Part 53
The door opened and swiftly shut again, and Zal paced the room with obvious distress leaving Beka and Dylan to simply look on. "Crap, he's got them," Zal then announced with obvious anger and concern.
"What?" Dylan got to his feet, with Beka joining him.
"Who?"
Zal paused and stared at the two aliens. "They were taken," Zal announced with worry. "Kenan has them."
"Kenan has Harper?" Beka questioned.
"This is bad," Zal fussed and began pacing again. "He let him go once, that won't happen again."
"Zal calm down, give me options," Dylan requested.
Zal stopped, and looked at Dylan. "Options?" he repeated. "Here's one, imagine never seeing Harper or Rhade again, that's one."
"Zal," Dylan snapped, as Beka turned away. "Where would he have taken them?"
Zal considered the question, and tried to relax. "Probably the government building, in the main square," he offered.
"Where I was held?" Dylan checked, and saw Zal nod his head to agree. The memories came flooding back, against Dylan's wishes and he tried to push them away unsuccessfully, before he looked at Beka. "We can't let Kenan have the power; we need to somehow rescue them all."
"Junia was taken to the camps," Zal then spoke up. "Only Rhade and Harper were taken directly to Kenan."
"Junia knows where the controls are, Harper maybe has the knowledge to operate the controls, do you think Kenan has worked this out yet?" Beka asked.
"No, if he had, he would never have simply dismissed Junia, and had her sent to the camps," Zal shrugged.
"How easy would it be to rescue Junia?" Dylan asked.
"Easier than trying to rescue Harper, or Rhade," Zal offered.
"We need to start spreading some rumours," Dylan then hit upon an idea. "Once we have rescued Junia."
"Rumours that maybe suggest Junia is more important than Harper or Rhade?" Beka frowned. "They'll never buy it."
"Harper is of no worth in this city without Junia," Dylan stated.
"She can't be the only one who knows about the controls," Beka indicated, unconvinced.
"No, this could work," Zal then piped up eagerly. "We put our efforts into rescuing Junia, and not Harper or Rhade, questions will be asked," he stressed. "If we can't beat the opposition, let's confuse them like hell," he grinned.
"But that doesn't help Harper or Rhade," Beka countered.
"But it will take attention away from them, maybe enough that we can prevent any of that bad stuff happening to them," Zal offered.
"And then what?" Beka was confused by the plan.
"We hope an opportunity arises that enables us to help them," Dylan stated. "If we have Junia, and suspicions about her importance fly around, we'll be making ourselves a bargaining chip if nothing else."
Beka considered the plan. "If Junia is there for the taking, fine, let's do it," she shrugged. "Maybe if Harper is with Rhade, he'll use his Nietzschean enhancements to find a way out?" she offered with hope.
"Oh, did I forget to mention that Buz is dead?" Zal then spoke up.
"Dead?" Beka checked.
"Killed, shot in the head," Zal informed them.
"When?" Dylan asked.
"Apparently he was protecting Harper, Rhade and Junia from Kenan's men," Zal offered brightly. "Before he was shot in the head, strangest thing, the bullet entry point was at the back of his skull, Kenan's men were stood in front of him."
"I don't follow," Dylan frowned. "One of Buz's own men shot him?" he questioned, knowing Buz had fallen in popularity.
"Rumours are rife that it was Rhade," Zal partly smiled. "And wasn't it Rhade who assured Harper he'd deal with Buz?"
"After the collar was removed," Dylan remembered. "Unless that had somehow happened, but I'm not convinced."
"Nietzscheans are not renowned for their patience, or keeping their word," Beka lightly reminded the captain. "Maybe the opportunity proved too great to pass by, and you know Rhade never really warmed to that Buz guy, what he did to Harper, and he really had to fight to bring Harper back that night, Rhade was all that stood between us losing Harper and his survival, that was no easy task so maybe it was more personal than we figured?" Beka shrugged. "Nietzscheans instincts are for survival and we all know if we're going to leave this place the easy way, we need Harper living and functional."
"You think Rhade is on a mission of his own now?" Dylan considered with some thought.
"I think he's finally figured out why Harper is on our crew, and his importance," Beka smiled at the idea. "And if he did kill Buz as part of that pact to Harper, then maybe we should be grateful that he's with Harper right now because I can't see Rhade idly standing by if Kenan does anything that's not in Harper's best interests."
"He might not be in any position to do anything," Zal then offered.
"Zal, I'm in positive mode, don't kill it," Beka partially snapped.
"I'm sure Rhade's kicking butt right now," Zal quickly stated to appease Beka who smiled sweetly in return, before Dylan gestured for them to get moving, needing to investigate rescuing Junia.
Rhade's head snapped to the side, as he received another hefty blow. The guards had finally overpowered the Nietzschean, but it took nearly eight men to do so. Kenan now stood observing, as his men beat Rhade into submission, seeing the alien now hanging by his wrists from a chain attached to the ceiling. On the floor, also restrained in chains Kenan looked at the defeated from of Harper, who was unable to even lift his head, and they hadn't even had to beat him.
Harper caught Kenan staring at him, aware enough to know of the situation. "Stop this," Harper requested wearily.
"On your orders?" Kenan smiled broadly.
"I won't give you what you want if you don't," Harper stressed, willing strength into his voice, as he tested the restraints that kept his hands tied behind his back.
Kenan just laughed with arrogance. "You have nothing I want, boy."
"Yeah?" Harper countered. "Is that why you've restrained a weak guy? Why you're wasting your time with us, because we're nothing?"
"I fancied some fun at your expense," Kenan dismissed, moving closer.
"You're afraid of me, like everyone else," Harper stressed, as he pushed himself onto his side, and then used a combination of his knees, shoulders and forehead to push himself up to a sitting position. "Admit it," he stated defiantly.
"I admit nothing, you can barely move, why would I be afraid of you?" Kenan argued.
"Because you're still arguing the fact it only proves it more," Harper smiled.
Kenan gestured to one of his guards, and seconds later Harper felt the sudden chill of ice cold water being thrown over him. His senses were thrown into spasm, as his body reacted to the cold falling back down to the stone floor, and he fought to regain control as he shivered once again.
His chin, and the rest of his defeated body, was sudden forced up, as Kenan got a firm grip on Harper's face, making the human look at him. "I am the power around here, alien, don't forget that!"
Harper just shook his head in Kenan's gasp, not saying a word as he tormented the Edenian with sheer willpower. Kenan quickly drew his hand back, and struck Harper hard, sending the human back down to the floor. Closing his eyes, Harper waited for his head to stop spinning before opening them again, only to find Kenan grabbing his shirt and forcing him to face him again. There was uncontrolled anger now in Kenan's actions, as he pulled Harper roughly to his feet. Unable to resist Kenan's actions, Harper stumbled and fell as the Edenian led him to the other side of the room.
His fear began to rise as Harper was pushed down to his knees, and then became aware of the chain that was securing his hands behind his back being jolted about. Looking up, Harper made eye contact with Rhade and had to shake the feeling that he was seeing fear in the Nietzschean's eyes, as he looked away. He heard a contraption start up, and then felt his arms rising slowly behind him.
Shaking his head in denial, Harper didn't want to believe what his instincts were screaming at him. His body soon felt the pull of his arms, as they continued to rise in the device that Harper was in no doubt now was the same device Dylan was subjected to. His shoulders began to slowly burn, as they resisted the movement. Forced to his feet now, Harper tried to steady his breathing as he heard Kenan began to laugh with joy, and when finally Harper's feet left the ground, leaving his body fully supported by his shoulder joints, the human finally offered a scream in protest.
The distraction was enough, as Rhade executed a swift kick of his legs to take out the guard that had remained near to him. He pulled with all his strength on the chain above him, and his sheer determination dislodged the fixings enough to land on the floor. Using the chain to his advantage he swung it towards the remaining guards, taking them out with ease with hefty swings of the chain, until Kenan was the only one left standing.
"Release Harper!" Rhade ordered loudly, as he hit the metal restraints against a raised stone until they finally gave way, and he was free but Kenan wasn't moving. "I said release him!"
Kenan just smiled. "I hear you killed Buz, I guess I should fear you and your ruthless ways."
"I've had enough of this place, I'm not done with the killing just yet," Rhade warned, his voice low. He glanced at Harper, seeing the human was unresponsive as he hung in the device that was pure torture on the shoulder joints. "Now release him."
Kenan considered the threat, looking between Harper and Rhade as he did so. "I can't do that," Kenan simply answered, but started to back away from the approaching Nietzschean, his fear becoming obvious in his features.
"I will kill you," Rhade stressed in a low menacing voice.
The doors then opened and more guards arrived, instantly seeing the fallen bodies of their fellow guards, and the Nietzschean closing to gap on their leader.
"Halt!" one of the guards ordered.
Rhade knew if he didn't act now, he risked being separated from Harper and he knew that would more or less be game over. He couldn't let that happened and instantly moved swiftly to capture Kenan and he used his bone blades to easily contain the supposed leader.
"Back off!" Rhade gestured angrily, using his bone blades to good effect. The guards looked at each with some confusion, and held their position.
There was a sudden flurry of movement as someone pushed themselves through the crowd of guards, and approached the restrained Kenan.
"Sir!" the man barked, before realising his leader's predicament. "Erm," he hesitated before deciding to continue. "The aliens have just helped the young woman to escape, reports suggest that they are claiming she is of more value than," the man stopped again, but he was clearly going to refer to the two aliens that stood before him before thinking better of it, considering that one of them was still holding Kenan.
"The girl, who is she?" Kenan demanded, with a strained voice in Rhade's hold.
"Her name is Junia, she is Gilad," the man answered.
"You're in no position to ask questions, and you," Rhade suddenly spoke up. "Fetch me that rope, before I break your boss's neck," he snapped at the messenger who through nerves eagerly complied, retrieving the rope for Rhade to use to secure the leader. Once tied, and with the host of guards still standing unsure at the entrance to the room, Rhade took his time to release Harper whilst taking care not to become an easy target for the guards. Soon Harper fell into his arms, and he took care to lay the unconscious engineer on the ground.
"Order your men to back off or lose your life," Rhade then ordered towards Kenan.
"I'd rather die," Kenan snapped.
"Fine, I'm really not in the mood for games," Rhade stressed and sharply brought his forearm up, bone blades extended and about to bring them down across Kenan's neck.
"No, no, wait!" Kenan abruptly stressed, clearly panicked. "I have no doubt now that you killed Buz, you are a true warrior I see that," he then added, composing himself slightly. "Ok, you win, I can not continue to hold you here, you may leave, just get out of my sight!"
"Now the truth," Rhade sneered, not buying Kenan's words for a moment. He then heard Harper stirring behind him, and the human instantly snapped awake and was on his feet in seconds, mildly panicked as if sensing their situation without needing to be told. "Harper?"
"Rhade, what's going on?" he breathed rapidly.
"Calm down, we're going for a walk," Rhade stated. "Stay close, we're taking Kenan with us."
"We are?" Harper asked confused, moving closer to Rhade.
When they reached the first of the guards, Rhade instantly gestured to their weapons. "You two, give up your weapons."
The two guards hesitated until Rhade broke the skin of Kenan's neck with his bone blades, and almost instantly they handed their guns over, Rhade taking one and Harper took hold of the other one.
Rhade then pushed Kenan into the group of guards, and grabbed Harper to ensure the human stayed with him as he ran, leaving the disarray of guards who were more concerned with helping their leader save some pride than give chase.
With guns clearly armed and ready, Rhade and Harper left many a cowering man in their wake as they continued to escape from the palace, even once they were clear of the building, they remained alert until finally they crossed the border stones, knowing they were back in mostly Gilad controlled territory. Now out of breath, they found a quiet corner to stumble and recover. Neither man spoke for a while, as they tried to recover, but Rhade was the first to break the silence.
"Harper, are you ok?"
"No," Harper struggled, his gun discarded by his side as he sat hunched up.
"Look at me," Rhade requested and when the human failed to respond, he forced Harper to look at him. The exhaustion was clear to see, Harper's eyes were unfocused and he was looking weaker than ever before. "You have to stay with us, Harper," Rhade ordered.
"Trying," Harper weakly spoke. "Feel tired, can't do this," he stressed.
"You have to, for yourself and for Andromeda," Rhade insisted.
The words he spoke seemed to have a desired effect, as Harper noticeably straightened up. "When I'm out of this place, I'm taking the longest freaking vacation ever," he decided, sounding a little more like himself.
"We should keep moving, try and find the others," Rhade then advised, and Harper agreed with a brief nod of the head. "Tell me, can you move your arms?"
Harper nodded his head, and rolled both his shoulders to show he could. "They're just sore, Kenan didn't get the chance to dislocate or damage them," he offered brightly. "Thanks," he then added knowingly.
"I'm going to make sure you get to those controls if it's the last thing I do, no matter how many people I hurt or kill in the process," Rhade stated confidently.
Harper looked at the Nietzschean with a weird expression. "Ok, if that's what you feel you need to do," he offered unsure.
"After all you are the power, and you outrank me," Rhade briefly smiled, mocking himself. "Enjoy it whilst it lasts, because I can assure you its temporary."
"You know I could get use to this," Harper returned.
"If you do I'll kill you myself, if you don't get us out of here that is," Rhade lightly warned.
"Suddenly I have an incentive," Harper briefly smiled in jest, knowing the last thing he needed was another incentive to leave Edenia. Both men then began to move again, in search of their friends.
TBC