by Rick Royster
He turned in time to block his strike; Brutus launched an attack with a succession of rapid-fire punches and Cayden blocked them with ease. Brutus’ eyes were filled with disbelief and frustration. He had a counter to everything Brutus threw at him, then as suddenly as it began, it was over. Cayden struck Brutus in the neck, grabbed the back of his head and smashed his face into his knee, and a powerful spinning roundhouse finished the Centurion off. It sent him flying backward into a wall, the force of which shattered and embedded the Centurion inside.
Above, on the second-floor balcony, Sateria stood glaring at him, with her wrist rocket aimed to level him. She didn't fire, just turned and walked away and took the elevator behind him.
Cayden looked around – everyone was either dead or incapacitated.
Threat eliminated.
Now: confront Sateria; save Winter.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Fool! Don't you see I could have poisoned you a hundred times had I been able to live without you?
― Cleopatra
The elevator light flashed; it was moving. Due to the damage the bomb and firefight had caused, the building had lost all power except to the elevator and air conditioning which were operating by the backup generators.
Sateria pointed the three security officers toward the elevator. "Be ready,". She pulled her gun out of her holster.
The three officers squatted a few feet away from the door and took aim.
The elevator made a whoosh sound as it came to a stop, then the doors slid open and clouds of white smoke flooded out. The guards started shooting, not able to see who or what they were shooting at. A man staggered out of the elevator, chest filled with lasers, smoke coming off his uniform, and he collapsed and pitched forward.
One of the security officers approached with caution; he bent low and saw it was a Region Twelve security officer lying dead, and his eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. An explosion came from overhead, the roof caved in, and a six-foot shadow emerged from above. Cayden landed, katana in hand, and he slashed the first guard across his chest, spun around and impaled the next. He freed his blade and relieved the last one of his head. The officer's knees buckled and the body tumbled over to his side.
Sateria scrambled down the long hall, and saw Cayden as he searched for her. She slid behind a cut wall in the narrow corridor, placed her back against it, and pressed her ear to the wall awaiting the sound of footsteps.
Cayden abruptly stopped and placed his hand over his weapon. "I don't want to fight you, Sateria. I don't want to hurt you."
Sateria coughed, laughing. "You self righteous dicks are all the same. So, let me get this straight..." She raised her gun with both hands to her chin, then took a deep breath.
She no longer heard the footsteps; did he stop or was he advancing silently?
Sateria glanced at her halo-wrist, tracking the Centurion’s movements. "So, you tell me you love me, get me pregnant, then leave me to die on an exploding ship? Even if you thought at the time that I could or would ever be able to betray you, you still left me to rot and die in a Global Union prison for treason."
Cayden cringed. "You were a double agent; what was I supposed to do? I loved you, I loved us. Leaving you there was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but we both know I did the right thing. The only thing I could. I had the lives of every person in the Coalition to think about."
Sateria's face twisted in anger. "I betrayed the Global Union for you. I risked everything for you. And you left me to die. You should have trusted me."
"Why? Why did you do it? And why didn't you tell me? Cayden asked.
"In the end I had a choice to make, and I chose you," she said.
Sateria walked from around the corner and looked at Cayden who was twenty meters away. "Because I loved you. Had you loved me, had you trusted me... "
In a blink, she raised her weapon and fired three successive blasts. One found his shoulder.
Cayden was jarred from the impact, her words cutting a lot deeper than the laser blast.
Sateria again ducked behind the wall.
Cayden holstered his gun, dropped his hands at his side and slowly walked down the corridor. "I came to save my soldier, but I won't kill you in the process of doing so. Please, don't do this."
She slipped down the hall into the lobby area, then pressed herself against the side wall so she'd be able to see Cayden or anyone as they entered. Behind her was the stairwell and elevator. She raised her gun, watching the wall darkening by Cayden's moving shadow.
"Sateria, you're right. Even if you did what I thought you did, I should have found you, I should have made sure you weren't alive. I made a mistake," Cayden said. "I betrayed you."
"You were blinded by duty over love, and I loved you over my duty," Sateria snapped. "So it was I who was the fool."
He was closer now, about to enter the lobby and Sateria felt her heart racing. Her fear was palpable. She was afraid of him. He could snuff her life out at any moment, and there wouldn't be much she could do to stop it.
Cayden stepped into the room, his eyes drawn to the laser gun pointed at him. Unlike before, he could sense she had not built up enough anger to pull the trigger again.
Not yet, at least. Sateria just stared for a moment. She imagined he was checking her in the same fashion he was doing her. Sateria’s eyes were red, glassy, streaming tears, her teeth were gritted and brow furrowed. "You should have stood by me, no matter what. I was pregnant with your child, how could you abandon that? And you didn't want to hurt me? What could possess you to turn your back on that?"
Cayden walked a bit further in the room, being careful to move parallel but not walk toward her. "So where is this child? What happened?"
"You are calling me a liar?"
"No. I..." Cayden lowered his head in shame.
"Murdered. Dead. Betrayed by those whose duty it was to protect him." More tears streamed from her eyes and she held her stomach, almost collapsed to her knees. She wiped away her tears, regained her composure and pointed the weapon at him again.
She wondered what was running through his mind? Did he feel the pain she did? Ever the warrior, he was silent, unyielding, his facial expression stoic.
He offered his hand in an embrace and Sateria recoiled from it as if it was a basket of spitting cobras.
"I don't need your pity; I need your help. Yes or no?"
Cayden looked over her shoulder and to the stairwell.
Sateria sensed movement behind her in the doorway, and a moment later, Tiberius emerged. He looked transformed. In the bad light, it appeared his already massive frame was added to, his shoulders enormously wide, humped with unnatural muscle. As he came into view, Sateria saw he had a body slung across his shoulders.
He dropped the body at Sateria's feet like a load of laundry. "The Centurion is beyond reclamation." He shrugged. "This one hit him once too often." He pointed at Cayden.
Sateria had her weapon aimed at Cayden, who had his hands held waist-high in a defensive position. Her wrist rocket began to light up. "What is it going to be? Even you aren't fast enough to dodge a rocket blast at this distance," Sateria said.
"Yes," Cayden responded.
Sateria switched her aim as the rocket fired, and it hit Tiberius in the side of the neck; immediately, he grabbed for it. He opened his mouth and it looked like molten lava was eating him from the inside as smoke poured out of his mouth and eyes. He collapsed to the floor, holding his neck, his eyes white and red with heat, then his skull burst open.
"Gross," Sateria said, looking at Tiberius’ disintegrating body.
Sateria walked over to Cayden, looked him in the eye, reached out, grabbed him by the back of his head, and kissed him. "I've hated you every day for the last three years." She kneed him in the groin. Cayden doubled over, taking several deep breaths.
"Now this is what I need. I'm chipped. It's in my bloodstream so it can't be surgically removed. You need to work your magic. I need you to bring me to the C
oalition; I want to stay as long as I need to, and when I do decide to leave, I want financial provisions to be made for me."
Cayden stood up straight. "Where is she?"
"When you give me your word, I'll take you to her, but we're running out of time."
Cayden nodded.
"That was easy; she must be really special to you," Sateria said, searching his face for emotion.
"Let's go." Cayden hurried toward the corridor.
"No, wait. You get rid of the tracking device in my bloodstream first. Then you get your friend."
Cayden stopped and turned toward her.
"Okay. I can do it once we’re aboard the gunship. We need to be somewhere safe, where you can lie down. It won't be easy."
She glanced at him, wondering if she should trust him.
"Trust me," Cayden said. "I promise it's the first thing we will do. You have my word."
She leaned in and kissed him again. "Let's go."
They moved quickly down the corridor. The cells had light-blue metal doors and three-inch windows.
Sateria stopped abruptly.
Cayden turned back to her. "What's wrong?"
"Cell number twenty-two; the generators won't open the doors once you're in the cellblock, and you'll need to do it manually. Go, hurry, I'll wait here." Sateria drew her gun, nervously checking the halls for Global Union personnel.
"Wait. How did you get out?" Cayden asked, staring at the main villain of his nightmares of the past four years.
Sateria checked her wrist comm, pressing a few buttons and the doors in front of them slid open. They both walked through.
"Saigo," Sateria said. "He summoned me, and he let me out."
"What?" Cayden asked.
"Who knows you better than me? He sent me to track the girl. Find the Cube."
Cayden stopped, lost in thought.
"What?" Sateria asked.
"You're good, but not that good. They have a Desani that specializes in that type of thing."
Sateria turned to him. "I am that good. No one is better than me."
"I do not doubt your skill. I know what you're capable of, believe me," Cayden said, placing a hand over the spot where she shot him in the shoulder.
Sateria stared at him. "What are you hinting at?"
Cayden glanced up at the ceiling as if something monstrous might leap through its borders. "All of us...the Desani have different unique abilities. Something that sets us apart. Saigo has several. Some more highly developed than others. Annirus wanted him because of his premonitions."
Sateria shook her head. "Are you saying he's a seer? He can see the future?"
"His visions are fragmented, not complete." Cayden hurried his pace, stopping when they reached the next locked door. "Though I'd imagine he's been getting better at focusing them over the years."
"So, he's getting stronger? That's a comforting thought," Sateria said.
"He used to just see images of faces, people, events, places in snapshot."
Sateria raised her eyebrows. "You think he saw you and me together? Here?"
"It's the only reason you're still alive," Cayden said. "His ability allows him to predict, to change the future if he desires it. If he killed you, then it's one less chance that he'd have to get to me. The woman that I was with. What did he tell you about her?"
Sateria shook her head and pressed the buttons on her wrist comm. "Nothing. Just that she was to be left alive."
The doors slid open and they both scurried through.
"No way. Do you think he's coming here? He used me as bait to get to you. Cayden, I cannot go back to prison."
"I'd be willing to bet on it."
Cayden ran down the hall and stood in front of the door of Winter's cell. "Stand back!"
The two-ton steel door was no match against his blade. He cut a giant square into the door and shoved metal to the floor.
Winter leaped through the hole and eagerly embraced him. "Thank you. I know you weren't supposed to come. I knew you wouldn't have wanted me to come, so thank you." She looked at him and kissed him.
Sateria stood in the hallway, hands on her hips. "We need to move."
Startled by the voice, Winter turned toward Sateria, her face twisted in a scowl as she reached quickly for Cayden's gun.
"Relax, she's with us. I'll explain later," Cayden said, his hand stopping Winter from grabbing his weapon.
Winter looked up at him. "What? No," she said, shaking her head. "I need you to explain this right now."
"No time. Let's go."
They ran behind Sateria, through the corridor into the lobby, then stepped over Tiberius’ dead body and took the stairs to the roof.
The freezing cold and rain met them as soon as they made it outside.
On the roof, Matrix had the hijacked gunship engines churning and ready to go. Cayden, Winter and Sateria raced across the building's surface toward the gunship.
Cayden stopped in his tracks, spun around and stared skyward.
Winter, a few paces ahead, stopped and glanced behind her at Cayden. "What is it?"
"Get to the shuttle," Cayden said.
A jet ship zoomed across the horizon, barreling down in their direction.
"Saigo," Cayden said. "He's here."
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
With disdain I throw my gauntlet full in the face of the world and see the collapse of this pygmy giant. Then will I wander god-like and victorius through the ruins of the world. And giving my words an active force, I will feel equal to the creator.
― Karl Marx
Saigo's private jet, the Dragon, was the finest in the imperial fleet. He made all the personal modifications himself.
Two Global Union Centurions manned the controls. Saigo was seated in the passenger compartment in the hull, in meditation.
One of the pilots looked back over his shoulder at Saigo. "Lord Takamori, it looks like activity on the roof."
Saigo's shuttle swooped low over the rooftop, cutting the angle between the running soldiers and Matrix' Gunship. Saigo felt a pressure in his head, then the presence of light. He knew the feeling's origin.
He stood and glanced below, tried to pinpoint Cayden's exact location.
"Open the doors."
"My lord?" A Centurion asked.
Saigo didn't say another word. He didn't have to.
The Centurion overrode the ship's safety commands, and the side compartment of the Dragon slid open.
He stepped to the door, closed his eyes, and gathered himself; he grabbed his katana and leaped out into the dark.
A roar filled with malevolence pulled Cayden’s eyes skyward.
Saigo descended like a meteor. His cape flew out behind and over him. He appeared as a red flame unfolded unto himself, and he held his katana in a two-handed grip. His aura sent power out before him in a wave of visible distortion.
The shuttle from which he leapt flew off into the rainy night’s sky.
He saw everything now as segments of a whole, parts fitting into topography on the roof. The shuttles: height, length, depth, soldiers, near and far, the world shrunken into a series of severely confined spaces within which would now take place the dance of death that had begun many years ago.
Cayden braced himself, raised his defenses, took a fighting stance and parried Saigo's two-handed tomahawk strike.
Still, Saigo landed with the force of a grenade, hitting the ground in an explosion of might that shattered the ground beneath him and turned the concrete in a hail of shrapnel.
Cayden didn't flinch; he stepped forward and parried another slash from Saigo. The force of the Dark Desani's blow was enough to break a normal man's arms, but Cayden gave no ground.
Sinking into the void of murderous intent, Saigo channeled all of his energy and focused only on killing. But this would be no ordinary kill, his victim no ordinary prey. Each strike of his venomous blade was a strike against the heavens. A strike in defiance against the one who ruled above. A strike in defens
e of the third of angels unjustly expelled from the heavens so many eons ago. He was fighting for his fallen celestial ancestors.
And his victim would be his once best friend. He'd murdered Desani before, but Cayden would be the coup de grace. Annirus believed Cayden was the key to the Coalition, and the only true threat to the dark Desani. With him dead, the Coalition’s rebellious uprising would be easily crushed.
Saigo was a master of the dark arts, his skill unparalleled and he fought like a relentless hurricane, force after force, attack after attack. He didn't give his opponents a chance to breathe, the best defense being constant offense.
Saigo had dreams - long before they were enemies - that one day it would come to this. When they were younger, those dreams frightened him. How could Cayden, his best friend, ever be his enemy? Then he realized he'd trained his entire life for this moment.
The day of reckoning was here. He'd dreamed over and over the vision of Cayden dead at the end of his blade, h
is decades of training for this very moment. Every text and manual studied, every master and acolyte fought against, all the pain and injuries sustained in a quest to be the best had led him here, to this place right now.
Saigo’s technique was purposely chosen for its deadly results. It lacked a certain compassion. He embraced it to root out whatever empathy he might have for an opponent.
He remembered Cayden's power. His enemy seemed to have a sixth sense about him; he knew when danger was approaching before it happened. Even that wouldn't save him tonight. Cayden would soon fall. It was only a matter of time and he knew the end was near, and began to savor it.
The longer they fought, the more desperate Cayden would become. Saigo could afford a stalemate. Cayden, on the other hand, needed to defeat him and still make it out of Region Twelve airspace. Every second led to a chance of a probable mistake.
The longer they fought, the more desperate Cayden would become. Every second led to a chance of a probable mistake.
He absorbed Cayden's powerful counter-attacks, soaked in his blistering speed and funneled it back toward him. He allowed his instincts to take over, to guide his hands, steps, parries, and strikes. Then he got a break, sensed hesitation in Cayden's spirit, but from what?
