Runner (Riders of Apollo #3)

Chapter Eighteen: Mika Sage

I'm feeling the same anger as Reign right now. Raphe may not be pregnant but we do have a son at home that needs him and the fact that Bear is using them as bait is incredibly stupid. Even Sav says they don't play by any rules, at least we do even if we are a group of criminals. "Great, you'll go in tonight." Bear's final words before he bangs the gavel and dismisses us. Sav and I head straight to my office, our significant others following along behind us.

Reign slams the door and growls heavily, taking a seat on the couch as Sav paces in front of him. "Okay, I get that he's pissed at me for cutting him off but this seems a little extreme."

"You don't think that that's why he's doing this, do you?" I ask with wide eyes, if this is some revenge bullshit I don't want Raphe involved.

"I fucking hope not." Reign grumbles, his face is creased and his body is tense enough to snap a board in two. This is not going to go well, even worse if Saviour gets hurt.

"Where's tonight's fight? Maybe I can pull up some surveillance on it."

"Fourth and Madison." Raphe replies, leaning against the back of my chair as I smash some keys and hope that this underground building has at least two cameras so I can watch something, even if it is just the entrance. Thankfully there is quite a lot of surveillance, cameras in every corner on a 360 degree spin, another two on each door and one on the staircase down.

"I can see everything, everyone in and out and I'll run them through facial recognition so we know who everyone is."

"That doesn't help, how can we protect her?"

"It's not just her in danger, Reign, it's Runner too!" I try and keep control of my anger, my only source of comfort being Raphe's hand gripping my shoulder and holding me in place.

"We've been given our assignment, let's just get it done." Sav sighs and heads out to get ready while I throw myself back into my chair.

"I promise I'll come back to you and our son, Mika." I shiver at the sheer determination in his voice. He better be right or there will be a mutiny.

————

"This is ridiculous Bear! She is pregnant! I should've been in that fucking meeting to talk you out of this absolute shitshow!" Lexi is pissed, she picks up a glass and throws it at her husband. "I leave you alone for twenty goddamn minutes and you send my sister off into enemy territory with my niece in her stomach!" Another glass actually reaches its target and smashes against his shoulder. "I swear to god if she gets injured, I will kill you."

Mari looks just as pissed as she cradles Gem to her chest and rests in Hunter's lap. Looks like Bear has made a rather dangerous enemy and they won't relent, no matter what. I look over at Sav who has dressed up for the occasion, recently she's been wearing sweatpants but now she's in tight jeans and a woollen turtleneck with a long black coat overtop to store her weapons, she also has tall boots on for her daggers.

Raphe isn't wearing his cut as his affiliation with us isn't to be outed yet, that is apparently further down the line in Bear's plan. He has taken it upon himself to run this, even Gears wasn't involved in it and he is not happy that his adopted daughter is being used as bait. No one except me seems to give a shit about Runner but I suppose that's because it is technically his fault that we're in this mess in the first place.

Ollie pulls on the back of Raphe's shirt before he is lifted into his arms so that they can see each other face to face. "Are you gonna be okay?" His voice is soft but shaky as he grips the front of Raphe's shirt.

"I'm gonna be fine, little man."

"I'm not little." Ollie's pout only proves that he is, in fact, little.

"I'll be back in a few hours, okay? Stay with your dad and you can see what I'm doing." Ollie looks over his shoulder at me and I smile reassuringly, that seems to calm him down enough for him to nod. As soon as he's put down he clings to my leg and watches as Raphe and Saviour head out and into her car.

As soon as they've driven off, I settle into the lounge where my computer screen is being shown on the projector with all of the live feeds running. Ollie sits on my lap with his head rested on my shoulder as he watches curiously, his eyes taking in every face on the screen. I'm almost positive that he has a photographic memory, he can somehow retain amazing amounts of information.

"Is he gonna be alright, dad?" His eyes drift back to me and I brush my hand over his hair in comfort.

"I hope so." I kiss his head before turning back to the screens, watching as the crowd uproars at the appearance of our people. Just as expected, bookies start racking in incredible amounts of money as the name Siren is shouted over and over again. That's the name they gave her because she got men to scream before they hit the ground. Kind of unnerving but I'm grateful that she trained Raphe or I'd be that much more worried.

"You fighting today, Siren?" A man asks, he's wearing an expensive suit and a cocky smile but from Raphe's lack of reaction I'd say this is not our target audience.

"Not today, Mr Xanthe. Perhaps next time, I'm training Runner here and he wants to go into the ring and I want to test his abilities. Got a talented fighter for him to practice on?" Her voice is monotonous and strong, allowing no arguments and I allow myself to relax a little with the idea that at least she is there to protect him even though I know she won't be fighting.

"If he's as good as you, only the best. He shall fight Skullcrusher." I really fucking hope that's not a stage name because if he's going up against a guy that actually crushes skulls then I'm going to have a panic attack. The crowd screams in excitement and I see Raphe roll his shoulders and slip his jacket off, handing it to Sav who slings it over the ropes. I assume she wants to keep her hands free so that if there is an attack, she can grab her weapons as quickly as possible.

"I've seen Skullcrusher fight before. Hasn't got a lot of stamina, his punches are pretty heavy but easy to predict and as the name suggests, he goes for the head. Just aim for his stomach and knees, he won't protect them, oh and don't let him wind you up. His main tactic is get the opponent angry, good thing is there isn't much to say to you." Sav claps Raphe's back and shoves him into the ring.

Skullcrusher does just as explained, teasing and laughing while Raphe just watches him unimpressed. The fight ends quickly, Skullcrusher's ass hitting the floor within three minutes, if it was a cartoon he'd have birds swirling around his head considering how hard the uppercut was.

Ollie cheered when he saw it, immediately turning around and shouting to everyone "That's my dad!" Gem cheered along with him and from the frustrated look in Hunter's face I can easily assume that he is worried that my son will try and woo his daughter. Hopefully that's a long way down the road, I don't want him to grow up too fast.

I turn away for two seconds and that's when all hell breaks loose.