PART 5
Nathan finally fished out his hat and set it on a fold-up chair to dry out. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, kiddo!”
Herbert rubbed the back of his neck and showed a small smile. “Well, it probably didn’t help that you just disappeared for years without telling me where you were going. Hard to keep in touch like that…”
“Oh yeah!” Nathan seemed uninterested as he stuck a fork into a slit in the scales of a raw fish. “Want some sushi?” He offered the forkful of fish flesh to Herbert.
“That’s not- No, I’m good.” Herbert said with a sigh as he sat beside Nathan.
Nathan shrugged his shoulders and ate the fish. “How did you find me in the end?”
“You were in a dream of mine. It showed me this place and I figured that my dreams hadn’t steered me wrong so far, so came here. Look, I’m not really here to catch up. I’m here about
The Redeemer.” Herbert sounded as though the name was poison on the tip of his tongue.
“Look kid, I really don’t want to talk about-“
“
He killed my father, Nathan! He is putting his plan into action, NOW! I’m going to do this with or without you, and I’m not going to lie, I could really use your help.” Herbert pleaded.
There was a pause and then there was a tired sigh from Nathan. “Okay.” He sounded exasperated. “I will tell you everything I know about the Redeemer’s power and then I’ll see how much you’ve come along in these years.”
Herbert’s eyes lit up, as though he had been waiting for the opportunity to show off his abilities. “Alright then Nathan, let’s hear what you’ve got.”
{Olympus headquarters}“Alright Rora, your day pass is almost up.” James stated as Aurora put down her coffee.
With Lucio in the group, eventually the tension had simmered down and they talked about merrier times. They reminisced over their university days, talked about the most ridiculous criminals they had to take on and explained about their home lives. Aurora was not surprised that Chris and Lucio had become friends with benefits, which happened a short while after Chris and Herbert broke up. Neither Chris nor Lucio had met ‘the one’ and they were both seemingly happy with that, but it was apparent that Chris continued to hold on to the thought of Herbert.
Ed was single. She had met a few guys but they became way too creepy for her liking in the bedroom. Their level of kink was just something she did not feel comfortable with. However, she had hope after meeting a new Super recently recruited into Olympus. His name was Dave and he was everybody’s friend. Everyone was convinced he had a thing for Ed, and Ed wouldn’t exactly say no to him.
James kept quiet about his home life as did Aurora.
Aurora stood up as James smoothed out the wrinkles on his shirt. “It’s been really nice seeing you all again.” Aurora quietly said with a genuine smile on her face. “I almost don’t want to leave.”
“It’s been great seeing you again, amica!” Lucio grinned.
“I would say you’re always welcome back here, but,” Chris glared at James. “You know what Olympus are usually like with rules.”
“I’m actually surprised you were let in here at all.” Ed said. At that moment, Ed became extremely thoughtful. The rest of the world blurred around her as she started to piece things together. Ed was too focused on why someone like Aurora would be let into the building. She didn’t hear the others say their goodbyes and didn’t notice Aurora and James leave the room.
Suddenly everything went dark. Golden eyes widened as Ed snapped her head around to bark at the door. “Where’s Aurora?!”
“Huh? I think they were going to say goodbye to Olem.” Lucio muttered as he stared at the ceiling.
Ed leapt out of the room.
“Ed?!” Chris shouted into the darkness. The lights flickered back on. Chris exchanged a confused look with Lucio before they both gave chase.
At the basement, James swiped his cardkey and the door opened. As soon as Aurora stepped inside the room, the door slammed shut. The monitors went dead and the lights turned off. The emergency lights illuminated the room with a dull, green glow. Aurora span on her heels and tried to push the door open.
James frantically banged on the door from the other side. “AURORA!”
“James?! What’s going on?”
He continued to pound the steel. “It’s a power cut!”
“Backup generator?”
“The one for this part of the building has its routine maintenance today! Of all the times we fucking need it!” James whacked a fist against the door with all his might. “You’re in danger! In about 60 seconds he’ll wake up! Those shackles won’t hold him back!”
Aurora looked confused. “T-that’s okay? Olem would never hurt me.”
James closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the glass. “There are a lot of things I don’t tell you, Rora, one of them is that our friendship wasn’t an accident.” He moved his head up and gazed into Aurora’s eyes with regretful ones. “The vaccine against Olem’s powers, the one Fulgur had; we thought we could just make it out of Lucio’s DNA but it didn’t work. Then I bumped into you one day and I remember from a long time ago you told me Olem’s powers never fully worked on you, to the point that eventually you just out-right resisted the symptoms.”
“I-I don’t get what this had to-“
“Think about how many times I took your mugs back to the counter! The times I’ve given you tissues that I got rid of for you! The paper cut you got when I leant you my book! I’ve been collecting your DNA for the vaccine! We had a breakthrough. Alongside Lucio’s DNA, yours was the missing ingredient to nullify the Plague Doctor’s powers. The others never knew about this, I promise.”
“You-“ Aurora could feel anger bubble beneath her skin, but she tried to push it aside. “Does
he know this?!”
“YES! Fulgur likes to torture the minds of his victims! When he told Olem that an old friend of his made the vaccine, he told him it was YOU who made it,
WILLINGLY!”
Aurora took her hands away from the door. “Oh my God, he’s going to kill me.” She crashed her fists against the steel. “YOU MADE HIM THINK I BETRAYED HIM?!”
“IT WASN’T ME! I WASN’T THERE!” James saw Olem’s eyes slowly open. “Aurora, you need to hide, NOW!”
Olem’s vision was blurry. He looked around the dark room, unable to fix his sights onto anything particular. He pushed his head back and stared at the ceiling. His expression twisted into one of anger as his vision returned to normal. On the roof, lit up by the green glow, was a large Olympus logo. His view dropped down to look at the door. A woman was stood in front of it.
‘An Olympus employee?’ He struggled against his restraints.
Aurora heard the jingle of the metal and turned around to look at Olem. A mixture of elation and pure fear washed over her body.
The woman had turned to face him. Olem squinted his eyes for a moment. He couldn’t see her features.
“Cover your eyes! I’m going to blind him!” James roared as he dragged his powers from within him. Aurora did just that. She dropped to the floor and buried her face into the joint of her elbow. James’ body turned into a stunningly bright white light. However, as light started to pour into the room through the porthole, James suddenly froze.
Aurora peeked from behind her arm. She could see Olem clearly. That meant he could see her.
Olem winced at the new light. His pupils shrunk and grew as they tried to adjust to the new brightness. They hurt him for a few seconds, but the pain vanished quite quickly. Aurora stood up to see what had happened to James. He was frozen solid; as stiff and still as a statue. Olem glared at the back of the woman.
“Who are you?!”
Aurora felt a lump in her throat. She slowly turned around to look at Olem. His green stare burnt into her. The lack of pink hair had thrown him off, but he recognised her face almost immediately. As though his body acted on its own accord, the manacles around him were broken as he stepped towards her.
Olem’s eyes had softened momentarily. “Aurora?” Then they hardened again.
She had no time to think. Within the blink of an eye, Olem had grabbed her by the throat. Aurora was lifted off her feet and smacked against the wall. “Why did I ever think I could trust you?!”
“P-please Olem! Olympus have tricked you! AND ME!” Her words gurgled as he increased the pressure on her neck.
“YOU HELPED THEM!”
“I-“ Olem squeezed so hard that Aurora could only produce a pathetic wheeze in response.
“Use your fucking power!” Olem growled.
“…n…o…” Aurora struggled out.
Olem furrowed his brow even further. “Fine. Die without a fight.” He continued to choke her until her skin started to change colour and she lost consciousness. Olem was about to finish the job before something inside of him stopped him. His hand let go and her body dropped to the floor. He combed his fingers through his hair and turned away from her.
A familiar feeling wrapped around Olem. A deafening silence enveloped the room. Olem looked up. A hole was blown into the wall. Debris showered down over him and Aurora. There stood in the wreckage was The Redeemer of Men.
The Redeemer entered the room with a tiger by one side of him and Reaper on the other. The tiger roared at Olem as if the sight of him sickened it. The Redeemer rose his hand. “Now, now, Signe. That’s not how we greet an old friend.”
Olem glared at the Redeemer. The last time they had talked didn’t end well for Olem. “Why are you here?”
The Redeemer approached Olem. His eyes behind his mask scanned over Aurora’s limp body. “I told you those years ago, that she was your biggest weakness. You refused to believe me and now look where you are. A rat trapped in Olympus’ cage. Why are
you here?” There was a silence where Olem refused to look at him. “BECAUSE OF
HER!”
Olem felt his hands tighten into fists. “Tch.”
“You cannot trust anyone but me. I hoped that time would never have had to prove that to you, but here we are.” The Redeemer opened his arms out but Olem was still silent. “I’m going to do something that I don’t do very often. I’m going to give you another chance. Olem, are you ready to re-join me?”
There was a long pause before Olem finally turned to look at The Redeemer. “Yes.”
While no-one could see The Redeemer’s face, they could almost feel his smile. “Excellent! Let us celebrate. Olem, kill the woman.”
“What?!” He glowered at his boss.
The Redeemer’s next words boomed around the room. “
DO NOT QUESTION ME.” The Redeemer made a tight fist. “She has already proven to be too much of a problem for you.”
“And I’ll deal with that in my own way.” Olem spat out through gritted teeth.
The tiger took on the form of a blonde-haired woman. She gave The Redeemer a look of pure loyalty with a sadistic smile. “My lord, I will-”
“Shut up, Signe.” The Redeemer snapped and Signe retreated a step back. “If you do not end her, I will.”
Olem glanced back at Aurora’s body. He could already see the bruise appearing on her neck from where his hand had been. He stared at her. All the memories that he had with her flooded to the forefront of his mind. He closed his eyes and his shoulders tensed up. “…”
The Redeemer sighed. “I gave you the chance to do it yourself. REAPER!”
A swirl of blackness vaulted towards Aurora. Her person was lifted into the air and as quick as a flash, darkness began to spray out of her body.
“AURORA!” Olem jolted forward and caught her body once the black had turned crimson and she fell through the air. He held her corpse close as he felt her warm blood soak him. He could feel himself shake.
Signe took Olem’s civilian clothes into her custody while Reaper collected the Plague Doctor attire. The Redeemer put his hand on Olem’s shoulder. “It had to be done. She has always held you back from reaching your full potential. Now, together, we can finish what we started.”
Time returned to normal, but all that remained in the room was Aurora’s lifeless form. A bright light filled the room as James was brought back into regular time. Once his attack had settled down, he could see the huge hole in the wall bleeding into a tunnel to the surface. Then he saw Aurora.
Ed, Lucio and Chris caught up to James and bombarded him with questions. He stood there in silence as they shook him and shouted at him.
‘This is all my fault…’ Was the only thought that echoed in his head. Ed continued to rattle him, asking questions about whether he had used Aurora for the vaccine. Whether he knew that the Redeemer would use her to bait out Olem's anger. Ed had already pieced it together, but because of Olympus' secrets, she was too late.
{A nice house}A knock came at the front door. The man in his house put the little girl down in her playpen. “Oh, I bet Mummy has forgotten her keys again!” He chuckled as he answered the door. He was taken back by the presence of two police officers.
“Mr Clyde Beige? My name is Officer Peter Jameson and this is Officer Jamal Dar. We’re sorry, we have some distressing news about your wife, Aurora Beige. May we come in?”