Fear the Night

Chapter 10: The Suits

Isabella and Yukio hurried through the street. She’d found him in the market and told him what happened. He instantly gripped her hand and headed back to the alley where they were a few steps away when Isabella struggled, “Wait, Yukio! He said to give him time with her!”

“No way I’m doing that, Izzy!” he shot back. As they rounded the corner into the alley, Yukio suddenly found himself on the ground and Isabella grunted as she, too, fell behind him. A third groan sounded in front of then and they turned wide eyes ahead to see the very man they were worried about.

“Maverick!” Isabella breathed in relief.

“Mave! What happened?!” Yukio demanded instantly as they all stood and Isabella shoved past him to throw her arms around Maverick.

“Everything’s alright now,” he murmured in her hair as he slid his arms around her then looked up at Yukio. “Faye won’t be attacking either one of you. Apparently she was jealous of Bell here. She’s in love with me…Faye, I mean.”

“Seriously?” Yukio wondered, cocking his head slightly like a curious dog. “They can fall in love?”

“Given the right circumstances,” Maverick shrugged and looked down at Isabella when she looked at him. “Just like the people they were.”

“And what did you say when she confessed?” Isabella wondered and Yukio knew he’d been forgotten.

“I told her I was sorry but I didn’t feel the same,” he admitted immediately. He didn’t dare add that it would’ve been the answer whether Isabella had been there or not. That would be putting his foot in his mouth…again. “I told her not to attack either of you. There’s one more thing…”

“What is it?” Yukio wondered when Maverick trailed off. He was noticed again and Maverick sighed as Isabella looked at him with a worried frown.

“When Lock-Dah comes around,” he continued, “Faye won’t be going anywhere. I wanted to make it up to her somehow, and she wanted to stay, so, we have a new roommate.” He looked back at Isabella and said, “All the same I want you to stay as far away as possible from her. Also, I don’t wanna rub our attraction to each other in her face, so, keep the lovey-dovey stuff to a minimum, eh?”

“You arrogant ass!” Isabella laughed, then kissed him on the cheek before asking, “Can Yukio and I go back in now?”

“Yeah,” Maverick smiled and they all turned down that alley, Maverick glancing around to make sure no one saw them enter the trap door.

Yukio headed in first and Isabella took the opportunity to kiss Maverick properly before heading after her ‘brother.’ Maverick couldn’t help grinning as he stepped in after the two but his grin dropped when he bumped into the two at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

“What’s wrong?” he frowned, pushing past them. Yukio and Isabella were staring wide-eyed at the cage at the other end of the room where Faye lay still on the ground. When Maverick looked into the cell as well, his own expression mirrored theirs.

“Is she…?” Isabella finally breathed. “She’s not breathing. Her-Her eyes are open.”

“She can’t be,” Maverick breathed back in response. He dashed to the safe without a word for the key to the cell. His hands fumbled with the locked door in his haste as Yukio and Isabella stayed where they were. Maverick threw the door open and ran to kneel at Faye’s head.

His mouth agape in shock and sorrow his hand couldn’t control itself from touching her hair gently and he down fully, still wide-eyed in shock. After everything they’d been through, after all the progress they’d made together, she just gave up on life? What happened between the time he’d left and come back?

“Maverick?” Isabella called, but he didn’t turn to look at her kneeling next to him. “Maverick, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, Bell,” he replied in a shaky voice. “I hear ya fine.”

“Are you ok?” she whispered.

“No,” he sighed and bowed his head into his hand. “What happened?”

“Uh, guys,” Yukio called, warningly. “I think we’ve got a bigger problem, right now!”

The couple in the cage turned to see Yukio backed against the bars outside, staring wide frightened eyes at the staircase. Maverick stood when he caught sight of what the other man was staring at and stalked out of the cage to face the three Suits now in his home. Two men and one woman, all in black suits and black ties, guns on their belts. The woman had her hair up in a tight bun and wore a knife on her belt as well as her gun.

“It’s just like you Suits,” Maverick began, stepping next to Yukio and setting a hand on his shoulder to calm him, “to send the equivalent to your enemy before sending more out for them.”

“Maverick Fallon,” one of the men said, “you are under arrest for breaking curfew---”

“Yeah, yeah,” he cut in beckoning Isabella to come out of the cage and stand with him, which she did as he spoke. “Under arrest for breaking curfew who know how many times, resisting arrest every time you guys come after me and having a Drone for a pet. But…” He turned to the dead Drone in the cell then back to the Suits, “…as you can see, the Drone’s dead. I don’t think you guys wanna pin that with me, do ya?”

“You are charged with breaking curfew, resisting arrest and harboring a Drone,” the fem-Suit replied. “How do you plead?”

“Bite me,” Maverick shot back.

“Come quietly and no one will be hurt,” the second male Suit advised.

Maverick scoffed as Isabella and Yukio glanced at each other in wonder at his actions. What did he think he was doing?!

“And what about these two?” Maverick wondered, gesturing to Isabella and Yukio. “What are they charged with?”

“Aiding and abetting a criminal,” the woman replied. “They’ll serve the same amount of time in lock-up as you will.”

“Ooh, that’s where we have a problem,” Maverick replied, slowly walking toward the freezer. “See, these two just got here. Greenhorns, both of ‘em. I wouldn’t want their experience in this town to be so bad as lock-up.”

He stopped in front of the freezer and gripped the handle, causing the three Suits to reach for their guns but they didn’t draw. Isabella gripped Yukio’s arm in fright but be only patted her shoulder and watched the Suits carefully as he inched toward the boxes in the corner.

“Where are my manners?” Maverick wondered, mockingly. “Would you three like something to eat?”

He opened the door and reached into the freezer quickly, making the Suits actually draw their weapons as Maverick pulled out a piece of meat and flung it at them.

The Suits shot, but before one of them could pull the trigger, the meat hit the lead Suit square in the jaw and he shot the ceiling.

Maverick dodged the other two bullets as Isabella let out a scream and Yukio pulled her with him when he ducked and Maverick dove around the corner where his bed was located. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed the gun on his night stand.

Yukio instantly charged one of the Suits and started trying to wrestle the gun away from him.

“Get the girl!” the Suit growled at the other two as the other man stood up, rubbing his chin. They both looked at Isabella who darted toward the safe on the other side of the cage.

A shot rang out, followed by another as the gun Yukio was wrestling to get from the Suit went off accidentally and the fem-Suit started shooting in Maverick’s direction and Isabella shrieked in fright, but opened the safe quickly, grabbing the notebook and headed to the open cage door.

“Izzy! Look out!” Yukio shouted before getting punched in jaw by the Suit he was wrestling with.

The other male Suit grabbed a handful of Isabella’s hair, making her cry out in pain as he pulled her to face the other end of the room where Maverick was using the corner for cover.

“What do you have here, deary?” he wondered, trying to take the notebook from her, but she held it in a death grip.

“”Bell! No!” Maverick shouted, almost revealing himself completely and making himself a target that the female Suit aimed and fired at. Maverick jerked back just in time to keep himself from getting shot.

“Maverick!” Isabella cried and the Suit assaulting her finally yanked the notebook from her then backhanded her, sending her whirling around and a sickening crack-bang was heard as she hit her head on one of the bars of the cage, knocking her out.

“Isabella!” Yukio shouted and glared at the Suit that had hurt her while Maverick gripped the gun in his hand in rage when he caught sight of her on the ground. Both her men were fuming.

Yukio, fed up with these jerks, took the Suit that he was fighting with by the wrist and pounded it against the ground until the gun fell onto the ground. He grabbed it and shot the Suit in the head without hesitation. The fem-Suit spun around from shooting at Maverick to see what was going on and Maverick took that opportunity to shoot her in the back as Yukio aimed for the last Suit and shot him in the gut.

It was over that quickly, and it took the two men a moment for their anger to dial down and give way to panic. Isabella wasn’t moving. Both men ran to her but it was Maverick who pulled her up slowly and cradled her in his arms. Yukio leaned forward and brushed some of her hair from her forehead to reveal a bump forming on her hairline.

“Check her pulse,” Maverick instructed, not taking his gaze from her face.

“No need,” Yukio sighed in relief. “She’s breathing. Do you think she has a concussion?! Should we get her to a clinic?!”

“We can’t go to a clinic!” Maverick hissed. “We just killed three Suits!”

“So?!” Yukio growled back. “They won’t know that! Let’s try it! We have to!”

“No!” Maverick barked.

“She could be dying!” Yukio shouted.

“We all die if we go there!” Maverick shot back. That shut Yukio up and the other man glanced down at Isabella then around at the dead Suits.

“This has gone on long enough,” he voiced through clenched teeth, then looked at Faye lying dead in the cell as Yukio looked up at him in wonder.

“What has?” he asked, cautiously.

“All of it,” Maverick replied, shaking his head slightly. “The damn Suits don’t want anyone to know the truth about where the Drones came from and they’re playing on the people’s fear and ignorance to gain power. It’s gone on too long.”

He looked at Yukio with a stare that could have boiled the oceans.

“I’ll create a new holiday. The day of enlightenment when the people of this country found out the truth from the renegade that dared to defy these stupid authorities who kept them in darkness. Lock-Dah will fall away from existence and when I’m done, this place will praise me for being a pain in the ass.”

“Is that what you want out of this?” Yukio wondered. “Praise? You think the people are gonna make you president or king or whatever if you tell them what really happened forty years ago?”

“I don’t care if they want to or not,” Maverick replied though gritted teeth. “Either way, I won’t take it. When I’m done here, I’ll just leave. I’m sick of this place. Even after it’s fixed, I’ll be sick of it.”

“Not to rain on your parade, but how the hell are you gonna tell the whole country the truth?” Yukio asked, sitting on his heels and crossing his arms. “You gonna go up to every person on the street and say, ‘Hey who wants a history lesson?!’ I mean, who’s gonna believe you anyway?”

“Oh they’ll believe me,” Maverick assured him. “And I’ll worry about the rest later. Right now, Isabella needs a doctor and was can’t stay here any more. Is your pad still empty?”

“That thing was taken before I even got everything out,” Yukio grumbled then perked up instantly and said, “But Isabella’s pad is still open.”

“We’ll go there, then,” Maverick decided and scooped Isabella into his arms. “Lead the way, Yukio.”