Chapter 32

"Hey, thought you could use one of these". Max cautiously approaches Blaze holding a plastic cup of coffee from one of the vending machines. She is quietly sitting next to Axel's hospital bed with a blanket around her shoulders. Her exhausted glance up towards Max is brief when she slowly takes the cup from his hand.

"Did he not ever tell you that I don't drink coffee?" Blaze says whilst raising her eyebrows after reluctantly taking a sip.

"Err, I'm sorry" Max awkwardly replies.

She then gives him a warm smile "it's ok. To be honest I can tolerate coffee a lot more now since I lost my memory and I guess I need this to get through the night".

"How's he doing?" Max queries.

"Who? Axel or Leon?" She bluntly answers feeling deflated.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't even be here." Max briskly turns then walks towards the door to leave the room.

"Wait…"

That one simple word catches Max off guard. Of course it has been years since he and Blaze had a real conversation. Although they had never always seen eye to eye, the wrestler always had a soft spot for her and he treasured her friendship. To think she was dead all this time then having had to fight her in the ring broke his heart.

"I know you feel like this is all your fault, but it's not", Blaze says to him with certainty in her voice.

"What do you mean? The reason why they're both in hospital is all because of me! That match happened because of me!"

"So much has happened and we have a lot of lost time. But if I hadn't bumped into you that day on my block, you would have never known I still existed. And I would have never known that I have a fiance and a son. One thing life has taught me is that everyday has a purpose. And we all go through shit but it happens for a reason. You made one mistake Max, don't beat yourself up about it. You asked how they're both doing, and yeah things look shit right now but Axel and Leon are still alive. They're gonna make it, we all are."

Blaze then gently takes Max's hand with her own, still warm from the cup of coffee he gave to her.

"How much do you remember about the past?" He sighs, looking down at the ground.

"Some things, not everything yet" Blaze responds feeling frustrated with herself. "It's like everything I can remember feels like another lifetime ago. But all the feelings inside are the same".

"Do you remember Eliza? My former partner?" He anxiously queries.

Without saying anything, Blaze nods several times with tears in her eyes.

"I can't remember how she died, but I know that she died because of me. And I know that I once had the chance to execute the Y-Twins but stupidly I didn't take it! And now I have to live with that. They could have killed Leon…"

"No, none of that is your fault Blaze. You didn't kill the twins because they were kids at the time. And as for Eliza, she made the decision to come with us to the Lima Nations. Everything happens for a reason" he says with regret.

Unexpectedly, the door to the hospital room opens.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Mr Hunter and one of the doctors need to speak with you outside."

Blaze and Max look at each other concerned.

"Could you wait here and stay with Axel in case he wakes up?" She asks.

"Yeah, of course," Max nods.

"What's wrong? Is Leon ok?" As soon as Blaze steps out into the hospital hallway she rushes over towards Adam who is with another member of staff.

To her relief Adam smiles with hope on his face "he's doing great! His temperature and oxygen levels are back to normal and the kid is even awake right now!"

"Ohh, that's so good to hear!" Blaze smiles back. "Can I see him now?"

"I'm sorry Ma'am, only next of kin is allowed to visit at this time." The nurse halts her excitement.

"But I am his next of kin…" Blaze tilts her head to one side confused.

"I'm sorry, Leon's father is in no fit state to see him right now and on our records, in the event of anything happening to him, Mr Hunter here is Leon's legal guardian".

"But she's his mother!" Adam interrupts.

"I'm sorry Sir, but Leon's records state his mother is deceased…."

"And that's a mistake!" Blaze insists, stepping forward.

"Maa'm if you try to violate the hospital rules here, I will have to call security to remove you."

"This is bullshit!" She starts to grow more and more impatient as Adam tries to bring her to her senses.

"Here, take these keys and go back to the house, Sammy will drive you. In the box Axel gave you, you'll find your old passport, Leon's passport and birth certificate. Let's fix this once and for all, ok?"

"Ok." Blaze sighs before taking the set of keys. Unexpectedly, in her hand she also finds a small note from Adam saying 'follow my lead'. She then gives him a cheeky grin and waits for the nurse to become distracted.

Blaze quickly glances around the corridor outside of Leon's hospital room before she easily opens the door. She is stopped in her tracks when she notices him fast asleep with only the sound of his heart monitor making noise inside the room. She quietly checks to see if everything is ok, smiling down at him before taking an exhausted seat by his side. From the chair, Blaze notices Leon's small thin backpack which was with him all throughout his ordeal at Y-Tower and beforehand.

Unsure of herself, she takes the light backpack then she cautiously unzips it. Inside it is nothing out of the ordinary for an eight year old. A set of pencils, colouring pens as well as a sketch pad. She opens it to find dozens of happy colourful drawings. Some are of Leon and his friends, some are of him with family and his soccer ball but all of them have one thing in common - the drawing of an angel with patterned flowers around her on one side of the page. Blaze continues to flick through, seeing the same drawing there over and over again.

"Before you came back, dad told me you were an angel…"

Leon's voice slightly startles Blaze who is concentrating on the sketch pad, now caught off guard.

"I'm sorry for opening this..." she hesitantly replies.

"It's OK, I want you to have it!" He smiles back.

"Thank you," she replies with a relieved smile, unsure whether or not to hug him. The whole experience of finding out about Leon is still raw in Blaze's head and all of this still seems surreal to her.

"So how are you feeling then? Last night and the past couple of days must have been terrifying for you. I'm so happy though you're here alive…" She says, changing the subject.

"I'm ok" Leon nods. "Where's dad though?"

"Your dad he's… he's really sick at the moment" she uncomfortably answers.

"Can I see him? Is he gonna die?" His question is so direct and again catches Blaze off guard. She herself is still unsure of the answers.

"NO! Don't say that!…. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout. But I'll be honest with you, he's in a bad way right now. But your dad, he's a fighter just like you and me and I know he's gonna pull through this. And when he does, the three of us and Charlie can go anywhere in the world you want."

"Like a vacation?" Leon optimistically asks.

"Yeah, a holiday", she nods.

"That's good. I don't ever wanna see those bad people again".

"Leon, one thing I can promise you is that I'm not going anywhere and I will keep you safe. I won't let those Y-Twins or any of their fighters ever come near us again, they can't hurt you."

"They weren't even that scary and I hardly saw them, they just hated you and dad a lot."

"Then who are you talking about then?" Blaze raises her eyebrows feeling surprised.

"The bad men who were wearing suits."

"Wait, what bad men? What did they say to you?" She asks with concern.

"One of them told me they would come for me the next day and that my name wasn't going to be Leon anymore. He had thick eyebrows and was really scary, worse than Mr Y".

"Do you remember where they came from or what else they said?"

"No, but they wouldn't let me see dad. He kept saying that my purpose from now on is to serve the country, I didn't understand what he meant".

"Was this when you were at the tower?"

"Yes…" He nods.

Blaze quickly rises up from her chair before cautiously twitching the curtain to look outside of the window five floors above the ground.

"Sweetie, how well are you feeling right now?"

"I think I'm ok…. Wait mom, what are you doing?"

She carefully unhooks the monitors and drip from his body. "Let's grab your clothes and backpack, we have to leave now!" She does her best to rush him along.

"But what about dad?"

"We'll get him out of here too, just follow my lead ok?"

The door to the room suddenly opens.

"The ward manager told you ma'am, only next of kin are allowed in here! Ohhh, and what are you doing out of bed…..?" One of the nurses looks down at Leon in shock before Blaze places her into a sleeper hold.

Half a minute later and her clothing is changed to blend into the hospital environment. She then spots an unattended trolley of equipment lying around the corridor.

"Now!" Blaze whispers before Leon hides underneath the tiered trolley. She then uses a large blanket from his room to cover the boy before wheeling the trolley of equipment down towards the other side.

"Take that back to floor 7 when you're done, we need more defibrillators up there!" A doctor randomly orders as he walks past them in the opposite direction. Blaze gives him a nod and smile. As soon as she spots Adam, she pulls him to one side into one of the other hospital rooms. Fortunately the patient in there is currently fast asleep.

"What the hell is going on?" Adam worriedly asks.

"We have to get out of here. I think the CIA or government are after Leon…" Blaze hurriedly replies.

"Where is he?"

"I'm right here!" Leon replies, peeking through the blanket.

"Are you sure?" Adam turns back to Blaze.

"Yes!"

"Ok, I'll call Zan and the others. We'l need to get Axel safely out of here also…"

"How are we gonna do that?" Blaze shrugs.
"Easy - similar plan to yours right now" he grins. "But first, I'm gonna give our CIA buddies a little surprise of their own!"

"I see that you have failed to stick to your promise in delivering the boy to us alive. In fact, judging by your actions last night, you could have foolishly killed our $60 million investment!" Orson Briggs shakes his head with disappointment.

"The boy is still alive!" Mr Y insists.

The two agents stand casually outside of a Taco Bell in plain clothes opposite the Y-Twins who are both wearing tracksuits with baseball caps on.

"That was a very stupid move Mr Y. Even your father could be reckless at times but he always understood the value of his enemies. Why are you here? All I have to do is press one panic button on my phone and more of my officers will arrive here to arrest you both after what you did last night! Hell, I could even arrest you myself!"

"Mr Briggs…" Ms Y breaks her silence. "You're right, last night we failed miserably. But if this working relationship between us is destined to work, we need your help…" she says with desperation in her voice.

The two agents immediately burst out laughing, undermining and embarrassing the two entrepreneurs standing before them.

"Help you say? And what is helping you gonna do for us? In fact, we know exactly where Leon Stone is right now. And guess what? We don't need to pay $60 million for him. That money was a reward for killing his parents to get them out of the way, that's all you two were ever useful for!"

Ms Y continues. "Let me tell you something…"

"Fire away.."

"If I or my brother get arrested, our own panic button will automatically go off. Our tech experts and journalists have surveillance showing you and Senator Peters entering Y-Tower. We even have our own copy of your files titled 'Burn'... Yes, we have friends in high places too," she smiles.

"Is that a threat?!" Briggs angrily replies.

"No, just a suggestion." She answers confidently looking into his eyes as Mr Y can't help but smirk behind her. "Now you and I know it would not go down well with your colleagues or the rest of the world if it were leaked to the media that you're planning on exploiting an eight year old child for the sake of national security."

"So what do you want then?"

Mr Y replies ro him this time. "Let us lie low for a month until all of this blows over. Then we want all charges dropped. Your investigators can conclude that skytrain was a tragic accident and last night was nothing but a terrorist attack. After all, why would we destroy our own tower huh?"

"Then what?"

"Then by Christmas, we go ahead with our planned concert. The whole city will be under our influence, I can promise that! Then it will be even easier for you to take the boy. And this time, no down payment is required. Do we have a deal then Mr Briggs?" Mr Y stares at him intensely.

The agent swallows his pride then shakes his hand to conclude their meeting.