Nox had missed something as Connor and Ayden took the ear pieces from his hand. When Aria next spoke he could hear the change in her voice. The emotion was completely gone, but it wasn't the complete lack like she was wrapped in her bubble. Nox shivered - she'd let it in.
"Tell me, Diego, where is Aurora? ...
Nox's heart skipped a beat, she was still there - one small hope. He could see her in his minds eye making the man do her bidding. A simple touch on his hand or cheek with her velvety voice commanding. It was not an easy feat to break. He could feel her hand on his arm like she'd done so many times before and shuddered. It took all he had to break free of her grasp and now it came so easily. When she'd touched him earlier it was like slipping out of his clothes. Easy and natural. This man was putty in her hands.
The voice of the man came out like he was in love with Aria so sensual, so willing to please. "She is dead."
Nox's world crashed in around him. He fell to his knees and could not hear anything but the blood rushing through his ears. He'd let her die. She was gone. Everyone was gone. Nox's heart raced, he fought for every breath as the world he had known broke into tiny pieces. His sister was dead. He'd failed her. He was the cause.
Nox wanted to cry but the tears didn't fall. He felt empty and broken. He heard crying and he focused on it. Aria whispered, "He's dead, Nox. He's dead."
She'd killed for him. She'd broken for him and now they were both in pieces.
Nox grabbed the power and every thing was enhanced but he didn't care. There was a soft voice in his ear. "Nox come back. Please. I can't do this alone."
Aria pleaded. It took him a moment to realize what she was talking about. But he let the power slipped away; the world grew dim and Nox fell against the wall and held his knees to his chest fighting the feelings that were overwhelming him.
Connor kept his eye on Ayden. Being around Nox seemed to put her on edge, which he didn't understand. The kid was harmless.
Once the earphones were in he heard the Aria speak. She sounded odd. He wondered if that was because it was being broadcast or something. But that didn't matter. She had asked her question about Aurora. Connor watched Nox. He prayed silently that the response would be good, that Nox could save his sister.
All hope was dashed to pieces as the man spoke. The response was neither sullen nor ashamed. It was proud and Connor's stomach churned. Evil. Pure evil. Evil took what it wanted no matter who it harmed. And Connor saw the look on Nox's face- equal parts sorrow and equal parts guilt. He fell to his knees.
Connor walked to him and crouched to put his arm around the kid, just let him feel his support. Words were useless at this time. But he had to let him know he was there. He looked up at Ayden, pain plain on his face. He remembered this feeling, remembered the what-ifs. His heart broke for him.
And then he heard Aria's voice. The emotion was there now- it was pleading and Nox seemed to break. He leaned back against the wall and put his head on his knees, for all the world like Hayden used to do. Connor pulled his arm free and put it on his neck, squeezing softly. "I'm so sorry Nox."
he whispered.
Ayden was still furious as she took an ear piece from the boy's hand grumpily. She looked at the receiver and nodded. It was a good piece of tech. She'd had a better set, but for a group of rag tag kids they had good gear she had to admit. Ayden wondered if these two had this, what other gadgets the better Atharim had - the old ones the ones who had many kills under their belt.
It was hard for Ayden to believe that these two were like her in so many ways. It made her sad for a moment as she stuck the ear piece in and heard the raven haired trollop seducing the man with her voice. What the hell did she think she was doing?
But he answered her and Ayden's fury rose. She reached for the power as she watched the boy fall to his knees and Connor go to him. Anger reached out and she could feel the fire wanting to billow from her. She let it go. Now was not the time and place to react with such haste.
Ayden was torn between the pained look on her loves face and going up to kill the man who'd killed an innocent girl because he had wanted to set her free. Whimpering and tears came over the comms and Ayden barely heard the five words that were said. He's dead.
She was far more confused about anything that was going on. There was no fighting sounds, this man had just died and now the little girl was crying. Seriously get the fuck out.
"Get out of there you idiot."
Ayden put her had on the back of Connor's neck. Just touching him seemed to calm her down. Someone had to keep a clear head out of there. Ayden whispered loudly into the comms.
"Get the fuck out, Aria!"
From the ground the boy looked up with at her with a sullen face. The tears were silently falling and his voice was broken.
"She can't hear you, Duckling. But it's alright. He died of natural causes. Or that's what they'll say - heart attack."
Ayden just stared at the two men with a blank look, how the hell could a young man like that die of a fucking heart attack!
Edited by
Ayden, Sep 17 2015, 12:40 PM.
[[continued from
Of Assassination and Murder - Part 2]]
Aria lay on the floor for what felt like countless minutes. Before she pulled herself up. She felt Nox crumbling - that's whose pain had shattered as the words that were said with the sweet caress of pride and adoration. The words sickened her stomach.
Aria had wanted to relish the fact that this man's pain was hers, but she instead gave him happiness - he didn't deserve happiness. But he was dead without a struggle. He would be declared dead of natural causes like Lucas. Another crack in her shields, Lucas was gone forever.
Aria trudged to her coat slung over the arm chair and pulled out the ear piece from its safe place in the zippered pocket. She heard someone yelling at her in the ear piece as she slipped it on.
Aria took a deep breath as she belted her sword to her hip and felt the comforting weight of it again. She pulled her coat on sleeve by sleeve and felt the silky lining caress her skin. Aria paid attention to the littlest detail as Nox spoke to the fiery red head. He sounded distant and broken and Aria's heart ached for him. She ached for herself, her own loss - his loss. She could feel the hurt in his voice as if it were her own.
Aria spoke gently through the void of emotionless pain.
"I'm here. But he's right. There should be no danger."
Aria made her way to the elevator and pushed the down arrow. The button flashed at her and the display read "lock down initiated". Lovely.
Aria looked around for something, anything that could help her escape this horrid place.
"Connor, you there? The penthouse is in lock down. Any idea how I can undo it from here?"
Aria didn't want to have to call the police but she would if it would get her out of her faster.
Nox joked at Ayden and Connor's heart went out to him. It was pure deflection. The kid would bottle it up and let it eat at him from the inside out. it would come out.
He could taste rum on the back of his tongue. He touched his eyebrow. The scar had healed over nicely. Ayden said it was only faintly visible, her delicate fingers gently touching the area that had been bruised and split. Yes, it would come out, even in self destructive ways.
But Connor would be there for him. There it is again, he thought. Another suppressed feeling worming its way out. No, this was different. I'm not suppressing my loss. I just miss it. It's who I am.
Aria's voice came over the head-set. She was in the building with the dead body. He tried not think of how that happened. He couldn't say she was wrong. He had killed for something similar. Evil men who took their pleasure in other's pain.
"Yeah I'm here Aria."
He tried to clear his head and think. So the apartment was in lock-down. Very likely that meant it was to protect someone inside. Which probably meant that getting in from outside was supposed to be the hard part. Course, emergency services would have a master override. But that stuff was kept really secret. No sense in having a security system when there was a master key that could over ride it that was freely available on the web.
"Look around for some kind of room control panel. It'll have AC control, security, lights. Whatever. There's probably a way to shut it down there."
A thought occurred to him. "Look at his phone. I bet he has a control app."
Now to hope that the securiyt didn't require a deactivation password.
Connor was at his side and he barely even noticed until Aria pulled their attention back to the situation at hand. Ayden had been yelling and all he could think was shut up, she can't hear you. He responded out of habit, out of complete dysfunction. It wasn't until after he'd called her Duckling and she ignored it that he realized he'd even spouted the name he knew would only piss her off.
Aria needed out - lock down. Things seemed fuzzy. Nox was glad Connor was there to help. But why was he fussing over him. The man hardly knew him, yet here he was helping and being concerned for a man who was hunting his girlfriend... It was too much to think about, he couldn't think straight. Aurora was gone. Pushed away by his own actions. She was dead because of him.
Dead... How could she be dead. Had Aria gotten a location? The man was dead. But could he bury his sister? Pain lanced through his body but he couldn't feel it.
Nox stood up slowly. Aria needed out. Focus on that, focus on getting the only family he had left back at his side instead of locked in the last place Aurora's killer had been alive. Aria had killed him. Nox would have liked to do that, but Aria was probably right, it looked better if he died that way. No pain, no reason other than his heart gave out. He didn't deserve it. He deserved to have his heart carved from his chest and pulled out while it still beat. The dark imagery flooded through his mind and he could see Aria doing just the same.
Nox leaned against the wall and took a deep breath and realized he couldn't have done it, not even a little. He'd have hesitated. Even in his anger, the man would have gotten away. The words she was dead had paralyzed him. Aria continued, she moved forward, she did what had to be done. But he couldn't.
Nox closed his eyes and prayed - really prayed that Aria came back from this, he didn't think he could kill her in cold blood. He couldn't kill this man, how was he suppose to kill a girl he found to be family?
Edited by
Nox, Sep 21 2015, 12:46 PM.
Connor gave her some idea for something to look for thought Aria was still fumbling around. Her head was full of nothing, she'd flipped the switch again and the only thing she could feel was Nox - his overwhelming pain. It was what made her move. She couldn't think about what she'd done or why. Only to move forward.
Right now her goal was to get out. Aria found Diego's phone and a security app on it. It was password protected - of course it was. Something tickled in the back of Aria's mind. She thought about the way he'd described killing Aurora about how he'd felt. The words that came out of his mouth. The connection each word made to his soul. Each word resonated with him. He had truly believed in in it. Truly believed. Aria was disgusted at the thoughts a man could have over the vile things he had done. She understood enjoying the hunt, and even the kill. She could feel the thrill and the enjoyment pulsating just at the edge of her emotions. She wanted to embrace it. Wanted to feel it. Wanted to be one with it, but that wasn't her. That was her obsession, the desires of another creature. One she refused to be - didn't want to be. Yet it still called to her.
Aria typed out 'g-o-d-d-e-s-s' into the security app and she was rewarded. He was a sick man. He had deserved to die!
"I found it. Thank you. I need you to do one more thing for me."
It wasn't for her really, it was for Nox. But she was asking. "Connor, I need you to get Nox away from here, now. I'll be right behind you."
Aria didn't wait for a response, she knew Connor would listen. He had a good head on his shoulders. Aria found the locking mechanism and undid it. She wasn't sure if either setting or unsetting it had alerted the authorities, but it really didn't matter, she was going to call now.
Aria used Deigo's phone to call emergency facilities posing as a maid. She left quickly afterwards making sure to wipe down her prints from his phone and the glass she'd been using. There were things she had been trained to do. Killing a human being and not getting caught was one of them. But there was really no foul play involved. But she didn't want to be seen here either. If this had been a real mission they'd have tapes wiped and other things taken care of too. And they could still, Aurora was one of theirs. Aria would talk to Borovsky about it when she saw him. But she had a few matters of her own to take care of first.
Aria started down the elevator and out of the building and followed in the other's wake. She'd find them and they'd deal with whatever they needed to in this aftermath.
It seemed as if everything had spun out of control. Of course, that was an illusion. Not that things were out of control. Rather, that they ever were in control. You made your plans, you took your precautions, you tried to plan for everything and then you saw it all fall to pieces.
His eyes focused on Nox, the kid who was wracked with guilt and pain and was trying to hide it with jokes. Aria's last words were still hanging in the air. He looked up at Ayden with a question in his eyes, a slight shrug of the shoulder. Aria was...different. She would and could take care of herself. And he knew Ayden well enough- and had seen what Ayden did just meeting Aria- that he knew that he had to let Aria be. But Nox wasn't Aria. And while Ayden didn't care for Nox, part of that was his mask of bravado. The kid wasn't that bad, really.
Still, he waited for Ayden's decision. He wouldn't make it alone, wouldn't put more on her than she was willing to shoulder. Because that was his job, to look out for her and respect her needs and feelings- and even protect her, no matter how un-pc that might seem- regardless of anyone else.
Ayden looked at Connor and then back at Nox. What the hell was going on? She'd heard everything that was going on and nothing at all made sense. Nothing.
Ayden shook her head. "He's not going anywhere with us until I know what the hell just happened."
Ayden jumped when a wallet started ringing. It took her a moment to realize that Nox's phone lay on the ground in front of him. He just looked at it. She read the name 'Bas'. She picked it up. At least it was a distraction from the chaos that was going on. Ayden tried to answer the call but it refused to unlock. Ayden sighed. Stupid Atharim!
She handed Nox the phone but he didn't take it, swiped his finger across the sensor. She eyed him questioningly and held the wallet to her ear, "Nox is busy freaking out right now."
Ayden didn't hear anything on the other side of the phone...
Nox was too on edge to even try to reach for the power, it would either burn him up from the inside out or he'd unleash hell on someone who didn't deserve it. It was best not to even put himself in that position.
Connor looked to Ayden despite Aria's command. Nox started to move in the direction of the metro except Ayden started ranting about not going anywhere with him until she knew what the hell happened. Here was definitely not the place to tell her that Aria had just committed murder. Thankfully there was a distraction and Ayden took the bait, even though he'd not done it on purpose.
His wallet lay silently on the ground. Thank god Bas had just called or he'd have been screwed big time. The fiery red head had the audacity to answer his phone. He could have been made but he found it mildly amusing even though his heart wasn't in it. Nox slide his finger over the sensor to unlock it and she answered it in the best way possible. She was mildly amusing in her anger.
But it was the concern that creased her brow that made Nox concerned Bas was not one to call him for help or express need to. They weren't exactly on the same side of the law. He snatched the phone from Ayden and she glared at him as she shouted "Hey..."
The other side was filled with static like noise. Very little was able to be heard. Nox reached for his power and listened closer, it wasn't like being in the same room, but he could hear a voice - female, he could barely make out the words. "No one's getting burned on this. We did it clean and with no casualties and no attention. Well 'cept for this guy."
"I didn't ask you to stay and explain this. I asked you how you would. And while you gave me a great explanation for the reason the cops won't care you didn't tell me how you'd explain it. But I guess that's how you American's work."
Fuck me.... He recognized that voice, it was hard not to miss the voice of that man. What the hell was he doing on the other end of the Bas's phone. There was little more left to explain anything because the call was cut off. Things just kept getting shittier and shittier. Where the fuck was Bas? The Atharim had caught up with him which meant he was likely dead. But why the fuck was he calling me??? SHIT!