[5] The Final Ten

[Kaden]

Fatigue was a funny thing. There were times when it was a simple task to go a night without sleep. There were times when simply staying awake for five or six hours was an exercise in masochism. And there were also times when the best thing to do was to simply not think about it. Like so many other things in his life, Kaden had been able to push past his fatigue by just pushing it to the back of his mind. His mind, however, was getting fed up with that crap.

To his left, Kaden watched Piper shift her weight uncomfortably; a moan of pain escaped her lips as she applied pressure to the wound in her hip. Turning his attention to his right, Kaden was still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that Sophia, a priestess, was involved in this psychotic game. The kid -- Juno. Sorry, the courier thought to himself -- that was with her seemed to be watching everyone in the party with varying degrees of interest.

It was at that moment that the last couple of days decided to catch up with Kaden. His body had been so full of adrenaline, and his mind so focused on just staying alive, that even when idle, Kaden felt full of energy. Things had turned so quickly that he wasn't really prepared to deal with it. It was all the courier could do to try mask the more phsyical symptoms.

There was no doubt that Sophia could, at least to Kaden, be a huge help in bringing down Kai. Juno, if his little demonstration was to be believed, was capable in his own rights as well. Simply the idea of having another person around who wasn't a complete stranger would be comforting to Kaden's nerves. Before they could do anything, though, they needed to deal with their situation.

With a short sigh, the courier brought his hand to the top of his head and let it sit there as he thought, his fingers unconsciously rifling through his hair. Piper needed to be healed. Sophia could heal her, but if Kaden's sense was to be trusted -- and he wasn't sure it was -- just mending Piper's shoulder had been taxing enough. Regardless, the medic didn't seem like she was in a state to just nod along with complete strangers. On top of everything, Kaden was intrigued by Sophia's search for this 'Balrog' character.

Action definitely needed to be taken, but there were too many to take. Kaden needed to stay calm, or as calm as he could, and prioritize. Despite the tangled web of thoughts that the courier had been able to weave himself, only a second or two had passed since Sophia had last spoke.

"Balrog?" the courier scrunched his face in thought. "I don't thinks so. But we haven't really been in the loop around here," he admitted. A sob from Piper interrupted Kaden's next though. She had quieted down a bit, but was still visibly upset. "Hey Juno," Kaden turned towards the hybrid. "Can you gimme a hand?"

With a cocked eyebrow, Juno watched as Kaden approached the soldier that Piper had killed. Reaching down, the courier hooked his hands under the fallen woman's arms and turned his head towards Juno expectantly. With a shrug, the hybrid approached the woman's legs and hiked them up off the ground. With a nod, Kaden motioned for Juno to follow. The two of them carried the body out of the alley -- giving Piper as wide a berth as the space would allow -- and dropped it next to the thug Juno had dispatched. It was sufficiently out of sight for Kaden.

As they turned to walk back towards Sophia and Piper, Kaden stopped the hybrid with a hand on his shoulder. Juno's head snapped to Kaden's hand almost instinctively. Taking in a breath, the tailed youth turned to face Kaden, obviously expecting to know what he wanted.

"You mind waiting here for a second?" Kaden asked. "I just want to talk to Piper for a minute."

"Sure," Juno said with a shrug.

"But could you and Soph, uh, stick around?" Kaden had no idea why he decided that right then was the best time to shorten Sophia's name. "I wanted to ask you a couple things about this Balrog guy."

"Uh," Juno's eyes moved from Kaden to the alley, where they lingered. "Fine," he finally settled on.

"Thanks, man. Appreciate it." Kaden smiled and gave Juno a quick pat before withdrawing his hand from the hybrid's shoulder.

Making his way back into the alleyway, Kaden approached Sophia; the priestess had maintained a comfortable distance from Piper. Beckoning to Sophia, Kaden stopped at the entrance to the alley.

"Can you gimme a minute with Piper?" he asked.

"Oh?" Sophia arched an eyebrow as she looked from Kaden to Piper and back again. The courier wasn't sure if there was genuine intrigue or if she was just being cute. "Yeah."

With a light nod, Kaden stepped past her and approached Piper. The medic definitely seemed more collected than she had been only a few minutes ago, but that didn't stop Kaden. Lowering himself to the ground, the courier took a seat beside Piper and turned his head towards her.

"You ok?"

It was a stupid question to lead with, but Kaden had to start somewhere. In response, Piper simply inclined her head towards the courier. It was an awkward angle, so he couldn't be sure, but Kaden thought he saw signs of a glare as well.

"Ok," he nodded, trying desperately to remove the sneaker from his mouth. "So that wasn't the smartest question I've ever asked. I, uh... I think I owe you an apology. I was probably a little... harsher than I shoulda been. For what it's worth, I am glad that you're not... the one that... y'know..."

"Kaden..." Piper was slow to respond. "She... she had so much."

There was no way for Kaden to know the true meaning behind those words. He couldn't know that Piper had seen the woman's life. He couldn't know what it would feel like to have such a vision forced upon him as he held person, dying, in his arms. He did know that, for Piper, there was a great deal of weight behind those words. The woman sobbed once more as the memories flared in her mind.

There was nothing Kaden could say. He couldn't just tell Piper it would be all right and hope she would cheer up. Hesitating for only a second, Kaden reached out and put his arm around Piper. With the gentlest touch he could manage, Kaden pulled Piper towards him. The woman's body slumped lightly against his.

Though he had barely been aware of it at the time, Piper had been there for Kaden in a way he couldn't have expected. He smiled as he brought his hand to her head and ran it slowly through her hair. As the sound of her breath, the sound of her light sobs, reached his ears the courier had to fight back tears. The anguish he had pushed back, the weight that rested so comfortably on his conscious, threatened to spill over as his body finally had a moment to relax.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Kaden shook his head and pushed everything back. It was as though his body was physically holding everything in place, the atlus to his mind's world. Weariness and fatigue were things he simply could not afford. Not right there. Not right then.

"People like us," Kaden began. His voice was low and gentle. "Well... it sucks to be people like us. There are people out there who are just... shut off. People that don't have to worry about anything or anyone else." Kaden had to set aside the hypocracy of such a statement for Piper's benefit. "But I pity people like that. They're not the ones that know what it really means to live... what life is really about."

It would be so simple, and so easy, if everything could just be over. They had defied death more times in the past couple of days than most people would in their whole lives. For both Piper and Kaden a toll had been taken that they wouldn't be able to simply sleep off. In spite of all of that, they had to stand up and keep going. Kaden knew it, and he knew that, somewhere, Piper knew it as well.

"It isn't fair," Kaden said, though it was more musing aloud than anything else. To his surprise, though, he could feel Piper nodding in agreement.

"Nothing about this is fair," she practically whispered.

"No. Not to you, or me, or Orion, or Dmitri, or Szar. Or any of the people that we've had to hurt. But none of this is over, Piper. Just like you said, we have to make sure that Kai answers for what he's done here." Kaden grinned as he recalled Piper's words. "I promise to let you beat yourself all you want once we're outta this hellhole," the courier misquoted.

Much to Kaden's delight, Piper let out the tiniest of chuckles. She sniffed back her tears and cleared her throat. Kaden was definitely glad to see that he hadn't simply wasted his breath.

"We still need to get Kai, and for that I definitely need your help," Kaden said. "I mean, hell, I can't even count the number of times you've saved my ass so far. I'm sure you'll get plenty more chances before all's said and done." Again, Piper gave a small laugh in response. "But we need to get you cleaned up first. Can't go leaping from rooftop to rooftop with a hole in your leg."

"Yeah..." Piper straightened herself and slowly leaned away from Kaden; the courier thought there was some hesitation to do so, on her part, but passed it off as his imagination. "We, uh, can probably find some medical supplies somewhere."

Definitely not what Kaden had intended. It was no surprise that Piper's first thought was to treat herself, though.

"Piper," Kaden turned his upper body to face hers. "Do you trust me?" Almost immediately, the courier shook his head. "You don't have to answer that. Lemme start over." Kaden made a show of clearing his throat. "Piper. I want you to trust me. I think it would be faster and safest to let Sophia treat your wound. She's a good person, and someone I trust."

Not surprisingly, Piper seemed hesitant. Her eyes shifted from Kaden to the mouth of the alleyway. Presumably, Sophia and Juno were standing just out of their line of sight. Finally, Piper's eyes shifted back to Kaden. She took in a deep breath and wiped her eyes. With a simple nod, she consented.

"Alright. I'll go get her."

Hopping to his feet, Kaden brushed himself off and was about to head out of the alley when Piper's voice stopped him. Already turned towards Sophia's location, Kaden craned his neck over his shoulder.

"Kaden..." Piper began. Before she could continue, though, Kaden turned to face her fully and cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about it," Kaden replied with a smile. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of other things to worry over."

Without waiting for a response, Kaden turned and trotted out of the alleyway. As he came into their line-of-sight, both Juno and Sophia turned to face Kaden. Before saying anything, though, Kaden sidestepped out of Piper's field of vision and slumped against the outer wall of the nearby building.

Just a couple of breathes to steady himself, that's all what Kaden thought he needed. Quickly, though, he found his own eyes threatening to spill over with tears. Before they could, though, the courier gave his head a quick shake and pushed everything back. Just in, time, too since Sophia had taken the initiative in approaching him.

"Hey," the priestess began. "You ok?"

"Me?" Kaden didn't try to hide the sadness in his smile. "I'm alright. Definitely helps that I didn't get shot in the hip."

"Piper?" Sophia asked, her eyes darting towards the alley for a second.

"Yeah. Think you could heal her up?" Kaden looked more than a little apologetic for having to ask.

"I would, but..." Sophia hesitated for a moment. "Is she going to be ok with it?"

"Yeah, I think it'll be fine," Kaden nodded. He guessed that wasn't the only reason the priestess was hesitant. He didn't expect Sophia to use what energy she had left on a stranger, and Kaden wasn't about to ask that of her.

"It's just that..."

"Runnin' on empty?" Kaden smiled as he asked. When Sophia arched an eyebrow in surprise, the courier tapped a finger next to his eyes. "I see all. I don't think it'll be a problem, though. Hold up your hand."

With a quizical expression on her face, Sophia held up her hand, her open palm facing Kaden. Reaching out, the courier placed his hand against hers, interlacing his fingers as he did so. Slowly, energy spread through his body, creeping out his arm and into Sophia's. It didn't take too long for understanding to dawn on Sophia's face.

"Well this is a neat little trick," she said with a nod.

"Well y'know... I do what I can." Kaden grinned. For reasons that Kaden could only guess at, channeling his energy was proving more difficult than it should. Awkward silence, however, wasn't something Kaden was interested in. "So how have things been at the temple?"

"Well," Sophia considered the question for a second. "They're fine. I mean, they're definitely better than the last time you were there."

"Yeah, I bet. Oh!" Kaden rolled his eyes at his own forgetfulness. "I wanted to thank you again for that address you gave me."

When last he had left her, Sophia had given Kaden an address procured from a thief locked in her temple's basement. At the time, Kaden had only suspected that a woman he had been looking for had been involved in a raid that had taken place on Sophia's temple the night before. The lead Sophia had given him had been more fruitfull than Kaden ever could have hoped for.

"It was nothing," the priestess tried to brush it off.

"Hardly! A favor is as a great as the results it produces." Those words hung in their air for several seconds before Kaden sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "Ok... that sounds kinda weird. It's true though."

"Alright," Sophia nodded along with a smile. "Whatever happened with that?" In this case, changing the topic of conversation would be the more modest course of action.

"Oh right. So the woman I was looking for, she was definitely at the address you gave me. She went to your temple with those bandits because she thought there was some kind of... artifact or something there. She's looking for a way to get back a power she lost." Sophia nodded along as Kaden spoke, seemingly interested. "She, uh, used to be able to see things like I do."

"Oh yeah? You seem a bit more comfortable with that, by the way."

"Yeah, well, she's a lot better at it than I am. Gave me a few pointers."

"She..." Sophia tilted her head at Kaden. "Wait. You hunt her down and then she turns around and gives you tips?"

"Hahahaha," Kaden couldn't help but laugh. "It's, uh, complicated."

Letting go of Sophia's hand, Kaden let his own fall back to his side. Stepping aside, Kaden let Sophia head into the alley to, hopefully, take of Piper's wounds. If things went well -- something that Kaden was reluctant to count on -- Piper should be back on her feet in no time and they would be able to move on to the main event. Kai.

"So," Juno approached Kaden. "Catching up?"

"With Sophia?" Kaden shrugged. "I guess. Not really the place for a heart-to-heart."

"Hmmm..." Juno looked Kaden up and down. "I guess not, no."

"Actually," Kaden began.

"Questions about Balrog, right?" Juno nodded. "What did you want to know?"

"Who Balrog is, pretty much. I definitely owe Sophia. If she's looking for this Balrog, I'd like to do what I can to help."

"Well, we don't know a whole lot. Balrog Tast is the man's name. He's a lieutenant, or some such, and is supposed to be somewhere around here. Apparently we're supposed to be afraid of him." Juno scoffed at the last statement.

Kaden, on the other hand, didn't find this revelation the least bit humorous. Kaden hadn't known the name's name, but if he had to pick someone in Olde Town to be a "lieutenant" it would be the man that had killed Orion. The man that had killed Dimitri. The man that had killed Szar.

"... Yeah," Kaden replied after several seconds of silence. His voice was devoid of any emotion. "I think I know who you're looking for."

"Who're they looking for?" came Piper's voice. Both Kaden and Juno turned to see Sophia and Piper come around the corner. Kaden met Piper's eyes with a meaningful stare.

"Balrog," he replied. "The man that killed Orion."

It was clear that Piper understood the reason for Kaden's emotionless expression, but that would quickly be put on hold. Olde Town seemed to erupt, suddenly and violently, to life. A cacophony of explosions and gunfire echoed through the alleys surrounding the Piper, Sophia, Juno, and Kaden.

"It's Ares..." Juno said with a sigh.

"Ares is here?" Kaden exchanged a surprised look with Piper.

"What, you know him too?" Juno shook his head. "That guy's got a death wish."

"He thought it would be a good idea to start a firefight," Sophia elaborated.

"A firefight?" Kaden ran a hand through his head as he turned the idea over in his head.

It was remarkably similar to Orion's modus operandi. Attention drawing, however, wasn't what they needed. In truth, Ares might be providing them with the perfect cover to find Balrog. And, at that moment, Kaden was very interested in finding Balrog.

"We should get moving. We've been standing around too long." Piper was the one who spoke up first. She had already begun moving away from the sounds of explosions.

Juno, Sophia, and Kaden quickly fell in-line behind Piper as she darted between buildings. In very short order, the foursome found themselves standing on a fairly wide road. If Kaden's sense of direction could be trusted, it ran perpendicular to the main road of Olde Town. Before they could continue their venture, though, Juno's eye caught something.

"Something's coming this way," he informed his companions.

The humans followed Juno's finger as it pointed into the desert. Not too far off, and closing in quickly, was a quartet of cars. More surprisingly, though, was that all the vehicles seemed to be equipped with weaponery. The front-most car seemed to be taking fire from the other three.

As the cars approached, Kaden squinted to see if any details could be made out. As the leading car came into focus, the courier could see an old man behind the wheel with a woman sitting in the seat next to him. That neither of them were dressed in the same garb as the rest of Kai's shoulder was a great relief. It was dangerous to make such assumptions, but Kaden had a good idea of who was doing the chasing.

The four buggies barreled towards Olde Town at reckless speeds. Piper, Juno, and Sophia shuffled backwards into the alley they had just come from. Kaden, on the other hand, only moved to the side of the road. Someone called his name, urging him to get out of the way, but the courier wasn't paying attention. While Kaden's dumb plans had fairly mixed results so far, he was willing to give them one more chance.

Digging his heels into the dirt road, Kaden began summoning up energy. He could feel the ki circulating through his body, obeying his whim as it began to focus itself around his hands. The courier's fists began to glow with a cerulean light. The first car shot past Kaden with only a foot or so to spare. The second one wouldn't be so lucky.

"Haaa!"

Even in the growing light of dawn, the flash of light that escaped Kaden's hands illuminated his surroundings in a brilliant blue hue. Just as the second vehicle would have passed, a powerful wave of ki crashed into it. The car was thrown up onto two wheels and sent sliding across the road. Before it could right itself, the vehicles crashed into one of Olde Town's more dilapidated buildings.

While Kaden would've liked to take more time to watch his handiwork, he wasn't given the chance. By the back of his shirt, the courier felt himself being pulled forcefully into the alley he had just exited. No sooner had Kaden moved than blasts from the third vehicle's mounted weapon slammed against the dirt road he had been standing on.

"Trying to get yourself killed?" came Juno's voice.

"What can I say?" Kaden looked over his shoulder in mild surprise. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

As the third and fourth vehicles shot past the alleyway, the sound of a second crash sounded through Olde Town. With the vehicles past, Kaden darted back out into the road. He was soon accompanied by Piper, Sophia, and Juno.

Not too far in the distance, the first vehicle had plowed into a storefront. Given the skid marks dug into the road, Kaden held out hope that they hadn't crashed with too much force. There was still a good chance, at least in the courier's mind, that the people that car were more likely to be allies then enemies. The third and fourth cars were skidding to a stop a short distance from their prey.

There had been no movement from the car that Kaden had derailed. While the occupants were likely injured, Kaden convinced himself that the crash was unlikely to actually take any lives.

"So," Kaden turned to his comrades, "should we see what's going on?"