Nightfire Warriors (Remastered)

36.

EARLIER...

"I think we've given Ryan enough time to worry about you," said Noah amusingly, roaming around the living room with careful steps. He did not take his mean eyes off Luka.

"W-would you mind lowering your gun?" Luka whimpered kindly. "It's scaring me." He was sitting on the couch, hands in his lap, defenseless, and had nowhere to run if he wanted to.

"I'll be happy to pull out my knife instead," Noah offered. "Ryan will be very anxious to hear what I have to say."

"You touch my son; I will touch you back!" Luka threatened through his teeth. "Every bone. Every bruise. Every scar the same!"

"You gonna fight me all by yourself, Chandler?" Noah said, unintimidated by him. "Or are you going to forget we even had this conversation?"

Luka was ready to spit in his face. "I will always remember you."

"I don't remember this being part of the plan," said Isabelle. She presented herself into the living room, arriving at the scene.

For a moment, Noah dropped his mouth from shock. "Well, look who it is," he said, shaking off the startle. "The one time you decide to come to my house, and you choose now. What are you doing here?"

"What do you want Ryan over here for?" Isabelle asked calmly.

"I need his help with something," Noah answered.

"There are nicer ways to ask than to use his father as bait."

Noah laughed at her. "I wanted him to be desperate enough to get here."

During their conversation, Luka was staring straight at the wall, dead silent, and Noah almost forgot he was in the room with them.

"And why do you so desperately need Ryan's help?" Isabelle asked slowly; her voice sounded taunting.

"To kill you," Noah answered straightforwardly. "I'm handing you into Nightfire. Thanks for saving us a trip."

Isabelle nodded her head once. "You're betraying me," she realized. "I knew it was going to come to this."

"I trusted you," Noah growled. "I never expected this from you. We were supposed to take over the universe together. Take control of the Orichalcum. Defeat the Cluster finally. And you pull strings behind my back?"

"Oh, like you aren't pulling strings behind Sag's back." Isabelle reversed the accusation right back to him. "You planned your own kidnapping, and now your son believes you're in danger."

Luka glanced at Noah, then. "I'm disappointed in you, Noah," said Luka.

"Shut up, Chandler!" Noah snarled, raising the gun toward him. "Don't interrupt us!" He finally lowered his gun and started waving it around Isabelle. "I am in danger!" he protests at her. "I have everybody from Prescyla One, down to the Nebula Armstrong galaxy looking for me. I couldn't let him know that I had gone into hiding. It was too risky."

"You are nobody's hostage from where I'm standing," Isabelle said. "For the record, I was loyal to you. I didn't tell the Cluster I knew where you were. Or that we have the Orichalcum. The plan was to get close to the Cluster to steal their technology and use the Orichalcum at its full potential. Don't you remember? I am still doing all of this for us."

"You put my son in harm's way," Noah scorned. "I had to find out from the Nightfire tournament on TV that the Cluster captured him. They used the biochip you planted in him to track him. How do you think they knew about that? I don't remember that being part of the plan, either. You're driving your own bus."