But even as she dressed and prepared to go to the Syndicate, she felt no more ready to handle seeing the other Elites.
Isa had no idea how she was going to tell anyone about what happened. There was a part of her that believed she had not killed Colonel Amori, only angered him further to the point where he would flip the switch on the black handle and send all the Elites after her to kill her, forcing her to kill them to save her own life.
She could hardly remember dismantling and destroying the handle the previous night before tearing the room apart to find the second trigger for destroying Anon. She was not sure if it had been a dream, or if she had, in fact, destroyed both triggers.
With her entire body in a high state of stress, she felt as though she was about to break.
She managed to get past the control room without anyone seeing and stopping her, but as she was climbing the stairs, refusing to stand still long enough to use the elevator, she caught Remus on the floor below hers.
“Isa,” he said quietly, surprised to see her. She jumped, her eyes wide and frantic as she stared at him. “Are…what is it?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. She turned to walk up the stairs, but Remus called her attention again.
“Isa,” he said. She stopped, her shoulders tense as she debated with herself about turning around to talk to him or if she should just run up to her office. She felt as if her world was spinning very fast around her, about ready to collapse into chaos. “I have the reports on what they found for the building.”
“Oh?”
“Do you want to see them?”
Isa turned around slowly. That was when Remus noticed that Isa’s body was rocking back and forth shallowly, her breathing short. He stepped back, nervous.
“Why don’t you come here into the hall and look?” he suggested.
Slowly, Isa walked to him, her steps short and her exhales shaking as she stepped closer. Remus watched her move, terrified.
“Are you…do you need to go to the hospital?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” Isa blurted.
“You’re clearly not.”
“I said I’m fine. Just…just tell me what you want to tell me and then let me go.”
Remus blinked, the words frightening him.
“I’m not holding you here, Isa,” he said slowly. “You can leave if you really want. You’re starting to scare me. What’s going on?”
“Nothing is going on,” Isa said darkly. “Just, tell me. Okay? I need…”
“What do you need?”
“…I don’t know,” Isa whispered, her voice breaking. “This needs to be over.”
“What needs to be over?”
“…everything…” Isa’s voice choked and her body began shaking so violently Remus was about to call an EMU for the Golden Elite. Isa could feel the Colonel watching her. She knew he was waiting for the moment to activate the microbionic cells and send the Elites after her. She could feel the anticipation building and it was choking her.
“Isa,” Remus hissed. “Isa, look at me.”
“…I can’t do this…”
Her legs began giving out from under her and Remus grabbed her arm, pulling her up, his hands gripping her shoulders, trying to keep her standing.
But Isa was sure that Colonel Amori had activated the cells.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, shoving at him weakly and falling to the ground when Remus released her in surprise. She clamored to her feet, turning to run to the stairs, but her legs gave out at the top and she pitched forward, tumbling down the staircase, her left arm slamming against the railing and snapping instantly. She came to an abrupt halt, face down, on the landing.
“Isa!” Remus cried, descending the stairs after her. The commotion was heard by the other Elites, and they quickly went to the staircase.
Isa saw Remus rushing after her and her fear tripled. She forced herself to her feet again and struggled down the next flight of stairs to the next level. She darted onto the walkway but stopped instantly when she saw the gathering of Elites coming to inspect the noise. She let out a pained sound and sank to her knees in the middle of the walkway, looking around frantically as the faces of her Syndicate came closer, their eyes showing their fear and concern, their fast actions terrifying her.
Isa glanced over her shoulder, cradling her broken arm, and saw the control room through the glass railing.
In a terrified daze, Isa moved her legs under her just as the other Elites reached for her and she pushed all of her bodyweight into the glass panel, her body falling with the shattered glass to the floor below, connecting with the computers in the center platform of the control room with an audible crunch.
Her world went black.
Nearly twenty-eight hours of agonized waiting passed before the Elites heard anything about Isa. No one slept, sitting around the waiting room, fidgeting uncontrollably and getting up whenever they could not handle sitting.
The nurses and orderlies avoided the room, glancing in every now and then to check on the Elites.
The entire hospital staff was aware that there had been a horrible accident at the Syndicate and that Elite Isa was in critical condition, but no one knew details. However, nurses and other doctors went in and out of the large operating room, relieving one another for sleep as Dr. Busen worked diligently through the entire twenty-seven hour procedure.
As it neared twenty-eight hours since Isa had been rushed to the hospital, another doctor slowly walked into the room, holding her tablet to her chest, worried about breaking the news to the Syndicate.
As she approached, everyone who had been sitting swarmed around her.
“How is she?” Remus asked quickly.
“The damage was very extensive,” she said nervously. “Fractured arm, eight broken ribs, a fractured hip, both clavicles shattered, and the left side of her skull was damaged severely.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and swallowing hard. “Dr. Busen reconstructed everything, but we do not know if she will make it through the night.”
All the Elites felt the pain radiate through their bodies.
“The next twenty-four hours are the most critical,” the doctor continued. “We will have her on constant watch, and we will let you know of any changes. If she makes it through the night, her chances of recovery greatly increase.”
“May we speak with Dr. Busen?” Chronus pressed.
“Not at the moment,” she said. “He’s sleeping. When he wakes I will let him know that you wish to speak with him. If you would like to return home, we can contact you with any news.”
“Thank you,” Remus murmured.
The doctor bowed her head and left the room.
The Elites turned to one another.
“What do we do?” Anders asked.
“We’ll take shifts being here and being at the Syndicate,” Remus said, his eyes distant on the ground. “For now, we just say that she’s busy and that is why no one has seen her.”
“And if she…”
“We’ll prepare a statement if that happens,” Remus said shortly. The other Elites dropped their eyes. “It’s only one day until we know her chances,” he continued. “We’ll take shifts being here until we receive news. No one discuss what happened.”
“Someone has to tell Rayal,” Anders murmured.
“I’ll do it,” Maki offered.
“Thank you, Maki,” Remus said. “Decide among yourselves who will go home and who will stay.”
When the Elites had determined their shifts, Maki went to Rayal’s room, where the caretaker had been recovering from the stabbing.
“Rayal,” Maki greeted, his voice strained.
“Elite Maki…” Rayal said, setting his tablet aside, surprised by the Elite’s visit. When he looked over the Bronze Elite’s exhausted expression, his heart fell. “What is it?”
“There has been an incident,” Maki started slowly, “with Isa.”
“What? What happened?” Rayal demanded.
“I think…I think
she suffered a psychotic episode,” he murmured, his eyes dropping to the ground. “She started running away from everyone, she fell down the stairs and broke her arm. Then, when she stopped in the hallway…” He swallowed hard. “She threw herself through the glass railing into the control room—two stories. She crashed into the center platform.”
Rayal let out a shaky breath and lifted a hand to his mouth, his eyes wide.
“Is she…she’s not…”
“Dr. Busen just performed extensive surgery to try and repair the damage,” Maki continued quietly. “They say that, if she survives the next twenty-four hours, it’s more likely that she’ll recover.”
Rayal felt the tears gathering in his eyes. He tried to swallow them back, but they still spilled down his cheeks, causing his damaged eye to burn, but he did not care.
“It has something to do with that bastard Colonel Amori,” Rayal ground out behind his teeth. “It has to.”
“Are you sure?”
“I know he had something to do with this,” he said, motioning to his stomach. “I can’t remember what, but I know he was involved. And there is no way he’s not involved in this somehow. You have to keep her away from him.”
“Okay,” Maki said, seeing Rayal working himself up. The Elite reached forward and put a calming hand on Rayal’s shoulder. “We will do everything we can to protect her. We’ll keep her away from Colonel Amori. I promise.”
Rayal nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.
As Maki walked back out to the waiting room, he felt his stomach twisting irritably. He had known that the Colonel was dangerous, particularly with the way Isa reacted when he brought up Saera and Isa tried to plead with him for help. Being in the hospital, now haunted by the image of Isa flying through the glass panel and colliding with center platform, he kicked himself for not noticing the Colonel was a danger much sooner.
He approached Remus, standing in front of the Silver Elite and swallowing hard.
“I need you to come with me to Anon Tower.”
“Why?”
“I think I know why this happened.”
Remus straightened.
“I think Colonel Amori has been blackmailing Isa somehow, and I think it’s finally become too much for her.”
“You’re on about this again?” the Silver Elite said, groaning and rubbing his forehead.
“The timing is perfect, Remus, and you should have seen the way she acted when I mentioned the Charge Blast on the generators. Don’t you think it’s strange that they still haven’t reached settlement and we’ve heard nothing about their negotiations, yet we find Isa beaten in the hallway of her own home and Rayal stabbed next to her? He immediately pointed the finger at you. Who’s to say that he wasn’t the one who changed the cameras in Isa’s room so that Venus would see you two? Remus, we need to place him under arrest.”
Remus sighed, looking over Maki seriously.
“Let’s at least speak to him and see if we notice anything out of the ordinary,” he agreed.
“Fine, let’s go.”
“Right now?” Remus asked.
“Now,” Maki said strongly. “If he is the reason she did this, we don’t want to give him the chance to run before we can bring him to justice.”
Remus was about to protest, feeling like he could not leave the hospital until he was sure that Isa would survive. However, Chronus’ hand on his arm stopped him.
“We should probably get out of the hospital for a little bit,” he suggested. “For your mental health.”
Remus paused, thinking about what Chronus said, before he nodded slowly.
“Let’s go.”
Maki, Chronus, and Remus went to Anon Tower and made their way to Colonel Amori’s quarters. As they approached the door to Colonel Amori’s quarters, Chronus stopped and looked at the door where the Gihron delegates were quartered.
“Hey,” he started, pointing at the door when the other two turned to him, “did the other delegates leave? I haven’t seen them in…over a month.”
“I don’t recall them leaving,” Remus said, shaking his head.
“They must have,” Maki said.
Chronus looked at the door and started forward.
“Let’s just make sure.”
He pressed the alarm on the door, but no one answered. He then knocked, but still there was no answer.
“I guess they did leave,” Remus said, stepping forward and pulling out an access card, passing it over the electronic lock to override it. When his identity was confirmed, the door clicked open and all three of them recoiled, backing across the hall, their hands over their mouths as the stench overpowered them.
“What the hell?” Chronus choked.
Remus quickly went forward when he recovered and stepped around the corner into the living room, where he stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide.
“Remus?” Maki asked, walking in with his sleeve over his nose and mouth. “What—”
When both Bronze Elites saw the bodies strung up on the ceiling with their ominous message, their hearts stopped.
“Fuck…” Remus breathed.
“Do you really think he did this to his own men?” Maki hissed.
“They clearly didn’t do it themselves,” Remus said, noting the disheveled state of the room. “Let’s go in there and take this fucker down. I don’t care if we have to beat him into unconsciousness. We can’t let this psycho run free.”
The three left the room, closing the door behind them as they went into the next room, indicating a struggle. Remus opened the door with the override code and they stepped in quietly, listening for any noise from the Gihoric leader. When they heard nothing, they walked further in. There were files and drives scattered around the room, stacked high, some piles toppled to the ground.
“Where did he get all these?” Chronus whispered.
“What information do they contain?” Maki said, looking at the other Bronze Elite worriedly.
They walked through the living room and kitchen, quiet and vigilant, waiting to hear signs of the Colonel moving.
Remus led them into the hallway leading to the bedrooms and stopped at the door of the Colonel’s room. From his vantage point, he could only see one boot on the floor in a huge pool of blood.
He darted in and turned the corner, finding the Colonel’s corpse next to the bed, the bloodied lamp next to him. Maki and Chronus followed the Silver Elite, staring in horror at the dead foreign leader, their minds racing with thoughts about Colonel Amori’s relation to General Decius, and the pride of the Gihrons. All five of the ambassadors sent to Tiao were dead, killed in gruesome ways.
“Do you think…” Chronus looked at Remus, unable to finish the question.
Maki walked forward carefully, reaching down into Colonel Amori’s hand and pulling out some tangled strands of pristine blonde hair from his fingers. He held them up, looking at the other Elites in horror.
Remus lifted a hand to his mouth and closed his eyes tightly.
“She was trying to tell us all along, wasn’t she?” Chronus whispered. “And she finally couldn’t take it…”
Remus turned away from the body, cringing as he tried to calm his breathing.
“We have to come up with a story,” Maki said strongly. “To protect her, to protect our people.”
“We don’t know the entire story,” Chronus said. “We don’t know what he did to Isa. If it was self-defense from the ravings of a madman, perhaps—”
“No,” Remus said strongly.
“What?”
“This was General Decius’ younger brother,” he said. “If we say that he was insane, that he attacked Isa, and she killed him in self-defense, then he will deny it. He knew his brother his entire life. He would say that there was no way he was crazy.”
“Clearly something was going on!” Chronus snapped. “He killed his own men! Isn’t that proof?”
“These are Gihoric leaders we are dealing with, it has nothing to do with the truth or pro
of or anything like that,” Remus said darkly. “General Decius’ younger brother was murdered. That is all that matters. The reason is irrelevant.”
“We need to cover this up, make it an assassination by someone else. The other delegates need to be dealt with as well, though that’s going to be much harder to cover up,” Maki mused.
“Do you think this is why she…” Chronus swallowed hard.
The other two Elites fell silent, wondering if Isa threw herself into the control room out of guilt.
Isa made it through the night and everyone anxiously counted down the hours. Dr. Busen came out and spoke to all of them, exhausted, Paul at his side as he tried to explain what he had done. He was worried, and his voice broke as he discussed the procedure, showing how difficult it had been on the doctor.
“If she survives…” he whispered, his eyes lowering, “there is no guarantee that she will be able to function as she once did.”
Isa made it through the first twenty-four hours, but she did not wake, remaining in the coma for nearly two weeks.
During that time, the Elites were informed of the carnage found within the two apartments of the Gihron ambassadors. Each of them did their part in covering up what had happened, making up a story to tell Gihron. When Isa was still not awake after the first week following the incident, Remus broke the news to General Decius. He explained that the cleaning maids had discovered Colonel Amori’s body as well as the bodies of the other ambassadors. He said that they were doing everything they could to apprehend the terrorists, a group that, he said, had been sending threatening letters to the Syndicate against allying with Gihron.
General Decius was furious, bellowing at the Elite that he asked Elite Isa to take care of his brother, to which Remus stated that she had also been attacked in the same night and was in critical condition.
The statement seemed to appease the leader, but only slightly.
He angrily demanded that their bodies be returned to Gihron, but Remus reminded him that bodies were not permitted to be transported off-planet without cremation. General Decius demanded a full autopsy report and then to have his brother’s ashes returned to the planet.
Remus asked Dr. Busen to do the autopsy, stating that he was sure Isa had been the one to kill the Colonel. The doctor agreed, and did as he was asked, being sure that any evidence that could damn Isa for the crime was destroyed.
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