“There must be more of them out there,” Adam said. “What if they go after the Prime Minister?”
“It’s not a problem. I was doing a bit of research earlier and I discovered that the Prime Minister actually left the country a few days ago on some sort of diplomatic errand.”
“So he was never in danger?” Adam asked.
“As far as I know, he was not.”
“Still, that’s pretty convenient,” Adam noted. “What are the odds he would be called away during the same time that people were after his life?”
“What are you suggesting, Iilil-ja?”
“It’s entirely possible that he was informed of the threat beforehand and left for his own safety.”
“Who could have informed him? The only ones who had access to this information were those members of Oracle hiding out in Nijo Castle.”
“They weren’t alone in the castle,” Adam reminded the Creator, who scoffed at the implication.
“At any rate, the Prime Minister is safe. As far as this Oracle group, they’ve suffered a defeat here thanks to our work. I don’t think we have to worry about them for the time being.”
“I’m glad you can be so relieved,” said Adam.
“Come now, Iilil-ja, we’re supposed to be celebrating. Lighten up a bit, would you?” The Creator patted him on the shoulder with a smile, but Adam still wasn’t convinced. He only pushed the thought out of his mind as he saw Cody and Master M approaching.
“I heard you were successful,” Master M said. “I’m glad to see that my teaching helped you.”
“You know each other?” Cody asked. Adam was just as curious to know how Cody knew Master M, but after a few minutes of clarifications both sides understood the whole truth.
“It was quite a shock to me,” said Cody, “to wake up after the fight and see my father for the first time in years by my side.”
“He was a little upset with me at first, as you might expect,” Master M said. “We’ve been able to talk a bit more while we waited for you to recover. It’s clear that my son and I have a lot of catching up to do, and a lot to work out, but I’m glad to have him back.”
Adam remembered how when they first me, Master M was wary to talk about his family. Knowing the circumstances behind both of them now, Adam could see why that was the case. What mattered was that they were together again, and their relationship could begin to be reformed.
“Excuse me Dad, Creator, I’d like to speak with Mr. Evans for a moment to thank him,” Cody said. The other two relented, and Cody led Adam away from his father and the Creator. As they went off, Master M leaned closer to the Creator to address him quietly.
“I’m not sure if you understand the full gravity of what’s just come about, Creator, but I would advise you to stay on your guard,” he said. “When Adam Evans killed his other half, he took control of the elemental powers of Magid that were within him. That means that Adam Evans now has the full power of all ten of Magid’s elements. Combined with his powers as a Legend, I’m sure you can appreciate how powerful he now is.”
“I am aware,” the Creator answered.
“I hope you let that scar on your face serve as a reminder to not underestimate the power of your enemies,” Master M warned. “Nor your allies.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Peter?”
“It means that someone like you ought to keep your eye on someone like him.”
In the other corner of the room, Cody confided in Adam. “I’ve really got to hand it to you, you’ve taken great advances. What’s more, you did it without the Creator leading the way.”
“I can’t say he didn’t help me, Cody.”
“What I mean is that the manner in which you solved your problem was different, and overall you are a completely different person than he is. That gives me a lot of hope, Adam.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Cody said. “I know that the Creator won’t seal the gate that binds our universes, and to be honest, I’m not even sure I can believe that The Baggins is really dead. It bothers me to no end that someone like that has so much control of your universe. That’s why I’m glad you are the kind of person you are. I know that if it should come down to it, you’d be a voice of reason against him.”
“I don’t have any real reason to turn against him,” Adam said.
“Just promise me that you won’t let him become a tyrant,” Cody said. “There’s no reason that anyone else should have to suffer because of his inaction.”
Cody saw Dee come out of the kitchen with glasses in her hand and decided he should leave Adam. Before he did, he passed on one final warning.
“When I came home from the war, my life was consumed with guilt and anger, and I thought that maybe if I resolved things here those feelings would go away. But they haven’t, Adam. I may have found my father again, but my little brother is still dead, and there’s still something really wrong with me that I don’t know how to fix. I didn’t find any closure here, and I’d be hard pressed to believe that you’ll find any either.”
Dee walked up to the two, but Cody merely bowed his head to her and left to rejoin his father. The Creator had apparently disappeared somewhere, leaving Dee very confused as she stood with the two drinks.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“Cody was just wishing me well, in his own way,” Adam said as he took one of the glasses from Dee.
“Where’s the Creator?” she asked.
“Who knows?” Adam said. “Feel free to have his drink though, he can always get his own.”
“That’s not very kind, Adam,” she said.
“Maybe not, but it wouldn’t kill him to do something for himself for a change.”
Dee smiled weakly and held out her glass. “Merry Christmas, Adam.”
“What?” he asked, still oblivious to the holiday.
“Just go with it,” she said, her smile widening.
She and Adam clinked their glasses together as he returned her smile. “Merry Christmas, Dee.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The Flight
That evening, above the quiet city, a red light shone in the darkness, accompanied by the sound of whirling blades. A helicopter, dark as the night, descended from the clouds and made its landing on a clear spot on a hill that overlooked the city. The blades slowed but kept spinning as the machine came to rest, now opening a bright eye to cast a path of illumination through the haze of night.
The side door of the helicopter slid open as a thin woman stepped out of it. Though bound in a bulky leather jacket, she pulled her clothing tighter around her and shivered, watching her breath fly from her mouth as the chilly wind whipped her long brown hair around. She looked towards the lit path and waited patiently, until a few moments later two figures appeared from the bottom of the hill and made their way towards the helicopter. The first raised a hand over his eyes to protect them from the light, even though he already wore a pair of sunglasses. His counterpart did not react, and simply followed its master.
“Is the light really necessary, Evangeline?” Mr. White called out over the howling wind.
“It got your attention, didn’t it?” the woman replied. “Hurry up and get in, you must be freezing.”
“I actually prefer the cold,” Mr. White said. “This doesn’t bother me much at all.”
“Whatever you say,” said Evangeline. “We need to get going anyway. Where are the others?”
“It’s just Spartacus and I.”
Evangeline wasn’t sure she heard him right, but the fact that he was only accompanied by his bodyguard confirmed this. “What happened to Gien and Okita?”
“Both casualties I’m afraid,” Mr. White reported.
He and his bodyguard reached the helicopter and boarded, followed by Evangeline. The three took a seat as the helicopter began to operate again and lifted off. Mr. White leaned on his hand and stared wistfully out the window at Kyoto as they departed from i
t.
“I’m sorry that this mission didn’t work out for you, Leonardo,” Evangeline said.
“How do you mean?” Mr. White asked. He reached into his coat pocket with his other hand and pulled out a golden pocket watch that he began playing with between his fingers.
“Well, we lost several good operatives, including two from our division,” Evangeline stated. “On top of that, they failed to achieve their objective.”
Mr. White smiled, holding the watch still in his hand for a moment.
“On the contrary, Evangeline, they all played their parts beautifully.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t, you’re only looking at the small picture,” Mr. White explained. “Just as the Black Dragon team could only see the small picture. After all, if they knew that they were just pawns, they would have been far less likely to go along with the plan.”
“So what’s the big picture then?” Evangeline asked.
Mr. White smiled. “Adam Evans.”
“Adam Evans?” she repeated.
“Yes,” Mr. White continued. “This entire operation was designed to drag him out into the open, away from his throne and place of comfort, and into an unknown environment where he could be killed by the only one capable of doing so: his alter ego.”
“So you mean to say that the Black Dragon team was never sent here to target the Prime Minister. They were sent here to kill Adam Evans?”
“Ultimately, only Black himself was going to kill him,” Mr. White continued. “Okita and Gien were sent in order to make sure Black stayed to this path and ignored the false mission he was assigned, which of course he did. The other members were sent to create the illusion that there was a full team after the Prime Minister’s life. Furthermore, Adam Evans did his part and pursued Black here, instead of following his duty as a king. The awakening of Magid’s power within the two of them was unexpected, but ultimately I doubt it affected the outcome much.”
“But the mission still failed,” Evangeline pointed out. “Despite everything, Adam Evans survived.”
“In part,” Mr. White conceded. “There lies my miscalculation. Had everything gone as I had planned, they both would have died. There was one oversight that prevented this from happening.” Mr. White looked out the window over the city, the red light of the helicopter flashing through the window and onto his pale face. “I never expected anyone to care enough about that man’s life to follow him here just to save it.”
“The Creator’s group, you mean?”
“Had they been removed from the equation, there would have been flawless victory. But I’m alright with this in the mean time. Everything that has happened has only further exposed Evans’ weaknesses, as well as showed me that as long as those people are around him he won’t be so easy to kill.”
“So what’s your next move?”
“I’ll wait for now, give them time to savor the victory they think they’ve earned. Then I’ll see to it that those close to him are taken care of, until he’s left all alone. By that time, it won’t be hard to kill him.”
Mr. White clicked his pocket watch open and looked inside. “Speaking of which, has the Prime Minister been located?”
Evangeline folded her hands in her lap. “Yes,” she said. “We’re not sure how the Prime Minister learned of the plan, but he fled to an undisclosed region of Indonesia two days ago. Officially, he is on a diplomatic mission there.”
“I see,” Mr. White said.
“Sir, I understand that this assassination mission was only a cover, but can we really let the Prime Minister escape? After all, he knows quite a bit about us.”
“The mission was a cover, but the need to eliminate the Prime Minister is quite real, Evangeline. However, I wouldn’t leave that up to Black’s team. Such a task requires a more subtle method.”
“How do you mean?” asked Evangeline.
Mr. White reached into his pocket and removed his phone. He dialed a number and waited for someone on the other end to answer.
“Evangeline, do you have the coordinates for the Prime Minister’s approximate location?” he asked her.
“Roughly, but there is quite a bit of space that he could potentially be in,” Evangeline answered.
“No matter,” Mr. White said, returning to the phone. “Choose a spot along the fault somewhere near Sumatra, not too close but not to far either. Use that location to run the beta test of the Mammoth.”
Evangeline shot forward in her chair after hearing the order that was placed. “Leonardo, what are you thinking? Testing the Mammoth there is going to cause incredible damage! Thousands of people are going to be killed, not just the Prime Minister!”
Mr. White closed his phone and pocketed it again. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear, Evangeline. We’re going to go about this subtly. By that, I mean that there will be no way to trace this assassination to us. What better way than to mask it with the deaths of many others?”
“But to that degree, it seems so unnecessary.”
“My dear, perhaps you’ve forgotten,” Mr. White started, reaching to remove his sunglasses. “There is no measure so unnecessary that it will prevent me from killing Adam Evans. I will do everything in my power to see that he spends every moment of his life in misery, and that he dies the death of a dog.”
Mr. White removed his glasses and reflected his iron will at Evangeline through his brilliant red eyes. The mark of his organization, a glyph resembling an eye, stood firmly at the center of each iris, steady against Mr. White’s passion.
“I will make sure that I bring about a world without him in it,” Mr. White said. “Even if I have to bring down the rest of the world just to do so.” Evangeline didn’t respond, instead turning her attention out the window as she watched the silent city disappear in the darkness of the night.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The Fugitives
December 26th, 2004
In the early morning hours, Souji Okita was still asleep in his jail cell. Since his arrest, he had done little but lay in bed. His failure had demoralized him, and his rejection by the man he most respected left him with no reason to go on. Were he less of a coward he would have taken his own life in prison to prevent any information about Oracle escaping. After having been abandoned by his only family, he was beginning to think he had little else to keep going for.
“Hello, Souji.” The voice called out to him in his dreamless sleep. His eyes flew open and he saw an empty cell. It was too early for guards to be by, but he was sure he heard someone call him. He sat up and looked around. As he did, he heard the sound of slow footsteps coming down the hallway. It was only when the approaching figure stopped at his cell that he understood. Before him was a tall man in black armor, his face covered completely by a mask. The ground shimmered beneath him in a circular shape and a light overcame him. It blinded Okita for an instant, but when he looked back there was someone else standing in front of him.
“You,” Okita managed to say. “You’re that man that was with the Creator, aren’t you?”
New Baggins laid his hand on the cell door and it swung open, allowing him access. “It’s good to see you again. It’s a shame you had to spend your birthday in this place, though.”
“What are you doing here?” Okita asked.
“I thought I would come by and tell you that it’s all over,” New Baggins said. “Your boss is dead and the Prime Minister escaped alive. You’re the only one who’s left, and it looks like you’ve been left behind.”
“So are you here just to mock me then?” Okita asked. “I don’t think you’re here to kill me.”
“I’m here to ask you a question,” New Baggins said. “That day in the train station, I asked you what it was that you wanted out of life. Not the expectations of others you wanted to live up to, but what you as your own self wanted. Do you have an answer yet?”
Okita lied back down. “To be honest, I’ve been thinking about that while I’ve been in here.
Even so, I haven’t found an answer yet.”
“Good,” New Baggins said. “Then you’ll do just fine with me.”
Okita sat back up again. “Excuse me?”
“I’m returning to Magid to resume my life as a vagabond,” New Baggins said. “I think you’d do well for yourself to come with me.”
“Why should I do that?” Okita asked.
“Because if you stay here, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison, if you’re not killed before then. Or you can come with me, and get a second chance.”
“A second chance for what?”
“Doing something meaningful with your life,” said New Baggins. “Or finding a way to make amends for your past crimes. Or maybe just walking away and following your own path. All of these options are better than staying in prison.”
“Why are you helping me?” Okita asked.
“I see myself when I look at you, Souji. Now it’s my turn to give the second chance that I almost took for granted. Will you accept my offer and stand up against the fate that your teacher has assigned for you?”
Okita looked down at Gien. “The guards will notice that I’m missing.”
“If you’re leaving this universe behind it won’t really matter what the Japanese police thinks of you, will it?”
“What about the Creator?”
New Baggins dipped his head. “The Creator is no longer of importance to either of us, nor are we to him I’m afraid. He’s been able to keep himself busy for the 1,200 years of my sentence and I doubt he’ll find a need to use me again.”
Okita turned his attention back to the bizarre looking man. His eyes were genuine and open, unlike those of his teacher. Okita finally conceded and smiled.
“Ok, why not?”
“That’s the spirit,” New Baggins said. “We’ll get you some street clothes before we get going.”
“What about the guards? And the cameras?”
The Kyoto Ordeal (Tales of the Other Universe Book 1) Page 33
