by Ross Buzzell
“Uh, one moment. Let me get my supervisor!”
She turns and disappears behind a door. After a few moments, she comes back out with a man in a similar uniform. He approaches the metal and picks it up. He looks at it closely and his jaw drops.
“Sir, you are aware that you could stay here for the better part of a year with this piece of gold, correct?”
Konner nods with a smile on his face.
“I do now.”
The supervisor shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, sir. I am going to have to know how you came across this,”
he asks.
“I retrieved it from the vaults at my home, which I can tell you now you do not want me to give you proof of because retrieving that little bit probably alerted the occupying force of the breach in security, meaning they are now swarming the vaults. If I open another portal to show you, things will get really bad in here really fast. So will you accept this as payment or will I need to go someplace else?”
The supervisor shakes his head and looks at Kassie.
“Please enjoy your stay, Miss.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he takes the metal to the back. Konner turns to face Kassie, who seems to be doing better. Her full lips are spread in a genuine smile. She shakes her head at Konner and gently places a hand on his armored shoulder.
“I could never begin to thank you enough. Screw what the news is saying; you are a good man.”
Konner locks eyes with the woman whose hues are just as striking as his own.
“You can thank me by getting out of the city tomorrow, getting as far as you can from it. You will know when it is safe to return.”
Her brow furrows as concern forms on her face.
“What is happening tomorrow?”
Her words are stitched with anticipation.
“My monster is coming to finish the job… I promise I will stop him.”
Konner looks over her shoulder to see that security has been called and is on their way. Kassie nods.
“Okay, I promise.”
“I have to go now. If they give you any trouble or you need someone to talk to, remember just press the center and someone will come to help you.”
She nods and gives Konner a tight hug. He returns the embrace, holding her tightly for a few seconds before releasing her and walking to the security guards.
“Sir, you are going to have to come with us. There are people who have questions for you.”
Konner smiles and shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, but no. I do not mean any harm and I have more pressing matters to attend to that you will thank me for later.”
The guards, both large, strong men who are taller and wider than Konner, reach out and grab his wrist. They grip him tightly and Konner tilts his head, looking from one to the other.
“I do not wish to harm you. Please remove your hands sir.”
They do not relent. With no effort at all, Konner pulls his arms out and to his side slowly. This causes the guards to slide across the marble floor as if they were pieces of paper, even though each weighs more than two hundred and fifty pounds. With a gentle turn of his wrists, Konner breaks their hold like it is nothing, leaving them befuddled as he walks out of the front door of the hotel.
Chapter: 16
The Global Address
Danielle stays up all night, furiously typing away at her keyboard. The soft snoring of Doug is a miniscule distraction, given the gravity of her self-given mission. Natalie stayed outside for about an hour before going to bed as well. The sun peeks over the horizon to the left of the arch, causing the structure to flare once more with the fiery orange light of morning. The beast that is sleepiness, which has grasped everyone, avoided her; she feels as rejuvenated now as she did the previous morning while doing her daily exercises. Her email dings with the subject “Finally Finished” from a man named “Jeffery.” With a quick double click, she sees images for a passport, driver’s license, and birth certificate. Her eyes scan the perfectly forged copies of the documents before reading the body of the email.
“I hope this is to your liking, I put in the information you gave me but still need a name, date of birth, a picture, and an address for this guy. Who is he, by the way?”
With a wave of her fingers over the keyboard, she responds,
“Thank you, Jeff., I will get you that information as soon as possible. If everything goes well, I will be sure to introduce you two, but for now, I will need discretion.”
She hits send. The sound of rustling causes her to glance in the reflection to see Emma getting off the couch. She turns in her chair to see that she is in the same uniform she has been in since yesterday.
“Isn’t that uncomfortable?”
Emma yawns and shakes her head.
“Not at all. Actually, it’s more comfortable than most of my pajamas.”
She makes her way to the kitchen as another email pings from her cyber friend.
“I’m always discreet, and I will hold you to that.”
Danielle slides out of the chair, closing the computer’s top as she does, and follows Emma to the kitchen. She previously did not see the two pans that are on the stovetop or the spatula that accompanies them until now that hunger has begun to grip her. Emma has her head in the refrigerator. Looking around, she sees there are only three things inside: eggs, bacon, and milk. Emma glances back at Danielle and shrugs.
“You good for eggs and bacon?”
Danielle shakes her head. She has never been a fan of bacon, or steaks, or most red meats.
“I’ll just go with three egg whites, if you don’t mind.”
Emma nods and grabs the eggs. Danielle opens the cupboard to see it is mostly empty with only a few glasses and plates inside. She grabs one of the cheap plastic cups before turning the knob on the faucet at the kitchen sink as Emma begins to cook breakfast. The sizzling of eggs and the scent of bacon fills the apartment as Emma uses both skillets to make everyone’s breakfast. The groan of Doug waking up and stretching is loud enough to be heard over the sizzling bacon and egg whites. Emma takes a drink of the water in her glass; it’s not cold, but it does taste clean, which is more than she could say for most places. Doug sits up and looks Danielle, then at Emma. The sight of his hair all scrunched up and frizzy from sleeping on the couch makes Danielle laugh, nearly spewing her next drink of water back into the plastic cup.
“What?”
Doug asks, his voice groggy as he rubs his eyes. He stands up and cleans up the mess left behind by the pizza before walking over to the kitchen and throwing the box away. He motions towards the bacon.
“Burn mine and scrambled eggs, please.”
Emma’s jaw drops as she lets out a scoff.
“I don’t remember taking your order!”
Danielle sits back, leaning against the counter behind Emma and she watches as Doug’s face turns bright red. A smirk forms on hers as Doug immediately begins to apologize.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate…”
Emma interrupts him.
“Ta det lungt. I’m just pulling your leg. I’ll be sure to burn the hell out of them.”
He smiles widely and nods.
“Thanks.”
Danielle glances at the clock; it reads 6:05am. A whisper of curiosity begins to nag at her. Konner is nowhere to be found and Natalie’s bedroom door is open, but she is not in there. She pushes off the counter and makes her way to the balcony as Doug goes back to the living room and turns on the TV. The sound of the news in the background begins to fill the apartment, talking about weather and the forecast for weekend traffic. Danielle stands out there for a few moments, gazing upon the city as a pit of worry begins to form in her gut, only to be interrupted by Emma.
“Food’s ready!”
she calls out. Danielle moves to return to the kitchen as the front door opens and Natalie walks in wearing workout clothes, with her sling still on.
“Do you think working out is
a good idea with a bum arm?”
Doug beats Danielle’s curiosity to the punch. Natalie laughs as she closes the door behind her.
“There are plenty of ways to exercise without lifting weights; the elliptical is one of those exercises.”
Doug shrugs and goes back to the news as they cover the sport events from the night before.
“Good point,”
he responds, his eyes now on the TV. Natalie looks over at Danielle, then the computer.
“Did you finish what you were working on?”
Danielle nods as her brow furrows.
“How did I not see you leave this morning?”
Natalie walks across the living room towards her bedroom.
“You were really into your work. I said I’d be back in about an hour, you shrugged and said okay. Now I’m going to go get cleaned up because I have a breakfast date, when I get back, Doug, you and I are going to public records!”
She disappears into her bedroom and closes the door behind her. Doug gives her a thumbs-up as Danielle makes her way back to the kitchen. Emma hands her a plate with egg whites and nothing else on it. She takes the plate and looks around for a moment. No utensils. She strides to the nearest drawer and opens it. Nothing. Closing it, she moves to the next; still nothing. Three drawers later, she finds a number of plastic forks and knives, of which she grabs one for each of the breakfasts being made, giving two of them to Emma. Holding the plate in one hand and the fork in the other, she hears the shower turn on. Glancing over at Emma, who is finishing her and Doug’s breakfast as well, she can’t help but ask,
“You think she is meeting with Konner?”
Emma laughs as she puts two pieces of charred bacon and scrambled eggs on the counter that divides the kitchen and the living room.
“Doug, breakfast is ready!”
she calls out, Doug immediately walks over and grabs his food before returning to watch sports highlights, flipping between that and another news channel covering international business. Emma loads her own plate up and turns the stovetop off. She turns and faces Danielle as she begins to eat as well.
“Undoubtedly. Did you see the way those two looked at each other?”
Her voice is hushed as she glances over her shoulder, not wanting to risk Natalie hearing her; this causes Danielle to lean in out of interest, her mouth full of the bland egg whites. They are filling but fairly bland; the sacrifices she makes for health. She has always had an analytical mind and never really picked up on body language well unless it was about a subtle as a nuclear bomb.
“I did not. Why?”
Emma laughs as she finishes one strip of bacon.
“Those two are head over heels for each other. She turns brighter red than a cherry and he gets so uncomfortable you can see him squirm in that bodysuit of armor of his.”
This intrigues Danielle, which brings a smile to her face. Emma continues.
“But wasn’t he married and didn’t his wife and child like JUST die? Should we say something? I mean, don’t you think this is moving a little quickly?”
Danielle shrugs as she finishes her eggs and sets the plate down.
“She did, yes, but what you have to understand about his species is that they mourn their losses at the beginning of the relationship. He mourned his wife and child years ago and they mourned him. In his culture, it is necessary to do so, as they would perish due to fighting back unspeakable evils. That way, if a loved one dies, they will be able to keep moving forward emotionally because they have already reached the acceptance phase.”
This takes Emma by surprise; she draws back a little bit as the shower turns off.
“That is cold!”
she exclaims, her voice getting a little louder as she does. Danielle shrugs. Grabbing her plate, she walks over to the sink, turns the water on, and begins to rinse off the glass disk.
“Everyone has lost someone close to them, Emma. Are you telling me that it wouldn’t have been less painful to go through those steps while they were alive so that when you did lose them, you could move on without that pain haunting you for years?”
There is a moment of tentative silence, only the news on in the background. She can see Emma mulling the thought through her mind. Eventually, with a shrug and a nod, she almost reluctantly responds,
“I can understand that, and who are we to step in on his customs? He has been through enough, and God knows he’s about to go through more. We should let this little happiness play out while it still can.”
Her somber tone brings a dark cloud over Danielle as her smile rapidly turns to a frown.
“You don’t think he’s going to survive this, do you.”
Her words are more like a statement than a question. Emma reluctantly shrugs.
“I really want to, but you felt the evil that came from that… THING'S voice. What endless abyss of darkness could the source bring with him?”
Danielle lets a smirk form on her lips. She knows the threat that is coming for them all, how he is a black hole, sucking everything that is light and good in the universe into himself and crushing it until there is nothing left but misery and pain.
“Because you cannot have darkness without light and Konner’s arrival marks a birth of light unlike anything this world has seen before. And so long as there is light, Xero cannot win.”
Her words cause Emma’s face to relax, her shoulders drop, and she takes a deep breath. Natalie leaves the bedroom. Danielle glances over at her adorned in jeans and a blue camisole covered by a kimono cardigan. She waves to Danielle, who gives her a quick wave back.
“Emma, I put some spare clothes on the bed for you, in case you need to change and if you all need to get in contact with me, I wrote my number down on the piece of paper next to the clothes. I’ll be back in an hour; the public records office should be open by then.”
Doug waves, acknowledging he heard her. Emma glances over her shoulder and calls back.
“Thank you!”
Danielle nods as well. Emma turns her attention back to Danielle. Her tone has not changed much; there is still despair in her voice, but there is also a glimmer of hope sprinkled in too.
“You are right, I guess.”
Emma responds with slight reluctance.
“Uh, guys… you’re going to want to take a look at this!”
Doug yells out, his voice fraught with concern as his eyes are glued to the TV. Danielle focuses on the large screen at the far end of the apartment, her heart instantly dropping. Disa’ani is on the screen, and not just the news channel. Doug flips through the channels available and each and every one has the smug face of Konner’s old friend. In the blink of an eye, Danielle sprints over to Doug’s side. Emma dashes through the air as well.
“Turn it up!”
Emma yells.
“I’m working on it!”
Doug responds, his finger already hammered down on the volume button so hard Danielle notices his thumb is white from the pressure. Within moments, the volume is nearly all the way up and Disa’ani’s voice begins to fill the apartment once more.
“Planet Earth, I am Disa’ani of the planet Boron. I am here to warn you of a rogue alien fugitive here to destroy all life on this world. This fugitive’s name is Konner Lorian; he is among the most dangerous criminal in the galaxy. He is single-handedly responsible for the complete and utter obliteration of an entire star system, wiping out billions of lives and numerous civilizations in the process. I have come to tell you that when my planet fell, at his hands, the High King, Xero, and I followed this scourge here, to this small blue marble in the system of Sol. Unfortunately, we were unable to stop his arrival, but we were able to track him to a city you call St. Louis. The High King is on his way to destroy this threat before he can turn your world to ash.”
Danielle’s heart nearly stops in her chest, Emma dashes into the bedroom and Doug shakes his head, his jaw clenched so tight Danielle begins to worry he may shatter a tooth. His fists are clenched, causing t
hem to go white under the pressure as his skin begins to slowly turn grey as the anger takes asserts itself through his abilities.
“He just has a face you want to punch,”
Doug growls. Danielle faces the TV once more to see Disa’ani projecting a hologram of Konner that slowly rotates, and he continues to speak.
“This is the criminal that we seek. I could not help but notice from your news that he has already killed two humans who were brave enough to try and stop him. If you see him, stop him at all costs and I promise you, people of Earth, that as long as High King Xero lives, he will stand by your side, track this monster down, and kill him. Until next time, good people of Earth.”