Chapter Seven
As Brutalius and Antonia walk through the Great Hall, the guards lining the wall pound their chests in salute. Brutalius points to one of them, "You! Come here at once!" The soldier rushes to his superior and Brutalius' commands him, "Give me the status on the End Game Project.” The guard slams his right fist into his chest and scurries off, down the hall. A few minutes later he comes marching back, "The Project is awaiting your inspection, Sire."
Brutalius gives his approval before barking more orders, "That's good news soldier, really good news. Now back to your post!" The guard runs off and Brutalius takes Antonia's hand, "It won't be long now my love." He leans down and kisses it, "Shall we go see how our friend is doing?" Antonia smiles, "Yeah, let's see what we have accomplished."
They walk downstairs and enter the stairwell that leads to where they imprisoned Furious. But instead of stepping all the way to the bottom, they cut through a door after the third flight and walk down a long corridor. They enter a room that's mostly empty, except for a female Corsair soldier sitting behind a computer monitor. In front of her is a large metallic table surrounded by what looks like medical equipment. An unconscious man lies on the table and numerous cables and tubes run from his body to several monitoring devices. Strange metallic blade-like probes pierce into his temples.
"Hello Nathan, how are we doing today?" Brutalius smirks, knowing the man cannot answer. "The day has finally come, my friend." Brutalius looks over at Antonia who in turn, looks at the woman sitting at the monitor, "Initiate End Game Protocol on my mark." Antonia turns back to Brutalius, "Let me activate your client device." She presses a series of keys on a panel and secures a gold bracelet to Brutalius' wrist, giving it a twist which causes it to glow in a dull red glimmer. Stepping away, Brutalius holds out his hands and instantly, a long golden spear appears. Antonia speaks out loud, "Okay ready. Three, two, one, initiate!"
The man on the table suddenly jolts and the spear radiates in a brilliant reddish glow, as does Brutalius' eyes which are also filled with the same eerie light. He walks over to the woman at the computer with an evil smile perched on his face, "Brace yourself." He lightly touches the pole-arm against her shoulder and she instantly screams in agony as a fiery-red essence spreads from the blade and across her skin, consuming her entire body. Antonia gags from the stench of burning flesh but Brutalius doesn't even flinch. Then he slams the weapon into the wall and the weapon instantly dissipates in a brilliant flash and clamoring boom, leaving a gaping hole in the solid stone.
"Power down!" Antonia yells, "Secure the Host!" She walks over to Brutalius who is still admiring his work. "It was fully tested, Sire, there was no reason for that!" She gives him a scornful stare and Brutalius just smirks back, shaking his head, "Don't ever question me." He then extends his hand out, "Now, if you would be so kind and accompany me to the library and that's an order."
As they walk, Antonia explains how they still aren't able to decrypt ARIES' code, "It's not based on anything we know. It almost like someone invented a completely different set of laws for mathematics." Brutalius stops briefly and responds to her like the dim brute he is, "Then just destroy it!" Antonia shakes her head, "It's not that simple. It's hardware is protected by energy fields and we don't even know how the thing is powered. All that information and anything else we need are in the computer's files, which we are unable to hack into."
Brutalius continues with his flawed logic, "Then bring me the Nephilim. We'll use him to access the thing!" Antonia has to hold in her frustration this time as she answers, "The Nephilim is dead, Sire, remember?" They resume their walk and Brutalius doesn't speak again until they reach the door to the library, "Then contact my uncle, tell him to delay the Doyen's execution."
Antonia slightly shakes her head as she takes out her communicator. Brutalius walks into the media room, speaking out loud, "ARIES, I am now the ruler of Alcazar! Relinquish all commands and functions to me, at once!" His voice echoes off the rounded walls which it's followed by only silence. He repeats his request twice more, getting louder each time but met with the same empty result. Antonia walks in and whispers to him, repeating news that sends Brutalius flying into a tantrum, "I'm sorry, we're too late, Oriah's dead." The man shouts profanities now and jumps in the air like a spoiled child. He points at Antonia, his eyes filled with rage, his words raspy and straightforward, "If this doesn't end well for me, my dear. I assure you, it won't end well for you either!"
~
Solomon speaks as he stares down at Furious, the man he just help set free, "So what's the plan?" Furious just looks at the boy with amusement and rubs his wrists, "Plan? There is no plan, chief." Grace steps beside Solomon, "You said you would help us!"
"Help you do what?"
Grace looks at Furious for a second before sorrow fills her face and she drops her head, "We... well...we just don't have anywhere else to go. What do you plan to do with all of us Alcazarians anyway? Kill us all?" Most of the time Furious would have some clever remark to come back with, but this time he just looks at the girl with pity, "Well my plan is to kill Brutalius and after that, I guess we can see."
Grace sends her hand flying towards Furious' face, but he catches her by the wrist just before impact. Then Solomon also grabs Furious' arm, "Hey! Let go of her!" Furious chuckles to himself as he attempts to defuse the situation, "Calm down Bro, what I meant to say was our plan is to kill Brutalius." He grins and Solomon just gives a cold stare, "And then what?" And Furious responds to him in a way that's just another attempt to not agitate circumstances, "And then we'll negotiate peace."
"Well which way do we go?" Grace interjects, trying to move things along. Furious replies, "Brutalius is probably trying to access the main computer, but I'm not sure where that is." Solomon speaks up, "I do."
"Well good chief, lead the way."
Grace asks, "But what about the other prisoners? Where are all the Alcazarians?" Her questioning give Furious a moment of hesitation, but then he responds in his usual way, "What makes you think there are any prisoners, sweetheart?" Solomon now lunges at him, and Furious just bellows with laughter as he easily pushes the boy away, "Keep your cool, we kill Brutalius then free everyone, okay? I thought that was the plan." Grace steps between them, "Let's just do it his way Solomon. Besides, you said we could trust him." Solomon briefly gives a stern glance to Grace then back to Furious, "Okay then, follow me."
The three walk up the stairwell and reach the main floor of the Acropolis. Solomon pauses briefly, trying to gain his bearings. "I thought you said you know where it is?" Furious asks and the boy quickly counters, "I do, just give me a minute, it's in the library." Just then,a voice breaks the silence, "You there! Don't move!" They look behind them to see two Corsair guards coming from down the hallway. Solomon and Grace instantly look to Furious for what to do and Furious immediately berates the guards, "It's me, you idiots! As you were!" But the guards maintain their approach and one questions Furious' intentions. "Where are you going with the prisoners, Sir?" Furious answers with contempt, "Since when do I answer to you, Grunt?" The guard replies, "I'm just following orders, Sir."
Furious leans into Grace now, "I'm taking them to Brutalius, per his request, for target practice if you must know." He cups her face in his hand, "Rumor has it, he loves hacking on pretty young girls." Grace jerks away, scowling at him, almost pouting as he cackles in reaction. Then Furious screams at the guards, "Now as you were, Grunts! Don't make me repeat myself!" The two soldiers comply this time mumbling something as they make their way past, continuing on their patrol. Grace's gives Furious a shove, "You think you're funny, huh?" Her comment brings more laughter from him and he teases her again, "Lighten up, I called you pretty didn't I?" Grace's cheeks chafe with embarrassment, "You're a jerk."
Furious continues his snickers as the two follow Solomon around the corner and up a staircase, "It's right up here." Solomon points to a door at the end of another hallway and Furious takes the lead, "Okay, when the fighting starts, you two take cover." They fall in behind as Furious cracks open the door, peering in.