Chapter X

Unwelcome News

An hour had passed since Dmitri had gone downstairs to interrogated Patrick for his information, but Alan and Charlie wait in the entrance room discussing whether or not Patrick would give up any intel. Dmitri walks up the stairs mopping the blood of his hands with an old rag.

“That old base is a hideout, and it's also undefended, it's merely a processing centre before... And I quote.” Dmitri said, before making quotation signs his bloodied hands. “The cargo gets shipped out. You're welcome.” Dmitri finished looking at the two of them.

“What exactly did you do?” Charlie asked, trying to think as to why whatever Dmitri had done was necessary. From what she had heard, Patrick had been willing to give them the information within minutes of the enhanced interrogation starting, but that had been over an hour ago and Dmitri had only just returned. Dmitri shrugs at this question as if it was of little import to him.

“Broke a few bits. Removed a few others.” Dmitri said, continuing to wipe the blood of his hands. At this Charlie quickly leaves the room where a few moments later retching noises can be heard from the kitchen. Alan looks at Dmitri. Only now realising the monster that was inside the ex-soldier.

“Is he still alive?” Alan asked, the way Dmitri looked indicated that Patrick was most likely in a near death state.

“Yep. I'm not done with him yet. Not by a long shot.” Dmitri said, a grin on his face, imagining all the suffering that he was going to inflict on Patrick. Alan sighed at this as he felt the sense of losing control of the situation.

“I can't say I agree with this method.” Alan said, even from the manor, he could hear the way their guest screamed for mercy, but from what he had heard it seemed that he had been shown non by Dmitri.

“War is war. And make no mistake Alan, we are at war with these pieces of human filth. They wouldn't hesitate to kidnap your kids and burn this place down afterwards with the rest of us inside.” Dmitri said, anger full in his eyes. He pauses for a moment before continuing. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a mission to prepare for.” He said in a much calmer tone of voice and walks of towards the cave entrance leaving Alan alone.

Dmitri walks towards the landing pad where his chopper is waiting for him. As he begins to get in, he stops and turns around to see Vernon standing at the table. Dmitri sighs, dismounts from the chopper and walks over to join the old butler.

“Going on another mission I see then.” Vernon asked, he wasn’t surprised at this, Dmitri was never one to wait and this was in his character as well. Rushing off without thinking about the long-term consequences.

“Aye, I've got the information I needed from that scum. And now I'm going to act on it.” Dmitri said. he was tired of waiting, waiting got people killed as he knew very well, and this was no exception.

“Don’t worry laddie, I wasn’t going to stop you.” Vernon said. “Just to tell you to be careful and don’t do anything reckless.” He continued, which took Dmitri by surprise, the butler had made no secret of his feeling towards him when he first arrived, as well as for months after that. “Codsworth also requests your presence as well.” Vernon said. “He says it's urgent.” The butler finished.

“Do you think I should go?” Dmitri asked.

“That’s above my pay grade, all I will say is that if you do. You’ll never forgive yourself.” Vernon said. “Now.” Vernon continued returning to business. “Go and do your mission and break as many of those poor souls out of that place as possible.” Vernon finished and on that he turned on his heel and left Dmitri to get into the chopper and head off towards Metropolis, the butlers last words still ringing in his head.

“I can’t believe you got away with it?” Jack said, the fourteen-year-old looked at his younger brother with something that was almost respect, he had been as surprised as Alan had been when Dave had told him what he had been up to. But even more shocked when he heard that there had been no punishment. Shocked and a little annoyed at the fact that he thought that if it had been him, then there would have been one almighty telling off.

“Yeah.” Dave said, his tone remarkably different, the image of the slaughter at the campsite still in his mind. He was still thinking of ways to get into the cell down in the cave so that he could inflict pain on the man who had tried to kidnap him. But all his efforts had been rebuffed or were so foolhardy that they weren’t even worth attempting.

“What’s on your mind, little bro?” Jack asked. Dave wasn’t normally the one to blow his head off but this silence was if anything even more unnerving.

“I wanna go down to the cell. But nobody will let me.” Dave said. He had been trying for days now, and nobody would let him within fifty feet of the cell.

“No problem little bro.” Jack said smiling.

“What do you mean.” Dave said, it was never a good sign for any plan the two brothers had ever had if Jack was smiling this early.

“You go downstairs, I’ll cause a distraction that will get everyone that is here away from the cell, should give you about.” Jack checked his watch. “About ten minutes.” He finished and got up.

“Where are you going?” Dave asked.

“Where do you think, to cause the distraction.” Jack said shaking his head and leaving the room, followed by Dave who headed down towards the cave. Wondering to himself what on earth his older brother was planning on doing.

As soon as Dave arrived in the cave entrance, the sound of the alarm could be heard from the manor. ‘well here goes nothing.’ Dave thought and walked into the cell in front of him, which looked a lot more imposing now that he was alone down here.

As Dave walked into the cell with the knife in his hand, he was met by a truly horrific sight. Patrick was still conscious, but both his head and hands were horribly mutilated, both earlobes had been cut off, his nose was bent at a weird angle, several fingers were missing from both hands, and the hands themselves had been shattered beyond recognition. When he looked up and opened his mouth to speak, Dave noticed that several of his teeth had been forcibly removed as well.

“What to do you want?” Patrick said, blood coming out of his mouth, Dave had thought that he had seen him at his most defeated when Dmitri’s BOT's had dragged him towards the cave when they had first returned to the manor. But the man in front of him seemed to have given up on life completely. Now he understood why no-one had allowed him to see his would-be kidnapper.

“Why did you do it?” Dave asked, wondering whether or not the man would understand him or not, or even if he could hear him, but Patrick did respond, just not the way Dave expected him to.

“We were going to improve you.” Patrick said, a bloody grin spreading across his face.

“Improve me?” Dave asked, he had no idea what Patrick was talking about. “How do you think taking me away from my home would improve me?” He asked, his temper rising.

“As it has improved all of us, we were all like you now, before being selected.” Patrick said, before smiling and continuing. “Your pal, Dmitri was selected just like you at around the same age, as were the numerous others he has slaughtered on his quest for answers, as was I.” Patrick finished still smiling his blood-soaked smile, as if he was recalling a pleasant dream.

“Selected. You mean kidnapped?” Dave asked, wondering why he was still talking to this obviously crazy and demented individual, who seemed to believe that he had attempted to do him a favour, but he didn’t stop listening to the prisoner.

“It is easy to see why your primitive mind would jump to that conclusion. No; we wanted to improve you, to perfect you. Where do you think your Dmitri learnt his combat skills from, the military?” Patrick laughed, spitting blood as he did so before continuing. “No. He learnt it from us, every kill he has ever made is only possible because of us.” Patrick finished.

“You’re lying.” Dave said, but his voice cracked showing his uncertainty, and he started to back up.

“No David Wolfrick, it is a pity that you didn’t come with us willingly, we could have shown you so much. We could have shown you the light.” Patrick said with all the confidence of the sanest person in the world, although his speech sounded more like a chant, as if he speech was praying to some god or such like. This was then concerned as he began to cackle like the most mental cultist. 

As he was speaking however Dave was continuing to back up until he ran out the cell and closed the door behind him, and then ran straight into Charlie. Who looked down at him with no surprise whatsoever. As if she had expected to find him down here.

“So, you saw our guest.” Charlie said, it wasn’t a question Dave realised, it was a statement, as if Charlie already knew why he looked so terrified.

“Yeah. How’d do you?” Dave asked, although the answer to that question came rather too quickly for his liking.

“Jack. Vernon was able to get the truth out of him. Your butler seems to be good at that sought of thing.” Charlie said sitting down on the table. She had noticed how often the old butler was able to tell if people were being dishonest, but even she was able to tell that Jack was lying when they asked where Dave was. “Although we had hoped to stop you before you spoke with him.” Charlie continued.

“I know.” Dave replied. He knew that his time with the prisoner would be short, but he had hoped that Jack would have been able to hold out a little bit longer. But he remembered that he had left the room voluntarily and not forced out, so he supposed that Jack’s confession had not done his interrogation that much damage.

“Why. Why would you want to speak with him?” Charlie asked if it was her, and this man had attempted to kidnap her, then she would want absolutely nothing to do with the crazy lune.

“I wanted to find out why he tried to do what he planned.” Dave said defensively. And unlike most people, he wanted to find out as much information about the people who had tried to abduct him.

“I see.” Charlie said simply. “Well, I can’t say that it was part of the plan for you to meet him this soon.” She finished shaking her head despondently.

“You. You were planning on letting me see him then?” Dave asked, he was shocked at this, but it only took a few seconds for him to realised that they weren’t going to keep him in the dark forever.

“Yes. Your father wanted to wait until Dmitri had returned from his mission. That way we would have had all the answers.” Charlie said before looking seriously at the boy. “Dave, did he tell you anything, anything at all that might help us understand this organisation that he was a part of?” She asked, this might be the best chance they had, as she thought that he would have opened up to Dave as a way to taunt him. Dave thought about it for a moment, trying to recall everything that was said inside the cell.

“He said that he was also kidnapped as a child, as were the others that Dmitri killed. He said that they were all selected, like I was.” Dave finished, at this Charlie stood up. 

“Wait here.” Charlie said and disappeared upstairs. After about five minutes in which Dave wondered about what exactly was going on here, Charlie returned with Alan and Vernon both looking visibly confused as Dave was. As Charlie explained what Dave had just told her.

“Hold on a sec, you’re saying that these people specifically targeted you, Dave? It wasn’t just a chance meeting?” Alan said, trying to get his head around what was being said: First Martin, now Dave. Someone seemed to have it out for his family, and he was now even more determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

“Yeah.” Dave said.

“Right.” Alan said, his anger rising beyond boiling as he strode off towards the cell, followed closely by Vernon. The old butler determined to be there to stop Alan from doing anything rash.

Once inside Alan got straight down to business.

“Right, you’re going to tell me exactly why you intended to take my sons.” Alan demanded spitting with anger.

“It’s simple, as a measure to stop your’s and your brother’s investigation. Well that is the reason for the older boy at least. The younger one is above my pay grade.” Patrick said in a strangely calm tone of voice that did not match his tortured appearance.

“My brother is long dead. What would taking my son do to get revenge on him.” Alan asked, still furious but also intrigued by what the madman had to say, he decided to focus on Dave for the time being, although his curiosity over the comment about Martin also intrigued him. At this comment Vernon twitched in anger.

“Of course, of course; assuming that he is your son, if any of the little shits are yours.” Patrick said, before cackling like a lunatic, this comment was the thing that send Alan over the edge, he rammed Patrick’s face into the table, causing a cracking sound when it collided. 

“Say that again and I’ll do more than break your nose.” Alan said as Vernon stepped forward, whether it was to stop him or to help him, Alan neither knew nor cared. “How did you know where to attack?” Alan demanded looking at the freshly blooded Patrick.

“We’ve been watching your house and its residents for a while now, someone very high up in my organisation is intrigued with your children. Very interested indeed; but when we started our observations, we noted that a former member of our organisation was in residence but couldn’t get in contact with him.” Patrick said. “So, I gave him some information that I knew would draw him back to us once again.” He finished and begins to laugh. At this Alan rushes out of the cell.

“What is it?” Charlie asked in urgency.

“I need you to go and assist Dmitri, he’s walking into a trap.” Alan said and Charlie nodded and rushed off to get ready to move out. As Alan turned to Vernon, before checking to make sure that they were alone. “Was there any truth as to what he said back there. Vernon?” Alan asked.

“No sir, the man is trying to get inside your head. Those boys are yours.” Vernon said.

“Still, I’ll sleep a lot better knowing, is there any way we can prove him wrong, like a DNA test or something.” Alan said.

“Yes sir, but I was here all the time that you weren’t sir, your brother never made any kind of advance on your wife. And I’ll beat the shit out of any man that says otherwise.” Vernon said, shaking with rage. But seeing the look on Alan’s face he continues. “But if this what you want to do this sir, I’ll see that it is done.” Vernon finished and took his leave of Alan who was left alone with his thoughts. As the sounds of the second chopper taking off to aid Dmitri could be heard in the background.