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AlterOne
Chapter 12
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Chapter 12
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Past Chapters
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Sitting in his office, Juri pored over the documents that lay upon his desk. At the sound of a knock at the door, Juri looked up from his work.
“Enter.”
The door opens and Merik steps into the room. Hands in his pockets, he walked up to Juri’s desk.
“What can I do for you Merik?” Juri asked.
“Oh you know, I’ve been doing some thinking,” Merik replied.
“About what?”
“About what to do with Akko.”
Juri leaned back in his chair, “Alright, let’s hear it then.”
“While father is listening to the seers and waiting around to see if the guy will just magically sprout wings, why don’t we use him and find out exactly what we have.”
“And what do you think we have?”
“Listen, the Vikaeli House controls all Syndicate operations in this city, drug trafficking, gambling, the whores, etcetera etcetera,” Merik said. He removed his hands from his pocket and brought his shoulders up. “Meanwhile, what do we control?”
“Leased land and pockets of territory to maintain a Lambert presence in the city,” Juri gave.
Merik pointed a finger at Juri, “Exactly right, but with a guy like Akko, we can do so much more.”
“Really now, how do you figure?”
“He’s a professional fighter, probably the best this city has,” Merik stated. “House Vikaeli controls all of the major business, but if we used Akko, we could move into a new operation, taking over formist fighting gyms.”
Juri seemed to lean back even more in his chair, a hint of skepticism present on his face. “Please explain.”
Merik placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward, “All formist gyms pride themselves on their reputation and the skill of the fighters there. If Akko can defeat the top talent in a gym, that school must submit to the Syndicate and come under our control.”
“I’m not too familiar with formist gyms, so tell me, why would they agree to join us, even if they are defeated?”
“Because of their honor code. If the master of a gym is defeated, the person who defeated him may take control and kick everyone out, become master of the gym himself, or destroy it if he wishes. In short, it’s his to do as he pleases. We don’t have to remove the master or any of that. All we want is the money that can be made from the fees we’ll be charging them.”
“So you want to shakedown gyms?” Juri asked. “Why didn’t you just say that? Why all the extra work of involving Akko?”
“Because by doing it within the gym’s rules we are not blatantly cutting into Vikaeli’s operations,” Merik replied.
“Anywhere we make money outside of our territory is cutting into their business,” Juri said. “That’s how Vikaeli would see it or anyone else for that matter.”
“Juri, you’re acting like I’m dense,” Merik declared, his annoyance evident. “Of course, we’re going to bump a percentage over to Vikaeli. I thought that went without question.”
Juri clasped his hands together and considered. “We’ll have to talk this over with Dux Vikaeli, but I’ll back the idea.”
Merik grinned, and with a nod of his head, he left the office.
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The three friends sat in the bar, drinks in their hands and contented expressions on their faces.
“You know I wasn’t too sure how you guys would react to my decision to join up with them,” Akko said, addressing Pietro and Zephyr.
“Don’t worry about it,” Zephyr said. “You told us the situation and it’s understandable. Just a means to an end”
Pietro tilted his glass towards Akko, “And that end will see you putting a few bullets through some of those wand wavers who killed Ulrich. Won’t say I’m not disappointed that I can’t be at your side though.”
Zephyr looked to his glass for a while before speaking, “As he said, Pietro being a Lightning Formist, he won’t be able to, but Akko, if you ever need someone you can trust to have your back in with these guys, I’ll come.”
Akko nodded his appreciation and as he does, someone entering the bar catches his eye. She looked around before setting her eyes on Akko. A smile formed across her face.
“If you’ll excuse me gentlemen,” Akko said, getting up from the table.
He made his way across the room and stood before her.
“Ferra,” Akko started. “It’s Akko, we met at the mayor’s announcement party last month.”
“I remember,” she replied. “You were staring again.”
Akko chuckled and scratched the back of his head, “Uh, I mean can you blame me?”
She gave a coy smile “No, I guess not.”
Akko stepped aside and gestured to the tables, “Perhaps we can get a table and I buy you a drink?”
“I don’t drink,” Ferra answered. “I only came in for directions.”
Akko glanced away, “Sorry,” he said. “So where are you trying to go?”
“Wiesterman Theatre to see a play later tonight called The Despot’s Daughter,” she answered. “Heard of it?”
“No, can’t say I have. Are you going alone?”
“Possibly,” she said, the corners showing the slightest curl of a smile on her lips, “if you don’t take the hint that is.”
Akko turned and looked back across the room to his friends and raised an eyebrow. They gave encouraging thumbs up.
After a change of clothes, they met up again at the theatre. Akko in his black suit, while Ferra had donned a dark purple evening gown for the occasion. The show was said to have been sold out, with Akko getting one of the last tickets at a hefty price. The show was to begin shortly, yet the foyer was so packed with people that it made a task of milling through the crowd to their seats. It didn’t help that every third step, a pro fight enthusiast recognized him and stopped to wish him luck or asked him to sign his playbill.
“Didn’t take you for the theatre type Akko.”
Akko turned to look behind him. Nikki Vikaeli stood with a man and woman he hadn’t seen before.
“Oh there’s nothing like an evening at the theatre,” Akko said.
Nikki put on a smile and gave a nod to Akko before he set his eyes on Ferra. He stared at her for a time, a look of recognition on his face, “I do believe I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
“This is Ferra Grey,” Akko stated. “She was at the mayor’s announcement party.”
“Yes I thought I saw her that night, but I’m not too sure it was at the party.”
The man beside Nikki spoke, “If your recounting of that night’s events is to be considered, I don’t think you had the pleasure of seeing her anywhere else.”
Akko gestured to the man who had spoken, “Who is this?”
“This dashing fellow beside me is my cousin, Dietmar,” Nikki answered. “The woman is Margette, she’s an actress.”
Akko shook Dietmar’s hand and kissed that of the woman.
“Movies I presume?” he asked.
Margette nodded his exactitude, “My days on the stage are long behind me.”
“The black and white doesn’t do you justice.”
She laughed, her mouth open, revealing pearly white teeth beneath ruby red lips, “I hear they are well on their way to making them in color soon.”
Nikki cleared his throat, “Akko how about you and Ms. Grey join us in our box seats?”
Akko shook his head, “I think we’re okay with our current seats.”
“Akko,” he said again, his words rigid now. “I would really like for you to come and sit with me.”
Akko glances to Dietmar, who had taken to lighting a cigarette, then back at Nikki before inkling his head, “Sure, who am I to say no to the offer?”
The group made it to their theatre box seats just as she lights dimmed for the show to begin. Before he could get to his seat, Nikki put a hand on Akko’s shoulder and leaned in close.
“Come intermission, we have to talk,” he whispered.
“Why not now,” Akko asked over his shoulder. “What’s with the wait?”
Nikki shrugged, “Because I actually like this play.”
As the show began and the story unfolded, an interesting tale presented itself. Taking place during the Despot Wars, the story focused on a young soldier at the Siege of Millua. Entrenched outside of the heavily fortified city and supply lines stretched thin, the onset of winter painted a bleak picture of the attackers’ immediate future. The only thing that seemed to keep the young man going was in the tallest tower where a young woman looked out every morning to view the battlefield. This was the Despot’s daughter, and the soldier thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. With the unexpected arrival of reinforcements, the besieging army gained enough strength to break through the fortifications and sack the city. The young soldier made for the tower and found his fellow men in arms trying to set themselves on the maiden. He killed the soldiers and led her out of the city, only to be captured at the gate. The final scene before intermission had it declared that he be put on trial for treason and murder.
The lights came back on and the audience began to move about the theatre. Nikki walked over to the liquor table in the corner of their box and poured himself a drink. Akko went to join him.
“That’s a lovely girl you have there,” Nikki said, pouring a glass for Akko. “I take it you haven’t told her about your recent dealings with the Syndicate.”
Akko looked over at Ferra, now emersed in conversation with Margette. “No.”
“She’ll find out sooner rather than later. Everyone will. You’re sorta famous in this city. You can bet your café date with Merik didn’t go unnoticed.”
“What did you want to talk about?”
Nikki took a sip of the brown liquor, “Someone wants to kill me.”
“Any idea who?”
“I don’t know,” Nikki replied. “I received the information from an anonymous caller just before coming here.”
“If someone wants to kill you, why are you here then?”
Nikki finished the glass and set it on the table, “So I can find out who.”
During the second half of the show, the imprisoned soldier and the princess were in cells beside each other. They talked through the walls and mutual affection formed between the two. After the trial, the soldier was set to be executed by a firing squad.
In the scene, the firing squad was lined up in a row with their rifles aimed at the soldier. With a swipe of his sword, the officer ordered the men to fire. At that moment, the soldier closest to the crowd pivoted on his heels and pointed his rifle towards Nikki’s box. The shot rang out as Akko dived to protect Nikki.
The audience began to clap while the other actors on the set looked at the shooter in bewilderment as he dropped the rifle and ran off of the stage. Dietmar drew his pistol and started to fire down at the man from the balcony. Realizing that this was not part of the play, the people in the audience scrambled for the exits and the theatre went into panicked frenzy. Nikki looked down and saw the blood on his chest. He put his hand on the spot but felt no wound. Margette screamed. He looked over and saw Akko on the floor. The light of the theatre reflected against the pool of blood.
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“This is where her signal was last broadcast from,” Daxpar stated.
He and the Xenator stood atop the roof where Evina had last been positioned. Midnight had come and gone, yet Evina had never reported back. The Xenator crouched down and ran his fingers along the hard surface.
“You find something?” Daxpar asked, coming over to squat beside Hunter X.
“See these markings?” the Xenator asked, gesturing to the scars on the roof.
“Blade cuts,” Daxpar deduced. “There was a battle up here.”
“That’s what it looks like,” the Xenator said.
“Her equipment is gone,” Daxpar said, looking around. “Do you think they captured her?”
The Xenator rose to his feet, “I know they captured her. I’ve already got her trail.”
“Where to sir?”
The Xenator turned his back to Daxpar and began walking to the ledge, “I want you to head back to the HQ.”
He moved to protest but received only a silent stare from the masked man.
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Commissioner Destnol awoke with a start in a cold sweat and saw only darkness. He reached for his gun but it’s wasn’t there. A light came on beside him and he turned to see his wife looking over at him as she sat up in bed. His confusion was evident.
“What am I doing here, what’s going on?”
His wife held a concerned look as she placed her hand on his forehead, “Honey, are you feeling okay? The other policemen brought you home and said you’d feinted from overworking yourself. You’ve been asleep for hours.”
“Was there a masked man with them?”
“You mean one of those Veldt? No, not that I saw,” she answered. “Wun, are you sure you’re feeling alright?”
He mumbled for her to go back to sleep. She kissed him and turned off the night lamp and went back to sleep. Destnol though, his head never returned to the pillow that night.
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