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AlterOne
Chapter 10
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Past Chapters
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Firut 35th, 1937
Chapter 10
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Past Chapters
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Firut 35th, 1937
With the Veldt agent at his side, Malk walked through the halls of the Alderman’s estate. The clack of their shoes against the hardwood floor was the only sound among the silence. The attendants of the house had made themselves scarce. The light of the full moon shone bright through the window as it cast itself onto the door of the Alderman’s room. Just outside the door, Malk turned to Agent 159.
“Remain here, I won’t be long.”
The door slow creak of the door hinges as it opened brought the Alderman from his sleep. The moon’s light shone into the room, the silhouette of the person in the doorway indistinguishable at first by the Alderman’s failing eyes, but as the door was closed and the visitor drew nearer he saw the face of his successor.
Malk pulled up a chair beside the Alderman and looked him over, a concerned look in his eyes. The Alderman was frail and weak, his breathing short and strained. Tubes ran along his body providing nourishment and medication to his body.
“How you doing Rik?” Malk asked.
The Alderman could give only a low moan in response as he looked over at Malk.
“The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with you,” Malk went on. His lips curled into a crooked smile, “but I do.”
The ailing Alderman’s eyes widened as Malk removed a syringe from his pocket, its contents a dark cream colored liquid.
“What’s in your system now is called infir. It’s a drug that causes the user to suffer the same symptoms that you’re facing right now; weak bodied, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, it’s all because of the infir,” Malk took ahold of the Alderman’s limp arm and drew the needle closer. “Alone it’s not fatal. If it wasn’t for me having you regularly injected with the stuff you’d have been cured within the week, but add a dose of insapor and well, let’s just say your situation becomes a bit more dire.”
His body began to go into a fit of convulsions as Malk rose from the chair. Tears streamed from the Alderman’s eyes as he looked up at Malk, his body continuing to shake.
“Don’t think I wanted to do this,” Malk gave a slight tilt of his head. “You were just in the way of the Syndicate’s plan, that’s all.”
The frail body’s movements ceased for the last time. The putrid smell accompanying this gave assurance to the deed.
The Veldt stood at attention outside the door as Malk stepped from out of the room. Malk walked past the Veldt and began to make his way down the hall. Upon seeing that the Veldt had not moved, he turned around.
“Are you coming or what?”
The Veldt turned his masked face slightly in the direction of the door before he stepped forward and continued down the hallway with Malk.
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The Commissioner sat with his hands clasped together upon his desk. His gaze was set on a letter that lay upon his desk, a message from Orojin that had arrived the hour prior. Across from him was District Captain Ril Ceverza, who was taking his time drinking a cup of coffee as he watched the man pacing back and forth in the office. Detective Rager was a lanky young man with a messy head of hair, his brow furrowed and his expression that of agitation. He whipped around suddenly and looked to Commissioner Destnol.
“So is anyone going to tell me why we didn’t move on Adregi when we had the chance?” Rager asked in a raised tone. “Now we have word that he’s strolling the streets with the heir to the Syndicate.”
The Commissioner put up his hand, “Calm yourself Jahk,” he said. “Cousin or not, I don’t want you raising your voice in this office. I need you to look at the situation. If we had moved on Adregi before he met with the org, we would have shown ourselves to the Syndicate and now be playing defense. We didn’t act and now the Syndicate is going to ease up a bit. They are going to believe we have no interest in Adregi, because as it stands, to them we have no real reason to pursue him. Now that the he is getting in cozy with the Aduri we can watch from afar, gather information and see what they are doing with him. Once we have something solid to work with then we can make the approach.”
Ceverza set down his mug, “I’m just curious but what exactly do we have that warrants us putting manpower on watching a pro-formist fighter?” he asked. “Since meeting with the Syndicate, Adregi has done nothing aside from remaining home or heading to the arena for training. No interaction with the Syndicate in the last three days.”
Destnol eyed Cerverza, “So what are you saying exactly?”
“In so many words, I don’t think there is anything worth our looking into with the Adregi deal,” Ceverza stated. “Most likely scenario is that the boy has been on their payroll for some time and they wanted him to throw that last fight of his but he didn’t. Next thing ya know the brother is dead and Adregi is barging into the big bossman’s mansion until you came. Now he is back on their leash. It’s been done before, this time looks to be no different.”
“So you want something more to go on, is that what you’re telling me?”
“That’s right.”
The Commissioner leaned forward in his chair, over the desk towards Ceverza, “Captain I know you’re a practical man, but I’ve got a serious feeling about all of this. There’s something more to this story that we don’t know yet.”
“I’m sorry Commissioner, but I don’t deal in hunches and guesswork,” Ceverza replied. He rose to leave, “My guys will be getting back to their regular duties.” He pointed to Detective Rager, “I want his guys out of my district before I get back. You can find your cousin a case somewhere else but not in my district. I got enough on my plate as is without having to worry about some small town agent trying to get his feet wet in the big city.”
With that, he walked past Detective Rager and exited the room. Rager’s gaze remained fixed on the door, a sour look upon his face.
“So what are we going to do then?” he asked at last, turning to the Commissioner.
Destnol sat back in his chair and let out an exhale of breath, “We do as he says.” At seeing Rager begin to speak he added, “For now. We will have to figure another way about this. Until then…”
The conversation over, Rager took up his coat and left the room. The Commissioner’s attention returned to the letter on his desk. He took it into his hands and read it again. With each sentence his grip creased the paper even more.
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Within the King’s personal dining room the scrape of silverware against plates was the only sound to break an otherwise silent evening dinner. It was common for the King and his daughter to have dinner together once a week. The amount of conversation exchanged between the two was usually dependent on Princess Lamia’s mood more so than anything else. This day was no different.
“I hear you turned down another suitor today,” the King said.
“And I’ll turn down the one tomorrow and the one after that,” Lamia stated. She busied herself with twirling her fork in the spaghetti.
King Memsi put down his fork and looked over at his daughter, his tone suggestive. “You’re not getting any younger, you have to get married.”
“You seem to have forgotten dad,” she said. “I’m already married.”
“Lamia can we please move from this,” he replied. “It’s been eleven years. The man you once called a husband is dead.”
Lamia met the King’s eyes, her jaw taut as she gave a leering gaze across the table. Memsi looked back at her for a time, but then simply shook his head, returning to the meal before him.
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The palace was beautiful at night. The masterfully crafted walls, ornate towers, and old age statues of a time long past. Its splendor and elegance surrounded by skyscrapers and high-rises attested to the world that once was and the world it now is.
“I knew I’d find you up here.”
The Xenator needed not to turn around to see who it was. He had noticed Daxpar long before he had arrived on the rooftop.
“I’d be concerned if you didn’t,” the Xenator replied.
Daxpar removed a pair of visionscope goggles from his pack and got on the ground beside Hunter X.
“So anything in particular you looking at down there?” Daxpar asked as he scanned the palace below.
“No,” Hunter X replied, “not really. Just scouting out the area is all.”
“For what? You have plans to get in the palace?”
“You came up here for something didn’t you?” Hunter X asked.
Daxpar noted the change in subject, “Yeah, I wanted to know if we were taking assignments while we’re here.”
“Yes we are.”
“I thought you’d say that,” Daxpar said. “I already sent everyone out.”
“Even Evina?” Hunter asked, a slight smirk beneath the mask as he continued to survey the scene below. “I know you had reservations about me bringing her to Alter City.”
“I trust your judgment, so I sent her out alone,” he replied. “The guys though, and me included for that matter, we’re itching to get started on the Veldt.”
Hunter X turned his full attention to Daxpar, “We have nothing to go on right now. We need to figure out what the Veldt’s motives are first.”
“It’s pretty obvious what they’re motives are,” Daxpar stated. “They want to take over the country. The same tune they’ve played from the very beginning.”
“You really think that?” Hunter X said. “Because right now all I see are Veldt fighting alongside the government to take out these criminal conglomerates that plague the streets.”
“All I’m asking is why not attack now?”
“Because before Veldt start dying I want solid proof of foul play on their part.”
“With all due respect, when did we start caring about proof?” Daxpar asked, pulling off the goggles. “What does it matter? If I’m not mistaken, the job of the Xenator is to kill Veldt, and either way I’m sure reporting the Veldt to the police is not on your list of options.”
“My mission remains the same, you don’t have to worry about that,” the Xenator stated. “The evidence is for me and me alone. Veldt will die but they will die for the right reasons. Simply because a book tells you what to do doesn’t mean you have to follow it on blind faith. A Xenator chooses his own path. You’d do well to remember that.”
Daxpar raised his hands in defeat, “Alright, alright,” he said. “But just know you’ve got six acolytes readily available to do anything you wish. You don’t need to do all of it alone.”
Daxpar tried, as he had times before, to see the man beneath the mask. Just as in times before, he could never get past the blank stare that returned his gaze. The Xenator turned back to surveying the palace with not a word more. Daxpar gave him a pat on the back as he rose to his feet. Whatever the Xenator was doing he’ll leave him be.
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