Chapter 36
By the time Blaze woke up, it was just past 11pm. She had slept for most of the afternoon and evening, but was still feeling drained. In the distance, she could hear the quiet sound of a retro video game with its music ringing as well as its own vibrant sound effects.
"Sammy? Kaiden? What's goin' on?" Blaze frowned, confused as she opened the door to another room. Suddenly she could see suitcases, cardboard boxes and gym equipment scattered around the large living quarters. "What happened here?"
"Oh, hey Blaze!" Sammy smiled surprised, whilst still fixated on the screen, button bashing his controller at the same time. "We've been busy!"
"I can see that. Where did all this stuff come from?"
"After the fight earlier, my brother and his 'sparring partner' felt guilty. So Adam called a couple of his trusted officers to distract the police who were hanging around close by on watch, while Shiva got some of his students to break into our houses to grab any clothes, food, water and all that. They only had an hour, but 12 of them picked up as much as they could. It's a shame they couldn't bring my Xbox though, but they brought Adam's old 90s console instead so it will have to do…."
"Hmmm, are you sure they didn't keep that Xbox for themselves?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.
"Well, even if they did, they've done us a big favour. We were starting to get bored and we needed clothes and food…."
"Hey aunty, wanna try and fight me in the next round?" Kaiden's eyes lit up.
"Arn't you a little young for this game?" Blaze glared over towards Sammy with caution. "...and where is your mum?"
"She's asleep," Kaiden answered.
"So we're all stuck here for real then," Blaze huffed.
"Looks that way, until we fight…" Sammy casually shrugged.
"I'll fix this!" Blaze paced away to find some of the others.
Nearly everyone else at this time of night had already gone to sleep, however. Both Adam and Shiva were resting in their own sleeping bags on the living room floor, with Max close by. And although they were snoring aloud, at least they weren't ripping each other to shreds any more. Zan was busy as ever working on this new simulator they almost tried earlier, whilst Floyd was taking his turn on watch near the entrance, keeping a close eye on the surveillance footage.
"Hey, I can take over if you want." Blaze said to Floyd, lighting up her own torch.
"It's ok, I only just took over from Cherry. Your watch isn't for another 8 hours yet."
"So? I can't go back to sleep anyway" she shrugged.
"What's on your mind?" Floyd asked, pulling out a small silver flask from under his jacket.
Blaze couldn't help but grin at him, pleasantly surprised. "Well, I would never have thought you'd be here drinking on the job Mr Iraia…."
"I just had a sip. I think you need this more than I do," he said, passing the drink over to her.
Blaze quickly spat out the contents as soon as she sipped on it, "what the hell is this?!"
"You should know, you used to work in a bar didn't you? At least when I first met you a few years ago…"
"Yeah, Tim's bar. Memories I would rather forget." This time, Blaze took a whole gulp of the liquid then kept it down, squinting her eyes as she drank it.
"Easy now, that shit is strong!"
"Hey, I remember that night you walked into the bar looking for me. And then I sent you to go and find Dr Zan. Then a couple of years later, you're sitting here with two lethal weapons as arms. Was that his idea or yours?"
Floyd laughed, "a bit of both actually. Well, that day changed my life for good, Fielding".
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you at the time when you found me. I was in a situation…."
"I get it. But you did help me. And now we're in need of a leader," he hinted.
"Oh, no! No way. You heard Axel! We're all here for at least the next two weeks. Once he is able to fight he can lead just like old times".
"But you know our enemies better than any of us…."
"I wish that weren't true," Blaze sighed.
Floyd paused for a moment, trying not to press the subject further. "Well, the good news is we might not have to wait as long as two weeks. Axel is healing surprisingly very fast, must be his powers."
"I don't know what's going on. First Adam comes out with the same weird shit earlier, which I had no idea about. And as for Max, he's healing awfully slowly. I think he's still sick…..wait, can you smell burning?" She frowned.
"Must be the doctor, he was working on another experiment earlier. Nothing to worry about, the smoke alarms would have gone off if it was bad…."
"Right," Blaze nodded. "I'll see you in the morning then,"
"Good night," Floyd replied.
Instead of heading back upstairs, Blaze decided to trail downstairs to the sub level where the labs were situated. The central room that the group had been sitting in earlier was now empty and full of darkness with the simulator shut down. Zan's personal lab next door to it appeared uneventful with his light switched on, but there was no smell of burning or smoke coming from inside it. So Blaze followed the scent down to the other side of the hall. She guessed that either the vents were not working properly, or possibly a power supply had caught alight or the worst case scenario was they were in fact being ambushed and Floyd had missed something on his watch.
Then she realised the smoke was coming from Axel's recovery room.
"Is everything ok?" Blaze busted open the door. "...shit!" She was surprised to see that the smoke alarm on the ceiling was broken into pieces and was surrounded by grey smoke itself.
"Blaze!?" Axel glanced at her from his bed, alarmed himself.
"What's going on in here?"
"Sorry, I needed to break that thing up there. It was on the verge of waking everybody up when I was training…"
"TRAINING?!" Blaze scowded. "You shouldn't be training anything right now, let alone your own chi!" She then glanced up in awe at the alarm with Axel laying metres away from it, bound to his bed. "How the hell did you set that thing on fire when you're all the way over here?"
"It's just something I studied out in the woods…"
"So it's true then," Blaze raised an eyebrow.
"What's true?" Axel frowned.
"You really did come back as a different fighter. I mean there's so much shit I'm still trying to get my head around. I thought I'd changed but Adam? And you?"
Axel let out a slight chuckle, "so I take it Hunter released his inner demon then?"
"The guy went bat shit crazy as soon as he saw Leon!"
Axel's eyes widened, "what, Shiva is here?"
"Yeah! I know you're not a fan of the guy either but the last thing we all need is any of us fighting. He's on our side!"
"Good." Axel nodded with approval, taking her by surprise.
"Good? I thought you'd at least be pissed off with me for inviting the guy over here."
"No. It was a wise decision on your part. It's clear the man has changed and he's an exceptional fighter to have on our side."
"Since when did you become so forgiving of your old enemies?" Blaze folded her arms, tilting her head to one side.
"Sure, my fighting evolved out in the woods, but so did my outlook on life. I met a really wise teacher out there who could do anything with his energy. But at the end of it all, he was still human. We all make mistakes, Shiva's probably just trying to make up for the past".
"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day…" she smiled.
"Why are you so surprised with me?" Axel grinned.
"Well, you used to be so hot headed about these things. You weren't so….. Empathetic? If that's the right word to use…"
"What?! You were always the hot headed one out of all of us! What's this I heard about Commissioner Bernstein in the firing line of your anger?" Axel laughed.
"Oh, l gotta explain that one to you!" Blaze proudly grinned as she took a seat on the edge of the bed next to him whilst he sat up listening.
"Punching Bernstein around the jaw has to have been one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. And definitely the highlight of my career at the precinct!" Both of them simultaneously bursted out in hysterics laughing together.
"Is that why you got fired?"
"Amongst other reasons, yes. But he was willing to offer me my job back, but then said I needed to take anger management classes…" she giggled.
"He was right about one thing then," Axel joked.
"Hey, you're lucky you're injured right now! Don't test me or you'll regret it!" She teased.
"You realize, this is the first time the two of us have sat down and talked properly on our own in 10 years…"
"Mmmhmmm. And you just couldn't wait to kiss me in front of everyone!" Blaze folded her arms.
"What?" Axel shrugged defensively. "It just seemed like the most logical thing to do at the time. Murphy ordered you to be cuffed in exchange for your sister and you wouldn't have been able to swim with those things around your wrists. So I figured it was the best thing to do!"
"Okay…" Blaze awkwardly glanced away.
"What? Do you think there is any other reason why I would kiss you in the middle of a fight zone? You made it clear already that you hate me, and you have every right to be angry".
"Axel, I'm not angry with you…. not anymore."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Look, I get why you left and I can see the fighter here that you've always wanted to be. I'm happy for you, I really am." She nodded honestly.
"Being out there against the elements and with the elements, I learnt more than some people would in a whole lifetime. I can't explain it, but it's just one of those things,"
"And did you find everything you set out to find?" She cautiously asked.
"No." Axel shook his head.
"Nothing you regret then?" Blaze prompted.
"No, not exactly. I mean True Strength and what I was looking for still exists out there and it always will. I discovered a lot of it, but there's still more to find…"
She sighed defeatedly. "So I guess that means you'll be going back then after the fight is over?"
"Yeah," Axel quietly replied.
In that moment, Blaze couldn't help but stare at him with disappointment and loss all over her face. Her throat was sinking into her chest and all of the feelings she felt the first time he was gone came flooding back at once. Now wasn't the time to cry, especially in front of him.
In the blink of an eye, she perked up, forcing a smile as she nodded. "I see. Well erm, I'm gonna go to sleep myself and I'll let you get some rest. It's been a long 24 hours for all of us," Blaze quickly rose up to walk away.
"Wait…" suddenly she felt his hand pulling her own back.
"Axel, what do you want me to say? That I understand? That everything is ok. That I'm over it?" She sniffed. "You made a promise to me that you couldn't keep and all that time, my world fell apart whilst you were living your best life. So forgive me for being cold towards you, but I stick to my promises," Blaze abruptly pulled her hand away from his.
"I know you're still upset with me, it's my fault and I'm sorry".
"You know you were wrong about one thing though. Your 'outlook' might have changed, but you still do exactly what you want first, while the rest of us repair the damages."
"You're wrong! I wanted to tell you for so long! And yeah, I did what I set out to do. Moving out to the wilderness was the best thing for me at the time. But there is one thing I regret not doing," Axel explained.
"What's that then?"
"I should have asked you to come with me all those years ago,"
Blaze immediately turned away with a tear running down the side of her cheek, "you don't mean that,"
"Yes, I do" he gently touched her face, turning it back towards him. "And even if you wanna stay here after I leave this time, just know that all you have to ever do is reach out when you need me and I'll come running back here every single time Blaze."
"I don't know what to say right now…" she suddenly found herself lost for words. Never in a million years would Blaze have expected hearing what he just revealed to her.
"Don't say anything then. Just know that I won't break any more promises and I mean it…..Max told me what happened to you, what the Syndicate did to you…."
"It doesn't matter anymore. It's in the past and I'd rather not…" she paused.
"Is that why you still have nightmares about that night? I've seen it many times. At first I thought it was the future. That you were one day going to be in serious trouble. But when Max told me the truth, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror knowing that they hurt you. They couldn't find me, so they came after you instead. I'm so sorry, that's all on me…."
"What happened wasn't your fault",
Axel took a deep breath, "just know that we'll get vengeance for everything. And I swear, nothing like that is ever gonna happen to you again. Whether you're with me or whether you're halfway across the world from me. I won't let it!"
Blaze closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep exhale. "There's something else you should know about that night…"
He gently held her hand, "tell me…"
Suddenly, the door to the room barged open, "BLAZE, WE NEED YOU UPSTAIRS NOW!" Cherry shouted out of breath.
"What's wrong?"
"We all need to leave, right away!" The teenager panicked, glancing between the two of them. "Estel is upstairs, she wants to talk to you and my father before the rest of the precinct arrive…"
"Okay, I'll be right there." Blaze nodded, glancing worriedly back at Axel.
"I'll be ok. Go," he insisted.
Blaze then turned her attention back towards Cherry. "Gather the others together, load any transport we can find and make sure you both get the hell out of here! Your dad and I will find you, ok? We'll hold them off!"
"Ok." Cherry anxiously nodded.
