The woman in his grip huddled on the floor as Phoenix approached her, her body tucked into a tight ball. Phoenix placed one hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay," he said as she shook under his touch. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe now. You're safe."
Her body unfolded like a curled spring, and big doe eyes looked up at Phoenix. "They still have my sisters."
"How many?"
"Two."
Phoenix looked up and down the corridor before walking over to the man he had shot. He prised the gun from his fingers before returning to the woman. He squatted down, so they were eye to eye, and placed the gun in her hands.
"I want you to keep this close to you. Help should be on its way. If you see anyone you don't know, shoot first and ask questions later," Phoenix said, placing his hand over hers. "Got it?"
"Yes," she said faintly.
Phoenix checked his pistols over. This was the final push. He took in a deep breath to steady his nerves.
"Who are you?" said a voice in the gloom.
"Me?" Phoenix said with a smile. "Just someone looking for a good time."
As he started to make his way down the corridor, he heard footsteps running after him.
"They're ruthless. They--"
"Are they that different from you?" Phoenix asked, still staring straight ahead.
"We have never... Well, my father, and the Rue-High, do treat the lower class...differently," she said in a small voice.
"So, princess, in the time that you have been alive, did it ever occur to you that if you had treated your people better, with more respect, more kindness, they would have shown you the same virtues?"
"I am third from the throne after my two sisters. What would you have me do? Do you think I enjoy this bloodshed? Do you think I enjoy the way things are here? This place is sick, yes, but what can one person do?"
"It only needs one person to do the right thing to change the world," Phoenix said. "It only needs one person who can stand up, who has the courage to stand and fight for what's right, no matter the cost. No matter the sacrifice. It's not easy...but life never is."
"They are still my sisters," the small voice said in the dark.
"I promise... No, I will do everything in my power to get them back. Just sit tight and remember what I said. And watch as one person tries to change the world."
"You still haven't told me your name!" she shouted at Phoenix's retreating back.
"Names come later! Action comes first."
29
Light!
Phoenix could see it up ahead, the size of a pinhead and growing larger by the second. He pushed forward as he heard shouts and screams in the distance.
He was closing in.
Phoenix switched his eyesight back to normal. He couldn't see anything beyond the sunlight, after being in the dark for so long. He wanted to give his eyesight time to adjust, but he couldn't afford to wait. He could hear an engine in the distance.
He took the last grenade from his pocket and threw it towards the entrance.
He knew they would be waiting. How stupid did they think he was?
The explosion rocked the foundations and screams followed in its wake. Phoenix allowed himself a smile as he leapt through the flames and rolled across the ground.
Light spots danced in front of his eyes, disorienting him. Body parts littered the floor as he continued to run forward. The entrance brought him out into the grounds of the palace. Flowers and grass were crushed underfoot as he dived and shot in the head two men hiding between the trees.
Dre's men were using the same buggies that had brought Phoenix and his crew to the palace to escape. A few ran on foot, but most were in the buggies or hanging off them.
As the last two of Dre's men started their buggies and began to drive away, Phoenix chased them down, firing upon them with reckless abandon.
The last buggy was slow to pull away, and Phoenix leapt aboard, punching one man in the face and shooting the other in the stomach. Throwing them both off, he pointed the vehicle towards the fleeing men and gave chase.
The buggy was slow but once it got going it did pick up speed. Phoenix ducked low as he drove forward. None of the men ahead noticed his presence. He scanned the vehicles in front of him but he couldn't see Dre anywhere. Had he used a different means of escape, or was he that far ahead that he had already got away?
Phoenix pushed on to find that the roaring engine he'd heard earlier belonged to a space ship parked in the palace grounds. Its ramp was lowered, awaiting Dre's crew.
Phoenix pushed the buggy forward between two others, speeding for the ship. The occupants in the other buggies didn't see Phoenix until the last minute. Popping up like a jack in the box, he held both pistols out on either side of him and opened fire.
Bodies convulsed as his bolts swept through flesh and organs. Luckily, neither buggy held any hostages, and the vehicles swerved and weaved until they crashed into trees, their wheels still spinning and kicking up dirt.
Voices up ahead shouted in anger as his presence became known.
Two buggies dropped back and the men inside opened fire upon Phoenix. He ducked low as plasma and rifle bolts pinged off and singed the metal of the buggy.
Phoenix opened fire on the first vehicle, hitting two of the men inside before they tried to pull away again. Phoenix floored the accelerator, ramming his buggy into the back of theirs.
Their driver flipped over the front of their vehicle and was run over by the two buggies. Nothing could be heard but the crunching of bones.
As the buggies pulled away, two gagged and bound hostages were thrown from the enemy's vehicles. Phoenix wanted to stop and pick them up, but he couldn't lose sight of the bigger mission.
He had to get on that ship and stop Dre at all costs.
Discarding the hostages was just an attempt at distracting Phoenix from that plan.
"He's still coming!"
They were nearly upon the ship. As all three buggies raced for it, Phoenix knew that the ship wouldn't wait. As the engines kicked into gear, and the roar from it became deafening, it slowly started to lift off the ground and the ramp began to retract.
He wasn't going to lose this battle. Fuck that!
Phoenix locked the steering so it pointed straight and climbed onto the front of his buggy. He tried to keep his footing as the buggy bounced over the grass. His eyes were locked forward on his target as he stood, crouched, waiting for the right moment.
He held his breath and waited for the exact moment the buggy crashed into the one in front before he made his jump. His pistol fired at the man steering it, who slumped over the steering wheel, jerking it to one side.
As it crashed into the second buggy, to their left, shouts went up as metal sparks flew.
Phoenix threw the dead driver into the other buggy, causing it to swerve. Flames erupted and bodies were pitched from the vehicle, as the front of the buggy wrapped around a tree.
Phoenix punched the accelerator harder as he looked up towards the ship. The ramp was all but retracted as he raced towards it.
Dre looked down towards him as a king would do a servant, his purple coat flapping in the breeze.
With a deafening roar, the ship started to take off.
Move, Phoenix!
Phoenix leapt onto the hood of the buggy and braced his legs for the jump he was about to make. You're about to do some stupid shit, an inner voice told him.
Yeah, I know.
Phoenix engaged every muscle he had as he leapt for the ramp. The fingers of his right hand made indentations as they clamped on the metal, and he redoubled his grip. His body hung like a dead weight. He began to pull himself up but stopped when he saw Dre's face bending down to meet his.
"It's a pleasure to put a face to a name." Dre smiled.
"The pleasure is all yours! Now, if you wouldn't mind giving me a hand up," Phoenix said, gesturing with his head at his right hand.
Dre ignored him as he swe
pt his hand through his hair. "You know, everything I have done up to this point was to kill you. But then I realised what a waste it was, thinking on such a small scale. You weren't the problem, Mr Jones--"
"My name is Phoenix! Why does every fucker keep calling me Mr Jones? Do I look that old?"
"As I was saying, you weren't the problem. It was the society that we live in as a whole. The corruption, the unlawful behaviour of the upper class, the little aid the poor and suffering get. Everything I see around me is sick and dying. I plan to change all that," Dre said, gesturing to the landscape with a sweeping hand.
"Oh, give me a fucking break! You're no freedom fighter. How does killing innocent children fall into that? I have seen and known hundreds like you. Always preaching about the poor and what you're trying to do to help, but in the end, you're no better then what we already have.
"Chaos begets chaos."
"Yes, it does, Mr Jones, but chaos also cleanses."
Phoenix began to lift himself up but stopped as Dre snapped his fingers.
Two of his goons appeared either side of him holding onto two bound and gagged girls with bags over their heads. Both their dresses were stained with blood and grass.
"I will leave you with a parting gift. You can watch people that you tried to save die before your very eyes. You should be thankful. It is something I never got to have."
"Don't do this," Phoenix whispered with a shake of his head
"I'm sorry. I wish I could help you, but I can't. Unlike you, I no longer have a family that depends on me. Unlike you, my city shall burn. Unlike you, my country shall destroy itself, and my world has already crumbled. I wish I could help you, but I can't. I won't. You left me so fate could take everything I loved. Your fate shall be much worse," Dre said.
As the words left Dre's mouth, Phoenix knew this man, even though he didn't want to admit it. He knew the pain in his voice. It was of one that had asked him for help in what seemed like a bygone era.
"Aww," Dre said, bending down so they were face to face. "You remember me now."
Phoenix reached out to grab whatever of Dre he could, but Dre had already turned round and walked away.
"I hope you do your best to save them," said Dre's voice, as the women were pushed off the ramp and went hurtling past Phoenix towards the ground below.
30
Florin sat in his study, papers littering every inch of space on his desk. What hadn't been important enough to keep its spot on the table had been moved to the floor. He rubbed his hands over his face, wondering if the bags he felt there now had become a permanent feature.
When had he become this tired?
Even when he had been working undercover there had also been time to rest, a time to laugh. But since he had taken over as the head of the family, there was always one fire after another to put out. If it wasn't someone in his immediate family, it was one of the staff, or one of the many business ventures the family was involved in.
It was always something.
By the gods, how he missed being undercover. It was simple. Easy. There was only one objective to think about; there was only one person to worry about.
"Ahh!" Florin yelled, throwing the papers in his hand across the room.
Paper floated down to the floor as the door to his study opened. Qbutt walked in and stopped, snatching a floating sheet of paper from the air. A frown settled on his brow as he took in the scene around him.
"Don't say a word," Florin said, pointing in his direction.
"I wouldn't dream of it, sir. Although I do believe many people would pay a pretty credit to see you flustered. I think most people who don't know you believe you to be some sort of monk," Qbutt said, picking up the papers.
"Do they, now? Well, we shan't disappoint them and shatter that image."
"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here so late? I thought you would have retired to your chambers long ago."
"Issues," Florin said, pointing to the papers around him. "Issues, problems, business enquiries, and Council agendas. It never ends! Oh, how I miss the field."
"You mean you miss not having responsibility," Qbutt said with his head down, shifting the papers on Florin's desk.
"Why, Qbutt," Florin said, giving him a sideways look, "if I didn't know any better, I would say you're giving me a lecture. I must say, my father has taught you well."
"I would never dream of it, sir. But... If your father were here, he would say that one man can make more difference with a pen then he can with a gun."
Florin laughed and shook his head. "My father never had to deal with the sort of men that I do. If he had, he would have seen things a bit differently. Governments have risen and fallen because a gun was pointed at the right face."
"Would you like me to fetch you something to eat, sir?"
"No. I won't be much longer. I just have a few more things to take care of, and then I shall be retiring."
"Well, if you're sure, sir," Qbutt said with his hand on the handle of the door, "I shall call it a night and I will see you in the morning. Do try and get some rest before then."
Florin nodded as the door closed behind Qbutt, and began to make notes on the sheet in front of him.
"Good evening, my lord," said a voice from the shadows.
Florin clenched his jaw as he resisted the urge to jump. It wouldn't do to look frightened or jumpy in front of his guest. "How good of you to join me, 23. Please do take a seat while I finish up here."
A cloaked figure walked out of the shadows near the window and into the room. Wrapped head to toe in grey-black material, no features could be seen. A large hood pulled over his face gave nothing away of his features.
As Florin continued to scribble on his paper, 23 took a seat and waited.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"
23 gave a slight shake of the head as he folded his arms into his sleeves.
"Very well. What have you found out?" Florin said, leaning back in his chair.
"It appears the task you set is more difficult than it first appeared."
"That is why I hired you. One of Lord Sou's top men doesn't come cheap. So, please tell me you have managed to obtain some information on who is trying to kill me."
"This task has many paths that appear to lead somewhere, but when I investigate them, they all lead to dead ends. After following each lead, the only thing I find is dead bodies. All the deaths were either suicides or freak accidents. Someone very powerful is covering their tracks and doing it well."
Florin sighed into his hands before looking up to the ceiling. "Is there nothing new you can tell me?"
"I would impart some advice before I leave. You are the head of a family on the Council. That in itself brings problems and threats that no one else would ever face.
"You are not the first head of a family to be killed or whose life is in danger. It is part of the job, whether you like it or not. You will have threats from inside your own family and from outside it. Always be careful what you eat and drink, and never go anywhere alone," 23 said as he got up from his chair. "The death of your father should have taught you that lesson. I will try and find out more about this puzzle. I will contact you when I do."
"Is there anything else?" Florin asked.
"There is something bigger at play here than just your downfall. I fear that more than one party is involved, and I fear it could mean the end of the Council as we know it."
31
Phoenix saw the bodies fall past him in a flash of flapping material. In that split second, a small part of him wondered if he should go after them.
He hated himself for thinking it, but his real target was Dre, and he knew he couldn't let him escape.
But all thoughts of what he should do became redundant when a heel smashed into his face, knocking him off the ramp. Wind whistled in his ears as he found himself dropping like a stone.
The drop was further than he thought; he saw the ground below
rushing to meet him. He braced his knees and legs for impact and rolled forward as he landed. If it weren't for the nanobots in his system, reinforcing his bones and ligaments, he would have shattered both legs on impact, or maybe worse.
He didn't want to look, but he knew that he had to. Both bodies lay behind him on the ground, unmoving. He felt the breeze on the small of his back as the rumble from the ship rippled through the ground.
Phoenix closed his eyes. His heartbeat sounded like funeral bells in his ears.
Stop procrastinating! You owe them more than this.
Phoenix turned to see both bundles of clothes on the ground a little way from him. The breeze picked at their dresses, making them come alive. It was like they had a life of their own, wanting to stand up and dance around the garden again. As Phoenix walked towards them, he knew that they were dead.
People who were alive didn't bend that way.
He had failed to keep the promise he had made to their little sister.
Shit!
Phoenix forced his legs to move despite feeling like they were encased in concrete. Both bodies were so close to each other that it looked as if the sisters had embraced on the way down, giving each other one final hug as they met their fate.
Phoenix bent down and pulled off the hoods on their heads.
They were beautiful, fair, and without lines on their faces. Their expressions suggested they had made peace with what was about to happen.
The rumble from the ship still remained. Phoenix looked up and saw that the ship was still hanging some three hundred feet off the ground. Dre stood at the lip of the ramp.
With his improved vision, Phoenix could see that Dre was bouncing something small, round, and black in his hands. With a flick of his wrist Dre threw it overboard as the ship rose higher and took off.
The object fell to the earth and landed with a small echo that reverberated in Phoenix's chest. The ground began to tremble under his feet as he stood. Whatever it was had landed a good two hundred feet away from him. It had sunk into the ground and a white throbbing light began to emanate into the sky. The ground around it began to crumble away.
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