Something drew my attention off in the distance. I couldn’t see anything, but I had a feeling something was approaching. Blaze and Revolver looked in the same direction.
“You feel that too?” Blaze asked us.
Revolver answered, “Yeah. We’re on the run now from assassins. Right before meeting up with you, we were trying to figure out where to go.”
“You guys look like assassins yourselves,” Blaze pointed out.
“We are...kind of,” Revolver tried to explain.
I added, “It’s complicated right now but we don’t want to be assassins anymore.”
Revolver was looking back in the direction of where we sensed the energy from.
“They must have had assassins waiting on standby to make sure we followed through with orders,” He explained.
“Well, you should go somewhere they wouldn’t think to find you. Then, stay for a few days,” Blaze suggested.
Revolver and I looked at each other then back at Blaze.
Revolver replied, “That’s a good idea, actually.”
“Right?” I agreed.
“You guys go. I’ll take care of the assassins for you guys. It was good to see you Revolver and nice to meet you Spex,” He told us.
Revolver replied, “Thank you. You stay safe as well, Blaze.”
“See ‘ya, Blaze,” I said to him with a wave.
We took off and Revolver led us both to our next destination. A few days had passed since our meet up with Blaze. We had made our way to Infernus City and were laying low in an inn. We watched the news to stay up to date with what was going on.
“We need to get rid of our assassin outfits,” I said to Revolver.
Revolver looked at me with a weird face.
“What if we need them, though?” he questioned.
I explained in response, “Having the outfits means we are still part of the H.N.A. We are just going to have to make do with what we got until we are able to get new combat gear.”
Revolver sigh and then nodded silently in agreement. We got our outfits and hid them in plastic bags that I got from the inn’s front desk clerk. We both walked outside and to the dumpster. Without hesitating, I threw mine in the dumpster. Revolver on the other hand did hesitate. He stared at the bag like he was putting his dog down. I put my hand on his shoulder.
“It’s okay. This is what is best,” I assured him.
He looked up at me, smirked, and threw the bag away as well.
“Good job, man,” I proudly told him.
I gave him a pat on the back, and we went back to our room.
“We can’t stay here much longer. The H.N.A. could be getting close to us,” Revolver stated.
I replied, “You’re right. We need to start digging around and look for clues to figure out what is going on.”
The TV was left on by me earlier and a news report started.
“We have an update on the attack on Central City. Sources say the attack was related to the attack on Waterfall City in the Aqua Republic. Eyewitnesses are claiming that they saw the mysterious man that matches the description of the man found at the scene of the last attack. He was joined by another mysterious man. Candidate Rawlings was found murdered in his home after the attack. Investigators found that he was murder, most likely by one of the two men that were seen,” the reporter stated.
I started to realize something, “It must have been the guy with the blindfold that showed up. He said
something getting a sigil from someone. He didn’t say who though.”
Revolver was silently thinking.
“We need to look at everything. Does this room have a pen and paper?” he spoke and questioned.
I looked at the desk in the room and answered, “Maybe?”
I walked over to the desk and searched for what Revolver was asking for. Sure enough, there was a pad of paper and some pens in one of the drawers.
“Good. Now let’s see,” Revolver said.
He took the pad and one of the pens. He began to write down everything we knew so far.
He explained as he wrote, “We have the five candidates, and we have the assassins who are helping Amaia win the election, and we have these mysterious men who have control over the Shadow Dwellers. Rawlings is now out. Amaia and Cyris who have a commanding poll leads, and are tied, over Argo and Nari. Amaia is in the lead because of the assassins and Cyris is in the lead because of his connections in the government. From an earlier report, I saw that Rawlings was climbing in the polls because he had a really good rally recently before his death.”
I then spoke with a question, “So, you think his death was to prevent him from winning?”
Revolver nodded, “Well, that was probably half of the reason. The other is because of the sigil that he had, but why would he have something like that? Also, why would Crynux be after it?”
“I don’t know, but we can say for sure that Crynux was the one who helped Sabotage come back and then used him to find out about the sigil,” I responded.
“Sabotage said that the sigil had something to do with souls or something,” Revolver pointed out.
“Man, there is so much we don’t know yet,” I replied, shaking my head, puzzled.
We both pondered quietly for a moment.
I then questioned, “Is there somewhere that we can research into the sigil?”
Revolver started to ponder while suggesting, “Well, we could go to the Central Library, It’s the best library out of all the Nations. It’s also the largest.”
I nodded, “Okay, let’s get going then.”
“What does that have to do with stopping the assassins?” I asked.
I was confused, “So, you want to take on the assassins head on?”
“Well, maybe not head on, but maybe we can sneak into the H.N.A. and take on Sharik directly. We take him out, we take down the H.N.A.,” Revolver proposed.
I looked at what Revolver wrote on the pad of paper and processed what Revolver’s suggested plan was for a few moments. It seemed to risky. I started to shake my head slowly.
I then spoke, “No. I think we should find out what is going on with the Sigil and Crynux. There is something going on in the background; Some big plan. I feel like once we know more with what is going on, we can figure out a sure way of taking down the H.N.A., Sharik, Crynux, and whoever else is involved with this plan.”
Revolver looked a little disappointed with my plan.
“So, the fast way or the long way,” Revolver thought out loud.
I tried to make the choice clearer, “Revolver, it is just us with no help. Going straight after the H.N.A. would be suicide.”
Revolver was still silently thinking then he spoke, “Fine, but we shouldn’t leave right now though. It’s almost nighttime,” Revolver pointed out.
I looked out the window and saw that the sun was getting ready to set.
I nodded and replied “Yeah, sure. Let’s just head out first thing in the morning.”
Revolver nodded in agreement. He then tore the paper that he wrote on and slipped it into his pack. I then heard the reporter on the TV.
“Joining us right now is Candidate Amaia,” the Reporter introduced.
Amaia was dressed in business attire and had her drawn brown hair stylized. This was pretty much how she normally dressed. She was smiling to the reporter.
“Thank you,” she said through her smile.
“So, you’re still tied with Cyris in the polls. How do you plan on getting ahead?” the reporter asked.
Amaia answered, “Well, I can’t say without ruining my plans, it’s a surprise for everyone, but I know they will work out in the end.”
The reporter nodded, “Okay, well that is good. There have been a lot of attacks by a strange man in black and some unconfirmed reports of this man being stopped by a small group of people. Do you have anything to say on this matter?”
“Well, I do plan on finding a way to prevent fighting with the other leaders. I want to see a s
afe future for everyone,” Amaia answered, still smiling big.
My views on Amaia suddenly changed after hearing her responses, I then reached for the remote and turned off the TV. I looked at Revolver.
“Yeah, I’m getting this weird vibe from her, like she is lying,” I said.
“I guess so,” Revolver responded. He didn’t seem phased by the interview.
We left our room and got some dinner from a nearby fast food restaurant. Now that we were jobless, we decided to try and save what Nero we could until we found another source of money. That probably wouldn’t happen until after we solve this mystery.
Afterwards, Revolver and I then went off to bed. I laid in my bed awake for a while, starring into the darkness. I thought about the assassins, the elections, and the fact that I was getting these memories that were either my own or of someone else. I couldn’t figure it out. Finally, I passed out.
I opened my eyes and I was standing in the middle of a crowd. I looked in the direction of where everyone else was looking and saw the nation’s leaders on a stage with the President of the Central Union talking by a podium with a microphone.
“The Resurrect has been a rising threat against the nations. As to why exactly though, we don’t know. We are still looking into this,” the President said.
I felt something vibrate in my pocket. I looked down and realized that I was in a sleeveless hoodie coat, tight sleeveless shirt, and sweatpants again. I reached into my pocket pulled out the comphone. I checked and saw it was Vexus calling.
I answered, “Hello? Vexus?”
“Hey, Spex! I finally get to talk to you. You disappeared after the coffee shop attack,” I heard him say.
It was kind of loud around me and was hard to hear him. I tried to cover the other ear with my hand.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I empathically replied.
Vexus said back, “It’s okay. I wanted to say that something weird happened. During the attack, I somehow protected Fayth and I from the rubble of the ceiling with some sort of shield I created before it disappeared. I confirmed with Fayth that it was made of a light-green color aura. Reiko, however, was not with us but she protected herself as well.”
I was surprised that Vexus was able to use his powers. It must have been a fight-or-flight response.
“Light-green, huh?” I questioned.
“Isn’t that crazy?” Vexus said in an exciting tone.
I then asked, “How did Reiko protect herself?”
Suddenly, the large monitor behind the president glitched and changed from a camera view on him to a feed of Jessix.
“Mr. President. It’s good to meet you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the leader of The Resurrect. My Name is Jessix,” she spoke.
I heard someone say something through the communicator, “Everyone stay on alert.”
I recognized the voice as Sabre’s. I looked around saw Tana, Vlaykre, Sabre and Regan in different places amongst the crowd of people. Ansel, Hana, Vlayru, and Kaido were nowhere to be found. I thought about it more and vaguely remembered something about Kaido leaving after fighting with Tana. Ansel stayed behind due to being ill and Hana was taking care of her. Vlayru had left a while ago with his dad Ryuu and his mother Ayla went to the continent Yovan to help the country Judas win a war that was still going on against Arcadias.
“Spex, ‘you there? Did you hear what I said?” I heard Vexus say on the phone.
I turned my attention back to Vexus, “Hey, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
I then disconnected the call.
“What is it that you want?” the Central Union President asked.
Jessix laughed and explained, “I want power over all the nations. To make sure that happens, my men have successfully captured members of the senate. You will transfer all power to us in exchange for their lives. Oh, and I know you have a secret group of elemental freedom fighters and we can’t have them interrupting our transaction. One of them is one of our hostages. Our team of scientists have created something just for them. A machine called the NULL. You have twenty-four hours to comply. Ta-ta!”
The feed cut out and a screeching noise began and caused a massive pain to my ears and head. I dropped to the ground on one knee. I looked up to Resurrect Members walking towards the crowd firing their guns in the air. Everyone starts to run and scream in fear.
I put my hands up and exclaimed, “Stop!”
It didn’t work and the Resurrect were still moving and firing their guns. I looked at my hands and started to wonder what was going on. Tana fought to stand up and I saw her raise her hand to use her Water Blast, but it didn’t work either.
‘What is going on?’ I thought to myself, panicking.
My heart raced as I saw the members point their guns to Tana, ready to fire. I couldn’t move. Just as they fired their guns. Sabre ran in front of Tana and protected her by blocking the bullets with his sword. After a few seconds of guns being fired, it stopped. Sabre fell to his knees. It looked like he couldn’t deflect all the bullets and was hit by a few of them. He both started to bleed bad.
“Father!” Tana yelled in an upset tone.
“Damn them,” I whispered to myself.
I started to get mad because I felt useless.
“Katana, ‘you okay?” Sabre asked Tana.
She shook her head, “I’m fine, but now I’m worried about you!”
One of the Resurrect members held their gun to Sabre’s head.
The member spoke, “Prepare to die.”
Seeing this happen made me feel like I had to do something. I fought to stand up quick. As soon as I did though, I was shot in the back of one of my calves. The pain made me fall back down on one knee. I turned my head to see another member walk up to me with his gun pointed at me.
“You’re going to watch your friend’s get murdered or else you die too,” he said.
I quietly turned my attention back to Sabre. Just as they were about to pull the trigger, they were taken out by shots from the air. We looked up to see helicopters in the air and soldiers sliding down ropes and landing on the ground. I recognized them as the Elemental Trooper Brigade. The E.T.B. soldiers would then continue to fight off The Resurrect. I got lightheaded and fainted.
I opened my eyes wide and shot up in my bed in cold sweat, breathing heavily. I looked around and realized I was in the hotel room. I looked over and saw Revolver fast asleep in the dark. I processed the dream I just had. I pulled up leg of my pj bottoms, looked at my calf, and saw a scar. I started to think it wasn’t just a dream. I just wanted to know why I was getting these visions recently.
‘Should I talk to Revolver about this?’ I thought.
After looking at Revolver I continued to say in my head, ‘Maybe not until I know what this is.’
Revolver rolled over and spoke, “Spex, ‘you okay?”
I was surprised he was awake.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a nightmare,” I replied.
Revolver was silent for a moment, “Looks like we are both having issues sleeping.”
I asked, “Why are you having issues?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t feel like we made the right decision. I feel like we are going to regret defecting from the H.N.A. What if something bad is going to happen now and staying in the H.N.A. was the better decision. What if the future we saw is what happens after we defected?” Revolver explained with a worried tone.
I quietly processed what he said for a moment.
Revolver continued, “Anyways, what your nightmare about?”
I thought for a moment, “I can’t exactly remember now.”
“I hate when that happens,” He yawned then continued, “I’m going to try and get some sleep.”
He rolled over and I continued to think while laying back down facing up to the ceiling.
‘What if he is right? What if the ‘Water Maiden’ was trying to keep us in with the assassins but try and change their motives?’ I questioned in my head.
&nb
sp; Chapter 13 – Out of Sight
A few hours later, Revolver shook me awake. I rolled over and opened one of my eyes to see him standing over me.
“Hey, I know it’s early, but let’s head out before the H.N.A. show up,” he told me.
I nodded and slowly got out of the bed and stretched. I looked out the window and saw that the sun was beginning to rise. We quickly got ready and left the hotel. We walked for about fifteen minutes before getting to a bus stop. The bus arrived an hour later.
The Masters- RE- Revolver Page 11