8 Trials Deep

CHAPTER 9: REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD

In one of the abandoned underground settlements of the Veteris City, a middle-aged man with an overgrown beard and soiled clothing scampers through the age-old rubble and collapsed structures.

His bloodshot eyes scours the passage he had just run from, like a wild animal with the sinister knowledge that the predator was stalking in the shadows. His already hunched figure seemed to have shrunk smaller.

He rushed into a former flume tunnel, only to draw a sharp breath and stumble backwards. He crawls, like any other animal that wanted to live. Like any other animal that was desperate for life.

A portion of the surface had collapsed and the heat and the light of the sun penetrated the first underground level, casting the illusion of a patch of sunlight in the land of shadows. Where the sun shone, robust and brilliant green vegetation had flourished, engulfing collapsed pillars that once supported a bygone era.

The hunted ran towards this illuminated spot and attempted to climb the fallen structure for the surface. But the already decaying and fragile monuments gave way beneath the added weight, plunging the climber back to the bottom. The fall had given him a few bleeding scratches and intense cutting pain on his right arm which cushioned his fall. It was probably a fracture.

“Help, help! Anyone!” he screeched. His call echoed, unanswered. He turned his back towards the wall so that he was facing his pursuer. The stifling sense of despair began to settle. Then there were heavy approaching noises.

The man looked up, hopefully towards the surface, like a cornered animal that has been thrown a lifeline.

His line of sight had alternated between nervously peering at the dark and desperately squinting through the glaring sun, as if hoping he could just pull faster whoever was approaching the chasm.

The seconds seemed to pass like centuries, and then a shadow fell as someone leaned on the opening. The shadow increased by another, then another until there was almost a dozen forming a ring around the collapsed surface.

The man gasped in dismay, his face crumpling and his posture the portrait of a defeated man. Low suppressed growls came from the huddled animals. Saliva dripped from their barred razor-sharp teeth. It was a pack of Catus, a mutated canine, the product of abandoned dogs when the generation war broke.

The pack eyed the quivering figure below, it stank of fear. But they did not jump in or attack, they had sensed another presence on the shadows. Unlike the subdued one, the hidden figure had no trace of fear, instead it seemed to have a bloodthirsty intent.

Sensing defeat, the man eyed the darkness with an almost tangible dread.

A silhouette emerged from the shadows and stepped towards the collapsed figure on an even, almost rhythmical pace. Aside from the heavy breathing of the hunted, only the sound of the echoing footsteps could be heard resonating through the deserted zone.

When the pursuer stepped into the light it revealed a young man, no more than 20. With his other hand, the older man whipped out something metallic, its cold silver body gleamed in sunlight. It was a ray gun.

It seemed the younger man expected it and with firm flex of his fingers, the slender tube that had been resting on his palms extended to become a full-length rod. One could feel the subtle vibration as charged energy flowed through its body.

The rod hit the older man’s hands even before he could bend his finger to pull the trigger. The ray gun flew into the air and hit a wall before falling into the thick overrunning flora, lost in sight.

Even if he had wanted to retrieve his weapon, the power from the rod had shocked his body to the extent he felt his muscles spasm. This had lasted for a few seconds but it had already left him gasping for breath.

RF-13 regarded the crumpled man at his feet coldly. He retracted the weapon on his hand and tugged the older man by his suit collar so that they now faced each other.

When he spoke, the murderous undercurrent permeated through his words, “Lay your hands on them again and I will gut you with a razor blade then feed your intestines to the dogs while you watch.”

The other who was just recovering his senses from the shock stared at the young man in horror, speechless.

“Do you understand, step-father?” RF-13’s voice was dripping with extreme distaste. He had thrown C-8579 on the ground and was stepping on the unfractured arm.

“What do you say about not ever seeing each other again?” RF-13 stepped harder on the flesh and bones beneath his feet. There were mountains of offenses he could forgive, there only a few stones he would bite for. And the man just had to throw the rock that no man should ever touch.

RF-13 had unconsciously exerted more force. C-8579 was howling in pain. Just a little more force and his other arm would be fractured too. His assent and pleas were almost incoherent. “Yes, yes! I’m not going to return to the Regiis Kingdom ever again. Just please, my ha-“

His appeals were interrupted by a dull crunching sound of breaking bones. It was followed by a piercing shriek. The general silence had been punctured by the jarring scream of the crumpled figure and the increasingly excited growls of the pack of Catus.

The canines’ growing agitation had made them crowd closer to the fissure. However, the pack immediately scattered when a speherocopter hovered overhead. A beam of light fell on RF-13 and then his body drifted in a flash towards the waiting aerial vehicle.

“Done?” Leta asked. RF-13 expression was darker than it usually was.

“Yes,” RF-13 replied in a detached manner. He had taken of his gloves and the retracted tube and threw them into the sanitation closet. Leta watched all of this with great interest.

“Your threats are getting more and more explicit. Would you really do it?” the avatar probed.

“I don’t know. No one has yet tested whether I would really do it or not.”

“For a moment I thought you were,” there was a pause, “really going to kill him.”

“For a moment I thought so too.” RF-13 had gradually learned to be more honest with her. He had realized that she was unlike his siblings, he didn’t have to be careful with his words. And she didn’t seem to be intimidated by him.

“Then what changed your mind?” she continued.

“Would you have thought less of me if I had?” this time RF-13 sat opposite her, capturing her minute expressions.

“If that were the case, I would have told you not to do it,” Leta met RF-13 eyes. “So what really changed your mind?”

RF-13 sighed and shifted his eyes to sweep on the changing scenery below, “I remembered. He is still the father of the twins.”

There was long pause, Leta waited for him to continue but he appeared to have no intention to do so.

“And?” the avatar persisted.

The young man laughed dryly, “You’re tireless aren’t you?” It was more of a remark than a question. But RF-13 gave in, “If in the future, for some reason, the twins decide to look for him, I don’t ever want them to trace his blood on my hands.”

Leta though it was highly unlikely that the two would ever go looking for an absentee father when they obviously already treat RF-13 as less a brother and more the father figure.

“You talk as if your hands had been dipped on the bleeding river of Nile,” Leta couldn’t help from vocally expressing her observation.

RF-13 had a shallow smile on his lips, “For now my hands are clean of blood.” He seemed to have thought of something and after a brief silence, turned his eyes towards the avatar and asked, “Do you want me to be less cruel?”

Leta was a taken aback by the question, she contemplated for a while before answering, “I don’t. Because I don’t really think you are cruel. How do I say this, cruel is a little-“ Leta’s brows wrinkled minutely as she searched for the appropriate word. “Let’s just say you’re more of ‘exacting’ rather than ‘cruel’.” Leta did not add that she had found RF-13 exacting only towards offenses against his siblings. Rather than brotherly he had more of that protective parental instinct.

RF-13 was quiet as he digested what she said, he had never really taken time for self-examination with regards to his character. Towards his strengths and limitations, he knew them well. He also knew he didn’t have the best personality, hence there were sides of him he deliberately hid from his siblings.”

“So where are we going next?” Leta asked.

“The twins, I want to see them before I report for the Trials,” RF-13 replied while glancing at his MA. He would be forfeited in a few hours if he didn’t report before the scheduled appearance. However, since they were not given any more details aside from the invitation and were not asked to prepare anything it was likely that everything would be provided for them. There was a possibility they would be housed and detained until either it was over or they get eliminated.

The spherocopter accelerated noiselessly and not long after it disappeared into the distance.

A-343 gazed at her brother in dismay. Once again, this brother of his was throwing himself into dubious situations for others. It did matter that he was doing this for his younger siblings. Still, why couldn’t he just live a relatively peaceful life?

Her line of sight shifted to two kids who were sullen and were being coaxed by her younger brother. This twin seemed to be trouble magnets. And when that happened, it was always her brother who had to sacrifice.

He had refused their father, threw a sponsorship for a ladderized administrative recruitment program offered by the Regiis Monarchy then quit the development institute to work underground for a weapons manufacturer. All so he could raise the twins.

Then again she watched him enter the military academy to support the two. She even kept mum as he risked and received disciplinary actions whenever he slipped from the academy to check on the twins. Then right when his brother seemed to have found a place and distinction as a cadet, he quit.

It was not strange for her to harbor a certain degree of dislike towards her brother’s half-siblings. But it was part her fault, if she had only watched the two closer, he wouldn’t have been forced to drop.

And now, he was going into the Trials for the same people, again. It was not a game. While working for the Public Relations Department, she had caught bits of information about the tightly guarded preparations for the 8 Trials. The royal families, the rich and the powerful had pulled all the stops to get their young masters the invitation. If even before the competition started people were able to influence it, it was highly likely that they would be allowed to bribe their way in helping their champions. Where was her brother going to find a backup?

She had vehemently told her brother this but he was her brother after all. Stubborn as a bull and as hell-bent as she was when she needed something done.

She had reluctantly accepted fostering the two until he was out. She had already filed a leave, the twin brother needed constant looking after. RF-13 had talked to her about not scaring the two but she aloofly shrugged him off. She was not going to eat them but she would also not coddle them like he did. They needed to grow up. It would not be forever that she would just standby watching her brother bleed himself for them.

If it was other people, she would privately remark that the two were lucky to have a model brother. But since it was her brother, she was itching to grab that halo from his head and shred it to dust. She did not want a martyr for a brother.

“See that older sister?” RF-13 pointed at A-343 and guided the twin’s line of sight towards her. “She’s going to take care of you for the meantime.” He made sure that his older sister could hear him. “Don’t let her scare you, she’s all bark but no bite.”

A-343 coldly harrumphed a few meters from them.

“We’re not kids anymore,” C-37 said, turning the hovering transport chair away from him. When he woke, aside from the constant sluggish feeling that the pain medication gave him, he found out that he had begun losing motor control.

He now had to depend on the handicap transport to move around. Not that he wanted to move around much anyway. Despite being steeped with drugs there was still the dull insistent pain on his head that made him want to vomit at times.

RF-13 looked at the stubborn back and leaned down to turn the hovering mobile towards him. He squatted so that he was now looking up at the boy, “Then promise me something big guy. No one is giving up, is that a deal?”

C-37 looked at his older brother, then looked away. Despite that he still nodded his head in silent assent.

RF-13 looked at the pale boy who was obstinately looking away. He sighed and stood up. The boy had insisted on sending him off, but he could see sweat forming on his forehead and the silent way he would press his lips in a thin line.

He turned to C-521, gave her a pat then went towards A-343. The woman was looking at him disapprovingly, “I can’t stop, can I?”

The young man quietly shook his head. He had not wanted to impose his siblings on her but she was the only one he had. “Send me a communication if anything happens.”

“Worry about yourself first,” replied A-343 disapprovingly.

“Thanks,” responded RF-13 with a smile. A-343 looked at the young man, glared at him but said nothing. She was never going to change his mind. She could never remember any instance where he acted anything like a younger brother would. Younger people should listen to their elders and be obedient every now and then.

“Don’t tell dad,” RF-13 said in a whisper, recalling A-343’s attention.

“He’s going to know anyway, once the Trials starts airing,” A-343 looked at the younger man skeptically.

“Yes but not until I am in the Trials, I don’t want to argue with him too.”

“Just don’t get beaten up too often or too seriously. Dad will be watching the broadcast for sure,” A-343 conceded.

“Don’t let the two watch. I haven’t told them much but they’ll probably figure it out before long, C-37 is already suspicious.”

“You don’t have to tell me. Mom will probably keep them occupied fawning over them. She was already redecorating the guest rooms when I told her I’m bringing the two home.” A-343 sighed. She had seen the fleeting guilty look again on her brother’s face. There was a time when she forced him to meet her mother. Her mother had fawned over RF-13, who was then still a boy. But the attention seemed to have put him ill at ease. From then on, it was either her or her father. But even then RF-13 rarely communicated or met up with them.

“Go,” A-343 finally goaded the young man towards the waiting Trichotomic Conveyor. The transport bore the Regiis royal seal, a rearing snow white Pegasus with a crown on its head.

RF-13 nodded then stepped towards the transport without looking back. One circular door slid open then closed once the young man stepped in. The silvery train-like body of the Trichotomous hummed softly before gliding away then disappearing into an underground passage.

“Let’s go,” A-343 said to no one in particular. She stepped towards the spherocopter she had hailed with her MA. C-521 gave the place where the long-bodied vehicle disappeared to a last look then silently pushed the hovering seater towards the waiting woman.