"What the Hell just happened here?" BC-13 drew his gun, walking slowly. The air inside the hotel was thick, cold, with a familiar vibe, and not in a good way.
Hellena was unconscious on the floor, Yeva had also been knocked out outside the bathrooms.
This was not good. Memories of his past came to him, nightmares had now become reality, traumas overcome were now just around the corner.
This was all too familiar, a memory of his childhood in which he and his younger brother were kidnapped.
The orphanage, the gunshots, the screams...
Evie had been the one to tell BC-13 to hide with Chatwick under the bed. She had always been overprotective since they were kids. The entire orphanage had been massacred, there was blood on the floor. BC-13 and his younger brother had just hidden under a bed when they heard Evie screaming, then came the sound of stiletto boots...
He still saw them when he had nightmares at night. Those were black boots, like Evie's. The last thing he remembered from that night was Vanessa Helsee's face, pale and mocking, looking at him and his younger brother under the bed.
"This is very, very bad," BC-13 was shaking as he walked through the hotel, but remained calm. It was like being in a haunted house with all these decorations and neon light flashes, only this time, the horrors were real.
He wasn't going to lose another chosen family, he wasn't going to lose the boys or his ex-hunter friends.
"All unconscious with tranquilizer disks," BC-13 inspected them all, finding advanced pieces of technology stuck in their necks. Some discs the size of a dime, black with a little red light flashing, "I better be careful."
There were noises inside the women's bathroom, banging, and he looked up with his eyes half-shut.
"MO-53, do you copy?" He pressed his earpiece. There was static, and nothing else, "MO-53? Do you read me?"
Fuck!
The exact same thing had happened when he tried to contact Hellena.
He had already lost contact with Tyler, Miley and Leonardo too.
"Here goes nothing," BC-13 approached the door of the women's bathroom, pushing it silently, raising his Taser gun.
There was someone in the last stall of this immaculate white bathroom, and his heart was beating a thousand miles an hour.
"Come out with your hands up," BC-13 ordered, his hands holding his Taser firmly, "Come out. Now!"
The door slowly opened...
The first thing he saw was a handgun, and the woman holding it was staring at him in the eye, her crimson red hair a little dishevelled.
"Cadence?" BC-13 raised an eyebrow. Behind the woman was Melody, crying, sitting on the WC.
"Drop your weapon," Cadence ordered.
"Hey, I am not the enemy."
"I don't believe you," Cadence began to walk slowly out of the stall, and BC-13 took a few steps back, "Someone attacked us and three of your friends. I don't trust anyone now. They must be here to kill me and my daughter, punishment because I defected."
"Cadence, what's going on here?" BC-13 asked.
"You tell me," she replied.
With tensions unstable, both instinctively attempted to disarm each other.
Cadence grabbed the Taser from BC-13, but he managed to grab the firearm from her and took aim.
Cadence raised her hands in surrender.
"Who attacked you?"
"A man, tall, muscular like Frank, he looked like you but on steroids," Cadence replied, "And he wasn't alone. There was a man in a bronze-coloured suit, robotic, very advanced. The gun you're holding was his. And there was also a woman, blonde hair, almost white, ice blue eyes, as tall as Everett."
"One of them looked like me but on steroids?" BC-13 knew it then, "Chatwick."
"I knew you were involved," Cadence kicked BC-13's knee, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him onto a sink with impressive ease.
The handgun fell to the floor.
"Cadence!" He gasped when the hands of the desperate, sobbing woman squeezed his neck, "Cadence... I am not... The enemy."
"I'm not going to trust you, I have a family," she replied, "Melody! Don't look!" but BC-13 put his thighs around her neck, squeezing.
Cadence was turning as red as him, barely able to breathe, so she threw herself back with enough momentum to send BC-13 back-first to the floor.
"Fuck! Cadence... Enough!" BC-13 clumsily stood up while Melody cried and begged her mother to surrender. He pulled a knife from a holster in his uniform, taking slow steps backwards as the woman approached elegantly and fearlessly, "Don't make me do this."
Cadence immediately kicked his hand.
The knife flew up into the air.
She caught it, taking a defensive stance.
"Cadence, look at me!" BC-13 raised his hands, "I know this looks bad, but I'm not your enemy!"
"I don't believe you," Cadence rolled on the ground, getting up quickly, swinging the knife nimbly as BC-13 dodged each and every one of her slashes and jabs.
"Cadence! Enough!" BC-13 caught her arm, bent her wrist to force her to drop the weapon and threw her to the ground over his shoulder.
Cadence fell hard on her back.
BC-13 quickly kicked the knife across the floor.
"Cadence, what's going on here?!" BC-13 walked back, motioning for Melody to calm down, "I'm an ally, I'm the right hand of the bodyguard who keeps the guys safe."
"And why haven't you called her?!" Melody yelled, covering her face when he turned to look at her, "Please don't hurt me."
"Someone jammed our Comms," BC-13 replied.
"That's very likely, your entire team is blind," Cadence said, standing up with a grunt, "How do I know you're not one of them?"
"Because I haven't used your daughter as a hostage like the Hunter protocol says perhaps?" BC-13 grumbled. "EV-13, come in," BC-13 pressed his earpiece, "EV-13, answer me! Shit! Someone is definitely blocking our signal. Okay. Cadence, you were a hunter," BC-13 picked up the handgun, then opened a pocket of his uniform, "I have a copy of the key of the tour bus, go for it with your daughter."
"What for?"
"There's plenty of weapons in there," BC-13 handed the handgun and key to the woman, "It's an armoured bus. Your daughter will be safe there. Drive through the grate in the pool area. Will you help me get the boys out of here?"
"Sure," she nodded as he picked up his Taser.
"Take the stairs to the basement, down the hall there is a fake wall," he handed her his bodyguard badge, "Put this on the brick that has a golden edge. The wall will open up."
BC-13 then walked towards the bathroom door, opening it slowly, checking both sides.
He motioned for them to follow him.
They emerged from the bathroom with quiet steps. BC-13 had his grapple gun in one hand and the Taser in the other, and Cadence and Melody followed him suit.
"This is where we go our separate ways," Cadence said, placing the badge on the brick. The wall opened up, "Be careful, boy."
BC-13 nodded and took a deep breath.
"EV-13, do you copy?" BC-13 tried to contact her again as he left the hallway, walking slowly through the hotel, his back against the wall at each corner, until he reached the empty lobby.
Oh no!
"Miceline!" BC-13 gasped, running to where his old friend was on the floor, unconscious.
BC-13 knelt to check for a pulse.
She was still alive.
"What the Hell just happened here?"
"Well, well. Look what the cat brought in." A familiar male voice said behind BC-13, and he clenched his teeth. He should have assumed this was a trap. He should have looked out for the sound of footsteps or the clicking of a gun, "Put your hands where I can see them. Drop your weapons."
"BC-47, it's nice to see you too," BC-13 dropped his weapons and raised his hands, getting to his feet with a gun pointed at the back of his head. "What are you doing here? Are you playing bounty hunter, Chatwick?"
"Oooh. Are we going to call each other by our real names and not our code names?" Chatwick growled, an experienced soldier within the Hunter Academy, having led many successful operations. During his days off, Chatwick often participated in mercenary work too.
BC-13 just hoped that he was still as predictable as when they were younger.
"Chatwick, I thought you had retired," BC-13 said.
"It's good to see you too," Chatwick turned BC-13 by the shoulder. The cannon of the gun was soon between BC-13's bushy eyebrows. "How have you been, Big Bro?"
BC-13 and Chatwick were almost identical, only Chatwick was taller, more muscular and had a slightly more square face than BC-13.
"So, you were the one who scared Cadence so much," BC-13 narrowed his eyes, "Interesting. Where's the guy in the robot suit?" He darted his eyes from left to right.
"Stealthily taking care of your ex-hunter friends," Chatwick smiled, and BC-13 could only stand still with his hands up, breathing heavily, "My client doesn't want to gather the attention. She likes discretion."
"Artemisia Roman," BC-13 cocked his head, "She's your client."
"I'm her personal assistant," Chatwick laughed.
"That explains the suit and tie. It doesn't suit you," BC-13 had to act fast. And he did. He pushed Chatwick's arm down and punched him in the eye. "I don't want to hurt you, little brother!"
"You wouldn't hurt me anyway," Chatwick raised his handgun, BC-13 kicked it and punched his brother again, this time in the nose. Yes, Chatwick was so big that he was still slow, like when they were kids.
"Not bad," Chatwick laughed, taking a knife from his suit jacket, "Oh, how I've missed you, Big Bro!" He slashed, BC-13 managed to dodge the blade by cartwheeling. "You were always in the top five of the best Hunters! You're not big like me! You're not ambitious like me! You were always a joke! A pathetic, scared, square, fancy pants!"
"You know? Usually siblings only fight over who will eat the last slice of pizza!" BC-13 dodged the knife over and over again, but with a strong kick from Chatwick, he flew through a glass wall.
He fell onto his back, on broken glass, the air escaped from his lungs, and a coppery taste filled his mouth.
"VI-93, LI-05, KC-47, EV-13 and you were the Fantastic Five. And I never even made it into the top ten." Chatwick said, walking towards BC-13, who was struggling to catch his breath on the floor, "You were always the favourite brother. God! I've wanted to break your neck for so long!" Chatwick knelt on top of BC-13 and lowered his knife fast, close to his throat, but BC-13 caught his wrists, clenching his teeth, with the tip of the blade a millimetre away from his neck, "Oh yeah. Watching you die by my knife will be so..."
BANG!
There was a gunshot, the sound of metal hitting metal, and the knife flew from Chatwick's hand.
"Enough!" Cadence walked gracefully with a handgun in hand. Chatwick rose up slowly, his hands up in surrender with a mocking laugh.
"My, oh my. If it isn't Cadence Christensen! It's almost a pleasure," Chatwick winked at her, "Outdated and archaic, but still as elegant as any huntress."
"I see Hunters are still talking about me," Cadence narrowed her eyes.
"Quite an example of a traitorous deserter," Chatwick laughed again.
"Brother, you're on the wrong side," BC-13 said once he rose up, hands on his knees, "Please, tell me what's going on!"
"I'm not getting paid to talk," Chatwick said, turning to see Cadence taking a step forward with her gun raised, grunting, "You don't scare me, ma'am."
"Talk!" Cadence ordered, but her hands were trembling, "Did you come to kill me and my daughter?"
"Put that gun down, ma'am. You're going to get hurt," Chatwick scoffed, "This isn't about you."
"EV-13 told me there was a sniper in Paris a few months ago," BC-13 said, rubbing his back, "And that she found a letter in his pocket. It said Zeth had to turn himself in or one of the guys in the band would die at every concert until it was just him and Draco. It was your boss, wasn't it?"
"Maybe?" Chatwick laughed.
"And it seems that this year your boss changed her mind and now wants to capture them alive." BC-13 cocked his head, "Why?"
"What's it to you?" Chatwick mocked.
BANG!
"Fuck!" Chatwick screamed and fell hard to the ground.
Cadence had pulled the trigger.
"Cadence!" BC-13 jumped in fear, "What the Hell?!"
"Why does your boss want to make Zeth suffer?!" Cadence yelled as she walked closer, and Chatwick laughed, holding his aching leg.
"Fuck you, whore!"
BANG!
"Jesus Christ! Cadence!" BC-13 ran to her side, watching Chatwick holding both his thighs, grunting, clenching his teeth and eyes, "Shit! I thought you had killed him."
"I can't. These are not real bullets," Cadence said, "Look. It's a Taser disk. Your little brother is just being a crybaby."
"Phew. Good thing you knew they were Taser disks," BC-13 said and Cadence grunted, "Wait, you knew that, right?"
"Tell me what your boss wants or I swear the next shot will be between your legs!" Cadence ordered and Chatwick raised a hand, begging for mercy.
"Wait! Wait! I will tell you!" Chatwick's eyes were full of shock, "My boss wants to see Zeth suffer. She wants Zeth to be chained to a wall and his friends to another across from him. My boss wants to torture all of his friends while he watches, and once he kills them..." Chatwick hissed in pain, "She will keep Zeth chained for all eternity, forced to watch his friends rot and decay until nothing remains but bones! And then she will kill him."
"Kill Zeth?" BC-13 chuckled, "Good luck finding his heart."
"Why does she want to torture Zeth?" Cadence aimed the gun between Chatwick's legs, "Answer me! Or your eggs will end up well cooked with an electric shock!"
"Fine! Fine! Artemisia Roman wants revenge!" Chatwick shouted, with one hand up, cold sweat running down his forehead, "Artemisia told me she was exiled forty-five years ago because Ivan Helsee told King Zamon that she had donated blood for a project called Lycandros-Alpha."
"Your boss had four and a half decades to act," Cadence said, "Why did she do it until now?"
"I have no idea! She hired me a couple of weeks ago. I just know that she cracked when she found out that Zeth was famous and got worse when King Zamon Rahman sent a letter asking her to take Zeth back to Evalon to grant him titles, lands, and a castle!"
"What else do you know?" Cadence put her stiletto between Chatwick's legs, pressing hard until he screamed, "Talk! There must be something more behind this plan!"
"That's all I know, I swear!" Chatwick said, breathing heavily through his mouth, "If I were you, I'd go back to the pool area before there's blood on the dancefloor. Artemisia Roman's favourite way to settle scores is torture."
"Zeth said he had a niece named Athenisia," BC-13 turned to Cadence, "Could it be the same woman? Athenisia Rahman? I mean, she was an Envoy of Queen Zafira. And Zafira's daughter."
"And Zafira was murdered by her twin, stabbed in the beating heart that she had in a jar," Cadence had terror all over her face, "BC-13, I think I know why Artemisia hates Zeth."
"Zeth was Zafira's twin," BC-13 covered his mouth, "We have to get the boys out of here, now!"
"Melody is on her way to get the tour bus, I just hope she arrives on time." Cadence motioned behind her, "Go with the boys, I'll keep an eye on this amateur."