Kip let out a genuine laugh at that. Their laugh was warm just like their smile, and Leo suddenly felt at ease.
“Merchants? Please Mr. Leo, my people are nothing more than glorified arms dealers.”
“But not you though? You work for the Brotherhood of Light?”
“Yes,” said Kip, “They helped me a number of years ago and I agreed to be their chief medical and cybernetics expert.”
“Cybernetics?! Like robotic body parts?” Leo couldn’t contain his excitement. He had always heard of the Infinity tech that could replace organic body parts with superior robotics. If someone had enough money, they could replace their eyes with ones that magnified their vision or saw through buildings. They could also replace a limb with a stronger metal one…As he thought about the cybernetic possibilities again, he had flashbacks to his childhood, when he would pretend to be a cyborg so he could smash his school and destroy Grindaull. He smiled lightly as he remembered those simpler times.
“Yes, that’s the idea. I’m afraid the Brotherhood can’t afford many cybernetic parts so I never get to put those skills into use.”
“I see,” said Leo, his disappointment evident. “…I suppose we can thank Infinity for that?”
“Yes…I suppose so,” Kip smiled. “Please don’t think any less of me because of my people’s misguided mercantilism.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Leo smiled back. “You’re the best darthian I’ve ever met. How could I unfairly judge you?”
Kip gave a soft chuckle at the speedster’s friendly sarcasm. Leo didn’t know why, but he felt completely at ease, for the first time in a long while.
Just then, the main doors to the medical bay opened, and Leo smiled at the familiar face that saved him from Adras. Jacob returned the speedster’s welcome as he confidently strode over to the bed.
“Well looky here! It looks like you’ve finally decided to join us,” Jacob laughed, jumping abruptly onto the bed so he was in Leo’s space. “I see you have already met Kip, my illustrious lover.”
“You two are a couple?” asked Leo, confused. To his knowledge, darthians never had the need or desire for sex.
Jacob burst into laughter, and Kip sighed beside him.
“I’m afraid Mr. Knight is joking with you. Darthians are neither male nor female. We are cloned and genetically manufactured and therefore lack the need for sexual organs. In fact, we find your mating rituals to be quite crude and unnecessary…which is exactly why Jacob enjoys joking about it.”
“Oh Kip,” said Jacob trying to pull himself together, “You have such a way with words… that’s the reason I love you, you know.”
“I’m sure you do,” said Kip irritably, “Now…is there something I can help you with?”
“As a matter of fact, there is,” said Jacob, clearly enjoying the effect he was having on the doctor. “Michael and the others are coming back soon, and I figured Speedy over here should be there to meet them when they arrive.”
Leo scoffed playfully at the childish nickname Jacob had given him.
“Very well, I see no problem with that,” Kip turned to Leo, “You’re in perfect health as far as I’m concerned. Whatever that Egon did seemed to work.”
Before Leo had time to question Kip about their comment, Jacob had grabbed him and hurled him off the bed.
“Get dressed Speedy. It’s time for you to meet your new family.”
_________________________
After Leo had changed into a new pair of grey pants, a green shirt and a brown leather jacket, Jacob had led him out of the medical bay and into the Brotherhood of Light’s base. The Brotherhood was set up in large underground caverns underneath the Hills of the Dead, an old battleground where thousands of soldiers had died during the Sorean War and Grindaull’s rise to power. Leo had recalled ghost stories of the Hills…it was said that the spirits of the dead soldiers wandered the hills and killed anyone who disturbed them. When he brought this up, Jacob replied by saying, “Oh they’re out there alright, but Michael keeps them away from us.”
That had raised more questions in Leo’s mind. Besides sounding incredibly ominous, he didn’t know how someone could ‘keep spirits away’. But as he observed Jacob, he saw that it wasn’t a concern at all for him, and even though Leo barely knew the cocky young man, he couldn’t imagine how anyone would be flippant about something if it meant there was a high chance of death.
As they walked through the cavern, Jacob introduced Leo to several members of the Brotherhood. There were a few human intellects who worked as either engineers or strategists. There were also many shifters who had taken forms of large humans, their yellow eyes revealing their true species. No matter who Jacob introduced Leo to, they all had one thing in common—they were all good-hearted people. They all welcomed him with warm smiles and kind hearts. The Brotherhood members didn’t know him yet, and they still welcomed him as one of their own. He guessed that was partly because they didn’t have high numbers, and they were probably starved for people to help them with their fight against Grindaull. But as Leo met a few dozen Brotherhood members, he realized that they didn’t have any expectations of him joining their cause—even though they risked so much to rescue him from Adras, they didn’t hold it over his head. These people represented the good that was left in the world. They were genuinely kind-hearted folks, who were each doing their part in making AzzaNation a better place.
“Is everyone welcomed this warmly into the Brotherhood?” he asked Jacob, as they continued through the complex.
“What’s the matter, Speedy? Not used to kindness?”
“Well, uh, no—no I’m not.”
Jacob seemed to drop his smile for a second, before continuing. “That’s the way Grindaull likes it, I guess…But to answer your question—No. All our recruits are not welcomed like you. To find us—or one of our operatives, is difficult enough, but if they do? Well we take that pretty seriously. Everyone is questioned…thoroughly.”
“So…why not me?”
Jacob smiled, his green eyes twinkling in the light. “You, Leo Exe are an exception.” When Leo responded with a confused and intrigued silence, Jacob continued. “Every once in a while, our leader Michael, knows of someone who needs our help. Even though we’ve never met the person, Michael knows of them, and how to get to them. He sets up a mission, and we do everything we can to help the target. They always—without exception, turn out to be worth it.”
“…You mean I’m one of those people?” Leo was taken aback. The only person who had chosen him for anything before was Darrod, and that didn’t work out in the end. And who was this Michael, and how did he know Leo?
“You and the Egon,” Jacob said, quickly throwing the line away. He then grabbed the nearest brotherhood member for another introduction. Leo wanted to continue his questions, but they all fell from his mind as he saw who Jacob had brought before him. Standing in front of him was the most breath-taking female drake, he had ever seen. Her scales were a dark shade of brown, her eyes shined a bright green when she turned her head ever so slightly. She wore a white silk dress that hugged her body perfectly. Leo couldn’t look away even if he wanted to.
“Leo, may I introduce you to one of our most esteemed members,” said Jacob, “This is Princess Suloss of the Royal Drake clan Drorikaan.”
Leo smiled bashfully at the beautiful drake standing in front of him, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Princess.”
“You’re too kind Leo—may I call you Leo?” said Suloss. She spoke with an exquisite calm confidence.
Leo’s tongue stopped working in that moment, as he was stunned by her beauty and charm, so he simply gave an awkward nod to the princess, which made her laugh. He suddenly became lost in her laugh, until a very large white-scaled drake walked up to the group, carrying a stack of supply crates.
“Who’s this?” said the man very coldly.
“Rome, this is Leo Exe,” said Jacob, “He is the one Michael wanted rescued from Adras.”
Rome looked Leo up and down and didn’t seem impressed.
“He doesn’t seem like much.”
“Rome that’s enough,” said Suloss interjecting, “Leo is our guest and we should treat him with kindness and respect as one of our fellow brothers.”
The large drake let out a short contemptuous laugh, “He’s not my brother until he proves he deserves it.”
Suloss shook her head and looked back at Leo, “I’m sorry for my friend. I’m afraid he takes his role as the head of my Royal Guard a little too seriously at times.”
“That’s okay,” said Leo, smiling. “Too be honest, I don’t even know why I’ve been brought here. This is all happening so fast. It feels like I’m dreaming—I can’t believe I’m standing next to drake Royalty. I mean, I knew the drakes were a powerful matriarch before Grindaull, but I never knew your clan still survived. I thought most of your people were just bounty hunters and mercenaries.”
After Leo stopped talking, he realized that he had said something stupid. Suloss lost her smile and was gazing at the ground with despair. Rome stepped in-between her and Leo and stared him down.
“You should move on, boy…and next time, you should think before talking about matters that are beyond your comprehension.”
The speedster was about to open his mouth to attempt some sort of apology, but Jacob grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.
“We need to be moving on to the command room anyway Leo, come on.”
Leo felt horrible. He didn’t mean to make Suloss upset—but of course she was. Her people were once strong and united as one…but now they were spread out all throughout AzzaNation and the galaxy—working as muscle for hire, instead of the proud warrior race they were meant to be.
“I can’t believe I said that…” said Leo.
“Me neither,” laughed Jacob, “I thought Rome was going to send you back to the medical bay for a second there.”
Leo looked at Jacob, clearly annoyed, “You know, you could have stopped me.”
“Where would the fun be in that?”
Jacob laughed again and slapped Leo on the back. The speedster just shook his head and let his new ‘friend’ lead him through the rest of the Brotherhood’s compound.
After their episode with the drakes, Jacob didn’t waste any more time and brought Leo directly into the base’s command room. The room itself was a decent size, with a large oval table in the center. The glow from the large computer screens decorating the walls was distracting. Leo didn’t know what any of the information on the screens meant—but he thought he recognized a few of the pictures as geographical maps—there were also pictures of many faces that he didn’t know.
When they walked in, Leo was greeted by two angelics and a brown-haired woman with blue eyes and tattoos running down her neck and arms. Even with the presence of two people from a mythical species standing before him, Leo’s eyes were drawn to the woman. He noticed that her hair was wavy, like an ocean, and her eyes were gorgeous—then Leo quickly changed his gaze. After all, the last time he let himself become smitten by a beautiful woman (admittedly only moments ago), he had made a complete fool of himself. Instead, he forced his attention to the two angelics standing before him.
Once he let himself see the angelics in front of him, he was quite mesmerized. Similar to his experience with darthians, Leo had never seen an angelic aside from in his history classes. The major difference between the darthians and the angelics though, was that Leo knew that the darthians were out in the galaxy, alive and well as a species—the angelics on the other hand were always thought to be extinct. During their war with Grindaull, the sadistic king slaughtered their people without any mercy. The Royal Academies had even taught their students that the King had wiped them all out. Leo now realized that the government’s rewriting of history was to lessen the validity of the Brotherhood of Light, and to squash the hope that they represent. After all, if everyone thought that the angelics were dead for a century, the claim of a rebel group being led by them would be dismissed entirely.
The two angelics in the room were both male. One had long blonde hair, tied up in a messy bun and he wore bright silver armor. His eyes were brown and he had the face of a young child, soft and warm. The other was almost the complete opposite. He had short brown hair and a salt and pepper beard on his face, streaks of grey mixed with his natural brown. His left eye was bright blue, and his right eye was covered by a black eye patch. He wore little armor and was mostly covered by a large black trench coat, made entirely of a beaten leather. However, despite their differences, they both had one similar feature that made them stand out as angelics and drew most of Leo’s attention when he first saw them…They both had large, white feathered wings that came out of their backs and ran from their heads to their knees. The sight of them made Leo stare in wonder and awe.
The one in the eye patch eventually noticed him staring, and smiled. “Hello Leo, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Lazareth,” he bowed his head and kept his smile. “This is Azrael,” Lazareth motioned to the other angelic who also bowed with a calm smile, “And I believe you already know our Egon friend…Diandra.”
Diandra smiled gently at Leo, moving to offer her hand. “Actually, you were unconscious when we first met, so we haven’t been formally introduced.”
Leo’s face froze in place, as he took Diandra’s hand, shaking it out of pure muscle memory alone. Not only was this woman one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen—but he also owed her his life as he realized that she was the Egon Kip and Jacob were talking about earlier.
“Y-Yes…I suppose I was…” he quickly collected himself and continued, finally letting go of her hand, and trying to play cool. “I guess I have you to thank for keeping me alive.”
“Hey! I’m pretty sure I would have been fine if she never came,” said Jacob, with a wink.
“Please Jacob,” said Lazareth, cutting in. “From your report, it sounded like both you and Leo would have been captured or killed if Diandra hadn’t been there…Not to mention the botched job you did removing his implant.”
“Hey…I forgot my ejector, and I had to improvise.”
“So, you decided to cut open his neck with a knife, almost causing him to bleed to death?” said Lazareth sarcastically, giving Jacob a taste of his own medicine.
Jacob paused before responding, “Okay…I admit it wasn’t the smartest idea…”
There was a moment of silence, and then everyone burst with laughter. Leo enjoyed the fact that the joke was finally on Jacob, who despite being humiliated took it all with his normal grin and good humor.
Their laughter was quickly cut short, however, when a loud buzz came from one of the speakers. Azrael turned to the screen and pressed a few buttons.
“Are they back?” asked Lazareth.
“Yes. It appears they have a prisoner,” replied Azrael.
Lazareth invited everyone to take a seat, and a few moments later, a muscular angelic and a shorter but well-built wolf-like shifter came in the command room.
“Raphael,” said Lazareth, “Where’s Michael?”
“He’s escorting the prisoner to the holding cells,” stated the muscular angelic. He had long brown hair but the top was covered by a black bandana. His jawline was long and sharp—something you could cut a sheet of metal with. He wore a silver chest plate, but his arms were unprotected. He had a tattoo of the Brotherhood’s sword-with-wings symbol on his right bicep, and he had tattoos similar to Diandra’s on his hands and forearms. His eyes were a calm blue and yet he still seemed aggressive and intimidating.
“Does he want me to go down there?” asked Lazareth.
“Hmm, now that you mention it,” Raphael’s voice was filled with contempt and sarcasm. “It would be a good idea if you went down there, considering your specialty is only useful in these situations.”
Lazareth glared at Raphael with his one good eye and shook his head. Then without saying another word, the eye-patched angelic
walked out of the command room—but on his way out, the shifter grabbed him by the arm.
“I’m sorry Laz. He’s just upset because we failed.”
“It’s alright Kitso…there’s no need to apologize,” said Lazareth, “I’ve never known Raphael to be in a good mood anyway.”
After Lazareth left, Leo turned to Jacob and whispered, “What’s Lazareth’s specialty?”
“Interrogation,” replied Jacob.
Dumbfounded, Leo found it difficult to believe that the kind and gentle man who just left was a specialized interrogator. Lazareth seemed like the type of person who would give the shirt off his back for someone in need—not the type to brutally hurt and torture a prisoner. When Leo looked at Raphael, he thought the walking set of muscles was a more textbook example of an interrogator.
“So, you’re the Egon that’s come out of hiding?” said Raphael with scorn in his voice. He had moved towards Diandra, clearly looking for someone to direct his aggression towards. “Well you can go back to the little cave that you crawled out of—the real angelics don’t need any help from a fallen like you!”
Diandra was visibly hurt by this, but she didn’t say anything. Leo was expecting a fight to break out between them—but instead, Kitso, the shifter, suddenly grabbed Raphael by the throat and slammed him against the table. He showed his fangs as his yellow eyes began to glow.
“Take a walk my friend,” said the shifter, quiet but firm.
Neither one blinked as they stared each other down. And just when it seemed like the conflict was going to escalate, Raphael gave Kitso a submissive nod. The shifter let Raphael back up and the angelic left the command room, without saying another word.
“Azrael, go make sure he doesn’t get into a fight with Rome or destroy all our rations would you,” said Kitso.
“Yes sir,” said Azrael as he left the room, following after Raphael.
Kitso walked over to Diandra and sat beside her. “You’ll have to excuse him, my friend,” he said in a calm soothing voice, a completely different demeanor than what he had just shown with Raphael. “It’ll just take some time for him to get used to an Egon fighting with us.”
The Chronicles of AzzaNation: Dawn of a New Age Page 14
