Chapter 149: The First Stage Ends
Quinn’s POV
Seated in the living room of my family’s home, I gently brush my fingertips across my tattoo.
BOOM!
Our front door is suddenly kicked down as a swarm of armed soldiers invade my home.
“Spread out and find them,” one of the soldiers instructs from the back of the group.
Standing up, I exclaim, “Stand down! I was once a lieutenant general! And my parents have done nothing wrong!”
As the soldiers ignored my words and continued rummaging through the house, the leader approached me and said, “Son, whether you were Lieutenant or not, your parents have lied to you. They’ve lied to all of us. Their documentation states they are both under forty, but we learned your mother is forty-one years old, and your father is forty-two.”
"What?! That's impossible!"
A soldier communicates over the radio, “Found them upstairs in the master bedroom.”
Tugging on his shirt, the leader replies, “Bring her downstairs."
Unable to believe the leader’s claims, I press, “No! That has to be a mistake!”
Holding their hands behind their backs, a group of soldiers force my parents down the stairs and onto the ground in front of the leader. With his gun raised already, he shoots and kills my father before I have the chance to snap out of it.
As the leader aims his gun at my mother, I use discast and knock the gun out of his hands just as he fires. Whipping around to look at my mother, I realized I was too late, as the bullet had embedded itself into her head. She was dead.
Running over to my parents, I plead for them to stay with me. As I beg for my parents to come back, the rest of the soldiers encircle me, all of their guns raised in my direction.
A gunshot goes off, and my eyes abruptly open.
Waking up yelling in a cold sweat, I quickly pinch the skin on my arm to ensure I’m real. Feeling a sharp twinge, I let go and began wondering whether the dream I just had was a memory being erased or an actual nightmare. But as I recalled some of the dream's details, I breathed a sigh of relief as I put together that it was only a nightmare.
I could only be relieved for half a second, though, as I recalled the last thing that happened in the real world. I was losing consciousness, and I think I saw a blurry image of Zeris and Kane arriving.
Everything after that is a mystery, but I should've died with the injury I sustained. Lifting up the bottom of my shirt to check my stomach, I notice it’s completely healed. Astonished, I checked my shoulder, and it looked as good as new. Dragging my hand back through my hair, a wave of thoughts hit me all at once.
But what about Scar?! Did Ace kill him? Did I kill him?! My mom, my dad! Are they still alive?!
“Kane healed you up before we lost you for good,” says a voice to my right. Zeris’s voice.
Before I have time to get a handle on my thoughts, I look at Zeris and frantically ask, “My parents… Scar… did you…?”
“No… I didn’t. Your parents are still alive and well,” replies Zeris, his arms folded across his chest as he leans against the wall. “And yes, I did bail your father out of divination.”
“Wha– how did you do that?”
“To the government, he’s dead. But Kane and I have some friends on the inside. Your mother doesn’t know yet because we’ve had to keep your father in hiding.”
“Then… does that mean I succeeded? Is Scar dead?”
“No. Quinn… we decided to save both of you.”
“What…?! You ordered me to kill him. You said that if I didn’t, my parents would die!”
“The plan changed at the last minute. As for your mother, she was never in any real danger.”
Not knowing if I was happy, annoyed, confused, or infuriated, my voice raised as my eyes began to water, “What the hell is wrong with you?! You beat the living shit out of me twice! I followed your every command out there because I believed you were practically holding my parents at gunpoint! And then there’s everything else you did to us… how the f*ck can you sleep at night?!”
“I don’t…” he says, dropping his gaze momentarily before meeting my eyes again. “I’m sure you understand what I mean about that.”
I say nothing, and Zeris continues, “I haven’t slept well in six years. This country has taken everything from me, and it all started with the trials. I don’t expect you to forgive me, nor do I want to be pitied. Somebody like me doesn’t deserve your pity… hell, I can barely even look at myself now. But I’ve learned in these past six years that sometimes… you have to do terrible things to get what you want. Quinn, you happen to have quite a useful ability, so I took advantage of you. And that’s that,” he says, leaning against a different wall.
I avert my gaze and stare at the empty wall ahead of me.
“If you want to beat the crap out of me one of these days, I won’t object. I may be a twisted bastard, but I own up to my sins when the time comes. I extorted you for your ability, and you got nothing in return besides hearing that your dad is alive. The least I can do is let you vent your frustrations on me.”
I remain silent but give Zeris a slow nod. I’m not looking straight at him, but I can see him nod a few times as well as he says, “Right. Well… as you probably already know, we have to work together for stage two, and there’s a lot I need to fill you in on. It’s just a guess, but after I spend a few hours being your punching bag, we might be able to hold a normal conversation.”
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“Days…” I dully say, turning to look at Zeris. “A few days.”
Without looking away, Zeris slightly bobbles his head as if he were nodding before he sincerely replies, “Okay. Days.”
I look back at the wall and take a deep breath, wiping away the sweat on my face until Zeris says, “You haven’t properly eaten in a few days. Let’s get you some food.”
Hearing the door handle turn and a ‘clink’ sounding, I look back at Zeris to see he has opened the door and is waiting for me. Dragging myself out of bed, I follow him out of the room.
***
Armaros’s POV
Waking up to a stone wall in my face, I try to recall the last thing that happened before I blacked out. I was fighting Ace and Code, that I’m sure of. I was also tired, my iris was depleted, and I think I got hit by a few of Code’s weapons from behind.
Sitting up and looking around, I’m in a small room with only a bed, myself, and a man sitting against the wall next to me. It was a man that I thought I’d never see again. He was dressed in what looked to be a military uniform, but his head was drooping, and his eyes were closed. He must be asleep. With alarm bells ringing… my adrenaline comes alive as I try to use my iris, but that’s when I realize glowing metal rings have been locked around my wrists and ankles.
Damn, these must be imbued with wentworth...
Getting out of bed and walking toward the bearded man, I touch my hand against the perimeter of the metal rings.
They’re not very sharp, but they’ll be able to cut through his skin with a precise, quick slash.
Positioning myself beside the man, I decided to aim my cut at the side of his neck. It will be difficult with how close we are to the wall, but considering these rings are only around my hands and ankles, I should have enough iris to enhance movement in my shoulder marginally.
Channeling my iris into my shoulder and raising my right fist to where it was hovering near my right ear, I swing my arm across my body, hoping the metal ring connects with his vulnerable skin.
My wrist is suddenly caught mid-swing.
“This isn’t exactly how I wanted this conversation to start… but what can I expect? All you’ve ever known how to do is kill people,” says Kane, pushing me away, and I stumble back for a few steps.
Regaining my footing and raising my fists, Kane rises to his feet, and golden armor fabricates itself around the outer perimeter of his powerful stature.
“We can run it back if you want, but this time your friend won’t be around to help you, and I can’t promise I’d spare your life again,” says Kane, his voice steady but lacking emotion.
I stay where I am but lower my fists after a few seconds.
His translucent armor fading away, Kane says, “Smart choice.”
Remembering then that my back and leg had gotten injured during the fight, I felt my lower back and was surprised that there was no wound.
“I healed it for you,” says Kane, clicking his tongue as if he wished he hadn’t. “You’re welcome.”
Meeting the guardian’s gaze, I ask, “What do you want?”
“I want my family back, but that’s impossible,” says Kane, looking me dead in the eye. “So what I want now… is to ask you a few questions.”
“Questions?”
“Yeah… questions. Take a seat on the bed.”
I slowly walk back over to the bed and sit down.
“Armaros… that’s the code name that Stryde has assigned you, right?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know your real name? Your actual name?”
Confused by the question, I say, “What do you mean? Armaros is my name.”
Kane shakes his head, “No… we’ve learned that Stryde renames each of their operatives. Do you know your parents?”
Seeing flashes of different people, I stutter, “No, yes– no. I– I think– no, not anymore.”
“So you had parents at one point?”
Seeing another series of flashes, this time containing the images of dozens of indiscernible faces, I stutter, “Y– yes, I think– think so. They… all of… I can’t remember… what happened.”
Confused by what I meant by the inclusion of ‘all of’, Kane doesn’t display his confusion as he follows up with another question, “Armaros, why did you avoid killing Ace during your fight?”
I scratch the back of my neck, my head throbbing, “I– I didn’t. He was a target I had been assigned to eliminate, and he had to be eliminated. I never showed him any mercy.”
Kane stands there, thinking.
But you did. I saw it with my own two eyes. You lacked the killer instinct you had against me and Zeris.
“Final question. You mentioned that you had to stay alive because you had a purpose. What is that purpose?”
I take a moment to calm my breathing and gather my thoughts, “I was born to serve Stryde. They saved me. As an operative and paragon, I have been tasked with missions that would help my country and the world. And until now, I have never failed a mission. Failure is unacceptable, but I must report back and accept my punishment. Only through punishment will I be fixed, and only once I’m fixed will I be able to grow even stronger. My purpose now is to return to Racafi and strengthen myself for tomorrow.”
“Man…” says Kane, his face nearly one of pity, only his hatred holding his emotionless countenance together. “They really f*cked you up good, kid. Let me clear this up now so I don’t have to repeat myself later… you’re not going back to Racafi.”
“I figured. I’ll be killed as soon as this conversation is over, right?”
“No… you’re not going to die. Because from now on, you’re going to help me. I’d like to ask you another question, though… would you rather I call you Scar or Armaros?”
***
With a full belly, I follow Kane through the cottage for a few minutes before we stop at a door. Opening the door for me, Kane says, “In you go.”
Walking inside the room, I first noticed beanbags dispersed around the room in a particular setup. On one side were two beanbags facing outward in the same direction… and on the other side, seven beanbags were spread out, all arranged to look toward the same spot. Sitting in each beanbag were people whom I had grown to know over the past two weeks.
Ace, Code, Sky, Ember, Hazel, and Forest. Each of my fellow campmates wore a different expression. Code was avoiding eye contact. Ace was glaring at me with a look full of hatred. Ember was masking whatever she felt well, so I bet she wasn’t happy seeing me. Sky appeared slightly worried, while Forest seemed to observe me, probably wondering what I would do or say next. Lastly, Hazel looked at me surprisingly with curiosity, which I didn’t expect nor could explain.
As Kane sat beside Zeris, Zeris said, “Ah, nice of you to join us, Mr. Assassin. The empty bag is all yours. Sit, get comfortable, relax… and let me know if you need any refreshments.”
The only empty bag left was at the front of the room, right before Zeris and Kane, with everybody else seated behind me. Walking over and taking my seat, the bean bag crinkled as I felt like everybody’s eyes were locked onto me from behind. They definitely were.
Once I was comfortable in my seat, Zeris clapped and rubbed his hands together, “Alright, looks like we can finally get started. Kane, anything you want to say?”
Kane shakes his head, and Zeris says, “Cool, well...”
Leaning forward, Zeris clasps his hands together, “First things first, congratulations on surviving the first stage of the 44th Annual Trials of Iasa.”