"Why does it have to be me?" Kordelle said to himself as he waited outside Speakeasy. The question stuck in the cold night air, left unanswered save for the fog left behind by his bated breath. "Just double checking, I don't have to hurt Emily, right?" Kordelle asked Envoy inside his head.
"No, we will question her at a later time but for now we just need to eliminate Plague. I know you two have been close but trust me, this is a mercy compared to all out war. " Envoy responded in his typical raspy voice.
"Mercy?!" Kordelle replied, clearly with a stricken nerve. "You command me to put a bullet in my best friend and call it mercy?! You know I won't betray you but don't you DARE mistake my loyalty for assent!"
"...I apologize for my insensitivity. I realize the harshness of what I'm asking you to do, truly, but I just want you to know that the alternative to this would be war. Make no mistake, every second that man stays breathing puts our entire nation at risk. It's unfortunate that it has to be you, but you're simply the only man capable of pulling this off." Envoy said in a more understanding tone.
"Did you know that when I chose to wear a mask of the devil's face, it was supposed to be a metaphor? I wanted to strike fear into my opponents. Show them where they were going. That kind of thing, you know? But somewhere along the way, the mask stopped being… a mask. It's just who I am now." Kordelle said.
As he finished this statement, the door across the street opened, and in the dark Kordelle was able to make out Emily's beautiful purple hair exiting the bar. In another life, perhaps he would have been able to tell her how much he truly cared about her. Sadly, the devil doesn't get to love people. Emily and Matt were the only two people he truly felt love for, and he was about to murder one while making the other his enemy for life. "She left. Only a matter of time before he's outside. If I go dark for more than ten minutes, send reinforcements." Kordelle said to Envoy in his head, clicking off the safety of his pistol.
Kordelle felt his heart begin to beat faster and faster, his breath becoming shorter. Matt was the only person who's been there from the beginning for Kordelle. They've basically been brothers for as long as he can remember, but Matt betrayed Nexdria and has to die. Kordelle slipped his devil mask on and shakily said "today, this becomes my face" to nobody in particular.
The devil's body felt as if it was on autopilot. The moment he spotted Matt outside, he began to cross the street with his gun ready. For a brief moment, Kordelle regained control and felt the slightest hint of regret. "Sorry, my friend. I didn't want to have to do this." Kordelle said, pulling the trigger as Matt turned around.
"Shit." Was the only word to formulate in Matt's mind. Everything he's done, everything he had planned. All of it would end in the street like this? Time seemed to slow to a stop as Matt reflected. What was strange was that his mind didn't go to Astoria or Emily or even Kordelle. The only image in Matt's mind was that of the two crows he saw that day he met Astoria. Before he had time to consider this, one of the crows suddenly snapped its head towards Matt and shouted "GARGOYLE!" in a distinctly familiar, feminine voice. What could this possibly mean? Why was this in his head?
At that moment, time seemed to resume, the bullet making contact with Matt's forehead before coming to a sudden stop, clattering to the asphalt below. Gargoyle. The moment the bullet made contact with Matt's skin, he activated Gargoyle's Nano inside him, copying his skin to the metallic texture of the bullet. The bullet never even broke his skin.
Matt saw red. His own best friend just tried to murder him in cold blood. He let out a scream that came from deep within his body, one that filled the air with an unmistakable pressure of pure rage before sprinting towards Kordelle.
Matt closed the distance quickly and began throwing metal punches at Kordelle. Kordelle dodged a right hook and blocked a left one, hurting his own arm. Matt pulled out his knife from its holster as his punch was blocked and tried to jab it into Kordelle's skull but Kordelle ducked it and punched Matt in the gut. Matt tried to stagger back after the punch hit him but realized too late that Kordelle had used his Nano to make his hand stick to Matt.
Kordelle lifted his arm, with Matt attached, and swung it down, causing Matt to painfully smash into the street. Then he lifted his arm again and swung it forcefully forwards, detaching from Matt at the last moment and causing him to fly back and land hard with the momentum. As Matt landed he was already reaching for his pistol, and he almost instantly fired six shots at Kordelle from the ground, catching him off guard. Five of them missed, but one shot buried itself in Kordelle's left thigh.
The two friends now knelt across from each other, pain throbbing throughout their bodies. "Why?" Matt muttered between coughs. "Why would you do this? We were family!"
Kordelle grunted as he leaned weight off his injured leg. "We are family. You're a brother to me, Matt. Don't you think I wish just as much as you do that we could just walk into Speakeasy and talk this out?! But it's too late for that now. Your self serving desire for peace will do nothing but create civil war. You would tear our people in half if it meant one side would call you their savior. You don't give a damn about other people! You never have! Otherwise, you never would have left our side, and things would be different! But here we are, with you blaming everyone else for your mess again. I have to put a stop to it. I'm sorry." Kordelle said.
Matt slowly rose to his feet, a dark expression on his face. "My mess, huh? Self serving peace? Tell me, brother" Matt began, sarcastically. "When you go outside the wall and murder innocent people, what do you tell yourself? Do you pretend that you care about the great nation of Nexdria so much that you'd do anything to protect it? Or maybe you're honest with yourself, huh? Maybe deep down you know that you enjoy killing the defenseless. At one time you may have been my brother, Kordelle, but that time is long gone. You're nothing more than a bloodthirsty, genocidal traitor that believes the world when they paint his so-called 'brother' out to be the devil."
Kordelle removed the devil mask from his face, looking at it for a moment. "You know, Matt, I used to believe the same thing as you. The world painted me out as some kind of monster. A devil. The truth is, you're a fool if you still haven't realized that you alone hold the brush in your own life. The moment that you realize this world is your canvas, you'll begin to paint a picture that is so beautiful you simply can't stop. I decided long ago that my painting will be one that leaves a trail of suffering behind me, but you aren't any different. Nobody can paint you out as something you aren't. You're just as much a monster as I am, you just lie to yourself about why you're doing it."
"Believe whatever you want, devil. At the end of the day, you spill innocent blood and I protect the innocent. We aren't the same. You'll have plenty of time to reflect on that in hell." Matt said, reloading his pistol. Kordelle tried to scramble away but he couldn't move his left leg at all. Matt had won their battle.
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As Phantom walked through the dark corridors of Pinocchio's base, the building remained as silent as the guard escorting him. He understood why Envoy wanted to solidify their alliance with Pinocchio and Happy, but he didn't trust Pinocchio at all.
"Why hello there" Pinocchio's unsettlingly crackly voice said, breaking the silence. "What brings you into my neck of the woods?" He asked Phantom, his creepy doll mask appearing in the doorway in front of him to wave the armed guard away.
"Mind if I step inside?" Phantom asked. Pinocchio nodded, and the two entered what appeared to be a conference room. "Sorry to come unannounced, but it's urgent." Phantom said.
"If you've come all the way here it must be! Sadly, Happy is out on business at the moment, but I can fill her in on whatever this is about later. Have a seat!" Pinocchio said.
"Ok, I'll make this quick." Phantom said, taking a seat across from Pinocchio. "It's very likely that we're on the brink of a civil war, and we just wanted to make sure we could count on you guys to help maintain order. Of course, any help will be rewarded as always."
"Interesting… A war you say? With whom? I would like to know my enemy before agreeing to anything, I'm sure you understand." Pinocchio said.
"Well, it seems Plague and Gladiator have teamed up and are planning to attempt to wage war in Sector D. We aren't sure what their goal is, but we're going to be calling on all eight other masks to stop them." Phantom said.
"I see. And what specifically do you need from us here? If you came all this way, I imagine there is a particular job you have in mind?" Pinocchio asked him.
"You're right about that. I'm here to make you an offer, Pinocchio. You're as well connected in Nexdria as anybody, honestly inside the city you may even have more influence than Vixen. The point is, we need you to use your sources to both gather information on Plague's plan, as well as plant traitors in his midst to sabotage it once his intentions are clear. And for Happy, we're going to need her by my side in battle, our Nanos make a good combo and it may be our only hope of defeating the Gladiator." Phantom said.
"That sounds interesting, and what was this reward you mentioned?" Pinocchio asked without a hint of shame.
"If you do this for us, you will both have a seat in The Den. This gives you access to Sector A, as well as insider knowledge of everything going on in Nexdria." Phantom said.
"Assuming there's still a Den to sit in, this is a good offer. Very well, I will fill Happy in on everything when she arrives. Tell Envoy to reach out when he's ready for us to begin. I'm confident we will make a great team!" Pinocchio said. It takes a lot to make Phantom uneasy, but Pinocchio always had a way of doing just that.
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One had his rifle aimed at the door as he heard someone turning the knob in Kazane's apartment, but was relieved to see Kazane walk in with a woman wearing a fox mask. "This is her?" Vixen asked, pointing at Astoria. Kazane nodded and Vixen walked over to Astoria, kneeling down.
"Hey, kid. Kazane told me everything that happened, and I'm sorry." She pulled off her mask, revealing her face. "My name is Asha, and Samurai is a good friend of mine. Kazane says you know him?"
Astoria looked at One for approval and he nodded at her. "Yeah. I stayed with him for a while but I don't think he would remember me."
"I think he would, he's good with stuff like that!" Asha said, turning to One. "Big guy, we're friends now. Kazane told me what's going on and I trust her more than anyone, so I trust you. I have a deal in mind, and I think it'll benefit us all."
"And what might that be?" One asked curiously.
"I'm sure you have to ask that Plague guy, but my offer is this: I will give you access to my entire network of information and everything I know, and I will also help arrange a meeting between you guys and Samurai. All I ask in return is that you allow me to be in charge of President Westbrook's captivity."
"Well you'll have to talk to Plague, he's the brains here, but it doesn't sound like a bad deal. Speaking of which, it's time for us to meet him at Speakeasy. He said if he wasn't back in two hours to go there, remember?"
"Yeah, we need to make sure he's safe. If he dies, this whole plan is done." Kazane said, and the four headed outside to meet up with Matt.
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As Matt finished reloading his pistol, he heard two pairs of footsteps approaching from just ahead of them, and aimed his gun in that direction. As the two figures got closer, Matt realized that he was in trouble. Coming toward him were two Masks: one he had never seen before and the other being someone with a grudge.
"Long time no see, traitor." Gargoyle said. Westbrook had sent his two most loyal soldiers, Gargoyle and Rainblazer, to help take down Plague. One, Kazane, Asha and Astoria were on their way, but could they make it in time? Matt's eyes began to dart around, searching for an escape route, as the pair were right behind Kordelle now.
Gargoyle stared into Matt's eyes from beneath his mask before sighing deeply. Then, unexpectedly, he caught Rainblazer off guard and slammed a steel fist into his head, knocking him down. Matt stared in shock, unsure of what to do or why Gargoyle attacked his own partner.
"Listen kid, I'm only gonna say this once. I'm sorry, I was wrong. I became so obsessed with serving my country that I was prepared to murder an innocent girl, and you stopped me. Is she okay now?" Gargoyle asked. Matt nodded after a moment of shock kept him frozen. "Thank god. I owe you for stopping me that day, and I'll spend the rest of my days making it up to you, you understand? I don't want to serve a country that would drive me to such horrific lengths, I want to live in the world you seek to create, and I will do everything I can to help you create it." Gargoyle said.
The fight was now fair, as Rainblazer rose to his feet shakily and helped Kordelle up. Plague and Gargoyle were once again partners, and their opponents were Morningstar and Rainblazer.
To be continued in Chapter 8, September 26th