Keeping the Flock in Line: Chapter 4 – No Way Out

Chapter 4 – No Way Out

The remainder of the traitors are held up in a joint Dominion and Coronamento Corporation research facility near the casino, vacation, and resort city of Luck and Providence. They’re holding hostages and are threatening to execute them or experiment on them to send them against us if we go after them. Of course, we ignore their advice and go in anyway to bring them to justice; however, we’re going to be as careful as possible to limit the deaths of innocents, if not completely avoid them. To do this, Idelle and Kane are hanging back from the facility, while I infiltrate it in the form of a traitor, whom the traitors inside the facility think is probably still alive, when he isn’t. My power allows me to copy the appearance of people whom I see, making me perfect for assignments like these. After I free the hostages and get them to safety, or when the plan goes sideways, I’ll have to call in Kane and Idelle to help me execute and arrest the traitors.

As I pause to say a small prayer and take a deep breath before heading in, Kane puts his hand on my shoulder. He smiles at me and says, “You got this, Zandro.”

Idelle nods at me, and I nod at both of them.

“I’ll try not to let either of you down,” I say before driving off in a truck that the person I’m impersonating had.

Heading up to the gate of the facility, the security sees me and lets me in without checking for credentials, and thankfully, doesn’t spark up a conversation since I can’t replicate voices. Inside the facility, I see what looks to be a normal Dominion office with people talking and working on their computers as if they aren’t isolated and hunted by the rest of the country. Deeper in the facility, I see a familiar sight, a series of labs where they do experiments on superhumans and non-superhumans to give them powers, similar to the one I was in when I got my powers.

They’re just like the others. There’s no reason to start killing them and blame the casualties on them.

Shhh. Ignoring the other side of me, I continue scouting the facility. They don’t appear to be doing anything to the hostages here that they are holding in the cells, besides giving them their daily meals, seem to be treating them well, and trying to convert them to their side.

“The Dominion and Coronamento Corporation are extremist organizations,” the traitors say. “They enforce their beliefs upon everyone, including those outside of the country. Before you know it, it won’t be just us; they’ll be going after. It’ll be people just trying to live their lives in isolation, and who don’t bother them at all.”

The captives argue back and forth with the traitors and don’t seem to budge in their beliefs, thankfully.

Because if they did, I’d have to kill them.

There’s no obvious or safe way to free the hostages without attracting attention, given how many of the traitors have the cells in eyesight. It seems like the only way to do this is the loud and messy way, with the hostages' lives on the line.

Meaning it’s time to begin the slaughter.

Meaning it’s time to find the security room so that all the cells can be opened. Perhaps there’ll be some kind of security I can activate to give the captives some cover for their escape properly, and also lock down the building to prevent the traitors from escaping.

Where’s the fun in shooting fish in a barrel? Huh? I should just let loose and have at them. Once this is over, I won’t see any action until Kane and Idelle finish their honeymoon and have their first child. Or maybe, that’s a good thing. My infiltration and sabotage of the Dominion to get back at the Coronamento Corporation can begin without them behind my back all the time. There’s also the option of making the traitors wear disguises, so I can bind them to me and work with them to exact my revenge.

No. I’ve been good about not letting the sinful side get to me, and I can’t let it do so at the finish line of this assignment. I make my way towards a security office that has a few people in it. Checking the computers, I find access to seal and unseal all doors in this facility. There’s also a purge function that will activate turrets and gas to knock out or kill people in specific or all areas.

Giovanni is not without his failsafes and secondary plans. Hell, this whole thing of purging traitors and getting himself in jail was probably part of his plan this entire time. It’s a shame that this facility doesn’t have a function to kill those in the Dominion office, but let’s start here. Actually, I’ll just kill them all by hand, the old-fashioned way. I can’t be sure the purge function can kill every superhuman here. Firstly, I activate the lockdown function so no one can escape.

Secondly, I activate the knockout gas and make the turrets fire non-lethal knock-out rounds of every kind so that everyone outside of the cells can be taken out. That was too close. I almost killed everyone here. Since I didn’t activate the purge function in this room, the security here looks at me, and seeing that my disguise is broken, I revert to my normal self, turn my arms into tendrils, and pin the three guards to the wall.

“Resist arrest, and I will crush you. Come on, give me a reason to,” I say to them.

“You’re Zandro, right? It figures you’d work for someone like Giovanni. What did he offer you for you to work for him despite the experiments done on you by his corporation, sanctioned by his approval?” a guard asks.

“He offered me a way to redeem myself for my actions, for killing innocents, my family, and the chaos I caused.”

“By doing what? Killing more people and causing more chaos? I’m an ex-criminal too, bud. I know the offer he gave you, and I thought I’d be bringing peace and order to the world, but he uses violence and manipulation to get what he wants.”

“Maybe so, but he’s answered for his crimes, while you run away from the consequences of yours.”

“This whole mess he’s caused is just his way of cleaning house. He’s an extremist through and through by pushing his beliefs on others around the world. I didn’t sign up for that. I wanted to be civil about it.”

“And yet, you hold hostages.”

“None of them has a hair hurt on their heads by our hands. They’ve been well taken care of. It was necessary for us and the only way to ensure our safety and theirs.”

“Giovanni can say the same thing about his actions, even his more extreme ones.”

“That’s where we’ll have to agree to disagree. It’s what I want to fix in the world, and violence and forcing our way to prominence and influence will only make the problem worse. You’ll see that more extremists like him will rise on both sides because of your actions.”

“It’ll be a benefit or a detriment, which we’ll deal with based on whose side they fall on and their actions. As for you three, you’re finished, and I’m tired of listening to you.”

I knock out the three guards with force before my temptations manage to crush them. Taking a look at the cameras, I see that everyone in the facility is knocked out except the captives. I turn off the gas and turrets, then free the captives once everything is clear.

Calling Kane and Idelle, I say, “The captives are safe, and everyone in the facility is knocked out. All that’s left to take care of are the traitors in the office.”

“We’ll be there shortly. Good work, brother,” Kane says.

Brother, huh? I guess we are brothers in arms, and I’ve earned that role through my actions and honest repentance. Before joining Kane and Idelle, I confirm the captives are safe and know what’s going on. When I reach the offices, I find that most of the work has already been done, and by the time I rejoin the Castigators, they’ve taken down the remaining superhumans and their help.

There goes my take on the action. This won’t satiate my desire for justified violence. It’ll only make me want it more.

I can deal with holding it off, and need to substitute it with something more holy. Kane and Idelle don’t mind that I’m late and congratulate me on a job well done. When we go back to Meridian and the substitute boss of the Coronamento Corporation announces that the purge of traitors has been complete, we receive a mostly positive reception. As far as I know, our supporters are still loyal, and our naysayers are reluctantly accepting of what we did. Kane decides we should bring the news to Giovanni, who is in jail. We get an appointment to see him and meet him in a prison, in a room where he’s on one side of strong, superhuman-proof glass, and we’re on the other.

Kane and Giovanni activate their speakers so we can talk to him, and Kane says, “It’s done, if you haven’t heard.”

“I’ve heard,” Giovanni says. “My contacts here told me the moment it hit the news.”

“Are they treating you well in there?”

“Oh, yes. I have the Al Capone treatment here, like I’m a celebrity prisoner. People treat me with respect, and those who fear me keep their distance. I don’t know why they’re so afraid when others here have powers, while I’m just a mere man.”

“It’s because of the power and influence you wield. It was obvious to me that this entire plan of yours was purely for your benefit.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the traitors from our organizations are gone, and any that we possibly don’t know of are far gone or too scared to act against us. Any crimes that you’ve been hiding and speculated about by the media are brought to light and are being paid for by your generous prison sentence of five years. No one has anything against you now, and you and your organizations are now scrubbed clean.”

“Heh, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.”

“Really? Like I said, that five-year sentence is generous despite you pleading guilty with no attempt to get anything less, and the fact that you were found guilty of consenting to illegal human experimentation, government and corporate corruption, staging assassinations, and murder. Less influential men would get the death penalty or several life sentences, but since the judge and jury liked you, you got the equivalent of a slap on the wrist, while also being praised for your humility.”

Giovanni smiles and says, “What can I say besides God is merciful to those who confess their sins and accept their due punishment?”

“Yeah, and that mercy includes you getting to still be as influential as always behind a jail cell.”

“May God be praised forever. I trust that the Castigators got their due reward?”

“We have. We all got nice paychecks and a reputation as brutal but necessary law enforcers.”

“You’ll all make history together, apart from your mentors and inspirations. I know it. Have Timeo and John told you yet?”

“I haven’t heard much from him lately. He trusts my judgment with things.”

“John calls me every day to let me know what he’s doing and that he loves me,” Idelle says.

Giovanni looks at me as if waiting for me to say something.

“I have no loved ones left in the world to check on me,” I say.

“That’s not true,” Giovanni says. “You have Kane, Idelle, and me. You’re a part of our family now.”

“That’s right, brother,” Kane says.

“Yes. It’s true,” Idelle adds.

I’m unsure of what to say at this display of sudden kindness

“Thank you for visiting me in prison, but shouldn’t you two be on your honeymoon? Stop wasting your time with me and enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

“Yeah, I wanted to stop here first to talk to you before we took our break. Zandro, do you want to join us?” Kane says.

“You can be with us or go off on your own and meet us back at where we choose to stay, as long as you don’t interfere with anything…private, we may be doing,” Idelle says.

“Actually, you should if you notice we aren’t getting up in the morning. Idelle may just want to keep me in the room all day.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Because we’ll be traveling! If you wanted to stay in bed all day and night, then we might as well stay home.”

“We could do that for a day or two…”

Finally, I say, “Do I really deserve such kindness from you all? You’re treating me like we’ve been friends our entire lives.”

“Never ask if you deserve anything because none of us do,” Kane says. “Like I’ve said before, we’re all guilty of heinous sins, so you’re in good company.”

“Thank you. All of you. It’d be an honor for me to join you.”

“You just want him along to save you from me,” Idelle points out.

“Let’s head out, Castigators. Our next assignment, relaxation time! We’ll hear from you later, Giovanni. Try to stay out of trouble in there.”

“I can make no promises on that,” Giovanni admits.

Idelle continues to argue with Kane on our way out of the prison. Meanwhile, I quietly thank God for the new family I’ve been given, one that’s just as messed up as me, but is also a force for good, despite how brutal we can be.

 

The End