THE WATCHMAN

The Rescue

Susan was desperate to rescue Antonio, she couldn't take the wait anymore. But the Oraha urged her for patience so they could plan properly. They studied the estate plans for hours.

Finally, they were ready, Susan stayed back while the Oraha and his guards who were mostly made of the Timekeeper resistance, would embark on the visit to the Councils Estate.

Susan and the remaining Timekeeeprs would wait behind and await the signal, which will be the alarm bells when the first attack has been initiated and Antonio had been secured. They will be the second wave of attacks which will be to take down the Council itself.

The Orahas' entourage arrived at the Council Estate at about 6 p.m. The whole Council was there to receive him with much music and fanfare. Watchmen and Timekeepers from all over Spain were in attendance. There was a display of fireworks and special performances to welcome the Oraha.

This was an opportunity for the infiltrators to get in and mix among the crowd and begin their search for Antonio's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Susan and the others were camped a good distance away awaiting the signal. An idea suddenly dropped into Susan's mind. If it worked their mission would be a success, but if it didn't, she would definitely lose her life and also lose Antonio altogether.

She told the men not to wait around for her that she forgot some things at the Manor. A few of them offered to accompany her back to the Manor, but she refused and insisted the stay and if possible continue the mission without her.

She got on one of the Suzuki power bikes and zoomed off to the airport to catch a flight.

When Susan got back to the Manor it was already almost midnight. She parked her bike in front of the entrance and stepped into the field. She walked around for a while, thinking about what she was about to do.

When she had finally made up her mind she walked to the large expanse of land behind the Manor. This was where Mi Fuego always landed and stayed. She could already smell the roasted flesh of goats and cows which had been Mi Fuegos' diet since they arrived.

The surrounding area was full of burnt grace and trees. Everything was either dead or burnt. to make matters worse, Mi Fuego was predictable in a very foul mood, as Antonio hadn't shown up for days.

As she approached and a wave of fear and realism came over her. Firstly, she had never approached Mi Fuego alone neither had she ridden him on her own before. Antonio was always with her. She had no idea how the beast was going to react.

Mi Fuego was laid down with his eyes closed, but immediately he picked up Susan's scent, he got up and began to pace up and down in anger. She could see the hot smoke coming out of its nostrils.

As Susan continued to walk towards Mi Fuego, he seemed to get angrier and angrier. Then he looked up to the skies and gave a loud shriek before unleashing flames of fire from its mouth into the air and then looked straight at her as if to warn her from approaching him.

She ignored this warning and got closer, Mi Fuego gave another loud shriek and faced Susan, she could already see the fire rising within him and she knew she was in danger, but there was no turning back now.

The next thing was the flames of fire directed in her direction, she could feel the heat waves getting closer and about to roast her alive.

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Antonio woke up to the noise of the fanfare going on outside. A sense of deep guilt overshadowed him, he had betrayed those who depended on him, those whom he was supposed to protect. He had given up the whereabouts of the Timekeeper Underground and also that of Susan and Jorge just to save his son. He would do anything to save that boy.

If only there was a way he could warn them about the impending attack, he would.

"Your death is near Angel de la Muerte". One of the prison guards who was standing guard in his cell said. "The Oraha has arrived and will make a final decision on your case". The guard said.

" The Oraha is here?" Antonio asked himself... He couldn't be sure, but there was a sense of optimism, that this visit would lead to a positive turn of events for him.

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As the Orahas' agents dispersed themselves all around the estate, they began to disable all the security measures put in place. Surveillance cameras were looped to show the same thing over and over again, motion sensors were deactivated. One after the other, they took down the Watchmen standing on guard.

A young promising Watchman Julio was put in charge of surveillance cameras went out to take a piss and smoke. He was given this assignment as a punishment for his failure to see one of his Watches meet the expected end. He was disgraced and had been seeking to make amends for this.

Due to his duties, he could not be part of the festivities. He was forced to watch it through cameras. He had taken a lot of wine and was partially drunk.

While taking the piss, he noticed some ribbons and other items on the grass as a result of the ongoing celebrations. And the spot on which he was standing was in the view of camera sixteen. But he remembered viewing camera sixteen and the grounds were clean, with no sign of debris. Due to his drunken state, he waved it off as a misunderstanding or that the debris just happened.

He returned to his post and continued drinking wine, along with his fellow Watchmen. Then came the time for another routine check Julio began to switch from camera to camera, by the time he got to camera sixteen, it was perfect, there was nothing on the floor neither were there signs of any celebrations. He quickly dashed out to the same spot to confirm what his eyes were seeing. Behold, there were still cans and ribbons on the ground.

Julio began to check on different Watchmen through the comms, some didn't respond. He knew something was wrong. Immediately he sounded the alarm siren and the celebration turned to pandemonium.

The Oraha was whisked into a helicopter along with other Barons, while the sporadic gunfire was heard everywhere.

Watchmen and Timekeepers began fighting with swords and guns, blood was being spilled everywhere. Antonio could hear this and hope was rising within him Then the sounds of sword fight began to draw closer to his position. Finally, the sounds of the fight stopped.

The door swung open and it was Sergio Angel and his men, standing at the door... There were men of the Timekeeping resistance slain on the floor. A feeling of guilt swept over Antonio, he was responsible for this.

"Where is my son?" Antonio asked aggressively. Julio walked from behind Sergio Angel and punched Antonio hard in the face, this was supposed to please Sergio Angel so he could put in a good word for him at the Council Meeting.

"Your boy is safe... For now" Sergio Angel replied in a condescending tone.

*****************************************************

The flames engulfed Susan and kept on getting hotter. Suddenly she began to hear the screams of several men all around her. She opened her eyes to see armed men on fire, running up and down I'm agony. She had no idea she was being followed. Mi Fuego had targeted those men instead of her.

A few of them started shooting at Mi Fuego and he began to scream. As soon as Susan realized the damage that was been done, she took her swords and finished off the remaining Watchmen agents.

When all the men were dead, My Fuego stopped releasing the flames and faced Susan, he then stooped so she could caress him tenderly. She then carefully mounted his back and he didn't refuse her. When she was straddled in, he took off and they headed straight for the council Estate.

When she arrived at the hideout, she found all the Timekeepers had been killed in cold blood. "Could someone have notified the Watchmen about their plans?" She thought to herself

She could hear the gunfire battle going on inside the estate. She assumed this was the signal.

Timekeepers were being slaughtered everywhere as she soared above the Council's estate. A loud shriek for Mi Fuego alerted them of the impending danger. Some began to run, others were simply shell shocked

Susan controlled Mi Fuego, and he began to rain fire on all the Watchmen avoiding as Timekeepers as she could.

She then came down from Mi Fuegos back leaving him to feast on as many Watchmen as he pleased and went into the building to search for her lover. The estate was a vast expanse of land with a thirty-story building Jn the middle, so it was almost an impossible task to find him at this point, but she went in all the same.

She came across bodies of slain Timekeepers and a few Watchmen. She decided to follow the trail of bodies which led her to Antonio's cell. The door was wide open with dead guards and Timekeepers all around. Suddenly someone took hold of her left leg! It was the leader of the Timekeeper resistance.

"They took him to the top floor..., the helipad" he muttered as he breathed his last bread.

Susan ran to the elevators, but both were in use, so she decided to take the stairs. It was going to be a long climb up.

By the time she got to the thirtieth floor, she was exhausted, she went to one of the balconies to get air and slumped to the floor. She then whistled hoping Mi Fuego would catch the sound and come to her rescue.

*********************************************

Sergio Angel had gotten into his chopper along with Antonio and other guards and Watchmen. Antonio was in chains with his head covered with a black cloth. Julio and the other guards has gotten into the second chopper and they were all about to take off.

Suddenly a gush of wind hit both choppers and rising into their view was Susan on top of a dragon with fire in his nostrils. Some Watchmen were about to open fire but were warned against doing so by Julio.

"Release Antonio! or face certain death". Susan threatened. "You are not going to kill any more people today". A familiar voice responded and to her shock, Mr. Gio alighted from the helicopter with a sword to a dazed Antonios' neck.

My Fuego gave a loud shriek in anger when he saw Sergio Angel with a sword to his masters' neck. It took Susans' control to stop him from attacking the helicopters and Sergio Angel.

"Mr. Gio?" Susan exclaimed. "What's the meaning of this?" She asked.

"If I answered your question, it won't still help matters because I would have to kill you ". Mr. Gio responded.

", No one else needs to die today, seeing you have the edge over us because of the monster pet you have here, I will give you Antonio if you would let us go unharmed". Mr. Gio said.

" Okay, deal. Release him to me!" Susan responded.

"Not so fast!" Mr. Gio replied. "How can I be sure that as soon as you have him, your dragon here will not burn us all?"

"You would have to take my word for it". Susan replied.

"Okay then!" Mr. Gio replied while removing the chains around Antionios' hands and feet. "Do you remember, that nice bracelet you had in captivity? We've taken the luxury of getting Anton here one. Of which I'm in control. So if you get any funny ideas, just know that the last button I tap before I die would signal your lovers' death!" He said in a cold tone.

He push Antonio in their direction and hurriedly walked back to his helicopter. Antonio appeared to be weakly saying something as the choppers took to flight and Susan alighted from Mi Fuegos' back.

A wave of electric shock passed through his body, decapitating him. She was able to grab him before he fell to the ground and laid him down gently. It was Mr. Gio showing he still had something to leverage.

She held him tight for a moment till he regained consciousness. When he had little strength, he looked up to her and said "Susan!". "What is it My Love" she replied. puzzled at the look of horror on his face.

With tears in his eyes, Antonio said... "He has Antonio Jr? Sergio Angel has our son!"