Sweet Odium - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

[Rune]
"RUNE *cough* FUCK RUN AWAY!!"
I needed a second to grasp in what situation I was when the shape shifter that held my hand had already transformed into another person.
Now it was a bulky bald man with yellow teeth and an even sicker grin.
We had been tricked! They had found us in here although these apartments were protected with all kinds of electronics and surveillance!
I could not stay calm anymore.
After finding out that this person was a shape shifter I knew that they had average strength so I could free myself from the person's grip using a technique.
At the same time Jane was yanked back into the room and I ran after her expecting anything and everything inside that room. What I found were two men forcefully holding her down and punshing her head so hardly that she fell unconscious before I could interfere. One of them had to be gifted with strength if he was able to hold her down. The other one had an ability unknown to me but the black colour of his fingertips rang a bell.
I had read about the Zahar family having this kind of discoloration and pointed nails because through their nails they could inject poison into a living being. Depending on the person it could either be effectless, cause pain, unconsciousness, halluzinations and in very very rare cases even death. But seeing Jane alive the last case was most likely not relevant.
Still, I was blinded by fury and knocked the strong man back causing his neck to break in an instant so he fell to the floor lifelessly. At the same time I finally had the view on Celestes bed where I saw her torso bleeding from two bullet shots. Her arm was hanging down from the bed numbly and her eyes were like a puppets.
In the corner near the bed there was the liveless body of Raven and all my senses went numb. Celeste was dead, Jane seriously hurt and I would need all the luck in the world that Raven was just unconscious. But all of this...
It was because of me... Mellontikos was doing this because of me.
The second man was still holding the motionless body of Jane after he witnessed his comrade falling to the floor.
I saw the gun in his hand and reached for it but the second my hand touched the metal, a shock of electricity went through my body and I screamed in pain.
Electricity... that gun was a decoy. These people had planned this through. They must have predicted that someone would reach for the gun. I felt so stupid.
I felt my body shaking for a few seconds and that was enough for the man to grab me from behind and let his nails sink into my arm.
What the hell was happening here?!
Who exactly were those people that they overwhelmed us so easily?
Soon I sank to the floor. My vision unfocused and refocused again and again and I vaguely made out at least 5 more people entering the room. One of them was familiar... one of them... looked exactly like Kate.
Before I could confirm what I saw I had blacked out completely, begging that what I saw was the shape shifter.
When I woke up, the first thing I felt was warmth but that didn't calm anything down and I got up in panic.
"Rune, shhh it's me." I realized how I was basically sitting half across Raven on a stone floor leaning against a wall.
His warm eyes captured me in their gaze for a second... he seemed unhurt. Raven was fine. He wasn't dead!
Tears build up in my eyes and I didn't have the strength to hold them back. I already expected him to be dead but here he was sitting, captured in this strange dark room but alive.
I reached out to him and wrapped my arms around his torso tightly while placing my head on his chest. In the process we fell to the side and I was basically laying on top of him. At the moment I couldn't care less though.
"You're alive" I cried out and continued to hold onto him because it was the only thing that felt save right now. I had no idea where we were or what happened to Jane, Vince, Ed and Kate but at least Raven was here right now.
"Of course I'm alive, you big cry baby." Raven's voice sounded softe than usual and I felt him caressing my back slowly while also pressing my body against his gently. I closed my eyes to engulf the feeling and everytime Raven spoke I felt the vibration of his voice.
"They poisoned me but I woke up after a little while seeing them carrying you and Jane out the room. I tried to get you back but in my state against 7 people it was useless. They already had Vince and... Ed and Celeste didn't make it." He paused for a moment and my tears started flowing again. Not only Celeste... they also took Ed from us. Monsters, these people were monsters. In that moment I remembered the last memory I had.
"K- Kate-?"
Raven sighed.
"She was a spy of Mellontikos this whole time... she had us perfectly fooled and in the end she was the one that brought them to the apartment." He coldly stated and I felt the pain of betrayal just as much as he must. Kate had always been so nice to me... I really thought she was a sunshine in person but who could have known that she found out about my identity and immediately led those people hear?
"But... Jane and Vince could escape... or rather someone tried helping us so their chances of surviving are better now." Raven continued explaining and I listened attentively while still struggling to calm down from all of this.
"I'm not sure who it was but they were from Falcon just like you."
"From Falcon?" I pushed myself up a little to look Raven in the eye.
"How did the person look like?" I spoke a little pressured while Raven seemed to be thinking intensively.
"Uhm... the person was smaller than you, gray hair? I'm not sure but as soon as they showed up those Mellontikos members poisoned me again and took only you and me with them to escape. I've been thinking about it but I can't see the value I have to them." He said his thoughts out loud and also pushed himself into a sitting position again so he could hold me on his lap.
If my thoughts hadn't been so far away in that moment I might have freaked out but the description form Raven sounded a lot like my grandma. Additionally, she lived near London and it wasn't unlikely that Vera had told her where I'd go...
"I'm not sure if I know that person..." I said the truth and closed my eyes for a second to let everything sink in.
I was still raging inside, wanting to kill everyone of Mellontikos that entered this room but I had to calm down in order to think clearly.
"Rune..." Raven called out my name again and I just now realized how his fingers were playing with my hair.
"There is something I need to tell you... before it's too late" he brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and my eyes widened slightly.
"What is it?"
In that moment we heard the lock of the door click and seconds later I saw a blondhaired man entering with 3 people backing him up.
Raven immediately shoved me behind him but didn't take a defensive stance. He was smart enough to know that fighting would not get us out of here.
My gaze fell on the man again when I finally realized how his eyes had the color of a deep purple. His face was wrinkled at his eyes and mouth and the hair that had a little darker shade than mine was a little longer and looseley hanging down to his shoulders.
He smiled at us warmly but I wasn't affected by it. There was no doubt he had to be my uncle but we were at some Mellontikos property here meaning he was definitely part of them.
"Rune, I've waited ages to meet you, my nephew." He spread out his arms and approached us but Raven did not let him get to me.
"What is your reason for keeping us here? We are not unwilling to cooperate but we won't take any risks." Raven stated with full confidence even though we were in no place to ask for anything. He was not playing here...
The man stopped in his tracks and sighed but his smile didn't vanish.
"Where are my manners? I ought to introduce myself first." He gazed at me and winked.
"My name is Peter Falcon, Rune's mother was my sister and I used to be the vice leader of Falcon. I know you both think I'm some kind of criminal because we are at the Mellontikos headquarters here... and I am sorry that we had to go through such lengths to get you here but you'll soon realize that this is more important than that." He explained as if that would justify them killing two of our team mates and ruthlessly hurting the others. It made my blood boil how that person spoke of this situation so lightly. Of course he was my uncle but what had that to do with me trusting him if I never met him before?
"You could have reached out to me, why kidnap us then?" I questioned and finally stepped out of Raven's protection.
"To be honest I didn't know that you were alive until just a few days ago thanks to our dear Katheryne and be honest with me...if someone from Mellontikos invited you over you would not simply go there, would you?" He tilted his head slightly and eyed me closely. Something about the purple color in his eyes was dirtied... not clear... it didn't shine.
"You have a point. Then why bring Raven Inoue into this?" I continued questioning them but Peter Falcon obviously avoided the question and turned around to leave the room again.
"I'll show you around and tell you two some things first before we end up endlessly asking questions. Follow me please." He made a movement with his hand and the three people accompanying him were looking like they'd force us if we didn't follow so both of us caught up with him.
I felt like we were underground because there were no windows in the hallways.
Quietly, Raven nudged my shoulder and grabbed my hand.
"Don't let go, who knows if they might suddenly take you away." He whispered just for me to hear and I nodded slightly and held on more tightly. He was right, we had a problem if they split us apart so we had to stick together to get through this.
"Mellontikos... it is a Greek word meaning future and that is what I had in mind when I founded this group." Peter started, his brown coat swinging with every step he took.
"The gifted society as you know it is corrupt, conservative and ignorant." He started of his speech while we were still following closely. I felt Raven tensing up next to me but even if he wanted to say something, he held it back.
"Every group is led by the sickening goal of their own success with no regards for taking their responsibility as the protectors of the gifted people. Who takes care of those who suffer from their abilities, those who can't afford a living due to their abilities or those who seak help after being chased by normal humans? It is not the gifted groups... they send away people like that because they dirty their image. Instead they silently make them unable to speak, get rid of them or leave them to their own miseries. I ask you two... can you deny the truth of what I say?" He turned around to us but neither dared to look at him directly. I remembered the shabby looking man I once saw at the Inoue building's entrance. He had been brought somewhere by the security men back then and it sounded awfully justifying for what Peter said.
But were all gifted families really like that? How could they not empathize with those who were suffering?
"But Falcon was different. Their headquarters was turned into a hospital for struggling gifted ones, solely financed by our own side business. We were looked down upon even by our befriended groups and not even a single one offered to support the idea... but your mother was a great leader and helped Falcon rising to be better than anyone else. She was also the one to start working on a project they called 'healer'." My eyes perked up at the mention of it and because of how he portrayed my mother. It did not sound insincere at all. Peter must have really supported her good intentions making me wonder why he founded a terror organisation then. It was two total opposites but I couldn't deny that I related to the hate of the gifted groups... they were the only thing that my grandma had always warned me of...
"It happened in secret and the only thing I knew was that is was supposed to take gifted powers from people who could not bare having them. Other families took that in the wrong way and thought that we'd want to threaten them with this 'weapon'. We never killed anyone among their ranks... it was schemed by the humans back then. They wanted us to fight each other to drastically weaken the gifted society but I only found out about that when it was already too late..." He paused for a second and before I knew it he had put my hand in both of his. I let it happen because I didn't want to cause trouble but yet it made me feel extremely uncomfortable how sadly and regretful he looked at me.
"Rune, your mother had always believed in her project with a passion that was admirable so I accepted that she didn't tell me about it. When the Falcon headquarters here in London were attacked I was not present and when I came back there was nothing left here but ashes. For many years I searched for survivors until one day I found out about my sister and her husband dying in battle. It broke my heart to an extent that I had the wish to kill every last one of the gifted families that caused that..." I felt the hatred in his voice so much that I wasn't sure anymore whether Raven was safe here.
"But... I also knew that this was not what your mother would have wanted me to do." He finally let go of my hands again as we reached another door at the end of the hallway.
"So... in the name of her and all the ones that left their life... I strive to complete project "healer" and put an end to this corrupt society no matter what the cost. It sounds like terror... it is terror. But what successful revolution in history did not involve death?" He questioned totally serious about what he was saying. Slowly, he opened the heavy door.
I couldn't deny that he was right in some way...
I made eye contact with Raven again but his mind seemed to have wandered of somewhere else.
Instead my attention was taken by the mass of people scattered all over the hall that showed up behind the door.
Beds were put up in rows, some empty, some used by people of all ages, ethnicities and genders. My eyes fell on several unprofessional hospital beds that were surrounded by doctors that were treating injuries and illnesses of all kind.
One teenage girl had arms and legs that fell down like made of slime so she simply lied on her bed not being able to move. At least three people had body parts that were not proportional to the rest of their body. Another man was given a glass of water but it broke apart as soon as he took it as if he forcefully crushed it in his hands. The doctor next to him was scribbling something down and the man hopelessly let his arms fall.
Again and again I witnessed how these people suffered from their gifted abilities but I couldn't avert my eyes from any of them. So this was what the gifted society was hiding. Their weak spot and unspoken crime...