Judgement (The Twelve) (40 page)

Chapter Fifteen

“
W
ell that went well.” Priest
commented
to those talking amongst themselves.

Heartless nudged Speed
who
winced in pain, “Hear that
Speedy. Do you think it went okay?”

Heartless
didn’t wait for an answer
, “Or is
fatty talking a load
of
old
bollocks!” he
replied angrily.
.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at him
as
Anvil strode over to stand nose to nose with Heartless.

“You got something to say big mouth? Then say it
but don’t ever talk to Priest that way again. You hear me?”

It took all of
Heartless
es
will power to stand his ground
, he held up his missing
hands
, “Remember how this happened?”

He turned to show everyone present his
metal hand and claw
.

“You all know what happened. I was in the trenches during the Great War. I thought I was fighting for King and bloody Country. Three years I was up to my knees in mud with rats trying to eat me every time I fell asleep. I watched my mates die on a daily basis and for what. NOTHING!”

Anvil crossed his arms over his muscular chest,” So you suffered, so what. We all did in one way or the other. What’s that got to do with Jennings and his men?”

Heartless spun back his
metal hand pointing
its index
finger
in
Anvils face
,” It
’
s got
everything
to do with him
and
his men. It’s this fuckin
g
war
that’s going to escalate
.
”

Heartless stabbed a finger towards Priest, “Don’t you go saying, ‘
that went well’
b
e
cause it didn’t.
I fucking hate wars!
Now we’re involving humans
and people are going to die!”

It was Chris’s turn to get the accusing finger,”
W
ar. That means blood and death and collateral damage. Civilians will die
.
”

Priest looked confused, “What
else did you expect
?”

“
I hate wars! I hate all the damn killings. I could just about stomach it when Anvil told me we were here to save the human
race
from
the occasional
monster, but now we’re getting them involved in
a war!
”

Heart
less looked down at
t
he floor, “You
want to
know something
?
I got blown up by an unexploded shell as we were marching away from the trenches
on Armistice Day
.
I was thinking just before the blast, that finally all the killing was over
. Then boom!  The next thing I remember was
Anvil
and missing my hands. I laughed in his face when he told me that I’d been re
-
born as a warrior to protect mankind! But he made me these hands and I believed him
.
Since then
all I’ve known is death and I’ve had enough
”

Anvil tired to answer but couldn’t, neither could Priest or anyone else, except for Chris
.

Chris
looked out from under the brim of his
hat
. His voice resonated
through
the warehouse, “God shall reward those most trusted when sacrifice is made in order that his people and the souls he created are saved from the Fallen One.”

Chris walked over to Heartless, “Your pain is great but you are a good man, otherwise you would not have been re-born. When we destroy the evil that threatens us,
you
shall rejoice that which you most desire.”

Heartless stood there for several moments, staring into Chris’s eyes, trying to find a lie and failing. He managed a quick nod of his head, “
You promise?”

Chris nodded and
Heartless grinned
without humour
, “L
et
’
s
get it done then.
”

Speed whispered to
Slash
, “What was that all about?”

“Don’t know but it stopped
Heartless
bloody moaning.” replied
Slash out loud.

He
winked at Heartless to show he was only joking,” Hey
amigos
what say you help me get my battle vest ready?”

Heartless
took a deep breath, patted Chris once on the shoulder
and
walked over to
join Slash
who was
walk
ing
towards the bedroom area. Patch saw the questioning look from Chris and explained that Slash had a special leather
j
e
r
kin that contained
five spring loaded metal sheaths running down the left
hand
side angled towards his throwing hand. Each sheath contained four flat bladed throwing knives, “He pulls one
out
and the next slides into place. Anvil designed it for him, ready for this coming war
.
In fact we’ve all got special weapons in storage. Mine is my father’s swords. Huntress, a carbon fibre super bow
with explosive arrow heads.
Heartless
with
his curved sword
attachment
,
that can cut through steel plate.
Speed has a pair of gauntlets with razor sharp metal edges
and short curved blades like claws along the top of each knuckle
. Priest has a
steel
helm
and
body armour. He’s like a reinforced
rhino.  Bulls Eye has a whole slew of weapons that you wouldn’t believe. Anvil, well he has that amazing hammer, nothing beats that.”

Chris removed his hat to scratch his head, ”What about me?”

Patch took his head in hers, “Chris you’re the most powerful weapon of all.”

Anvil was talking to Huntress, and looked up, “I’m sending Huntress out tomorrow with
both
of you
in civilian clothes. I want you to check out the area
that Jennings mentioned down
around Embankment and Waterloo Bridge. See if you can find any trace of the Dark.”
 

Anvil saw the look Chris and Priest gave him, “I know Shadow gave us another location but something tells me we need to check this out first. Always scout the surrounding areas before going in for the attack.”

Patch grabbed Chris by the hand, pulling him towards the bedrooms, “Nothing to do today then except heal and you know what they say about healing?”

Chris smiled,” What?”

“Best done flat on your back!”

Anvil watched them both disappear into the sleeping quarters and allowed himself a half smile. He realised Rage had crept up behind him,
which was no mean feat considering his size,
“You do move quiet for a big lad.”

Rage grunted, “Anvil we go way back when. We
’re
both from warrior stock and know the way of battle but young Chris there….” He left the question un-finished.

Anvil opened the fridge door to remove
several more cooked chicken legs, he offered
some to Rage
replying
, “That lad just destroyed one of The Dark.”

Rage held a chicken leg up as if to make a point then lowered it,” Hum forgot that. Maybe Chris is the better warrior out of us all?”

Anvil took a bite of his chicken and thought that through, finally when he answered, he found several of the others had gathered to hear his reply, “No, I don’t think so. You and I are trained to fight and kill, we draw up strategies, plan our attacks but we kill. Chris wasn’t acting as a warrior when he destroyed Shadow. He looked so s
ad when he did it. I think he believed he was doing
Shadow a favour
w
hen he judged him, I saw the look on Shadows face. It was similar to the one on Heartlesses a few moments ago.”

Heartless,
sitting on one of the settees checking his metal claw
, g
lanced up
but said nothing
, he just shrugged and carried on
checking
the hinged joint on his evil looking clawed pincer.

Priest took an offered chicken leg, “
I
nvolving normal people is something new. Do we need to meet and greet all his men?”

Anvil wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “
The simple answer is yes. I believe the rules have changed again. The Dark can recruit more re
-
born, we can’t. So we’ve been allowed to use Jennings and his men. It all balances up in the end.”

Priest bit into his chicken, Dark against humans?”

“Humans that are all ex specialist solders, who are hard as nails and with ammo we will provide.”

Priest pointed out the obvious, “
The Dark will want retribution for the destruction of Shadow. The next move is there’s unless Huntress and the others find
something
down at Embankment.”