Zen Garden: Empire Of Shadows

Episode Three: Dead to Rights (Part 1)

Juggernaut tensed but didn't move.

Jinx frowned, taken aback by this sudden assault, "The hell?!"

Seth swung at Jinx, desperately attempting to close the gap, "Stay still and fight me!"

Hans easily dodged the new King, before kicking him in the back of the head. This sent the young monarch into a dismantled pew. This wasn't enough to discourage Seth, as he quickly jumped to his feet and sent several taekwondo kicks flying, barely missing Jinx every time. Von-Seng slid under a final blow before uppercutting the younger Alabaster and watching as he falls back onto his stomach, crying out in pain.

Hans knelt and pulled the King by his hair, a frown on his face, "I think I've about had it with you, King Alabaster..."

Seth spit in his face, "Go to hell!"

Von-Seng nodded, using his free hand to while the phlegm from his cheek, "Oh trust me. With how I've been mangled and twisted, Perdition is the only place I'm allowed. But I'm giving Saul a head start..."

Saul watched the confrontation unfold, "Spare him, Nineteen! The country still needs him!"

"Oh don't worry, I won't kill him..." Hans dug his nails into the side of Seth's head, the latter crying out in pain, "...I have plans for this one!"

Sam and Juggernaut stood by as they watched their Commander work. Seems he's done this before.

Hans released Seth and the new King hung his head, sparks of Corruption sliding down his limbs like small serpents. Von-Seng spotted Samantha and snapped his fingers. She reached into her coat and retrieved a revolver, turning it and tossing it towards her superior.

Juggernaut turned his attention to the windows along the chapel and noticed movement several meters away, "Looks like we may have been found."

"Then we'll have to make this quick..." Jinx pressed the gun into Seth's right hand, sliding an index against the monarch's cheek, "You know what you must do, my liege..."

Saul's eyes widened as he watched his son's body convulse, "What are you...?"

Seth couldn't describe what he was seeing. His sclera began to darken in shade, and his arms held the revolver for dear life, searching upward for its target. The nozzle pressed against Jinx's skull, the latter licking his lips.

"You want to resist...but it is futile, my King..." Von-Seng, "This is what happens...when you cross Sentinel #19!"

In a quick motion, Seth turned on his heel and fired the weapon.

For a moment, all was quiet. Then several bodies fell, one after the other.

Saul Alabaster's was the last, with Seth tossing the handgun to the side and running after his father's body, a scream leaving his lips.

He had just shot his father...

"Sir..." Samantha DePaul cocked her head towards the exit, "We gotta go."

"Yes..." Jinx took one last look at Seth as he shook his father's lifeless body, a pool collecting beneath the old King's body, "I suppose our job is done here..."

Jinx, Sam and Juggernaut left the chapel with several soldiers in red charging after them. The mind controlled palace guards rested in heaps across the sanctuary. Not long after the terrorists had departed, more Liberty officers charged in from the north end, a few breaking the windows in order to secure the area.