Also, thanks to Urako for the cooperation, it was fun writing with you!
Spoiler (Click to Show)
Levi, who had been sitting in the corner snoozing, jumped awake at his friend’s outburst. “Hey what the heck man!” He complained, “I was sleeping!”
Riley ran a hand over his chin, the rough stubble across his chin having grown perhaps half an inch. “How… How long was I out?” He asked, looking over at the him.
The cave itself was illuminated by a small fire in the middle of the cold floor. The flames gave off an eerily red glow that bounced off the walls and Levi’s glasses. He grinned behind his optics, “Three Days…”
The Operative’s eyes widened, “Are you kidding me?”
Levi shook his head, “‘Fraid not, from all the bruises you had when I found on you. I’m surprised it was that at all. You looked like an apple that fell off the top shelf of a book case.”
Riley let loose a burst of laughter at the comment. It felt weird, “Well, I am five times as durable as any other human ain’t I?” He replied, standing from his cot. He flinched at the sudden onset of pain, but managed to look around.
It was a safe house alright, more like a cave but, a safe house in the loosest way. Three beds, all side by side, a small makeshift sink, (a bucket) and a large cooler, probably filled with food. Levi’s hands curled with smoke, and he had very pronounced bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in a long time.
“You alright?” Strider asked, the smoke dissipating from his skin. Riley smiled, “You look at yourself lately? I could ask you the same thing.”
Levi took off his optics and stared in the reflection, his eyes widening a bit in recognition. “Oh, wow… Didn’t even realize. I’m going to take a nap now…” He responded, rising from the seat.
Strolling over, the Hunter plopped down onto the leftmost bed, almost instantly falling asleep as his head hit the pillow. Riley laughed quietly, then began to make his way out of the cave, passing by Derrick along the way.
Looking over, the Operative sighed with regret, “Sorry I had to put you through that, Dozer…” He said to the unconscious gladiator. Walking past, Riley swung his right arm in a wide circle, trying to grind the corrosion out of his joints. “Guess the water got through the skin.”
He walked out of the cave with a slow stride, his boots crunching the dirt underneath his feet.
Strolling down the shore for around twenty feet, Riley then sat down on the sand, looking up at the moon.
***
After a few minutes, Dozer slowly awoke with a haze. Now matter how hard he slept, he never failed to feel tired when he woke up. He rubbed his head with his right hand and examined his surroundings. He was just waking up, but he noticed two things. He noticed his hand wasn’t restrained and that his head was bandaged. Slowly, he sat up and collected his thoughts. His chest was sore from the injury, but nothing unbearable.
He scanned his surroundings, he knew his opponent must have taken him here. Unfortunately, he had no idea where “here” was. At least he didn’t appear to be a prisoner or if he did, whoever was guarding him was doing a poor job. He quickly located his retracted staff next to him and put it in his left pocket. Then, he started to get up.
Derrick stepped to the right of the bed. At first he almost lost his balance. However he quickly regained control and looking forward, noticed another man sleeping on the farthest bed from him. Like him, the man was also unbound. Whoever was in charge of the cave seemed not to care whether or not anyone leaves. He breathed a small sigh of relief at the realization.
As reassuring as it was, he still had questions like where he was, why he was here, and where he was. He knew from looking around that he was in a cave that had access to medical supplies and that there were two ways of gathering information, exploring and asking the guy who was currently sleeping. He almost decided waking the man up, but ultimately decided against it and instead turned towards the mouth of the cave.
The center cot has signs of someone sleeping in it which means someone else was here. I should probably search for him or at least try to figure out where I am before I wake the guy up.
He headed out the mouth of the cave towards the darkness. He was certain someone would be out there because the fire inside had yet to be extinguished. It was considerably darker outside the cave, but between the light coming from the mouth, the moon, and its reflection on the water, Derrick had no trouble seeing.
He saw the waves go up and down across the sandy shore to a constant rhythm as well as the general landscape he was in. But more importantly, he saw a silhouette sitting on the edge of the tides looking out to see. His build looked familiar to Riley’s though Dozer couldn’t tell for sure by the light of the moon alone.
Fortunately there was an easy way to rectify the problem. Aside from his kinetic charges producing light, his previous opponent would likely flinch when he saw it. He pulled the black metal cylinder back out of his pocket, extended it, propped it into the stand, and lit the end facing the sky. A small glowing green line appeared through the hollow point. It wasn’t very powerful or bright at the moment, but it would grow. As it changed to blue, he looked at it then at the man to see if he noticed.
***
Riley had been sitting for a few minutes, simply listening to the crash of the waves and watching the moon move through the sky, when he noticed his shadow being cast in front of him. Not knowing if it was friend or foe, the Operative put one hand to the ground and pushed off, landing on his feet with both fists raised.
He was surprised to see Derrick standing there, with the tip of his staff glowing blue, not pointed at him, but pointed straight up towards the sky.
Riley sighed with relief, “Good… You’re alright.”
Dozer responded with a smug look on his face. “Yes I’m alright. Will you tell me what you wanted with me and where I am?”
The Operative sighed, then shrugged, “Guess I owe you that much…” His right eye came online, projecting a small hologram of the state of Washington out into the air. Riley pointed to an area a little bit south of the border. “We’re right here. This beach is unknown to everyone but me, you, and Levi. The guy you probably saw sleeping there.”
The hologram disappeared, and he sighed again, “As for what I wanted… That’s a bit more complicated.”
Derrick frowned. “Can you at least tell me why I’m here instead of a hospital?”
Riley nodded his head, more to reassure himself than his accomplice, “Because if you went to a hospital, you’d most likely get picked off by the people hunting me.”
The teenager gave off one exasperated sigh and facepalmed himself with his left hand while his right hand still gripped his staff and the charge turned purple. His voice almost shook with frustration as he spoke.
“So what you’re saying is I have another group to add to the list of people who want to kill me?”
Riley held up a finger and opened his mouth to explain more, but apparently thought better of it. He managed to regain his confidence and continued, “How many groups you got after you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
The staff wielder took a deep breath and paused as if considering not telling Riley. “A psycho gladiator who kidnapped my sister and is mind controlling countless others, some government agency I don’t know about, a robot vigilante, one group that kidnapped a friend of mine, the wRHG regulation force because i’m a witness, a few other groups I’ve messed with that want to make examples of me, whatever group is after you, and I’m pretty sure the RHG system wouldn’t mind if I kicked the bucket.” He paused again. “Anyways, who is this group of yours after me?”
Riley breathed deep, “The Precursors…” To prevent further confusion, the former CIA held up a hand before Derrick could ask, “I think I explained back in the cafe, but your memory might be a bit foggy. They’re a group from the future that followed my friend Levi into the past. And using me and my branch of the CIA, a section dedicated to ridding of threats to the USA and people on the Blacklist, they’ve been killing off anyone who gets in their way in the future.”
“Okay.” He stopped for a moment as the staff turned to an all familiar shade of red. “Okay so why would they be after me? Do I oppose these people in the future?”
Riley sighed, “Well, for one, that’s over two hundred years from now. And second, Levi never told me if an ancestor of yours or your sister’s gets in their way. I could only assume by associating with me, a man whose great-grandson opposes them in the future, that they would be after you too…”
“But the only association we’ve had was a battle where we both reportedly went missing.” He stopped for a second before adding something else in a more light hearted tone. “How long ago was that by the way?”
The Operative mouthed the words for three days. He turned back towards the beach, ran a hand through his hair, then whipped back around. “And… Uh… Sorry about, you know, making you… Jump off a cliff… I’ve kind of been losing it since I figured out what the Precursors made me do…”
Derrick’s face turned to a serious expression the moment he apologized. “Don’t be.” He smiled for the first time since he woke up. “It made no sense at the time, but if what you said was true, jumping off the cliff was the best way to go missing. I just wish you told me earlier.”
Riley smiled weakly, then snapped a finger, pointing at the young man, “What was the name of the guy who kidnapped your sister?” He asked, straight out of the blue.
“I think you’re trying to divert the subject Riley.” the teenager responded, fully aware of the attempt.
He rolled his eyes, “Please, haven’t I explained enough? I needed help, you came to my aid, I tried to get you out of there so they couldn’t get to you, and I brought you to safety! Isn’t that enough?”
“I’m not talking about the Precursors. I understand everything I need to know about that but you’ve started hesitating ever since you apologized. If there’s something you don’t want to tell me, then fine. But you seem pretty quick to change subjects. If you really want to know, his gladiatorial name is Decks. I can’t tell you his real name.”
The Agent growled then pointed to his temple, “If you didn’t hear me the first time, I’m kind of losing my mind with guilt and grief, my brain isn’t what it used to be. But if you must know, they threatened my family, I got them out of the country, but I don’t know how long that will keep them safe.”
“I see.” once again the staff wielder stopped but this time he was clearly thinking. “Well I’d be more than happy to help you find a safe place for them if I can. I’m sure we could ensure the CIA never finds them. I know uprooting family is hard, but it’s nothing to grief over if it drives you insane.”
Riley grumbled under his breath, “It’s not that. I’ve been murdering innocent people and I didn’t even have the common sense to see through their facade of labeling them as criminals. It’s that that infuriates me.”
Derrick rubbed his forehead before apologizing. “I’m sorry Riley. My memory’s still a bit foggy and my dreams sort of blurred with the fight. I remember now you saying they sent you after-.” He trailed off a resumed in a much more saddened tone. “I don’t know what to say. Just be a little more careful okay? You’re in a downward spiral and if you let your guilt drive you, you’re going to be making more mistakes, hurt more innocent people, and have more suffering to deal with. And we wouldn’t want to see that.”
Looking straight up into the air, Riley felt a tear slip from his left eye and all the strength went from his legs, causing him to stumble back and fall into the sand. “You’re right…” He answered, his eyes half closed. “I’ve been a fool… Dragging you into this… Almost getting you killed, and not even thinking of the consequences… I’m sorry…”
A laugh came from the teenager although it quickly followed with his left hand grabbing his chest. “You don’t need to be sorry about me. I’m your opponent and I could very well have been trying to kill you. Besides that, no permanent harm was done.”
Riley swiped a finger across the area below his eye, getting rid of the tear, “It’s funny, I haven’t cried in a long time… Can’t cry from my right anymore…”
Dozer said solemnly after a few minutes of silence. “Well I hope you can forgive yourself because the moment you knew, you came to me so that you could stop. I know I don’t have the right to ask that of you though so I’m not going to. Nor is it in my power to forgive you of everything you did. But at least I forgive you for our fight and I hope you can feel at least a little better knowing you tried to do the right thing.”
The Operative smiled wider, “I’ll try…” Feeling more just in his actions, Riley brought up a previous question, “If you can remind me, who took your sister again?”
The teenager visibly frowned. “Since you asked, that would be Decks. I don’t know why he did, but I know he takes people and makes them his personal puppet slaves.”
Riley stuck his bottom lip and scrunched up his face, “I can find him…”
“Well I doubt that. We’re standing on a beach in the middle of nowhere looking at each other.”
The Agent smiled back at him, “Oh, but you’re mistaken, I’ve hunted him before…”
The boy shrugged and lay in the sand. He finally let go of his staff which stood firmly planted in the sand next to him. “Huh. Well too bad it didn’t work out because that would have saved a lot of people a lot of anguish.”
Riley’s eyes flashed with regret, “You got that right. It was around two years ago, and I’d been noticing reports of people going missing. I decided to take up the case, even though my superiors told me It was a bad idea. When I finally tracked Decks down, he used his puppets as human shields, he got away, and I couldn’t bring myself to killing those poor people…”
“Yeah-” Dozer took his focus off of Riley and looked up at the stars. “I don’t think I could if I ran into them. I mean I would likely be doing them a favor, but- I can’t.” He paused for anther second as if lost in thought. “I want to save them Riley. That’s the only way any of this is ever going to be fixed.” He looked back at the agent. “So how did you find him? I mean every system I can comprehend is utilized to hide gladiators from those looking to find them.”
“I’m a system too. I don’t think I told you, but I have the most advanced computer system in the world installed into my face. This thing…” He pointed to his right eye, it temporarily flashing red then returning to its normal brown.
“The first time I used the CIA’s deepest files and recordings of the kidnappings to find him. But considering my accessing those files again will bring the Precursors straight to our doorstep, I need to find a way to disable the tracker in my eye.”
Derrick folded his arms behind his head and rested on them. He started to laugh before returning to his solemn state. “Well I doubt that will work again. Now he has his goons go out and do the kidnappings. Besides that, he has a level 11 security block and the entire RHG system only has 10 levels of clearance. I don’t understand it either.”
Riley laughed at him, “Well… A hacker has an unlimited amount of security clearance doesn’t he? Yes he does.”
“You’re logic is fundamentally flawed. Hackers have the least security clearance that is hunted down, stamped out, and inversely proportionate to the anti-intrusion software which for the gladiator system, seems to have a mind of its