by Riley Tune
“I’ve changed a lot since Impervious has been…” Hunter was cut off by Cord's deep voice. “Good. Then maybe you can find a way to rub off on Cayden.” Hunter’s brow raised he as he gave a glance to Perkins this time. “I’m glad you came, more than you know,” Cord added in. “Your blood could change our future.”
Hunter quickly withdrew his hand. “Excuse me?” Hunter asked. Cord looked to Perkins after she slapped him on the head. “I was to understand that you were of elite blood too,” Cord said as he rubbed the back of his head. Hunter exhaled. “I am.” Perkins stepped in and placed a hand on Cord's shoulder. “He’s only part Spellborn. He wouldn’t be fit to lead. So, no ideas.”
“Of course,” Cord replied as he looked to Danielle. Hunter wanted to speak up but didn’t. He had no intentions of being of any help in the royal leader department, but still, hearing Perkins say he wasn’t fit for it, bothered him some. He wasn’t a fan of being told he couldn’t do something or wasn’t good enough.
In his heart of hearts, it reminded him of when the world used to whisper that he was a half- breed or abomination behind his back. “I don’t recall Impervious mentioning you,” Cord said as he shook Danielle’s hand and placed a light kiss on it. All the aggression and fire he displayed while talking to Flex and Hunter had evaporated.
Hunter casually placed one arm around Danielle, and with the other removed Cord’s hand from hers. “I’m new to the team,” Danielle said as she wiped the back of her hand on her pants. “Impervious likely only knew me as a villain that Hunter was banging. I haven’t even taken the oath. Technically, I shouldn’t even be here or using my powers.” Cord furrowed his brow as he looked to Perkins. “Banging?” he asked.
Perkins shook her head. “Don’t worry about learning the terms. It will give you a headache. Trust me.” Cord nodded. “Well, let’s get to it then,” Cord said as he turned and marched up the hall. His large boots seemed to boom on the metal floor as he moved and ducked into another room. “That was a shitty welcome for a rescue team to receive,” Hunter said. “While I would have worded it differently,” Flex said as he eyed Hunter, “I do agree with him.”
“I don’t know,” Danielle said as she forced a provocative switch in her steps. “He seemed to like me. I think he was pretty nice.” Hunter’s mouth dropped but Perkins spoke before he could. “Cord just has a no-nonsense way of doing things. He’s a good man. Just direct is all.”
As she finished speaking, she made her way to the same door that Cord had entered. Perkins was happy to be back home, even if she tried to hide it from her new team. Being back in the base she helped create years ago with Cord, made her remember what she had forgotten in her time away. Why she did what she did. Why she formed Bravado in the first place.
She had a mission, and as crazy as it was, it was hers. Perkins also began to worry. She instantly was feeling torn. She regretted leaving and what's more is that she didn’t know if she would have the strength to leave again once this was over. She glanced over her shoulder and watched Flex enter the room behind her, followed by Hunter and Danielle.
She was fond of Hunter and Danielle. She really was, but she knew she could live without them. Flex, on the other hand, she didn’t want to let go. Not just yet. She pushed her feelings down in her mind and told herself now wasn’t the time to worry about something as trivial as relationships, but eventually, she would have to meet the issue head-on.
When Hunter finally entered the room, he found them all pulling out chairs at a long metal table. Cord sat at the head, with Perkins in the chair next to him, and Danielle and Flex were near the end closest to the entrance. Flex eyed Hunter and then darted his eyes toward an empty chair.
Once Hunter was seated, he noticed that there were a dozen more chairs at the table and that some had a layer of dust on them. They hadn’t been used in some time. Cord shifted in his seat as he seemed uncomfortable in the room. “I haven't been in here since the mission,” Cord said, without looking at anybody.
“I thought Cayden would be here but,” “You know how he gets,” Perkins said as she placed her blasters on the table. Cord lifted one the blasters and looked at it. “Not bad, you’ll have to bring one for me next time.” Perkins grimaced. “You hate guns. Weren’t you always the one barking orders in defense class that guns jam, fists don’t?”
Cord gently placed the weapon back on the table and kicked up some dust in the process. He let out a breath. “Things change.” After his words, he paused for a moment and looked at the empty chair beside him and shook his head. “Things change,” he repeated again.
Perkins placed a hand on Cord’s arm, and against his will Flex felt his jaw clench. He glanced over to Hunter who in response patted the air and mouthed the words “chill out” silently to him. Behind Hunter, however, Danielle made a motion of sticking her index finger in and out of a circle she made with her opposite hand. “Not helping,” Hunter whispered to her.
“Let's go over the mission you mentioned in the message,” Perkins said. Cord quickly stood from the table and reached in his pocket, moving his hand around vigorously before withdrawing it with a small cube gripped in his fingers. He touched the side of the cube and then placed it on the table before them. In seconds, small cracks of light began to glow from it.
Hunter wasn’t sure why, but for a second, he thought the cube was an explosive device. His thoughts were erased as Cord gripped a remote and aimed it at the cube. In a flash, a picture sprung to life showing a revolving building in blueprint format. “Well, isn’t that cool,” Hunter said in a tone that clearly implied that he thought it was anything but.
“No. It’s not,” Cord said in a bark. “Impervious spared no expense in telling us how the technology at his Imperial Lords’ base put the Bravado base to shame. Sadly, one cannot have the luxury of grants and backers when leading a rebellion. So please save your comments.” Hunter swallowed and shook his head. “Fair enough,” he replied as he forced himself to remain on his best behavior.
In reality, he was getting tired of this Cord guy and his shitty attitude. Perkins may have liked him, but it was taking everything Hunter had not to Impact Blast this jerk between the ears. “Let’s get this out the way now,” Flex said as he slowly stood up and walked around the table to face Cord.
Each head in the room turned to watch as Flex and his lean bulk cast a shadow towards Cord. “Looks like the champion of the arena is going to make an appearance again,” Danielle whispered in Hunter's ear. A smile played on her face as she hoped for a fight to break out.
“We came here to help you,” Flex said calmly. “I understand you are a friend of Perkins, and Impervious was like a father to me, so I,” Flex corrected himself. “We, want him back safe. But if you continue to talk to my team disrespectfully, then we are going to have a problem, and I assure you, you want to fight alongside me, and not against me.”
“Damn,” Hunter said under his breath, with his hand hidden behind his mouth as he stretched the word out and not for the first time, he wished Jen was here to give him a fist bump. Cord placed the remote on the table to his side. For a moment Hunter thought Cord was going to call Flex’s bluff and try to fight him.
“I just lost almost every person I ever cared for. Dead, all of them in a matter of minutes. So sorry, if I don’t take the time to form my words to caress your feelings.” Cord said slowly. “I run the remainder of my team the best I can, and to do that I have to be myself. So, if you’re going to help then help, but don’t come at me, with your chest out, over how I nerfing speak.
Perkins stood and waved her hands, “Both of you shut up and focus on why we are here in the first place.”
Cord looked over his shoulder to Perkins as he took a deep breath. “I’ll choose my words more carefully. Now, if your moment of showboat is finished, take a seat.” Perkins cleared her throat. “Please,” Cord added in.
He didn’t turn and walk away. Instead, Flex folded his arms and backed up to lean on the wall. “
I’m fine just where I am.” Hunter was surprised and impressed. He was usually the one causing a fuss, not good old Flex. He didn’t know if it was just jealousy or if he really had enough of Cord's attitude, but Hunter supported it.
In return, Hunter also found a new slither of respect for this Cord guy. Clearly Impervious told him about each of them. So, Hunter knew that Cord was aware of just how strong and hard to hurt Flex was, yet he didn’t care. Hunter smiled some. This Cord guy had brass balls, and Hunter supported this brash personality, too.
Cord picked up the remote again and looked at the still revolving blueprint of the building that floated in the air. “The mission was to be a simple one,” Cord said as he looked at the building. “We had received a tip from our supporters in the city that a way to slow the Curse of Varo was being manufactured in this building but being kept from the people. After doing some research and recon, a few of my lieutenants confirmed the tip.”
“Which lieutenants?” Perkins asked. “Sims and Levi,” Cord replied without even looking at her. Perkins nodded her head and drummed her fingers on the table as Cord continued. “They also said that there were guards at the location so to expect push back. I took some of my best and a few of my worst, actually.”
“Judging from the distress message you sent, things didn’t go as planned,” Hunter added in. “To say it didn’t go as planned is an understatement,” Cord replied. “Once my team was in place, three Warden’s Circles emerged from the target location.” Perkins’ eyes grew wide as she stiffened.
“Not only that, but Levi killed three of the people in his unit.” “So, this Levi was a traitor?” Danielle asked as she leaned in her chair. “No. He couldn’t have been,” Perkins said. “I recruited Levi myself. He devoted his life to Bravado. I can’t believe he would turn on his own team.” Hunter remained quiet. He could see the confusion on Perkins’ face as her brain scrambled for a reason why her friend would do the things that Cord had said. Hunter felt bad for her, mainly because he was her, only a year ago.
He had felt the pain of finding out first hand that people you thought you knew for so long, weren’t really who they said they were. “You’re right,” Cord added in. “Levi wouldn’t do such a thing. Sadly, Levi had been dead long before that day.”
The faces at the table looked at him with confusion. How could Levi be dead and there at the same time? “It wasn’t until I confronted him that I saw Levi’s face melt away and from the under the sludge emerged another,” Cord said as Perkins let out a gasp. She then muttered a single statement. “It was Icaro.”
CHAPTER 15:
CAYDEN’S GOODBYE
S eriously,” Hunter said as he looked around the table. “A shapeshifter?” Flex let out a grumble from the wall. “That is an impressive ability to have. Even in our world, it’s rare.” Perkins shook her head and found herself rubbing her hands as she searched for words to say. “If it only were that simple,” she said as she gripped her hands around her blasters.
She wasn’t going to use them, but she found that holding a weapon open made her feel a little more at ease during tense situations. “His spell doesn’t allow him to be the shape of another. Well it does but it’s more than that,” Perkins said as she looked towards Cord. He had just used his remote to change the floating display in front of them from a building, to a figure with a blurred- out face.
“Icaro is, for lack of a better word, a spy, assassin or killer,” Cord said as he eyed the floating faceless man display. “His spell allows him to take the form, and memories, of any living thing he kills,” Cord paused for a moment. “And consumes,” he finally added in. Danielle sat up from her chair.
“He eats them?” she asked. “Not entirely, only a small portion. Usually, the brain or another internal organ,” Cord replied. “To date, Icaro has over two hundred confirmed transformations. Those are the number for people he was paid to consume. We can only assume there are more. To be honest, we don’t even know if Icaro is truly male. That is just the gender more commonly used.”
Flex finally left his location from the wall and leaned in to look at the spinning figure of the man in front of them. He had never battled with a person like this Icaro before, but he had worked with and against spies. He knew the one thing they all had in common. “Who pulls his strings?” Flex finally asked.
“Pulls his strings?” Cord repeated with a frown on his face. “Who calls the shots, tells him what to do, pays him,” Hunter added in. “Is, or was Bravado such a threat that a lone spy wanted to set up an ambush on you or was he likely part of a larger plan?” Cord took in a deep breath but before he could speak a young man barged into the room.
“Cord! Cord,” Every eye in the room shifted to the man standing in the door. He was short and appeared to be no older than sixteen. His black hair was cut into a fade, and for the most part, he shared almost identical facial features with Cord.
As the young man stopped screaming Cord’s name, he realized that there were several other people in the room. Breathing hard he said, “Perkins.” The tone he used in his voice was more of an accusation than a question. Perkins stood up and raised a hand to the youth slightly. “Hey, Cayden.”
Cayden glared at her for half a second and then promptly ignored her greeting. “Cord, it’s Becca.” Cord nodded his head silently and followed the boy out the room. He paused at the door as he saw the rest of the room stand. “You all wait here. This doesn’t concern you.” “It does concern me,” Perkins said defiantly as she moved to walk pass Cord. “I assume she’s in medical.”
Cord didn’t answer but his exhale was all that Perkins needed. As Perkins left the room, so did Hunter, Flex, and Danielle. “We go where she goes,” Danielle said as she stepped by Cord. Hunter looked the man in the eye as he walked passed him. “Women, right?” he said in a joking manner. A manner that Cord didn’t reply to.
Flex said nothing as he moved and placed a hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “Not now.” Hunter glanced at Flex but said nothing. Hunter was more so trying to deflect. He didn’t let it be known but he had just a hard of time sticking to the heroic path as Danielle did. Well, maybe not as much as Danielle, but it was close. Some of the things the others cared deeply about, he could care less for. Had Perkins not forced her way to see this Becca, he would have been happy to just sit there and wait. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and he was forced to care.
“How long has she been this way?” Perkins asked Cord as they all watched Cayden clean Becca up from inside an isolated room in the medical bay. “Not as long as you’d think,” Cord finally replied. “The Curse of Varo is spreading faster and taking people down quicker than ever. Some people get lucky and can survive longer, but Becca noticed first signs of infection maybe just under two weeks ago. If that.”
Perkins gasped as she looked from Cord to Cayden in the room that was inside of what looked to be a large plastic bubble. Her body relaxed some as Flex placed his arm around her shoulder. Hunter took a step closer to the bubble and leaned on it. As he took a deep breath, he realized that the room was completely quiet, apart from some of the medical equipment humming around them and the faint beeps that could be heard from the monitor at the bedside of the other single patient in the tiny medical area.
He looked inside the room and watched the young man called Cayden slowly maneuver around the pools of dark blood that were forming on the floor inside the room. With a cloth, he wiped the blood from the woman’s mouth, nose, and ears.
She was sleeping now but was raging out when they had arrived at the room. Now her resting body was heavily restrained and strapped to the bed she was on. Hunter could only assume she, like the man they encountered in the desert wasteland, had grown violent. “Hurry it up,” Cord barked from beside Hunter.
Hunter turned to him and noticed that the man’s face was a blank slate. As if he had no feelings at all as he watched this person die in front of them slowly. Hunter almost envied the man’s ability to keep his emotions away from t
he surface.
“Give me a few more minutes,” Cayden replied as he checked the fluids running from a clear bag into Becca’s arm. “Not like anybody else can do it. May as well do it right, so stop nerfing rushing me.” Hunter felt his head jerk as he heard the way the youth spoke to Cord. It was rude, with a hint of arrogance in the tone. Hunter didn’t want to admit it, but Cayden had reminded him of somebody at that moment. Himself.
“She looks a lot worse than the guy we saw,” Danielle said to the room at large. “These are the final steps of the curse,” Perkins replied. “As the insides of the body liquify, the person grows more violent. It usually takes months to get to this stage, not weeks.” “We usually have them killed at this point,” Cord added in. Flex looked at him and frowned.
Cord knew the question before it was even asked. “No cure, and at this stage, it’s highly contagious. Better to put them at ease and save those around them,” Cord replied. “Well, I sure as shit am not a medical professional, but if it’s that contagious, should he be in there at all?” Hunter asked as he pointed to Cayden.
The boy was in the room dressed normally. He didn’t even have on shoes or a mask, yet he was cleaning her up slowly without a care in the world. Taking his time to be gentle, even though she felt nothing. “Cayden will be fine,” Perkins added in. “One of his spells is disease immunity. So, he is immune to the curse.
“Well that’s a damn good ability,” Hunter said as he looked at Cayden who stopped wiping Becca and turned to them and smiled. He shrugged his shoulders. “It gets me by. Don’t be jealous or anything.” Hunter frowned at Cayden, and said, “little shit,” under his breath.