by R. E. Graham
“I sure hope he is so that I can kill him myself!”
Varius chuckled out loud. “Doesn’t sound very peaceful of you.”
“What else should I do to the man who got all of my people killed?!”
The Inquisitor stood up. “What else do you know about this Shadow Man?”
“Nothing. No one would tell me anything else.”
“Then I suppose that we are finished here…” he said as he reached over for the jammer.
“I have evidence!”
Varius’ hand stopped. He looked up at her and pulled his arm back. “Where?”
“Hidden. You have to get me out of here.”
“Not a chance.”
Suddenly there was a bang at the door followed by a muffled voice. “What’s going on in there?”
Eva’s eyes pleaded with him. “They will kill me if you don’t get me out of here. And with me goes the proof you are after.”
“You are asking me to break multiple laws, as an inquisitor I cannot…”
“Oh, come off your pedestal. I know how you inquisitors operate. You have all kinds of leeway to bend laws to fulfill your objectives.”
Again, the guard outside banged on the door.
“I know where you can find the arms dealer!” the woman blurted out. “But you will never find him if you don’t get me out of here.”
Varius turned away in thought. He turned back to her and walked over. He pulled out a thin metallic strip and peeled off the back. He stuck it to the back of her neck below her collar and pushed the center of it which pushed several tiny metal claws to dig into the skin. It beeped loudly, and Eva’s eyes grew very wide.
“You know what that is?”
She nodded slowly.
“Good. Then you know that if you try to betray me in any way that I will blow your head from your shoulders. I will release you long enough to help me learn what I need. After that I am bringing you back here to pay for your crimes.” He took a small burner lighter from his belt and cut through the chain from her right arm. Then he placed a magnetic binder ring to her right wrist and one around her left.
“Oh, come on!” Eva said disapprovingly.
“Place your right hand up to your left” Varius ordered.
She grunted in protest as she reached up her right wrist to her left. The two binders connected magnetically then locked together. The Inquisitor freed her left arm from the chains.
“Do anything suspicious and it is all over for you” Varius said with as much gruff in his voice as he could manage.
Eva nodded again as there was more banging on the door.
Varius motioned for her to get up against the wall and he got on the other side of the room. Before he removed the disabler disk from the door and put it back into his belt, he peeled another remote bomb and stuck it to the wall behind him. The door slid open and the two burly men armed with stun batons stepped into the room. The crackle from the batons was ear piercing in the small room.
They both turned to see Eva but before they could spin back Varius chopped the guard on the left in the head. He collapsed to the ground as his comrade jumped back. Eva put her arms over the man’s head and pulled back tight on his neck.
The Inquisitor stepped forward and swiped the baton away from the guard. He then punched him with his right fist. The guard was instantly knocked unconscious. He slumped to the ground and Eva slid her binders off his neck.
“Follow my lead. Don’t draw unnecessary attention to us” Varius said as he made sure the hallway was clear. He put Eva in front of him and used his left hand on her shoulder to guide her.
The woman at the front desk noticed the pair strolling down the hallway. “Inquisitor?”
Varius held his other hand up and smiled cheerfully. “I am going to borrow Ms. Primus for a few hours. I will bring her back shortly. I promise.”
As Eva and Varius went out the door of the detention center the blonde woman hit a button on her comm system. “Legatus Aquilas, the Inquisitor is taking the suspect into his own custody.”
“What?!”
Chapter 11
Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 12
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Eden
Location: Inside the Keepers of Peace Command Center
Eva tried to keep her face calm and somber as Varius guided her down several corridors toward the elevator. KoP agents on all sides went about their business. Some were bringing other citizens of Eden in for processing while others went about other duties.
Several armored KoP agents on either side of the pair noticed them and stood up. They didn’t make a move, but Varius noticed their automatic rifles in hand. He nodded sternly to a team of them on his left and kept on his way.
“Hold it right there Inquisitor!”
Varius looked to his left to see Tye Aquilas stomping his way down a short hallway. Two guards followed close behind.
Eva carefully stepped behind Varius as the rest of the room froze.
“Legastus Aquilas I require Ms. Primus’ assistance with a case. I will return her promptly to your care to do with as you see fit as soon as my business is concluded.”
Aquilas crossed his sleeved arms and the shoulders of his officer’s jacket puffed up slightly. “You have no jurisdiction to confiscate my prisoner. We are in the middle of an open investigation into her connections with other groups around the planet.”
“Well, no, I actually do. According to ordinance 7562 subsection three I have authority to override any Keepers of Peace operation to conduct my own investigation” the Inquisitor said as calmly as he could.
“Yes, but we are amidst a pacifying operation against her terrorist organization which makes her an enemy of the state, thus my prisoner. Inquisitor Varius, hand her over immediately or you will be found as an accomplice.” Aquilas smirked confidently.
“Accomplice? On what grounds?”
“Your behavior in this is already risen some concerns. You first hot drop into Lucifer without orders, then act aggressively towards my men by not powering down your WarMech. We have footage of you fleeing the scene of the warehouse where her people were buying firearms was conveniently burned to the ground. And I have just heard from the detention center that you incapacitated two of my agents. It seems to me that you are here to rescue her.”
While the two men puffed out their chests to one another Eva scanned the room watching for any of the guards who were looking to make a move. That was when she saw him. Across the wide room a door slid open and a man dressed in the traditional KoP officer uniform stepped out. A burning rage consumed Eva as she drew the Inquisitor’s sidearm and aimed it at the man.
“Rian Kennedy you are going to pay!” she screamed loudly. The man saw the threat and dove to the floor.
Varius spun around in time to smack the handgun downwards just as the first round was fired. It ricocheted off the stone floor and flew into a stack of metal boxes on top of a desk. He expertly wrestled the pistol from her hands and holstered it in one smooth motion. He put his arms up to signal everyone to calm down.
All of the armed guards in the room had their rifles up and aimed at both of them.
The Inquisitor realized some of the guards aimed their weapons at him which made his blood boil. “Legatus order your men to lower their weapons.”
“I can’t do that. Turn her back over to my custody and clear your name.”
“Alright.”
Eva looked at the Inquisitor in horror as he lowered his arms. He touched a button on his left gauntlet that set off the bomb strip in the detention cell. The explosion shook the floor and the guards became temporarily distracted.
Varius turned to Eva and grabbed her shoulder. “Run!” he shouted as he pushed her towards the elevator.
Tye pointed his finger angrily at the fleeing pair. “Apprehend them!”
Three guards activated their stun batons and stepped in front of Eva. The Inquisitor yanked her back and charged forward. He blocked th
e first guard’s strike with his baton at the forearm and threw a punch right into his helmet. The reinforced knuckles bashed his head with a hard punch and he fell to the ground in a heap.
Varius deflected a strike from the middle guard while the one on the right went for Eva who backed up several steps. She found a baton of her own that laid on a desk and picked it up. The guard laughed loudly at the challenge as he aggressively swatted it from her hands with his own baton. Eva held up her bound hands and said, “Woah now.”
The guard didn’t see Varius slide behind him and before he realized what happened his head was being smashed into a desk. In one quick motion the Inquisitor grabbed Eva by the collar and half-dragged her along with him to the stairwell.
Just then the elevator doors opened to reveal inquisitors Titus and Vega. Both looked very confused at the sight of Varius pulling Eva Primus.
“Varius?” Titus asked puzzled, as he stepped forward.
“Stop them!” Aquilas shouted to the two surprised men from across the room.
Varius slammed the emergency stairwell door pad and it slid open. Eva followed closely behind, and the Inquisitor quickly attached the disabler disk to the door just as it closed. Several people could be heard beat repeatedly on the door as the pair fled up the stairs.
While Eva was huffing loudly, Varius had already scaled the stairs and was at the top. Alarms began to wail loudly throughout the compound. He leaned over the railing and shouted, “Woman you need to move!”
“Woman…I’ll…show you…woman!” she grumbled as she climbed upwards. “Been a long time since I ran…up stairs.”
Varius hit the door pad and was met with a kick from Vega. Instinctively the older inquisitor caught the kick with his hands and he flipped the young man onto his back.
“This isn’t what it looks like, I don’t want to fight you Vega” Varius said as Eva stopped behind him.
The younger inquisitor rolled to his right and up into a crouch, hands ready to fight. “Too bad, because I do.”
Vega rushed forward to strike. Varius parried multiple attacks and followed with an elbow to Vega’s face as he tried to draw his own sidearm. The gun fell down the stairwell and the older inquisitor kicked his attacker in the chest. Vega stumbled back through the doorway.
Eva enthusiastically pressed the door panel as Vega regained himself and tried a kick of his own. The door slid shut and caught his leg mid-air.
“I’m sorry” Varius said as he took advantage of the moment and rammed the suspended leg from the side. A loud snap from Vega’s knee gave Eva a shiver.
The younger inquisitor cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Since it could not close, the door re-opened and slid back into the wall.
Varius started to stick his head out the doorframe when a piece of the wall and frame burst near his face. He withdrew his head back inside the stairwell, his right ear ringing loudly.
“What’s going on here Varius?” Titus asked from out of sight, pistol aimed forward.
“I need Eva for my investigation” Varius shouted back.
“She has been convicted of conspiring against this world’s governor. She also has ties to other terrorist cells around the planet. We need to interrogate her.”
Eva couldn’t contain herself. “You are full of poosh! I don’t have any other contacts with groups. I wasn’t even there during the weapons deal. You are blackmailing me!”
Varius held up his hand for her to be quiet. He pressed the rectangle at the back of his neck and his helmet formed around his head. Vega slowly crawled out of the line of fire and held his leg as still as he could.
“Varius, this looks bad. Give her over and I can smooth things with the KoP brass.”
While the two in the stairwell were quiet, Titus looked to Vega for a signal. He shook his head because he couldn’t see either of them as they hid to either side of the doorway.
“I will deal with him, get ready to run” Varius whispered to Eva. He took an attachment out of a pocket on his thigh and connected it to his sidearm. “Alright, we’re coming out!”
“No, just the woman” Titus demanded.
“I want her to pay for her crimes just as bad as you do Alexander” Varius said as he led her out the door. He hid the sidearm behind his back but also obscured Titus’ view with Eva.
“Alright Damien, send her over” Alexander ordered.
“She’s all yours.”
“I’m not going with him!” Eva shouted.
Guards began to run down the hallway behind Titus.
Varius yanked Eva to the left and dove to the right at the same time. He aimed his pistol and fired an electro-round just after Titus discharged his own sidearm. Varius was hit square in the ribcage while Titus was hit in the chest. Electricity coursed through his body and he violently twitched before he fell to the ground.
“Titus!” Vega shouted, surprised by the attack on his mentor.
Eva stood up and ran over to Varius. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, his shot didn’t penetrate my body armor.” The woman helped her inquisitor up and the two ran off as the guards arrived. They opened fire with their rifles and filled the hallway with bullets and just as they rounded the corner ahead of them.
The alarm continued to bellow loudly. Guards all throughout the compound got into their emergency positions. The two-mech team of Sierras moved to the front of the building while the Sentrys readied themselves. More infantry agents in their shiny white armor aimed their rifles at the glass doors.
“I want the woman kept alive. Shoot the inquisitor with her” a very smug field officer, Sabine Horo, said as he clasped his arms behind his back awaiting his easy victory.
Several long moments went by and no one came out the doors. With a puzzled look on his face the field officer pressed the small earpiece in his left ear. “Do we have confirmation of where they are?...What do you mean you lost them?!...The rear of the building?”
As Horo looked up to his left he spotted a white armored Keepers of Peace wheeled patrol truck weave in between surprised KoP agents and buildings. The field officer spun around to his mechs and shouted, “There they are. Fire, fire, fire!”
The WarMechs all turned towards the fleeing vehicle. One of the Sierras fired its main arm cannon and ran towards the gate while the two Sentrys opened fire with their large repeater lasers instead of arms. Red laser bolts filled the air as they flew past the white vehicle. Varius did his best to navigate the frantic scene of lasers and bursts of stone being sent into the air from the Sierras cannons, but the left side of their vehicle was still taking damage.
One laser bolt burned through the rear passenger window and burned through the other side.
“I hope you know what you’re doing Inquisitor” Eva said through rattled teeth as they hit a pothole created by one of the Sierras missed shots. Debris pounded the bullet resistant windshield.
As the armored truck came around the last barracks in the courtyard before they reached the gate the advancing Sierra stomped up in front of them. It lowered itself into a squat stance and fired its chain-gun. Rounds bounced off the hood and windshield but made a terrible noise inside the truck.
A missed round from the Sierra on their left crossed their path and blew a hole in the compound perimeter wall.
“Varius turn right!” Eva shouted.
The Inquisitor glanced over and twisted the wheel to head for the opening. The pair narrowly avoided a round from the cannon of the Sierra guarding the gate. It flew down the courtyard and destroyed the base of a tree. It crashed to the ground with a loud thud.
Both of the Sentrys continued to fire their repeater lasers gouging burn marks in the stonecrete sidewalks and soil around the evading vehicle as it drove through the hole in the wall and down the street.
“Get me air support!” Horo screamed. He turned to the guard on his right. “And give me your baton!”
Confused, the guard unholstered his baton and handed it to his superior.
; “Raaaaah!” the field officer vented as he threw the baton into the air. “Go pick that up.”
The guard looked at the field officer then sighed as he went to retrieve his equipment.
Chapter 12
Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 9
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Eden
Location: Downtown Lucifer
After the pair escaped the Keepers of Peace compound in the stolen patrol truck, they drove for about 15 minutes before they abandoned it inside of a large parking garage. With night setting in the city as the daylight faded, bright neon lights and signs illuminated the downtown streets.
“Can you take these binders off?” Eva asked as she tried to keep up with Varius as he shoved her in the back. “And can you not do that?”
“You are a fugitive of the law and a terrorist” Varius said as he spotted a camera in the garage and led her to the stairwell.
“If you ask me, it seems you are a fugitive yourself now Inquisitor.”
Angered, Varius whipped her back around and pushed her into the wall. He pointed his gloved finger right at her face. “Enough! I need you to help me with my investigation and then I take you back. I am no criminal.”
“Tell that to your other inquisitor friends who sure didn’t seem to have a problem attacking you” she said quietly as she looked down at the dent in his chest armor from Titus.
Varius followed her eyes and calmed slightly.
Eva held up her bound arms. “Could you please remove these? It isn’t exactly going to help us blend in.”
The Inquisitor sighed as he used a key to unlock the locking mechanism which released the magnetism. With her hands free, Eva massaged her wrists.
“Don’t try anything…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or you’ll blow me up. I got it” Eva said as she began heading up the stairwell to the upper levels.
“Where are you going?” Varius called out.
“We need to find you some clothes. You won’t blend in looking like that and mine have blood all over them.”
The Inquisitor hopped up several steps before he caught up with his captive. “Where is the evidence you have on the Shadow Man?”
