "Why doesn't anybody do anything about this?"
"They can't. Quatre Winner was in charged of nearly half of Earth's population. He owned several colonies—that has also become historic marks such as Winner City—and if he doesn't appoint the next man-in-line to follow through with the ordinances then everything goes to waste."
Mandy glanced over at him in wonder. "So because he didn't appoint anybody to take over everything went down hill? What about the other cities that are still striving?"
Justin pulled into a parking spot outside of some huge building and turned off the ignition. He pivoted in his seat to stare at Mandy in amazement that she hadn't thought of the answers to her own questions before asking them.
"Winner only owned half of our lives; the other half that's still running sufficiently is because of the other Governmental figureheads that are still alive. I told you, Quatre disappeared without a known trace and he didn't appoint anybody. Because of that, Winner and half of the colonies went down hill, straight into Hell itself." Justin turned away from her, removed the seat belt, and exited the jeep. "Now come on."
"Where are we?" Mandy called out as she quickly tore herself out of the jeep as well. Her heart raced within her chest; she hadn't wanted to explore the old town of Winner. "Justin?"
Justin was already ahead of her and as she ran to catch up to him he replied calmly with, "Winner Academy." Then his voice lowered to practically a whisper. "I need to look something up first."
Chris groaned as he slowed the bike down and turned to enter a small subdivision off the side of the nearest town. He thanked God that Justin had dropped Vincent off at the hanger and not let him take the bike with him because them Chris would have been abandoned at the cabin without any way to achieve his goal in finishing his mission.
He hopped off the bike, untied the box from the back and held it firmly in his hands. The small house he pulled up to was no larger than a cottage and looked much like one as well. The front door had a screen and after pulling aside he knocked firmly.
The door opened by a tall, buff looking man with hardly any hair at all and his biceps the size of Chris's head. Chris swallowed as he stared up at the man in fear.
"You delivery boys sure are getting younger," the guy's voice was deep and gruff and he reached out for the box Chris was holding. "Do I have to sign anything?"
"No sir," Chris smiled and replied cheerfully. The man was wearing a Synodd training shirt and cameo pants.
"Then be gone with you, Boy!" He shouted before slamming the door in Chris's face. Chris stood there frowning then turned and shut the screen door calmly. He saddled back on the bike, put his helmet back on, and then took off.
"Chris?" Chris blinked at hearing Professor Sander's voice coming in through the ear piece he had stuffed inside his ear earlier when he left the cabin. He hadn't even heard the cell phone ring or even pick it up, for that matter.
"What did Barry look like?"
Chris angled his body on the bike and leaned in on the right as he turned around the corner of the street.
"A big burly man," Chris mused in response. "Just like the picture you sent me on the mission objective."
"So he hasn't changed?"
"No."
"Good. Return home and await your next assignment." The line went dead.
Chris took a deep breath and sped the bike off at a faster pace as he began weaving in and out from between lanes and cars. He may be a careful guy and take things slow as they came but being on the back of the bike with Vincent was rather fun and he learned that as long as you knew what you were doing you wouldn't be harmed. He knew what he was doing as he's done it enough times in arcade games when he was younger.
Uno flicked the cigarette out of her fingers and into a puddle where it immediately extinguished. She sighed deeply and was just about to turn around and retreat back to her bike when a soft mutter of her name caught her attention.
"Uno?" Uno turned around slowly and saw the familiar violet eyes of Tori Spactic and the same dirty blonde hair that was pulled back into a pony-tail.
"You're late," Uno grumbled. "Take a seat Tori and tell me what you have."
Tori nodded and took a seat on the bench besides the woman she was spying for and began removing a small diskette from the inside pocket of her jacket. She glanced around at all the little children as they screamed in joy and ran about with their friends, instantly feeling a smile come to her face.
Uno's eyes narrowed but when she saw the tiny MO Disk in the woman's hands she couldn't help but manage a grin. "So you weren't lying. You actually have information regarding him."
Tori looked up at the girl before her with confusion in her eyes. "I wasn't fooling you, Uno." She extended her arm and handed the young girl the disk. "But I'll need to know who you are. I haven't heard of any military branch from the Government that still works in spies."
"Don't worry about it," Uno said before stuffing the disk into her own inside pocket. She then zipped the jacket up and stuffed a hand inside one of the outer pockets. "You won't have any use for it."
"I won't?"
"Tell me what else you know," Uno demanded as she glanced around her surroundings, looking for any Synodd spies to be focusing in on her with an assassin rifle. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced over at a few older men playing chess.
"Just what I've already told you on the MA Tap-Line and what's on that disk," Tori replied softly. "Besides that—there's nothing."
"Very well," Uno glanced back down at the woman with violet eyes and curled her fingertips around the cold metal that remained hidden within the pocket of her jacket. "Then that's it."
Tori blinked up at her in wonder. Uno's fingers slid over the trigger, her thumb removing the safety from the barrel. She pivoted her wrist to aim just right then staring into the woman's eyes, she clenched her fingers together. The bullet sprang out of the barrel silently thanks to the silencer she had installed, tore a hole right through the black denim of the jacket pocket, and into the chest plate of the unsuspecting Tori Spactic. Tori's eyes widened suddenly, wondering what happened in her life to get shot at in such a secretive way, then another bullet tore through her body.
"Don't take it personal," Uno muttered as she took a slow step backwards, watching as the head of Tori Spactic slowly started to hang, the once violet eyes gazing out to become a dull stare at the ground.
"You took the job for Synodd without knowing the penalty. Even if they hadn't known you cheated them out they would have still eventually killed you or framed you. Look at me as your savior."
Without another word after that Uno took one more step backwards and waited a moment before turning to leave to see if the body would collapse or stay put. When she saw it made no more attempt at moving she turned on her heels and retreated from the scene before anything can be noted of it.
"Justin," Mandy whispered out. "What are we doing here?"
"Why are you whispering?" Justin gave her a weird look and stepped inside the doors to the academy with his flashlight out, pistol stuffed in his belt from behind, and his guard up and ready. He turned and looked back at the woman trailing closely behind him, frightened as if a zombie were about to step out of a dark corner and attack her.
"Hey Mandy," Justin called out as an idea struck his mind.
"What?" She tore her gaze away from the long dark hallway down the center of the school and back over to where her comrade once stood. "Justin?"
"Boo!" Justin had leapt out from behind the counter inside the offices just left of the front doors. Mandy screamed and jumped back a few feet, her own flashlight gripped fiercely and ready to be used as a bat. Justin cracked up laughing as he saw her face pale to that of a ghost's and her eyes go as big as saucers.
"Justin!" Mandy fumed and balled her fists. "How dare you!"
Justin continued laughing and returned inside the office. Mandy followed behind, screaming in a rage at what he had just done to her. She continued to rant on at him and after the first minute he started to just ignore her voice.
"Mandy," Justin whispered and stuck his hand up in the air. Mandy paused and blinked at him, remembering where she was. "Shut up—I think I found it."
He stepped inside another dark room where he immediately turned the flashlight on. She stood there, staring at his back as he descended into the darkness.
"Found what?" She retorted before copying his actions and stepping to the dark with her flashlight as well.
"Okay let's see now," he muttered as he peered from each computer at the desks to the next. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth and into the corner of his lips, clearly in deep thought and yet, appearing to have fun.
"You're taking pleasure in this," Mandy's eyes narrowed a little. "Aren't you?"
"Damn straight," he muttered before turning around the corner of a row of computers. "I love breaking into old school buildings, hacking into their machines, and locating informational backgrounds about their old students."
"Don't play coy with me," scoffed Mandy. "I'm serious!"
"As am I," Justin retorted as he pulled out a chair from beneath a desk and sat upon it. "Now will you shut up and come hold both flashlights up so I can see?"
"Yeah yeah." Mandy groaned, rolled her eyes as she neared him, and yanked the flashlight out of his hands. "Now what?"
"Now shut up and watch me read history."
Justin took a few minutes to boot up the ancient computer and it took about fifteen minutes for it to fully load. After the screen came up showing a white background with black text he began clicking the keys on the keyboard. Mandy peered in closer as he went through the list of names, pausing at a few of them and staring closely at them; a few of them he recalled, one in particular from his childhood gang. After he took a minute to recall the memories of his gang since before he made his escape from the police, Justin continued down the list until he came across three in particular.
A smirk came to Justin's face and Mandy peered even closer. "There you go," he mused and with a grin, slowly nodded. Before him portrayed all of Uno Maxwell's schooling history from the day she began to the day she retired—which was also when a Professor Merquise had retired as well.
"Maybe it was coincidence?" Mandy question as Justin leant on one elbow and arrowed the bar down the screen to read more.
"Hrm…" Justin flashed over to the next page discussing Uno's intelligence. For another few minutes he read as much as he could pertaining to Uno Maxwell then pulled out a pen and paper from the drawer besides him and jotted down the Winner Mansion address.
"What now?" Mandy asked as he pocketed the address and returned to the list to scan for another name. He found Ricky Tanner and opened up the boy's profile.
"Oh—wow," muttered Mandy. "An intellect just like Uno?"
"It appears so," Justin mused and scrolled down. "He's got the same attributes as Uno but…"
"But what?" Mandy edged him on, desperate to find out. He tabbed over to the next screen and read on.
"But he's got more of a history."
"What do you mean?"
"Look," Justin pointed out and poked the monitor. "He's older by a few years and he has competed against Uno for several competitions."
"But isn't that natural?"
Justin narrowed his eyes. "Too unnatural—there's not a single flaw in either competition of triumph."
"What do you mean?"
"This," Justin poked the screen at the tagline where Ricky Tanners scores a tie between Uno Maxwell in the archery contest. "Everything he ever did was to compete against her—clearly to win over her, to weaken her so he could find a flaw."
Mandy blinked and looked down at Justin from the side. "You mean to tell me, that he had always planned against her, so he could make a flaw?"
Justin cocked his head to the side as he shrugged. "I guess you could say that. He knew who she was from the moment he signed up. By the looks of it," he paused for a short moment. "He was one hell of an excellent actor."
Mandy blinked in sudden amazement down at Justin then back to the screen. "Actor?"
"Ricky knew from the moment he signed up in Winner Academy that Uno was his target. He knew his task the moment he joined the school's list," Justin explained. "He led her on all these years."
"But Ricky didn't kill her," Mandy corrected him.
"He killed himself because he couldn't kill her," Justin explained as he backed out of the files all together and closed out the program.
He took a deep breath then pushed the chair back so he could stand. Mandy backed up and when Justin stepped away from the desk she followed.
"Wait," she rushed out after him, turning off the flashlights and catching up. "Where are we going now?"
Justin stormed out of the building in a rush and shoved the glass doors open, not caring that the windows were broken on them that all he had to do was step through them instead.
"Justin!" Mandy called out. The door's shut and she crouched down as she made her way through the door the way she figured Justin would have. When she stood back up she ran after him and towards the jeep.
"Justin—what is it now? Where are we going now?"
"To the Winner Mansion," Justin's brows were creased together and he yanked the jeep door open as he sat in the driver's seat. Mandy sat in the passenger seat and shut the door. She looked over at him with worry in her eyes but she wasn't worry for Justin; she was worried for her own safety against his sudden disappointment and oncoming of rage.
"Justin?" She muttered softly.
Justin backed the jeep out forcefully and sped off and down the street, ignoring the stop signs and broken lights, knowing that if there were anybody still driving around Winner City besides them they wouldn't be able to survive for long; Winner City had been void of life for nearly a year now and as soon as the city had disappeared the utilities were cut whole, stopping all the riots, gangs, raves, and homeless civilians seeking shelter.
He gazed around the territory he sped through as he drove his way towards the outer rims of the city where the forest picked up with mansions. There was on place in particular on his mind that would solve every problem he had come across so far, answer every question he had since the day he met Uno Maxwell, and every piece of information he had wondered about since he had even heard of her name.
"I need to find out exactly who Uno Maxwell is."
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