The Casey Chronicles- Part Seven

A lone figure stands on a short jetty, overlooking a harbor. The figure had waited all day for the fog, which now lay on the harbor like a thick blanket, to settle in before making his move. The figure is wrapped in black robes and has a familiar gas mask with red eye lenses on, obscuring his face. The figure sighs heavily as he looks out over the frigid waters

We grew up in this city. We learned how to swim in these waters. Who knew these waters would become the resting place of our worst enemy? Then again…who could’ve guessed that we would be the one to bring our worst enemy back to life?

The figure is holding a long chain in his left hand and a pair of syringes in his right hand. One of the syringes contains liquid that seems to burn brightly, despite the thick layer of fog. In the other syringe is a cool greenish colored liquid. The figure suddenly yanks roughly on the chain in his left hand

We knew we couldn’t do it alone though. We weren’t like her…we can’t mix them like she can. We have tried to mix them before…it almost cost us our life. So we knew that we would need the help of a volunteer to complete the next step…

The figure yanks roughly on the chain again and snarls angrily. A whimpering sound is heard as a skinny and pathetic looking man walks out from behind a pile of rubble. The pathetic looking man has a spiked dog collar wrapped tightly around his neck. One end of the chain is attached to the dog collar while the other end of the chain rests in the hands of the man in the gas mask

We had captured this pathetic husk of a man earlier in the day. We tried to convince him to come with us willingly. We tried to tell him that he would be doing a great service for the true leader of The Insurgency…but he seemed to think that the true leader of The Insurgency was dead and that we were just some nut job who wanted to steal his Boosters. So we had to enlist his services forcefully…

The man wearing the dog collar shuffles to the end of the jetty and stands next to the man in the gas mask. The man in the dog collar doesn’t say a word; he knew exactly what the man in the gas mask wanted from him. The man in the gas mask chuckles softly as he rolls up his own sleeve and jams the syringe containing the cool greenish liquid into his arm. He presses the plunger down and immediately begins to feel the effects of the Telekinesis Booster rushing through his veins.

We hadn’t had our fix in so long. We aren’t a junkie though…we only used what boosters we needed in order to complete our goals and fulfill our desires. But right now…we need to reach out and find the tycoon…

The man in the gas mask and the man in the dog collar stand side by side silently as the man in the gas mask uses the power of the Telekinesis Booster to reach out and probe the deepest and darkest depths of Boston Harbor. After standing silently for what seemed to be ages, the man in the gas mask lets out a triumphant yell that was half painful scream and half joyful cry

We found him!

The man in the dog collar watches on silently as the man in the gas mask suddenly begins grunting…as if he were pulling something heavy uphill. The man in the dog collar suddenly turns his attention to the surface of the harbor, which is beginning to bubble and steam. The bubbling of the water seems to intensify as the head and shoulders of a man wrapped in chains emerges. The man in the gas mask manipulates the body so that it floats over to the shore, where he sets it down carefully. The man in the gas mask and the man wearing the dog collar both walk over to the body and stand over it, looking down at the tycoon. The man in the dog collar is unable to contain the shocked tone in his voice

Man in the dog collar
He doesn’t even look frozen at all…

All the color immediately drains from the man in the dog collar’s face as he realizes what this means

He was right, the icy prison that had once previously encased the body of the tycoon was now completely melted away…which means that he is of no use to us

Before the man in the dog collar can utter another syllable, the man in the dog collar suddenly feels a tightness constrict around his throat. The man in the dog collar’s eyes roll up into the back of his head as an invisible hand slowly chokes the air from his lungs. The man in the dog collar catches one last glimpse of the man in the gas mask making a pinching motion with his right pointer finger and thumb before the man in the dog collar’s body violently shutters and then becomes still.

We had seen Darth Vader do that in Star Wars as a kid and vowed to ourselves that, should the opportunity ever arise, we would kill a man in the same way

The man in the gas mask suddenly makes a throwing motion, which sends the body of the man in the dog collar flying off into the dense fog, the chain dragging loudly behind him. The man in the gas mask then turns his attention to the cold and white body of the tycoon lying before him

We need to revive him…we need to restart his heart…

The man in the gas mask holds out his right arm and begins opening and shutting his right hand, slowly at first

We need to be extremely careful…we need to be precise…we mustn’t squeeze too hard or we will run the risk of popping the tycoon’s heart…

Ever so slowly, the opening and closing rhythm of the man in the gas mask’s hand begins to increase. Slowly by surely, color begins to return to the cheeks of the tycoon as the man in the gas mask continues to speed up the opening and closing motion of his fist

Close…so close…

The man in the gas mask suddenly stops the opening and closing motion of his fist. At the same time, the tycoon’s body spasms a few times and the tycoon suddenly begins coughing. The chains fall off the tycoon’s body as he rolls over onto his hands and knees and pukes up water. The man in the gas mask slowly reaches up and removes his hood. The man in the gas mask’s long black and blonde dreadlocks cascade down his back as he slowly reaches up and removes his gas mask. The tycoon stops puking for a few moments and slowly turns his head to the left, noticing the smirking face…of Corey Casey

Corey Casey
Hello Chuckles

++++++++++++++++++++++++++



They say that, on July 18th 64 AD, a great fire broke out in the city of Rome. This source of this fire was blamed on a number of different causes but, before anyone could do anything, the fire quickly spread and began consuming the entire city of Rome. The people whose homes had caught on fire panicked and ran screaming from their burning domiciles. The terrified masses cried out to their Caesar to save them from the horrors that this massive fire was wrecking upon the corrupted and filthy city of Rome.

“Help us Emperor Nero!” The people cried out loudly

And then, the story goes, Emperor Nero walked out of his chambers and looked down upon the city of Rome and saw that three districts of Rome where in the process of being ravaged by this fire. Instead of lifting a figure to help though…some claim that Nero began to sing “Sack of Ilium” while others claim that Nero removed his sandals, grabbed his lyre, and began to sing and play the lyre while the entire districts in the city of Rome burned to the ground.

What history doesn’t make mention of is the fact that, after the fire had been subdued, Emperor Nero opened his own palace up as a place of refuge for those who had been victims of the fire…that Emperor Nero paid for the reconstruction of those sections of Rome that had been destroyed by the fire out of his own pocket. History makes no mention of the fact that a gang of renegade Christians later confessed to starting the fire in an attempt to burn the heathen city of Rome to the ground.

Nero is simply remembered as a lunatic who played the lyre and sang while his city burned…much like I will be remembered…

No, I am not playing the fiddle while The Insurgency Sector burns to the ground. Although some of the city might be burning as of right now…but that’s not important at the present moment. I will not be remembered for the glory and honor that I helped The Insurgency to achieve. I will not be remembered as the great Raylyn Casey who helped to oust her father who was drunk with power and who was threatening to destroy The Insurgency once and for all. I will not be remembered as the savior of The Insurgency who managed to help The Insurgency procure more lethal and better weapons…

I will be remembered as the leader of The Insurgency who sat on a balcony and wrote in her diary while a rebel force, led by my brother and the sole surviving son of Chuck Matthews, slowly marches towards my headquarters. I will be remembered for the cruel acts that I have been forced to do by the darkness and incessant whispering that I hear from the darkest corners of my mind.

I, like Nero, will not be remembered for all the good that I helped to bring about. I will only be remembered for the wickedness and evil…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Eve
You know that you are just making excuses right?

I set my pen and my journal down on the concrete beside me

Raylyn Casey
I am not making excuses! Everything that has gone wrong has been entirely your fault!

Eve chuckles as she slowly emerges from my bedroom and takes a seat next to be on the cold concrete of my bedroom terrace. When The Insurgency’s HQ had been built, despite the protests and better judgments of my advisors and upper echelon of military personal, I had a terrace overlooking The Insurgency Sector built onto my room. There was just something to be said about having the ability to just walk out of one’s bedroom and suddenly find yourself breathing in fresh air and feeling the sea breeze dancing upon your face

Eve
You’re seriously blaming me?

The tone of Eve’s voice and the way she said it…it caused me to flash back to when I was just a girl. My parents had been fighting loudly one night, screaming at each other back and forth. I had heard my mother scream at my father:

“This is all your fault!”

My father had then responded with

“You’re seriously blaming me? We both know it wasn’t me…it was The Lord”

“YOU ARE THE LORD!”

I had then turned around and scampered back up the stairs to her room. I hated my father in that moment…hated him for making excuses and blaming his problems on a part of him that he claimed he couldn’t control. I had swore to myself right then and there that I would never be like him…that I would take responsibility for my actions and hold myself accountable…

Eve’s soft chuckle pierces her like a cold knife in the darkness

Eve
And yet….here we are

I was about to respond to Eve’s condescending remarks when an explosion rocks the very foundation of The Insurgency’s HQ. I immediately jump to my feet, feeling my heart slamming against my ribcage with each beat. I turn and look at Eve, who has the same panicked expression on her face as well

Raylyn Casey
He’s here

Eve smirks as I run past her and into my bedroom

Eve
Finally…I get to meet our brother

I ignore Eve’s remark. She had met Gavin many times over the course of my lifetime…our lifetime…her lifetime? I didn’t even know how to refer to myself anymore. It was a constant struggle to figure out where she ended and I began. A battle that my father had suffered through each and every day of his life…and all I had done was just assume he was weak and couldn’t handle the pressure…

Eve
We can be sentimental later…AFTER we kill them

“Them.” I knew exactly who she was talking about. We both knew she didn’t need to say that I needed to go downstairs, slam more Boosters into my body, and then attempt to kill the two remaining members of my own flesh and blood that were left on God’s green Earth…

Eve
There is a third member of our family still alive…but we both know what’s going to happen to her…

I turn my attention to the large cupboard by the door of my bedroom. I allow the security system to scan my retinas and I quickly say my name, authorizing the security system to permit me access to the contents of the cupboard.

Eve
Enough Boosters to fight our own war

Boosters of all types and colors lined the inside of the steel doors of the cupboard. Pyro Boosters, Frost Boosters, Telekinesis Boosters …if something existed in Booster form, I had 6 of them before everyone else even had one. I quickly grab two large straps and sling them across my chest. Each strap had ten holsters, just large enough to fit one of the Booster syringes into each holster. I quickly just begin grabbing Boosters, I didn’t care what they did or what possible preparations my brother might have taken to stop me from just launching fireball after fireball at him until he died

Eve
You’re being rash…

I snarl at Eve

Raylyn Casey
I don’t give a fuck

Eve
While I normally encourage you to mindless destroy any and everything possible…I think we should at least try to strategize here. For instance, you should probably take a few more Telekinesis Boosters and put some of those Wasp Boosters back.

I turn and stare at Eve questioningly

Raylyn Casey
Why?

I hated that I was asking her for advice about battle. I had been trained by the best battle technicians that The Insurgency had to offer…I had been personally given training by my father…why did I need to listen to a figment of my imagination?

Eve
Because without me…you don’t know shit. I am your anger, your battle experience, your viciousness. I control your rage and your military knowledge…without me, you would have been dead long ago

I shake my head. It couldn’t be true. I mean yeah, she was a part of me…but she couldn’t be the most important part. I desperately try to think of a military strategy…

Raylyn Casey
Shit

Eve smirks

Eve
There isn’t any really good options left m’dear. The only option we have is to collect the prisoner, store her in a nearby room until we need her, Boost up, and then go have a little chat with our dear brother and cousin

I grab two Boosters from the cupboard…a Wasp Booster and a Telekinesis Booster. I slam them both into my right and left arm respectively and sit down on the floor and close my eyes. I can feel the Boosters beginning to take hold…I can begin to hear the faint sound of a thousand tiny wings humming in the air as the wasps begin crawling out of my pores…a feeling that had brought me so much pleasure and excitement during the seemingly countless times I had done this exact same thing…

But now, the only emotion I could feel was a deep and darkening despair

Raylyn Casey
I’m tired of killing off my family

The words surprised me just as much as they surprised Eve. I smile slightly; it was good to know I could still surprise her from time to time

Eve
You’re what?

Exhausted, I sigh heavily as I feel my heart begin to pound even harder as blood rushed through my veins and begin to open the darkest portals of my mind

Raylyn Casey
If I kill Gavin and Drake…I will be alone. Not just alone in the sense that I don’t have a husband or soul mate…but alone in the sense that there won’t be a single member of either the Matthews family or the Casey family left alive on this planet except me…

All of a sudden, I open my eyes to see that Eve had seemingly vanished. I slowly stand up and look around my now empty bedroom

Raylyn Casey
It can’t be that easy…

Eve’s voice suddenly whispers to me from the depths of my own mind. I could hear her voice rattling around my skull like a thousand bells. I drop to my knees and grab my head, trying as hard as I could to silence the overwhelming sound of Eve’s high-pitched voice that was slowly becoming distorted and deep

Eve
Don’t fight it…the Boosters bring out the best in you…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Eve laughs as she slowly pulls herself to her feet. It had been easy to outwit Raylyn. Raylyn still didn’t quite understand the basic principles of Boosters. Boosters were designed to bring out the thing that the person using them feared most…the idea was that if the person faced their worst fear over and over again with each use; the person would slowly become numb and wouldn’t feel fear, or anything else for that matter, at all. Luckily for Eve…the thing Raylyn feared most…was being insane like her father.

Eve pats the Boosters strapped around her chest softly

Eve
Thank you my friends

Raylyn Casey
Fuck you!

Eve turns and sees Raylyn glaring at her from the ground

Eve
Sorry hunny…but it’s my time to shine

Raylyn shakes her head, rage etched into her features. Eve chuckles

Eve
The madder you are the stronger I get…so keep getting all pissed off all you want

Raylyn stares at Eve, hatred swimming in Raylyn’s eyes. Eve shrugs and turns her back on Raylyn. Eve walks to the bedroom door and promptly adheres to the requisite retinal and voice scans. Eve then walks out of the bedroom and pauses in the hallway. She closes her eyes halfway and stands stalk still, listening for any sound that could be out of place…besides the automatic gunfire that called out from the streets below.

Suddenly, Eve hears the sound of a man barking orders to someone downstairs followed by the sound of automatic gunfire. The gunfire sounded like it was coming from within the house

Eve
I’m coming dear brother…

Eve quickly and quietly runs down the hallway to the stairwell. She opens the stairwell door and runs down the stairs until she reaches the bottom floor

Raylyn Casey
I hope you die

Eve sighs. She didn’t have time for this shit right now. Eve thinks to herself, knowing damn well that Raylyn could hear her. Eve doesn’t even bother turning around to face Raylyn, whom she knows is standing directly behind her

“No you don’t. Because if I die, we die. If anything, you should be cheering for me”

Raylyn falls silent. Meanwhile, Eve sticks her head out of the stairway door slowly, making sure to check for any intruders that might be on this floor. After a few moments of waiting, Eve slowly emerges from the stairwell. Eve smirks as she runs down the short dimly lit hallway to the large black wrought iron gate at the end. She had come to this floor, not to find the source of the automatic gunfire, but to collect her bargaining chip should the fight against her brother and cousin turn sour.

Eve quickly approaches the door and reaches into her pocket. She removes a small ID card that looks like a card key used to open a hotel room door. Eve makes sure to place her thumb on the bottom of the card and her pointer finger on top of the card before inserting the card into the small, almost invisible slot in the wall by the gate. The card suddenly glows with a red light as the security mechanism in the card reader reads both the card and her finger prints. The card suddenly turns back to its normal color and a “click” is heard from the nearby door.

Eve
Excellent

Eve replaces the card back in her pocket and then slowly pushes the wrought iron gate open. She takes a moment to let her eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the dank cell. Eve smirks as she is able to begin to make out a human form crouched in the corner of the cell in the fetal position

Eve
Wakey Wakey…it’s time to go play…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Gavin Price
FUCK YOU EVE!

Eve smiles wickedly as she brings the knife closer to Ashley Matthew’s throat

Eve
Such harsh words for your twin sister? I’m hurt!

Eve stares down at her brother from a balcony. She and her brother had been fighting each other tooth and nail for the last two hours. Both were cut and bleeding and were sore from the deadly dance that they had been participating in. Eve could feel blood beginning to slowly trickle down her face from the large gash on her forehead. She could see that Gavin was barely able to put any pressure on his right leg, which had probably been broken when Eve had used a Telekinesis Booster and thrown a massive filing cabinet at him.

The battle had been long and Gavin had surprised Eve. Eve didn’t think that Gavin would be much of a challenge, considering that Gavin hated Boosters and refused to use them…even during combat. Eve was also surprised that Raylyn hadn’t attempt to regain control of her body while Eve was distracted during the intense fighting. It would seem that Raylyn valued living over control…

Gavin Price
You’re no sister of mine

Eve shrugs

Eve
I’d say our genealogy doesn’t make much of a difference at the moment. The long and short of this situation is that I am in possession of someone that you, for some reason, care about…

Gavin grits his teeth in frustration, causing Eve’s wicked smile to widen

Gavin Price
What do you want?

Raylyn Casey
Just let her go

Raylyn’s voice catches Eve off guard. Raylyn had been silent all during the battle…but why did she chose this moment to interject?

Eve
I will not let her go

Gavin Price
That doesn’t answer my question bitch

Eve quickly thinks to herself

“Ashley is our ticket out of here alive…why would I surrender her now?”

Raylyn Casey
So we can talk to Gavin and try to work this shit out without slaughtering our entire family tree! We don’t have to be like our father

“Yes…yes we do. We were destined to follow in his footsteps since the day that we were born. This exact moment has been pre-determined and written in the stars since the beginning of time. Why won’t you just accept your fate?”

Gavin’s voice suddenly calls out

Gavin Price
GIVE HER HELL RAYLYN

The sound of Gavin’s voice calling out encouragement emboldens Raylyn to try and fight off Eve. Raylyn takes a deep breath and tries to steel her nerves in order to prepare herself for the coming mental battle

Eve
SILENCE!

Before Raylyn can even do anything, Eve suddenly lowers the knife from Ashley’s throat, takes a step back, and grabs Ashley with telekinetic force. Eve pushes Ashley with all her might directly at Gavin. Gavin, predictably, drops his M-16 and immediately runs with his arms wide open to try and catch Ashley. With Gavin distracted, Eve quickly turns and runs off into the darkness of a nearby hallway. Raylyn’s voice is heavy with contempt as she whispers in Eve’s ear a phrase she had heard her father say when she was younger

Raylyn Casey
Chicken shit

Eve doesn’t respond. Instead, Eve focuses all her energy on navigating the twists and turns of The Insurgency’s many back hallways and catacombs. Eve soon arrives at the end of a small passage and she bursts through a small steel door. The cold December air greets Eve as she takes one final look over her shoulder and retreats off into the darkness. Eve knew she had to get into contact with Titan…soon…

+++++++++++++++++++++

We watched as she ran off into the gathering darkness. We knew where she would go. She would run until she found a means of transportation. She would steal whatever she could and then ride or fly to Chicago. Our daughter would retreat and take refuge under the wing of Titan…

Corey Casey chuckles softly in the night. He stands on top of a nearby building, watching as Raylyn retreats off into the snow. Chuck Matthews stands beside him, watching the scene unfold

Chuck Matthews
We could just kill her now

Corey Casey shakes his head no

Corey Casey
Not yet…we must wait until she retreats behind the walls of the seemingly impenetrable ME tower. We must wait until all four are together before we reveal ourselves

Chuck looks at Corey quizzically

Chuck Matthews
Shouldn’t we just take them out one by one?

Matthews might be smart…but he doesn’t see the brilliance of this plan. He doesn’t see that we should wait until they are all together so we can massacre them all at once. Or maybe we could let Gavin survive and try to start over…

Corey Casey
I have a plan…trust me

Chuck chuckles softly

Chuck Matthews
Sorry…we saying you have a plan and then telling me to trust you is just too much…