“Are you certain?” The Godhand asked as he momentarily glanced at me.
“I’ll be fine,” she said confidently.
I watched in silence as The Godhand simply nodded then headed towards the exit. The medics carefully placed my father on a hovering lift then joined the rest of the Knights as they all exited the bridge.
The Supernal stood silently in the center of the room as we suddenly found ourselves alone, but she continued to face away from me and I said nothing as I simply glared at her back and waited for her to speak.
“How could you?” I finally hissed after several moments of awkward silence passed by.
“What choice did I have, Darius?” she asked without bothering to look back at me.
“What choice did you have?! Are you kidding me? You had plenty of choices! You were just too naïve to make the right one! Too naïve to put aside our differences in order to do what’s right for our people!” I scolded.
“You still think this is about you?!” she asked as she whipped around and glared at me.
“Of course this is about me! Why else would you go to such great lengths to support this treachery?!” I barked.
“Who are you to lecture me on treachery after what you’ve done?” she asked as she narrowed her eyes at me.
“That was a long time ago, Lemore. And it is not the same thing. It’s not fair for you to compare something of this magnitude to what happened between us,” I retorted.
“So now you’re saying it doesn’t matter? It does not matter that you completely betrayed me?!” she asked.
“No, I’m not saying that it doesn’t matter. I’m just saying it’s not the same thing!” I replied.
“Well what’s the difference, Darius? How is your betrayal any different from mine?”
“Because I didn’t know what I was doing, okay?! I didn’t know that it wasn’t you, Lemore! I’ve told you that a thousand times! How was I supposed to know that it was your sister when she looks exactly like you?!” I demanded.
“After all this time you still don’t realize how stupid you sound peddling that pitiful excuse for sleeping with her, do you?” The Supernal snarled.
“What was I supposed to do, Lemore? I don’t read minds like you! Lenore identified herself as you and she literally looks exactly like you! How can you not understand that I was deceived?!” I protested.
“Because if you truly loved me you should have known the difference!” she snapped. “How do you expect me to simply forget what happened when I am constantly reminded of it every time I look into the eyes of your son?! How can you expect me to forgive you after that?!”
“Why do you think I never asked for your forgiveness?!” I asked. “Because I knew that I didn’t deserve it, that’s why! I was weak, Lemore, and perhaps I should have known the difference, but if you think that one moment of weakness means that I never truly loved you then you never actually understood the extent to which I fell for you. Even now as you gaze upon me with that hatred the has festered in your heart for so long, my affections for you remain as potent as the day we first met. I know you don’t remember that day because of what happened to your father but if by chance you could somehow recall those first moments then you would truly know the way I feel about you. I couldn’t stop loving you even if I tried, Lemore— I wouldn’t know where to begin,” I continued as I stared intensely into her eyes. “And now it seems that you and your Lord Commander intend to use that love against me.”
“And what about her?” The Supernal asked, to my surprise.
“Your sister? The Infernal meant nothing to me. I’ve told you that a thousand times,” I lied. In truth, I literally couldn’t tell the difference between the way I felt about either of them. Even after I found out that Lenore had tricked me I couldn’t deny that I suddenly began to realize that the connection I felt with her when I thought she was Lemore was just as strong as the one I felt when I was with Lemore herself.
The Supernal was silent for a few moments while she studied my face with a blank expression upon her own flawless face. It frustrated me that I had no idea of what was going on inside her head while at the same time she possessed the ability to literally listen in on everything that was happening inside of mine. It wasn’t fair, but at the end of the day I loved her so much that I didn’t care.
“The Godhand means to use me and The Redeemer as his allies if you refuse to surrender The Right Hand to him. He will challenge you and the two of us have agreed to fight by his side,” Lemore said solemnly as she stared down at the floor.
“I see,” I said as I crossed my arms and continued to look at her.
“You can’t win, Darius. You were barely able to defeat him last time and that was when he was fighting alone. Between The Redeemer’s speed and my abilities you wouldn’t stand a chance. That’s why you have to surrender, love. There is no other way,” she urged as she gazed into my eyes once more.
“I was holding back last time,” I replied.
“But so did he, Darius. We both know that he could have fought you with up to three allies yet he chose to face you alone.”
“That was his choice, not mine, but because he decided to fight me alone I chose not to use my mother’s holy fire until I saw that I could not defeat him without it. If he chooses to face me with allies this time then so be it— but you should know that I will not curtail my power as I did before.”
“That’s not true, Darius. You will not use your power to destroy him because of the risk of destroying me as well, and we both know that without it you cannot defeat The Godhand. I do not wish to see you die, love—”
“Then why do you continue to oppose me, Lemore?!” I snapped. “If you wish me no ill will then why not step aside and let The Godhand fight his own battles.”
“Because The Godhand fights to protect the will of our people, Darius, and your father is only interested in protecting his own ambitions. I would very much like to see you survive this, but The Righteous cannot be allowed to remain in power.”
“Well you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” I scoffed.
“What? What in the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked as a puzzled look washed across her face.
“It means… never mind, it’s stupid. It’s a dumb human expression,” I admitted. “What I’m trying to say is that you can’t have it both ways, Lemore. I will not betray my father, not even for you.”
“Very well,” she replied as she continued to stare at me, no doubt reading my thoughts as she tried to determine if I truly meant to defend The Righteous at all costs. In truth, there were parts of me that wanted to do just that but the more time I spent with her the more I realized that there were other parts of me that were pulling in the opposite direction. In the end I was left completely conflicted and I was suddenly unsure of what I would do if it came down to making that ultimate decision.
After a few more uneasy moments Lemore finally beckoned for me to follow her as she turned and headed towards the exit. We moved in uncomfortable silence as we both exited the bridge and traveled down the long corridor that stood before us. There were onlookers watching in dismay at every turn as The Supernal led me through The Pillar’s long hallways and walked towards the internal capsule that would carry us to the ship’s main detention unit.
ONCE WE FINALLY REACHED THE DETENTION UNIT I REMAINED silent as I walked into the empty cell that The Supernal led me to.
“I’ll need you to arrange for your human allies to deliver the Equillian antimatter bomb to us immediately,” The Supernal said as she lingered just outside my small rectangular cell.
“So you mean to go through with the ritual?” I asked.
“Yes, our issues are with the High King, not the Goddess herself,” The Supernal replied.
“Then why waste time with the use of the bomb? You could easily make the necessary sacrifice by using The Pillar to destroy the planet. You obviously disagree with my father’s point of view so why would you honor his agreement
with The Strangers?”
“We have our reasons,” she said ominously.
“Very well,” I said dismissively. She stood outside my cell for a few more moments as if she expected me to have something else to say— but as far as I was concerned, I was done talking.
A soft whirring noise finally filled the room as she walked over to a control panel near the unit’s entrance and closed my cell by releasing a thick glass-like barrier that retracted from the ceiling and extended all the way to the floor. Of course, we both knew that I could have easily destroyed that barrier as well as the entire detention unit if I wanted to; however, we also knew that they had my father in custody, and as long as that was the case I had no choice but to play along.
Feeling defeated, I walked over and took a seat on the rigid bed that sat near the back of my cell. I was just about to lie back and try to get some sleep when I decided to take one last glance at The Supernal. She too was glancing over her shoulder at me when the two of us locked gazes. I could see within her eyes that she had been truthful when she said she didn’t want me to die, but there was something else there as well— something else hidden within her expression that I couldn’t quite put my finger on at the time.
11. NEW RECRUIT
HOWIE:
“DO YOU REALLY THINK SHE’S WORKING WITH THE STRANGERS?” Jason asked as he and I stood outside of one of the moon base’s solitary detention rooms and watched as Nina Delgado stared up at the ceiling while lying on a small bed situated in the back of her tiny cell.
“I don’t know,” I lied as I stared at her through the one-way glass which looked like just a mirror from her side.
Nina was wearing a pale grey jump-suit that wasn’t doing her slender yet deceptively curvaceous figure any justice and her long dark hair was pulled back into what I can only describe as a lazy attempt at a pony-tail. Still, despite her somewhat disheveled hair and the utterly dull prison outfit that she was forced to wear, she was still obviously a beautiful young lady and with one glance it was clear to see that she didn’t belong behind bars.
I had told Director Wells I suspected that Monica’s best friend, Nina, was connected to The Strangers after they used her to feed us a bogus lead on Monica’s whereabouts. Director Wells immediately sent a team to bring her in and I subsequently gave orders to have her transferred to the moon base for “interrogation” purposes. I wanted to speak with her as soon as she arrived but for some reason Wells had restricted my access to her. At first I thought that he had figured out that I had fabricated my suspicions about her being a Stranger, but he never really mentioned anything about that to me so to be honest I didn’t know why he wouldn’t let me near her.
Whatever the case, the real reason I had her brought to the moon base was because I needed to ensure that she was safe. This was partially because of the sizable crush that I had on her but it was mostly because of the fact that I would need her in order to ensure that my plan to save the world was successful. So far, I had executed the preliminary steps of the plan without having to involve any outside parties; however, I had gotten to a point where I could no longer go at it alone. The next few steps required a few more hands than just my own, but unfortunately the list of people who I could trust had dwindled down to almost zero. I couldn’t even trust Reaper because I knew he’d never allow me to go through with my plan due to the danger it presented, and as much as I wanted to believe I could trust Jason, something in my gut told me that he would report me to Director Wells. Ultimately, Nina was my best option, despite the fact that she was probably furious with me…
Hope she doesn’t hold a grudge, I thought as I scanned her cell for surveillance equipment with my smart glasses.
“What did you say you needed to talk to her about?” Jason asked, with his eyes still trained on Nina.
“I didn’t say,” I said flatly.
“Come on, Howie give me a break, man. I’m already sticking my neck out here. The least you can do is let me know what this is about,” Jason groaned as he glanced over at me.
“You do recall the fact that I turned her in, right Ace?” I said sarcastically.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jason asked.
“It means you can stop questioning me as if I’m working for the enemy or something. She wouldn’t even be in that cell if it wasn’t for me,” I grumbled.
“Take it easy, bro! No one’s accusing you of being a bad guy, I was just asking because I want to have my story straight just in case you get caught,” Jason said as he withdrew a keycard and pressed it against a small terminal near the right side of the reinforced cell door.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, because I don’t plan on getting caught,” I said as the cell door slid open and a cool gust of air spread out of the room.
“No one ever does,” Jason replied as he turned and walked away. “I’ll let you know when Director Wells gets out of his meeting with The Elder. Make sure you don’t stick around too much longer after that,” he continued as he glanced at me over his shoulder.
“10-4,” I said as I turned and finally entered Nina’s cell.
SHE WAS ALREADY SITTING UP ON HER BED AND HER BIG brown eyes were glued to the entrance as I stepped into the small cell.
“What the hell is this?” she asked as I paused near the entrance while the cell door slid closed behind me.
“How are you doing, Nina?” I asked.
“Is that a serious question?” she snapped as she narrowed her eyes at me.
“Sorry, I… suppose that was a pretty dumb question, huh?” I admitted.
“An extremely dumb one,” she hissed. “And you still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” Before I replied I touched a button on the right side of my smart glasses and checked to make sure that my signal scrambler was still active.
“I’m here because I need your help, Nina,” I finally replied as I stopped fiddling with my glasses and took a few steps toward her.
“Don’t you take another step!” she warned as she suddenly hopped to her feet and clenched her fists.
“Nina, relax. I’m just— I’m just here because I need your help. You know I’d never do anything to harm you,” I coaxed as I raised my hands too show her I meant no harm.
“Says the person who had me locked up like an animal?! How do you expect me to trust you, Howie?”
“Dammit, Nina, just calm down for a second, will you? I know that what happened seems bad but I have a reason for all of this. You just have to let me explain, okay?” I insisted.
“I don’t want to hear a thing you have to say,” she growled.
“Nina, you just have to trust me. I’m doing this for Reaper and Monica. You and I are on the same side here, okay?” I replied.
“In that case where’s your grey jumpsuit?” she sneered.
“Nina, I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I did this to protect you. It was the only way that I could,” I explained.
“How in the hell is this protecting me?!” she demanded, as her eyes widened with utter disbelief.
“It might not make sense to you right now but if you would just stop and think about it for a second you would see what I mean. There is a hostile alien army orbiting our planet right now and they’re just waiting for the right opportunity to wipe us off the face of the earth. This facility is on the moon, Nina— and they don’t know about it. This base is by far the safest place that you could be right now and getting you arrested was the only way that I could bring you here.”
“Well, that wasn’t your decision to make, Howie!” Nina retorted.
“Am I missing something here? Because this is usually the part where the person who got saved says ‘thank you’ to the guy who did the saving,” I protested.
“You separated me from my family and had me thrown into a godforsaken cell on the freaking moon, Howie! On what planet is that considered saving someone?! Do you really think I’d rather be locked away in this hellhole rather than down there with my fami
ly?!”
“Nina, you clearly have not yet grasped the magnitude of what’s going on with Earth right now. We are seconds away from being invaded by aliens! You’ll die if you go back down there!” I argued.
“And I’d still rather be there with my family than up here watching them die from a million miles away. And who asked you to save me, anyway, Howie?! The only thing you did was take them away from me!” Nina said as her voice quivered while she quickly wiped a tear from the corners of her left eye before it could fall.
“Nina, you have no idea of how sorry I am to have separated you from your family and if there had been more time I might have been able to figure out a way to save them too, but it was just too sudden— one minute we were still trying to save Monica and the next minute the entire world was surrounded by those spaceships,” I said as Nina continued to wipe the unused tears from her eyes. One of the things that I liked most about her was the fact that she was always such a strong person, therefore it pained me beyond belief to see her on the brink of tears.
“They’re still down there, Howie— and if what you’re saying is true they could die any second now,” Nina said softly, still fighting back tears as she spoke.
“That’s why I need your help, Nina. I need your help to not only save your parents, but to save the entire world,” I responded.
“But how can the two of us save the world? I know you’re super smart and stuff but what the hell am I supposed to do?” she asked as I gazed into her reddened eyes.
“I’ll tell you, but you may want to have a seat first,” I warned, knowing that what I was about to tell her would be difficult for her to believe.
HER EYES WERE WIDE WITH DISBELIEF AND SHE MOSTLY remained silent as I divulged the details of my plan to save Earth from the immediate threat of the Anokians as well as the insidious influence of the mysterious Equillian Federation. I watched as her expression changed from utter disbelief, to horror and despair, and then finally to hope as I revealed the final details of my plan. Our odds were astronomically dreadful, as a great deal of the plan hinged upon our ability to successfully liberate Reaper, who was being held aboard what was likely the most fortified spaceship in the entire universe. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a bit more confident in my plan as I gazed upon the glimmer of optimism that flickered into Nina’s beautiful brown eyes.
Savior Part 3: Legion of The Godhand (The Savior Series) Page 10
