Betrayal
Rise of the Guardians
Chapter 07 - Betrayal
Sabre quickly alternated in staring at either Spectre's back or Moritori. Had he really heard that right? His son? What was going on here?
The dark Echidna still stood like frozen on the spot but the worst was that so far not a single word had come over his lips - nothing that would have destroyed the terrible suspicion which was now slowly crawling through Sabre's mind. In the Chaos Chamber he had nearly jumped at Thunderhawk for calling him a Dark Legionnaire but the Grandmaster might not even been given a dirty look.
"I need to talk to you about our ... Guardians", Moritori said to Spectre and the last word he rather spit out than spoke out. When Spectre didn't react he made a quick gesture and then continued, "Don't worry, they won't get killed before you return so you won't miss any of the fun."
At first the dark furred Echidna still hesitated but then he climbed out of the pit while ignoring the Grandmaster's helpful hand.
"Follow me, my boy. I wouldn't be too happy if I knew this scum could hear every word of a family discussion." He turned around and gave the three Echidnas who remained in the pit a snarky grin. "And you don't run away while we're gone, do you hear me?"
"What is this all about?" Locke silently asked. His voice was shivering. "This ... it just can't be. Spectre is a Guardian, not a Legionnaire. He can't be the son of a Grandmaster. He only went with Moritori because he has a plan. I'm sure he has a plan." He sounded like he tried to clutch at a straw.
Sabre thought otherwise. He hadn't told anyone about Spectre's past, not even Locke, but now he regretted it. He knew what Spectre was and still he blindly trusted him, they all did. No, not all of them - Thunderhawk and Sojourner had always kept their distance. And now they were dead - the only ones to mistrust him all the time were also the fist ones to be topped.
Spectre returned and stopped a bit away from the edge. He completely ignored the two Guardians and turned his attention to the Legionnaires only when he said, "I have always been a Dark Legionnaire so why should I stop being one just because I have travelled with Guardians for a while. Of course I will return to you."
"You treacherous bastard!"
Sabre's scream was nearly drowned out by the soldiers' cheers or snarky laughters.
Locke silently stared at them without really seeing anyone. He looked as if his world just had crumbled before his eyes.
Spectre only shot them a quick glance then he turned around and walked away.
"Get them out of our sight now", Moritori commanded, "all three of them."
~~~***~~~
"S-Sojo? Are you okay?"
"Ugh ... I could feel better if you weren't such a heavyweight. How the hell did you gain so much more weight?"
"That's not just me ... there are some rocks on my back."
Thunderhawk slowly propped up on his arms and debris slid off his back. They were surrounded by complete darkness again and the only thing they could hear was their own breaths.
"Seems like we're the only ones in this part of the tunnel", Sojourner silently said. "Hopefully the others are alright."
"They sure are", Thunderhawk replied. "They have Spectre with them."
He looked around in the hope his eyes would still adjust to the darkness. They both had often worked in the night and so their sight in the darkness was actually pretty good but in this tunnel they were surrounded by such an absence of light that not even their improved eyesight helped the slightest bit.
"I think we can risk some Chaos energy", Sojourner said and in his palm a little green glowing orb appeared. "Where do you think the others are now?"
"If they were able to continue their way down the tunnel they can be anywhere now but if the Legionnaires caught them and haven't executed them immediately they are probably in some kind of prison. We will just have to sniff around a bit. Come on."
Since one way of the tunnel was blocked by boulders too heavy to move they only could walk back to the door they had come in through. The corridors were empty again - a good sign that their friends were held prisoner because if they were still on the run the place would have been brimmed with soldiers and if they had been killed the duo had expected at least a little celebration. Thunderhawk just wanted to fully open the door when Sojourner held him back and nodded at a corner several meters away. A Death Legionnaire was standing there half hidden.
"It seems to be only one", Sojourner whispered, "So he shouldn't be too much of a problem. But I don't think we can shoot that far and when he spots us he will have alarmed others before we can even approach him."
"Probably too far for our own range but not too far for this", Thunderhawk said and lifted up a glowing boomerang. "I only have to get him a bit further away from that corner. Just stay back and watch the master."
He slipped out of the tunnel.
"Hey, mould face!"
The Death Legionnaire spun around and a Chaos boomerang drove right through him.
Both Guardians waited for a little longer but after neither other Legionnaires entered the corridor nor the zombie came back to life they assumed the coast was clear.
"Ew, a rotten pile", Sojourner said with a chuckle. "I think our little tech wiz would be grossed out by now."
Thunderhawk stared down at the corpse for a few seconds.
"I think soon I will be grossed out as well but it could work."
"What the hell are you doing?" Sojourner asked with a disgusted look on his face when he saw that Thunderhawk tried to pull the robe off the Legionnaire.
"Camouflage. It has to be. And now stay here. I think I heard another Legionnaire not too far away."
He tried not to breathe too much when he put on the robe and ran down the corridor. When the other soldier came in sight he slowed down a bit and lowered his head.
"Hey, I have heard that some Guardians were caught." It was just a shot in the dark but what could have gone wrong with such a statement? If he was correct the Legionnaire would confirm it and if not he would just be stared at as if he had gone insane.
He really earned such a look but then the soldier said, "Where have you been the last minutes? Of course they were." He grinned at him. "Don't tell me you slept in your cabin the whole time and missed all of the fun. Well, too bad for you if you have because they are now locked away in one of the prisons."
Thunderhawk silently cursed which only caused the Legionnaire to widen his grin.
"I guess the only thing you could do now to have at least a bit of fun is mocking them. It's not even that far if you really feel like doing it." He nodded at one of the corridors. "Just down there and through the door to sector H. We have chosen the cells there because they were the closest."
"Good, I will think about it", Thunderhawk said, turned around and walked away again as calm as possible.
"And better take a shower before you do so", the soldier called behind him. "Not even Guardians have deserved such a stench."
~~~***~~~
In their cell Sabre was marching in circles. He wished he could attack the door or the walls just to give vent to his fury but both were of a thick, sturdy material, able to reflect attacks and he didn't want to risk hurting himself or the others in his blind rage. Actually he believed it to be his fault. They had all followed Spectre because he had tried to convince them he could be trusted although he knew exactly what he had been and like sheep they were led to the slaughter. Spectre was a disgrace for his Guardian namesake. Why was a Legionnaire - Moritori's son - even named after a Guardian? Maybe Spectre had been Moritori's worst enemy in the past and he had chosen it on purpose so he at least could bring discredit on this name? Sabre didn't know enough about the Guardian history to be sure. Probably Locke did but his mind seemed to be far away at the moment.
Since they had been brought to the cell Locke had been sitting leaned against the wall, arms wrapped around his knees, staring at the opposing wall. The girl who had introduced herself as Lara knelt beside him, a hand on Locke's shoulder and looked at him helplessly. She had tried to comfort him but the boy barely reacted to anything.
"Locke..." Sabre started, not sure how he should continue. Somehow he knew how Locke must have been feeling - a boy who never had someone he could call a friend, now finally found others he believed he could trust but lost two and was betrayed by one of them only a few days later.
"I knew about it. I knew what Spectre was and I'm sorry that I haven't told you earlier. We weren't betrayed by a Guardian but just followed a Dark Legionnaire who never wanted anything else but carrying out the mission he had been given."
"But he knew when and where the Guardians would meet for the first time", Locke silently replied. "That was something only we and the Neo Walkers knew. If he never was a Guardian how did he find out about that? Why should the gods speak with a Legionnaire about it?"
Yes, why? The gods were deceived in him. Probably he had been born as a Guardian but over the years the Legion had sucked every little bit of good out of him and drilled him for their purposes.
"However he found out about it, it doesn't matter anymore. We're doomed anyways."
"What do you think they will do with us now?" Lara asked frightened.
Sabre closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "I don't know but I'm expecting the worst."
"Aw, you're too negative, Sabre-tooth."
"Yes, we're sure they only want to invite us to a barbecue party and then dance the Sirtaki with us."
Sabre's eyes snapped open. It couldn't be. Every logical part of his brain told him that they couldn't be alive anymore after being buried under such heavy boulders. He didn't care.
Locke now also had lifted up his head and was staring at the door while Sabre already had rushed to it so he could better understand what Sojourner and Thunderhawk were saying.
"This lock is the newest version of the C-400 magnetic type series", Sojourner said. "I'm not too familiar with them yet but I think I can do it. Might take a while though."
"Are you alone or is anyone with you in there?" Thunderhawk asked.
"Locke and Lara are with me. They are both okay as well."
"What about Spectre."
For a second Sabre hesitated but then he decided to tell them the harsh truth immediately.
"Spectre betrayed us", he bleakly said. "He is Moritori's son."
Silence ensued - even Sojourner had stopped working on the lock for several seconds.
"No ... this can't be... I can't believe it..." Thunderhawk said tonelessly.
"Wait a moment, you and Sojourner have been the ones who didn't trust him from the beginning and as far as I remember you had always wanted to keep an eye on him. Your suspicions had been right all the time. So why of all Echidnas is it you who suddenly can't believe that we had a traitor among us? I have seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. You can ask Locke and Lara because they have witnessed it too. Moritori called him his son and after a short talk with him Spectre came back to us and announced that he always had been a Legionnaire and always will be."
He hadn't wanted to shout at Thunderhawk but he had to give vent to his anger or else he was afraid he was going to burst.
"Have you heard what Moritori said to him?" Thunderhawk asked.
"No, Moritori just made a gesture and said he should come with him so they could talk undisturbed but after such an announcement I don't expect it was anything too good."
"You might have a point there - but probably whatever he had to say wasn't too good for Spectre as well. You said he made a gesture. What if he signalled Spectre that if he won't come with him his troops would open fire immediately or something similar? And then the deal with Moritori had been that he would let you live if Spectre joined the Dark Legion. What other choice did he have?"
Thunderhawk's words sounded logical but something inside Sabre had locked itself up against explanations and wanted to stay angry at Spectre.
"And why did Moritori call him his son then? It wasn't necessary at all to force him to that deal."
"I don't know. Maybe he is but does that matter? My parents were idiots who barely cared for her son but that doesn't mean I am the same. Sabre, you haven't looked at Spectre when we saw Moritori for the first time. I have never seen eyes that were burning with such hate like his. Someone with so much hate for a Grandmaster would never become a Dark Legionnaire, at least not a loyal one." He paused and when Sabre knew nothing to respond he continued, "And what about the training? Spectre made sure that all of us were prepared as good as possible within a very short time. If he had planned to turn us in then he would have taught us barely anything or nothing at all."
"I really hope he's right", Locke whispered.
Sabre turned around. He hadn't noticed that Locke and Lara had come close to the door as well.
"I might not know too much about any of you but what your friend said sounds ... logical to me", Lara carefully said. "I think it might be true."
Sabre opened his mouth to respond something but then he sighed and only said, "If you want to forgive Spectre that easily..."
"I'm not sure if I really have forgiven him", Locke silently said and stared at the floor, "at least not until I have heard Spectre's version of the whole story. So far I only hope Thunderhawk is right because I don't want to live with the knowledge that a Guardian is a Dark Legionnaire at heart."
"Got it", Sojourner suddenly said and it sounded as if he had a big grin on his face.
The door swung open.
"Good, and now we only have to get out of the damn camp before they find out a bunch of Echidnas are missing from the cells", Thunderhawk said.
"Do any of you still remember which way we came in?" Sabre asked.
"Well ... at first we have to get from sector H to sector D where we had been before and then..." Thunderhawk deliberately answered but then he continued, "Ah, screw it, I have no bloody idea. Let’s just start walking, try to remember our route while we’re on our way and hope for the best."
Only a few corridors later they had an unpleasant surprise - the giant gate that separated the different sectors wasn't moving an inch.
Thunderhawk cursed.
"Why is that thing locked now? We could pass it without problems only a few minutes ago."
"I told you it might be a trap", Sojourner said. "That Legionnaire probably smelled a rat - even though you tried to cover it with the stench of a corpse. For someone with the smell of a zombie you behaved too lively and everything went too smooth so far."
Locke's gaze wandered up and down the gate until he pointed at a small bay in the wall between gate and ceiling.
"There's an unprotected part of the opening system. If I could get up there I could try to jam it."
"Why wasting time with technical nick-nack if you can have it fast and easy?" Thunderhawk said, dragged the boomerang from his belt, shortly took aim and shot.
Sparks rained down on them when the wooden weapon crashed with the electronic and got stuck in it. The door opened so fast that it slammed against the next wall. The noise echoed through the corridors.
"Well, I can't say it wasn't fast", Sabre commented, "but I doubt there's a single Echidna left in this building who hasn't heard it. Come on, we have to find one of these side corridors quickly so we have at least a bit of cover before they all are out for us again."
Thunderhawk gave the stuck boomerang a last wistful glance but since they had too less time to climb up and try to get it out he just shrugged and followed the others.
It didn't happen only once that they had to return to the last crossway and head for another corridor because every single path in the one they had taken before seemed to be a dead end with locked doors only. Neither Locke nor Sojourner knew any ways to open them - at least no fast ways and time was the least thing they had at the moment because they now could hear soldiers marching through the corridors. Actually they also could have stopped running right now and waited for their enemies to approach since with every locked door they passed it became clearer they followed a path planned by the Dark Legionnaires in advance.
Suddenly one of the doors was slammed open, a Legionnaire dashed into the corridor, grabbed Lara's arm and pushed a weapon against her head.
"Screw it, our little hunting game is over. I don't want to wait anymore. Don't move or your little girl will be dead."
Locke's movement was so fast no one saw it coming and only a second later the Legionnaire was lying on the floor coiled up in pain. But after that attack more and more Legionnaires decided their time of waiting was over and stormed the corridor.
"Out of our way!" Thunderhawk shouted and drove a blast through the Legionnaires in front of them. "If you want us then you will have to drag away our dead bodies."
Sojourner fell behind so he could be their rear-guard. Sabre was ready to use his shield in case the unarmed Lara needed it but so far it wasn't needed anymore. The Legionnaires had weapons but they didn't use them at all and only tried to stop the Guardians by getting in their way.
"What the hell are they doing?" Locke called. "Why aren't they attacking?"
"Because they are waiting for them!" Lara cried out and pointed at something over their heads.
On a bridge that led over the corridor Death Legionnaires had appeared and aimed with their guns. Sabre breathed in sharply when one of their blasts hit his arm. It barely hurt but an ice cold feeling suddenly spread through his arm and he could hardly move it anymore.
"They are trying to immobilize us", Sojourner gasped and only a few seconds later he broke down to his knees when a blaster hit him as well.
"What a pathetic attempt to escape. But at least you saved us a lot of work because we now only need to drag you half of the way", a Legionnaire said walking closer to the paralyzed Guardians with a smug grin on his face. "Get them to the arena. Some of our projects need to test their new cybernetics and I'm sure all of us are eager to see how our little Guardians will prove themselves in a battle against them."
~~~***~~~
The arena was a large room with a very high ceiling. The network of bridges and planks along the walls or above their heads was filled with Dark and Death Legionnaires - the audience to whatever would happen now. The Guardians had been tossed into the middle of it and some seconds later the paralyzing effect slowly wore off so they could stand up again.
"Welcome to my little testing area", the well-known voice of Moritori sounded over their heads. "I might have promised one of my sons not to damage you too much before kicking your bums out of my camp but now that I already have the chance to test the latest cybernetics on real Guardians I couldn't resist. If you don't survive this battle then you wouldn't have been worth living anyways. And now let me introduce you to our projects E-108, Hades and E-109, Lanzer."
Two doors at opposing sides of the room opened and two Legionnaires stepped out of them. It was hard to tell if they belonged to the Dark or the Death team because their amount of cybernetics even overtopped the late Xenin's and made them completely look like robots. The one who had written the number 108 on both of his shoulders had long razor sharp claws, the other one was lighter built and had no visible weapons yet but a faint glow was shining through the wires on his chest and indicated they had tried a Chaos Core once again. Thunderhawk pulled the daggers from his belt, handed one of them Sojourner and the other one Lara.
"I'm sure Sabre will try his best to shield you but I don't know how much you can depend on him once the battle gets too rough and I want you to have at least anything to defend yourself", he explained to her. "I hope you know how to handle it."
"I learned to defend myself against desert predators", Lara said and gladly took the dagger. "But don't you need one too now that your boomerang is gone? And what about Locke and Sabre?"
"Let's just hope we three improved enough so we don't need weapons anymore."
Now Lanzer's body was fully surrounded by the faint glow. He ran forwards a few steps, jumped, flew up a little higher and then while gliding towards them at full speed he stretched out his arms and Chaos beams shot from his palms. The Guardians and Lara leapt out of the way and the attack only missed by centimetres.
"Hey, no fair, he's attacking with our own weapons", Sojourner shouted when Lanzer made a turn at the end of the arena to come back for another blast.
Hades was coming closer too but slower, more carefully and walked around them like a cat encircling its prey.
Thunderhawk let out a laugh.
"A hummingbird and a kitty, how cute. Let's split up for this battle. Sabre, Locke and Lara, you stay with the clawed slowpoke. Sojo and I will try to find out if the birdy can keep up with our speed."
He and Sojourner ran to the other side of the arena. Hades spun around and for a second it looked as if he wanted to run after them but then he decided otherwise and charged at the three Echidnas closer to him.
Locke parried the strike with his bare hands, claws cutting through flesh. Both combatants stumbled back, the Legionnaire in surprise, Locke holding his hand in pain but only a few drops of blood fell down to the floor, his rapid healing ability already had closed the major part of the wound.
"You're good little Guardian", Hades said. His voice sounded too clear for being a zombie or a robot so somewhere beneath all this metal and wires there still had to be a living Echidna. "The question is, how long can you keep going."
His next attack was towards Sabre. The Guardian could protect himself against the first blow but the second destroyed his quickly created and not too strong shield and only a leap backwards prevented him from a slash through the chest. A roundhouse kick by Locke hit Hades and sent him crashing against the balustrade of one of the lower bridges. With a cry of fury he dashed off the bridge, crashed against Locke and nailed him to the ground. One of Sabre's Chaos attacks hit him but it only pushed him a bit off Locke, not far enough that the youngest Guardian was out of his reach. He raised one of his claws...
Lara's dagger found a less protected part on his back, drove through the wires and then into flesh. The Legionnaire howled with pain and spun around, tried to slash the female with both of his clawed hands. The same second he was hit by two different Chaos blasts and sent flying several meters away. For a few seconds he remained lying motionless but then he slowly rose again and showed them a wicked grin.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but you missed everything important", he said and coughed up blood.
Another time Lanzer shot by over their heads and Sojourner and Thunderhawk had to dodge a rain of Chaos energy. They shot their own attacks at him but barely grazed him.
"This thing is flying pretty fast", Thunderhawk growled. "If we remain on the ground and he stays in the air it's a very unfair fight. Sojo, you have been gliding once. Do you think you can do it again?"
"I think once I'm in the air I could stay up there for a little while but I can't start gliding from the ground."
"And if I give you a little jump-start?"
Thunderhawk bent over a little, his hands formed a stirrup. Sojourner put a foot into it and when he shortly nodded his friend jerked up and catapulted him into the air. Sojourner barely had the time to control his flight when Lanzer crashed into him. The Legionnaire tried to shake him off but the Guardian quickly wrapped his arms and feet around him. Lanzer couldn't attack him or else he would have hit himself too so he tried to aim at Thunderhawk instead but missed him by a good metre. The blast hit the wall and left a crack there. Thunderhawk drew his breath in sharply when he looked at the wall.
"Dear Aurora... that thing isn't just fast; it also has a strong shot. Sojo, be careful, do you hear me?"
In the air the younger Guardian was still wrestling with the Legionnaire. Lanzer couldn't fly straight anymore and only tried his best not to collide with any of the bridges. Finally Sojourner was able to draw his dagger and slammed it into one of Lanzer's cybernetic eyes. The Legionnaire screamed in pain, covered his eye, now really crashed into a bridge and fell. Sojourner managed to turn them both around so Lanzer was under him before they hit the ground and so the Legionnaire absorbed most of the impact. Still feeling a bit dazed Sojourner stumbled away from him before Lanzer could charge up his next attack. The Legionnaire leapt back to his feet and raised an arm to deal another strong blow but before he could do so a crescent-shaped Chaos attack slashed through his side. He quickly turned around to face Thunderhawk and the returning Chaos boomerang hit his head, leaving a deep cut there as well. With a cry of rage Lanzer shot beams in two different directions. Thunderhawk narrowly dodged the attack but it hit Sojourner's side and the younger Guardian fell. Believing Sojourner was out of his way now, the Legionnaire turned his full attention to Thunderhawk and readied another Chaos blast. But then Sojourner propped up on his heavily shaking arms, managed to sit up on his knees, lifted up his dagger glowing with energy and shot it towards Lanzer. The weapon drove through metal and flesh and right into his Chaos Core. For a second Lanzer stood still, eyes opened wide then he toppled over. Thunderhawk ran to Sojourner and was just able to catch him before he sank back to the ground.
"Are you ... are you okay?"
"It just burns so much", Sojourner mumbled. "But give me a minute and it will heal."
Thunderhawk nodded and looked up at the other battle that was still going on.
Hades had become faster but there were several burn marks on his armour, he was bleeding and it was obvious he wouldn't be able to continue for too long anymore. He couldn't attack all three Echidnas the same time and wherever he turned he could be sure to either be shot by another Chaos blast or to get stabbed. Finally his legs gave in and he sank to the ground.
The four Guardians and Lara came together in the middle of the arena again. Now that the battle and most of the adrenaline rush were over they noticed the deafening noise in the room. Were the Legionnaires really cheering for Guardians or were they just screaming for more blood?
"As you have seen your newest cybernetics still have some major flaws", Thunderhawk called at Moritori and hoped he could even be heard through all the noise. "But we played along and now keep the promise you have given to your son and let us go."
"Oh yes, you have proven that you are worthy warriors but still I have a last task for you. Don't worry, it's something very easy and can be done very fast then you are finally allowed to go", Moritori said and a malicious smile spread on his face. "I only promised my son to let the Guardians go but I don't think he mentioned the slave. Like I said, she will be punished for not obeying my wishes and a slave who doesn't obey a Grandmaster's wishes is facing death penalty."
Locke's grip on Lara's hand tightened and he lightly changed position so he was protectively standing in front of her while giving Moritori a silent death glare. And then the Grandmaster revealed his last task.
"Kill the girl, then you are free to go wherever you want to."
In the resulting silence Locke's voice sounded like a thunder boom.
"Like hell we will! You can be glad I'm not able to levitate or else I would have come up there to kick your sorry ass!"
"I don't think this is your final answer", Moritori calmly said and the sound of cocking guns was echoing through the hall. The Legionnaires on the bridges closest to the Guardians had readied their weapons.
"I give you a little more time to think your decision over", the Grandmaster said. "Either you kill the girl or all of you will be killed - one by one so that the remaining ones can watch how their friends are dying."
Immediately the other Guardians encircled Lara and glared at the Legionnaires on the bridges but they knew they had come to a dead end. They either had to become murderers of someone they had sworn to protect and one of their own team - because before they could kill Lara they would have to eliminate Locke first - or they would die. They only could decide between two wrongs.
~~~***~~~
Author's note:
The name similarity between the Lara in this story and Lara-Le is not because I was too lazy to find a new name - it has a reason. I will probably mention it in the next chapter - and if not in the next then in one of the following.
The Chaos Core already made its appearance in one of my older fanfics where Dark Legion scientists built it into Xenin's chest and I wanted to mention it yet again.
