The Liberal Assassin

How long has it been? It's not important. It didn't matter if the wall was pink or white.

Gentle knocks on the door alerted me to two new presences in the room. I pretended to be asleep. It wouldn't be surprising since that's all I did for the past week. I didn't want to deal with anything, the pain of discovering the truth was still raw.

Ignacio's cautious footsteps were almost drowned out by heavy and hurried ones. The covers were thrown off me as soon as the heavy footsteps stopped. I could barely hear Ignacio over the angry growl.

"Get up! Don't pretend to be asleep, I know you're not. Don't you think you've done enough sleeping for the past week? Get up now!"

"Rush stop," the normally meek and mild tempered Ignacio tried to interfere but was brushed aside.

I didn't make any attempt to move, hoping Rush would go away. However, my shoulder was roughly shoved and the front of my shirt grabbed with so much force that my upper body was lifted off the bed. On reflex, I opened my eyes and tried to pry the attacker off but Rush straddled me with his legs preventing any movement.

It was one thing to be at someone else's mercy and another to be treated like a rag doll. Unable to get the gang leader off me, I searched for alternatives but when I saw how Ignacio made no attempt to interfere, I gave up.

Pain blossomed on the right side of my face, snapping my neck to the side. For a moment I was stunned but that punch brought back all the pent-up emotions. Without warning, I delivered a right hook to an off-guard Rush Rhodes. The opening gave what I needed to turn the situation around. If he thought I was someone who would take things lying down, he thought wrong. If he wanted a fight, a fight was what he had coming. I'll whoop his sorry a.s.s and send him out in a minute!

One minute turned to three then five and I lost count eventually, focussed on dodging kicks and throwing punches of my own. Blows were exchanged and hits were taken, my lungs burned but not from exertion. The physical pain paled in comparison when I thought about Janon's death. The look in Rush's eyes told me he understood while hitting me hard under the ribs.

Reality felt distorted as I received his punches. Several ribs must have fractured from the impact but the man didn't hold back. It was exactly what I needed. Throwing a few good ones that landed nicely on his face, I roared and lunged forward, tackling his waist. One or two hits missed but it didn't matter for both our movements were becoming increasingly sluggish from the ridiculous amount of damage received. In a conversation of fists, it was clear to us the discussion wasn't over. I needed it, harder and harsher just like the raw agony inside of me. I wasn't willing to stop until every part of me ached and every muscle refused to move.

Ignacio watched on with an increasingly pale complexion at the amount of blood, broken bones and bruises. At some point of our tussle, Khronos and Nash arrived at the unbelievable scene. While receiving a kick and retaliating with a roundhouse, I caught how Khronos stopped Nash from interfering.

"You can't interfere, it's their fight."

Silently thanking the scientist, I felt the impact of a quick uppercut. The taste of rust filled my mouth on the impact but I paid no heed to it, intent on returning the favour twice as hard.

As if time slowed, I felt the impact of Rush's connecting fist to my right cheek the moment mine made contact with his jaw. The light in his violet eyes told me he was at his limits too and as time unfroze, we flew to different ends of the room, crashing into the wall and laying there unmoving. Every muscle in my body ached and every movement hurt, including the simple act of respiration. Rush was close to unconsciousness but held onto the last remains of consciousness with his will.

"You might have lost someone extremely important and irreplaceable but don't forget the people you still have."

Almost after wheezing that message, the Yankee went slack, eyes rolling to the back of his skull.

Almost at once, Ignacio and Khronos ran to assist the knocked out gang leader. I felt something seize my heart at the sight of Rush's battered body. The emotion only got stronger when Nash touched me gently.

"Titus?"

Worried forest green eyes made all the tears I had been holding back come at full force. Rush was right and a part of me was thankful for such a great friend. He reminded me of something I had forgotten when I was absorbed in all my pain and closing myself off to the world.

"I'm fine," after some consideration I added, "Dad."

It didn't matter if I didn't know about Janon earlier. It would have changed nothing. Janon was my biological father but Nash was still the only dad I knew. Beating myself over something I had no control over would make neither dad happy.

"I'm fine," I held up a shaky hand to reassure the man who raised me and holding on it tightly.

***

Recovery was slow for Rush who didn't have his super regenerative abilities. I was up and about in four days but the poor man had to take time off from the construction works. Ignacio had forbidden him to leave the infirmary for a month and the Yankee complained about the pink walls on a daily basis.

Nash was nowhere to be found after the incident, working doubly hard to make-up for the gang leader's absence. With Rush on bed rest and Khronos finalising the second phase of our plan, I had some thinking to do.

The manly conversation with our fists helped clear some of my previous doubts. Khronos had read and compiled all evidence he found, including the ones from Janon's journal. Long story short, Arvin was the perpetrator and mastermind behind the whole fiasco. His endgame was to find a way to become immortal and according to the journal, Janon had reasons to believe Arvin was over six hundred years old, making him the second oldest man alive I know.

Rion's part had been vague in the journal but it Kalifa's involvement had been clear. She was the head scientist of the project and Janon was one of the lead researchers. As much as Janon tried to buy time and minimise the number of sacrifices, there was little he could do. All the research evidence he managed to gather over the years were hidden in his laboratory as stated in the journal. The laboratory was hidden in the wastelands but the part about its location had been badly smudged over time that it was indecipherable.

Our only hope was getting hold of Kalifa but that was a problem in itself. The woman had taken a page out of Arvin's book and gone into hiding. Even with Khronos' surveillance across Luna, it would take a while to figure out their locations.

"In a month, we'll proceed with the next plan." I spoke to Janon and Mia while gazing at the stars. They never answered but it didn't matter. I knew they would be smiling anyway.