“W-what did you just say?” Nole questioned tentatively.
“But he’s right though,” Caswell explained, ignoring Nole. “The doctor did die because of him, and you too.” The shock from hearing the statement made Nole completely numb. Caswell killed him? But all this time…
Rage engulfed Nole as the seriousness of his predicament dissipated from his mind. Murphy was killed by Caswell, and I’ve been aimlessly looking at the wrong guy. Rather than focus on spreading the information, he became blinded by his desire for revenge. I almost killed that guy, Nole thought, clutching his fists in guilt as he recalled his encounter with Taro in the alleyway. He saved me from Ryker, and I almost cut him in two.
A spark interrupted his train of thought. The blade, I still have it on me. Steadily brushing his hand against the pocket of his jeans, Nole felt the edge of the withdrawn switchblade. I can end this here. Now. Knowing that the odds were against him even if he could successfully take out the Chief, the pent up fury wouldn’t allow him to think rationally enough to formulate an appropriate plan.
Appearing distracted by Taro’s appearance, Nole slowly lifted his right hand and delved into his pocket until the handle of the switchblade was firmly in his grasp. In front of them, Taro and Maddox locking eyes, waiting for the first sign of attack.
“I was only looking to finish that kid off, but because you moved him from the alleyway, I was able to track him down to the good doctor’s home. Even though the kid wasn’t there when I arrived, the trip wasn’t all for nothing. In fact, if not for you, we’d have had no idea that dear old Dr. Murphy collected evidence of our actions. We were so close to being exposed to the public, but luckily we were able to dispose of him, and the evidence”
It was Caswell all along.
“I’ll tell you, it was a pain setting you up.”
He killed Murphy.
“I didn’t know if you knew about the doctor’s vigilante investigation, so just to be safe, I sent the Pents out to get any remaining evidence you may have had.”
I led Caswell straight to him.
“After you got away from them and these worthless Enforcers on multiple occasions, I actually started to think I’d never catch you. What an auspicious day, to have both of you before me,” he gloated.
Yanking the weapon out of his pocket, Nole rapidly unsheathed the blade in one fluid motion. With the gun still on him, he had to count on his reflexes being faster than Caswell’s, and they were. Knocking the burly man to the ground, Nole clenched the gun with his free hand, while pointing the blade at Caswell, who also grabbed the blade-wielding hand.
Neither of them relinquished the pistol or the knife. Even though he was outmatched, Caswell was aware that the gun was his only form of leverage.
“Vale!” Capt. Maddox’s voice bellowed over the noisy area. The impending fear of losing his chance grew in the pit of his stomach, but Nole refused to give in. “Lower your weapons and put your hands on your head!” Maddox ordered from his perch on the top of the stairs. “This is your last warning!”
“It’s no use,” Caswell murmured, amused by Nole’s futile efforts. “Killed by me, tortured to death by Ryker, or shot on sight by Maddox, you’re done no matter how you see it.” The man’s thick brown mustached revealed his heinous grin, and his cheeks became rosy, relishing in the delight of Nole’s defeat.
As angry as the words made him, Nole couldn’t contest the fact that it was an uphill battle. In fact, if Caswell wasn’t expressing utter elation, Nole may have given up peacefully; however, seeing his enemy, the man who had framed him, Murphy’s killer, feel so overjoyed, sickened Nole. Before his common sense kicked in, one final burst of adrenaline made its way through Nole, but not before a something knocked both he and Caswell to the ground.
Before anything else, Nole realized that neither he nor the Chief had regained their weapons. As they both searched the area, desperate for the upper hand, Nole discovered the gun, which had slid a few feet away from them after the impact. Racing over to the weapon, Nole was stopped short by another figure whose arm, wrapped in bloodied bandages, claimed the gun.
Zane.
“What a mess,” he assessed, redirecting his attention to the fighting at the foot of the stairway. Shifting his eyes to Chief Caswell, then to Maddox and Taro, and finally to Nole a look of disinterest apparent in his faded gray eyes.
“W-why did you do that?” Nole demanded to Zane’s rejuvenated smugness. He looked in even worse shape than before, if that was even possible. “I was about to-”
“Shut up,” Zane cut him off. “From what I saw, you couldn’t do it.” Speechless and enraged, Nole couldn’t decide whether or not to attack his own ally for the sake of his own pride. “Besides, he would’ve shot you.” Zane tilted his head in the direction behind Nole, where Capt. Maddox stood expectantly, the barrel of his gun pointed their way.
Near Maddox, the blonde haired, blue-eyed boy glanced at Nole briefly, as if trying to relay a message. Embarrassment and guilt flooded Nole upon making eye contact with Taro. He chastised himself over and over again as an overwhelming ache grew in the pit of his stomach. Betty was right all along. I’ve been chasing the wrong guy.
“You!” Maddox shouted. “You're an accomplice of Vale and that girl.” Nole kept his eyes on the Captain, but he imagined Zane brushing off the question behind him, because the expression of anger on Maddox’s face intensified.
“Wait!” Nole warned, placing his arms in front of him in an act of surrender. “He has nothing to do with this.” As soon as the words escaped him, Nole felt like he was having an out of body experience. How did it get to this point? I’m actually defending Zane.
“Chief, please step away from them,” Maddox ordered his superior. “If either of you two move a muscle, I’ll shoot you down.” The sudden coldness in the Captain’s tone froze Nole in place. He’s not bluffing, Nole thought, silently hoping that Zane would abort whatever crazy plan he had in mind.
The shuffling of footsteps came from behind Nole until a figure stepped into the corner of his eye. Turning his head minutely, he saw that it was Chief Caswell. He’s got us. I’ve got to do something. Anything.
“Captain-”
“Quiet!” Maddox roared, interrupting Nole. He’s in no state of mind to hear the truth about Murphy. I’ll have to go about this differently.
“I-I can’t do that!” Nole yelled back. “I can’t do that because I need to tell you Capt. Hadley’s been attacked!” A discreet change in Maddox’s glare gave Nole the okay to speak on. “In conspiracy with the Chief, Sgt. Ryker severely injured Capt. Hadley and killed his own partner. I can prove this because Caswell has Capt. Hadley’s g-”
A sharp crack ripped through the area, creating a resounding echo. The reverberation pulsated in Nole’s mind over and over again, as if he were stuck in a perpetual torture. Besides the ringing in his ears, he was virtually unharmed. Checking on Zane, he hadn’t been shot either.
Did Capt. Maddox miss?
When his eyes befell the Captain, he noticed that he was no longer standing. It wasn’t until the image of Capt. Maddox collapsed on the ground, Taro by his side, that he finally realized what had just happened.
Hadley’s gun. Caswell fired on his own subordinate.
“They fired on the Captain!” Caswell hollered deafeningly, lowering the smoking gun in his hand. His declaration was so loud in that it rivaled the gunshot itself. But that was his intention. “Everyone attack the intruders!” The Enforcer’s in the property below the steps began an all out assault against Taro’s group. Shots were being fired from both sides, and Nole could hear the sounds of all out war.
“One down,” Caswell sneered. Returning his attention to the Chief, he saw that he was the new target. Unbalanced and struck with an inescapable sense of fear, Nole faltered at the thought of being two point-blank bullets away from a bloody death. I can’t dodge it, he thought hopelessly.
When the crack of the gunshot ripped through the air, Nole assumed that the he was in so much shock, that he couldn’t feel the pain of the bullet. It took him a few moments to actually realize that he wasn’t shot, or even that it wasn’t either of Caswell’s guns that had done the firing. A skidding bullet across the cement could be seen, and yet no one was injured. Judging from the Chief’s incredulous expression, it had come close to contacting him. Repositioning the pistol, a voice rang above the roar of the chaos happening on Central Station’s property.
“You Enforcers really shouldn’t leave your toys lying around.”
The shrill, demanding voice was unmistakable. Searching desperately for its source, Nole finally saw both Olivia and a gun toting Betty kneeling on the station’s rooftop. Due to the pandemonium between the Enforcers and Taro’s group, no one was paying attention to the extra rounds going off.
Unyielding, Chief Caswell stood his ground, eying Betty vehemently. Rather than comply with her demand, Caswell raised both guns; pointing one at Betty, and the other at Nole.
“I should’ve known to check the rooftop,” Caswell scoffed. “That’s where rats go to hide.”
“You’re the rat,” Olivia retorted. “Deceiving the entire city, you’re as low as they come.” She wasn’t holding a weapon, but her words came out as fearlessly, as if she was wielding one.
A low guffaw escaped the man in response to Olivia’s words.
“You call that a rat?” he challenged superiorly. “I have this city wrapped around my finger. These men answer blindly to me, even though I’m their enemy, and you call me a rat? No, you’re mistaken.”
“Betty!” Nole shouted. “Sgt. Ryker’s inside that station! He killed Sgt. Bellamy and hurt Capt. Hadley; get my brother and get away from there!”
For the first time, Betty looked genuinely shocked. It seemed as though she never suspected Sgt. Ryker as an accomplice. She must have thought Caswell was acting alone.
“I can’t be too surprised. I knew this idiot couldn’t have been behind everything,” Betty shrugged. “Was he the one who killed the doctor?”
A sinister smirk spread across the Chief’s face. “I killed the doctor, and you people will be meeting the same fate soon enough. I’ll start with your new addition.” He pulled down on the hammer of the pistol aimed at Nole, ready to fire a round at any second. Nole flinched at the action.
“Betty, shoot him!” Olivia begged.
“I’m out of rounds,” Betty grumbled in frustration.
At point blank range, with a little over separating us. I won’t get away fast enough.
Bracing himself yet again, Nole awaited the gripping pain of the incoming bullet piercing through him; expecting something similar to that pain before, when he was grazed by the Quad’s bullet over a year ago. Even just a graze was enough to send him into a tailspin of agony; the blood drenching his side from the open wound. Death would’ve surely taken him had it not been for Murphy; but Murphy wasn’t the one that willed him to live. The thought had never occurred to him until that moment, but he wanted to live just to live. All that time he’d been telling himself it was all for Caden and Suri; to protect them and make sure they’re okay. The drive to survive in Nova City, to stay alive at any cost came from his own resolve. He wanted to live. Not just for Caden or Suri. Not because of his new friends. Not because of guilt, or vengeance, or anger.
He wanted to live for the sake of living.
“Nole!” Olivia yelled, breaking his thoughts of futility. He flicked his eyes up at the rooftop. Does she really care that much? The pure terror in Olivia’s teary-eyed gaze said it all. “Move!”
You don’t have to tell me twice.
Without a second thought, Nole delivered a sharp kick to Chief Caswell’s feet, causing the gun to misfire at an upward angle that missed Nole’s head by inches. As he stumbled backwards, lowering both his weapons, obscenities flew out of Caswell’s mouth like a swarm of pestered wasps. While on the ground, Nole tackled him, subduing both the Chief’s arms so that neither weapon was easily accessible. Eventually, his enemy submitted to the pain and dropped both of the loaded guns, instead focusing on trying to release himself from Nole’s clutches.
Not wasting the opportunity, Nole kicked the guns away toward a now stirring Capt. Maddox. Groaning from the pain, he eased himself into a sitting position, slowly taking in the situation around him; staring first at Nole and the Chief, then the fighting below him, and finally at Caswell’s two relinquished guns near him. Nothing was said, but when he looked back up toward Nole, his face contorted into an expression of rage. Dark furrowed eyebrows and a bare toothed grimace hid any indication of pain from the wounded Enforcer as he struggled to get on his feet.
Despite helping redirect the bullet aimed at the Captain, Nole still didn’t know if Maddox still thought of him as an enemy; that is, until he withdrew his own pistol and aimed it Nole’s way. With his left collar bloodied from the misfire and the understandable pain surging through him, Maddox steadied the gun in his right hand best he could. Nole knew better than underestimate anyone with a pistol, so he took the defensive approach.
“W-wait!” Nole didn’t let up his hold on the Chief. If anything, he could use Caswell as his own hostage in order to escape the ignorant Enforcers.
Steadily, Maddox rose to his feet, his left arm hanging loosely by his side, as if the limb were completely numb. The motion proved difficult for him, because he started panting as soon as he’d successfully gotten to his feet.
“Get away from him,” Maddox breathed heavily.
“Listen, he just tried to kill you,” Nole reasoned to the delirious Captain. “Just like he killed Murphy.”
“Capt. Maddox, shoot Vale! Shoot him now!” Caswell pleaded pitifully.
“Chief, why did you have Capt. Hadley’s gun?” he inquired. “Is that why you didn’t want me to go inside? What did you do to her?” Suddenly the questions turned into an interrogation.
“I-I didn’t want to tell you, because it wasn’t the right time,” Caswell replied in a surprisingly calm voice, “but Vale’s friends overcame her. She’s-”
“Enough!” Maddox snapped. Nole didn’t even get the chance to refute the Chief’s lies because the Captain had seen right through them. “Who killed my uncle then?” This time, his coal black eyes shifted to Nole.
Fearful of his lies being seen through, Caswell didn’t dare speak. Instead, Nole did.
“The Chief framed me.”
The eeriness of Capt. Maddox’s silence was deafening, even above the roar of the war happening below them. His volcanic nature was about to erupt, and everyone around him could sense the tremors.
“I won’t say it again,” Maddox murmured, the gun trembling unsteadily in his grip. “Get away from him.”
“Didn’t you just hear what I said?”
“Get away from Caswell, so I can kill him.”
Stunned by the declaration, Nole didn’t know what to say. The hold on Caswell loosened slightly as he contemplated the order.
“C-capt. Maddox, what are you saying? I’m your superior officer, your Chief! Wait until you have a clean shot and take Vale down!” The large man squirmed in Nole’s arms. Nole stared at Maddox, trying to anticipate any sudden changes.
“It was you,” Maddox breathed calmly. “Chief, you killed him. You killed my uncle.”
Caswell deserves it, Nole told himself. He could feel his own grip loosening as the thought of killing the Chief became more and more justified. He killed Murphy, and I can’t forgive him.
Standing before the vengeful Captain, Nole was brought back to the night before, when he was seconds away from being shot by Maddox inside the station. The same bloodthirsty fury painted his face was the same now as it had been then. The wrath was so palpable, even Caswell could feel it as he desperately tried to escape.
Suddenly, Nole saw himself in Maddox’s place at that very moment. Both he and Maddox were trying to get revenge for Murphy’s murder. The only difference was, Nole had been chasing the wrong guy, and Maddox had found the right one. He’d exhibited that same rage while searching for Taro, allowing the desire for revenge to take over his thoughts, actions, personality. Up until Caswell’s confession, Nole was actually prepared to kill Taro. In retrospect, that very thought terrified him.
But Caswell’s guilty. Although the justification was there, Nole couldn’t allow Maddox to kill the Chief, not for Caswell’s sake, but the Captain’s.
“You can’t,” Nole finally stated. “There’s a better way to go about this. Right now, you’re just upset and letting your pain get the better of you.”
“Stand aside!” His finger rested on the trigger, fully prepared to take the shot.
“No.”
“Then you’ll be shot too.” The dead serious look in the Captain’s eyes told Nole he wasn’t kidding.
“Don’t let this take hold of you. Right now, Capt. Hadley’s inside, seriously wounded.”
The softened expression that resulted in the Captain’s face indicated that Nole’s speech was working. After all, Maddox wasn’t an unreasonable man; rash maybe, but not unreasonable.
“Is she alive?” he demanded, lowering the weapon below eye level.
“She was when I last saw her.”
Furrowing brows turned into disappointed slopes. Nole was also able to recognize that expression as well; he too had felt that same mix of embarrassment and guilt. Holstering his gun and subduing his right arm, Maddox hastily made his way toward Central Station
Not even looking at Caswell when he past, Nole interrupted Maddox midstride. “Captain, Sgt. Ryker’s the one you should watch for.” Confused surprise swept across his face upon hearing Nole’s advice.
“Is he a part of this?”
“Yes.” Nole bit his lip, deciding to withhold the news about Sgt. Bellamy’s murder. There was no doubt that Capt. Maddox deserved to know, but Nole didn’t want to risk stirring any new inklings of revenge.
“Please, he forced me into this,” Caswell pleaded, wriggling about his subdued state. “He left me no choice. It was all him!” The obvious last-ditch effort was off-putting and insulting. It took most of Nole’s self control to refrain from knocking the man out right then and there.
“Now, now, Chief,” an icy voice chimed in, “Throwing your brother in arms under the bus?” Ryker reemerged from the station, but he wasn’t alone.
“Caden,” Nole murmured at the sight of his brother.
With a proud expression, Ryker put an arm around Caden’s shoulder. To an outsider, the gesture could be perceived as a harmless act, but Nole knew there was no mistaking the inherently evil warning the action relayed.