Illegal King

by Mason Dakota

  “Gabriel, before we hurry off to our deaths, tell me you’ve at least got some plan to stop my father,” I said.

  Gabriel sighed deeply and looked back at the papers on the table. He moved his tongue around in his mouth. I could not read him. His mysteriousness never ceased; however, I knew him well enough to know something troubled him.

  To confirm my suspicions he said, “Let’s talk privately.” It was an order, not a request.

  This can’t be good.

  Sixty

  I followed in line behind Gabriel who headed up the stairs in a silent trance. Upon reaching the next floor, we went into one of the back offices.

  Gabriel held his elbow as his other hand stroked his chin. I remained quiet as I waited for him to speak.

  Seconds passed before he finally said, “I understand your need to go after Evelyn. I really do. The girl matters to me, too, and if I could I would join you in rescuing her. But we lack time and resources. Richard plans to unleash the virus at the convention and The Emperor is protecting him, for whatever reason. We are acting blind here with not enough manpower.”

  “What about calling in the cavalry?” I said, referring to the rest of Nebula. I didn’t like the idea of working with Nebula, but I wasn’t going to deny that they would be a valuable resource.

  Gabriel shook his head. “I sent word out, but the Emperor’s army has delayed them. We’re alone on this. I don’t disagree with your desire to save Evelyn. But the situation is too big for anyone else to join you. We can make do without you and Thomas for a while…maybe, but I really need everyone else on this.”

  “I understand.”

  “It’s best you know what’s at stake here. This is bigger than just you and Evelyn. You gamble with more lives than just your own, your very breath is testimony to that, and you’re walking into a hive of Nobles. Every life you spare tonight faces death a day later. That includes Thomas. You will be killing everyone in that building tonight or this week. Don’t hesitate to do what you must to get out of there alive. Do you understand me?”

  I swallowed and nodded. I don’t like to kill, but I did it before, and for Evelyn I was willing to do it again.

  “Good because there is a bigger game going on here, and I need you to live through the night and get back here to help stop your father. And don’t lie to me and say you know precisely what you’re doing because I know you don’t.”

  I made no response. Gabriel continued speaking, “They’re keeping the Convention location a secret, but they’ve invited Ralph Erikson for press coverage. He’s our ticket inside. This has been the closest we have gotten to catching your father in years and I’m not going to let him slip through my fingers again. Do you understand that? Your father must be stopped no matter the cost.”

  I was amazed by Gabriel’s drive and determination. This is what he had lived for the past twenty years. This was the reason he got up in the morning. The mission consumed him.

  What does a man like that do once the mission is over?

  “I understand. My father must be stopped,” I whispered.

  “Or good people like Thomas will die,” Gabriel reminded me.

  Maybe he said it because he feared I might hesitate when it came to my biological father. Maybe he feared that, after Richard helped me escape and claimed that everything he had ever done came out of love for me, I would become a weak needy son. Honestly I was more worried about meeting Raven again than facing my father. A man who could single-handedly eliminate a group of ex-cops like the Justicars and do it quietly to where the NPFC wasn’t alarmed was a man too dangerous to cross.

  “I’m sorry it has to be this way,” said Gabriel. He tried to comfort me. The role had come naturally to him in the past. Now it just felt alien and wrong. He seemed determine to squeeze his way back into that role, to redeem something we once had but lost. Maybe old habits die hard.

  The moment was awkward. Still questioning the condition of our current relationship, I felt it difficult to genuinely accept anything of comfort from this man. Too many burned bridges lay beneath us.

  Showing nothing but sympathy, Gabriel smiled and returned to return to the group downstairs. I shouted out after him, “How did it all happen? How did you go from being the infamous Shaman that I grew up admiring to director of Nebula?”

  He remained frozen for a while. “I never planned for it to happen,” he whispered. Slowly he turned back around to face me. He hesitated as he thought over his words.

  “After Adam Rythe took the throne, I was put on a special task force assigned with dismantling the government system of the Northern Territories. Your father was a part of that task force from the beginning. Ziavir as well, though he came later. Your father was my best friend. We were responsible for imprisoning Damien Waters and creating a reality where those lands are still fought over by warlords.”

  “Wait. You did that?” I asked.

  Gabriel shrugged. “Not alone, but yeah the three of us are the surviving members of that task force. Much of it took care of itself after we kidnapped and imprisoned Damien Waters. He’s still locked up in the Grimway, a real monster. His vacancy left a power vacuum and eventually powerful clans rose up to fight for the throne. Your father used that to his own advantage to establish his own war clan—the Outcast Legion.”

  “But why would he do that if he was working for the Emperor?”

  “He hated Adam. Everyone did. Adam’s first legislation was the genocide of all Illegals. Your father suspected eventually he would try the same with Outcasts. Many people did. In addition your father was a slave forced to fight on behalf of the Empire against his wishes. He never spoke about it, but I think Adam threatened you and your mother to force Richard to cooperate on the task force. It all lead up to him falling over the edge.”

  “And what about you?” I asked.

  “None of walked away from that operation the same. During our mission we encountered Nebula on numerous occasions as they tried to oppose our work. They were a secret global police force Adam had named a terrorist organization. Part of our operation required many battles against Nebula, who were trying to prevent what we were doing. I have the scars to prove it.”

  Dear Lord, who is this man standing before me!

  “When we completed our mission, Adam tried to have us killed to hide what he did. Ziavir killed our commanding officer and we all fled to different parts of the world. Ziavir found Nebula and enlisted with them. I traveled the empire in secret, eventually creating the Shaman persona as I went about helping those in need. Your father, however, leapt into the vacuum we created to establish his own clan fighting for the throne of the Northern Territories with the promise of killing Nobles worldwide. He tried to move you and your mother secretly up north to join him when you were a young boy before the fire that killed your mother and what he thought was you too until a year ago.

  Now I understand my father’s hate for Nobles.

  “There was a quest for vengeance in your father against the Nobles. He was obsessed with ending the world’s problem, convinced that Nobles were completely to blame. He is proof that enough wickedness thrown onto a man eventually starts to radiate off him. He morphed into a diabolical monster.”

  Gabriel paused, taking a deep breath and licking his lips. He struggled to get his next words out. “Ziavir and your mother tried to confront him. The argument turned violent. Your father suspected your mother was with Adam and the Nobles by trying to have Ziavir involved with the intervention. In his rage he killed your mother and almost killed Ziavir as well. The fight set the house ablaze before your father escaped. Everyone assumed at first you died in the fire. When I heard about your mother, I went after your father. I should have stopped him years before when I first saw the signs.

  “I chased him across this continent searching under every rock and around every corner, but he managed to stay one step ahead of me for years. Those travelings as Shaman only spread the persona further. It caught Nebula’s attention and Zi
avir found me. They also wanted Richard, and despite their resources they didn’t know Richard like me. I never intended to join Nebula. They were just a way to save lives by stopping a monster.”

  Gabriel was like an uncle to me growing up. When he returned to my life I soaked up everything he said like a sponge—believing so much. I never thought he would lie to me. His betrayal crushed my naivety.

  “Is that the truth?” I asked.

  He nodded and ducked his head in quiet shame.

  I felt numb and uncertain hearing this. All my life, all I truly owned was a list of unanswered questions. Gabriel’s story left me spinning in more circles. His genuine truthfulness felt…surreal.

  “So what now?” I whispered. It was the only thing I was capable of saying after hearing so much truth.

  Gabriel snickered and said, “Now you go and bring our girl back home, and leave the world’s troubles to me. Pray that we both somehow come out on top in the end.”

  “I don’t think I should be praying to anyone. God certainly won’t listen to a failure like me.”

  Gabriel laid a hand on my shoulder and whispered, “It’s because you recognize that, God would listen to you.

  Then Gabriel hugged me. It caught me off guard and it took a moment before I could awkwardly return the embrace. “No matter how this ends we will see each other again, whether in this life or the next. I’m always proud of you, son,” he whispered into my ear, just as a father might.

  I won’t deny the tears in my eyes. No one had ever told me he was proud of me before. No one had ever cared as much for me as Gabriel. He was the closest thing I’d ever had to a father, even when I hated him for it. It felt…good and…somehow right. Despite my hurt feelings with Gabriel, I needed him in my life. He pulled away and I noticed tears welling up in his eyes.

  Incapable of speech, I gave him a nod and wiped at the tears with my shirt sleeve. I wanted to return his affection but I wasn’t strong enough. I shouted in my head, but I didn’t speak. I wasn’t sure if it was cowardice or hard-heartedness that sealed my mouth. I stood there quietly, lost in the dark pits of my mind, as Gabriel turned and walked away, leaving me alone in the quiet.

  Suddenly I found myself rubbing my forehead as another throbbing wave of white hot pain assaulted me. My nerves shrunk across my body in trembling pain. My insides tore apart. I collapsed against a desk. The pain slowly vanished only to be replaced by a new wave of nausea. Just as the nausea dissipated, Thomas bounded up the stairs carrying two backpacks and a sports bag full of gear and equipment.

  “Ready to go?” he asked as he tossed me my Shaman mask. He hadn’t picked up on my weakened state, or he decided not to comment on it knowing I would deny any discomfort. I knew Thomas well enough to know the latter was true.

  I caught it out of the air and weakly smiled. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Ready meaning prepared to face Alexandra and her army of killers. I knew this day was bound to come. It had loomed since the day I robbed her bank. I stole what was precious to her, and now she stole what was precious to me. An eye for an eye that had to end. Shotguns are great for that.

  Best not to keep the ladies waiting any longer.

  Time to kill the Queen.

  Sixty-One

  There’s a stillness in the air before a storm hits. Its the build-up of anticipation. Your heart slows, your fears build, your blood ices your veins, and the hairs on your arms stand up.

  You know in your soul the storm could destroy your world. Because of that your brain starts to list everything crying out for your attention, and you will either find yourself going mad with the rush or caught up in the stillness that exposes your soul.

  That’s how it felt for me as we prepared our assault on the lady’s fortress.

  Training kept me on auto-pilot and gave me something to do with my hands. My mind wrestled with the weight of eternity. I’ve never been of the religious sort. Faith and righteousness were words Chamberlain used. I was too skeptical of religion. I had too many questions swirling in my head to bow down to anything I couldn’t understand. I think the uncertainty was what made Chamberlain believe. He enjoyed the mystery and I wanted answers to my questions.

  But Gabriel had answered my questions and I found a part of me longing again for my questions. The absence of mystery broke something in me and in the quiet moment before that great storm I really wished I had the Chamberlain’s faith. The uncertainty of what I was leaving behind ate me alive. Already I felt the fires of hell roasting my soul.

  We met up with Lorre at an abandoned electronics store a couple of blocks from the NPFC Headquarters. Lorre hadn’t arrived yet. I would be lying if I said it didn’t worry me.

  The military patrols had increased. The Emperor ordered martial law into effect and anyone caught outside after nightfall was shot without question. Soldiers marched down the street dressed in full battle armor and carried blaster rifles ready to light up the sky like fireworks. Their presence made our progress much slower than I liked, forcing us to stop and hide frequently, but we had to be cautious.

  There was no need to get shot on our way to a fight.

  Upon the dust covered counters in the back of the shop our gear lay sprawled out ready for inspection. Most of my gear had been dumped during the gun fight the night before. There had been no time to recover it all, so I wore a leftover suit I found in the hideout, my mask and fedora, my knife and rod, a shoulder holster with revolver, my shotgun, and the blaster pistol I stole. I tucked it into a holster at my hip.

  Wearing a suit into battle feels like a fantastic way to die.

  Thomas had taken to wearing a tactical Kevlar vest over a black turtleneck sweater. He covered both with a hooded pea-coat and wore his Shaman mask. He carried two tranquilizer pistols loaded with rounds strong enough to bring down a horse.

  “You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this feeling,” said Thomas as he loaded his darts into his tranquilizer.

  I snickered. “Good. The day you do is the day you need to quit.”

  “So after this is all over, and the girl is saved and your father is stopped, what happens next?” Thomas asked.

  “You’ve got some high hopes.”

  “Flatter me. Where do we go from here when the Emperor wants you dead? Fighting gangsters is one thing. Taking on an Emperor is a completely different matter. I’m just worried what will be the end result of all this. Does it even end?”

  I chuckled. I didn’t believe I would live to see tomorrow evening. If Alexandra didn’t kill me and neither did my father, the virus would. I felt it creeping beneath my skin like a serpent burning away my insides. I would vomit now if there was anything left in me. More than once I had to wipe sweat off my brow in the cool of the night. I needed a miracle and seemed to be running low on them.

  Worrying about the future was no longer a luxury I possessed.

  “I was Shaman for only a year. Tonight should tell you something of what I accomplished. I failed as Shaman and I broke my vows. It was time I gave up the mask. Tonight I’ll break every rule as Shaman to do what needs to be done. Even if I survive, I can never wear the mask again. The people need a better hero than I can offer,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” asked Thomas.

  I loaded a couple of more shells into my shotgun as I said, “Being Shaman isn’t a job for the weak of heart or those who look for the easy way out. Sometimes justice means stepping on a couple of toes and making a few enemies. Your enemies will threaten, beat, curse and do whatever it takes to break or corrupt you, but you must deny them that victory. That’s where I failed. The people need a hero, even if they don’t want or deserve one. A hero’s corruption, my corruption, harms the innocent. You must never kill as Shaman. Taking a life in this field will only lead you down a path that will turn you into the very thing you hope to stop.”

  With the look he gave the amount of firepower I carried, I expected his question before he ever asked it.

  “Does
that make you my enemy then?”

  I froze. It had been a good question—an honest one. Even though it had been expected, his question still stung to hear. If you look for demons and monsters long enough you start to become one. Shaman found and eliminated monsters, which meant that Shaman would one day have to stop me.

  Have I created my own executioner, or will this all end with me killing my friend?

  I snickered to ease the tension and lacking the strength and courage to look Thomas in the eyes, I said, “Probably.” Then on a more serious note, “Alexandra took something valuable to me. I can’t forgive that. I’m getting Evelyn out of there, and I’m going to make sure Alexandra doesn’t hurt anyone else again. I’m not going in there as a peacemaker. A lot of people are going to get hurt or killed tonight by my hand. I don’t want you a part of that, which is why you’re carrying the tranquilizers instead of me. I’m only interested in saving one life tonight. You need to think of more than that. So yes, I’m your enemy after tonight, and yes, you should stop me now.”

  Thomas soaked in the words and his eyes darted to the blaster pistol. He stared at me and I saw the conflict in his eyes. I didn’t move but I never let my cold eyes leave him. Dark seconds whispering wicked eternities passed. Something unspoken changed between us. Finally he sighed, but the tension forever remained between us as he patted his tranquilizer and said, “I guess I just have to be faster than you.”

  I smiled, holstered the blaster pistol, and said, “Here’s to hoping, kid.”

  But there was a look in his eye, a dark look that told a different story. One that said for every life I took tonight judgment would soon come.

  “I guess this means I get to wear the hat,” said Thomas as he reached for my fedora. My hands shot out like lightning and grabbed his wrist before he ever laid a finger on the hat. He froze completely terrified but I saw his hand twitch to his weapon.

  I smiled wolfishly and said, “The hat is mine. Find your own.”