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Chapter -7- Out of Retirement

Midnight San Francisco, California ...

** Nathanial Carrington drew his foot back** and kicked a door. His leg glowed with the power of a lightning bolt. The door flew off its hinges; sparks showered the floor of the old church.

He stepped in and looked around.

The pews were missing. A group of bodies lay piled up in disarray surrounded by six men in black military-style gear.

Nathan walked into the church with the confidence and swagger of Humphrey Bogart. In a dry and tired voice, he announced himself to the room. "Hey, dickheads. You boys weren't invited to this Speakeasy."

"Look at this old guy," said one of the mercenaries. The soldier of fortune held his hand up to the other five and said, "I've got this." He walked towards Nathanial and said, "You either walk away or I'll kill your ass, old man."

"You gonna make me?" Carrington snorted in amusement. "Why don't you come a little closer and say that to me? Then we'll see if I don't slap that silly grin right off your face, huh?"

The other five men began to laugh, taunting their friend. "Go on!" one of them shouted, "You going to let that geezer talk to you like that!?"

The leader of the pack drew his arm back and approached the elderly man. He swung his fist.

Nathan, surprisingly spry for his old age, captured the mercenary's fist in his palm. "My turn, punk. And when you're slapped you'll take it and you'll like it," he growled. Nathan's free hand incandesced with a white light. He drew his palm back and brought it across the mercenary's face, electrocuting the man instantly.

The man in black gear dropped to the ground, twitching.

A crooked grin tugged at the old man's face. "Alright. Which one of you fairies is next?"

A female voice rang out from behind him. "Well that was an unclassy thing to say, Nathan." She stood in the doorway.

Nathanial glanced back at Karla and smirked. "I mean that as in wimpy little pixies."

Karla yawned, stepping into the church. "I've seen fairies that will kick someone's ass. And I don't mean one of The Bears - I'm talking about an actual fairy. There's some weird stuff out in the fields and forests of Europe, babe."

Nathan rolled his eyes and turned back to the other five men. "You just going to watch me, girl? Fine. Sit down on that bubbly little tush of yours and see how it's done, kiddo."

Her scoff melted into a chuckle. "I heard you in here quoting Sam Spade and I knew things were about to get interesting."

Carrington eyed the men.

The mercenaries drew their weapons.

Nathan held his hands out and, from his left palm, an energy weapon formed, taking the shape of a scythe. "What do you know about quantum entanglement, kid?"

Karla furrowed her brows. "Excuse me?"

"Watch this." He approached the nearest man and touched the gunman.

The mercenary flinched from a shock.

Nathan shoved the soldier back into the other four men.

The other four men toppled back, each flinching from an involuntary shudder.

Nathan smirked. "You can't physically see it, but now they're all entangled. Keep watching."

"Yeah, yeah. Impress me," Karla said, hands on her hips.

Nathan drew back the sickle in his other hand. "Watch close." He swung his arm outwardly.

The scythe diced through the neck of the nearest mercenary. Due to entanglement on the molecular level, the attack offered the same results to all five men at the same time.

All five mercenaries dropped to the floor, their heads separated from their bodies at the throat.

Karla stooped over and looked at the man decapitated by Nathan. She walked over to the other four men, inspecting their cauterized necks. "Holy shit. You only attacked the one. How'd the other four get killed the same way?"

Nathan's electric sickle faded away. "When I touched the one, I shoved him into his buddies. He entangled his pals on a level that's explained best by science. I have electricity control. I learned quantum mechanics from Isaac so I could get the most out of my ability. Whatever I did to one guy happens to everyone he touches."

"Steven," she murmured.

Nathan ran his free hand back through his short crew cut. "Haven't you ever talked to your friend Methos or Isaac about this sort of thing?"

Karla circled the group of dead mercenaries. She looked back at Nathan and shrugged. "Not about this sort of stuff. Oh, and Isaac changed his name to Steven Milford back in, like, 2010. I guess you didn't get the memo, Nate." Her eyes flitted back to the five bodies and the twitching, unconscious sixth man. "What're we gonna do with this last guy?"

"Information on this Aris Falcon slob." Nathanial smiled somewhat. "Yeah, I knew Isaac changed his name. I'm just used to his old one. I keep forgetting." Nathan gestured to the survivor sprawled out on the floor. "Karla, do you want the spotlight on this guy?"

The succubus beamed and nodded. "How about you give me an _actual_spotlight?" She knelt adjacent to the mercenary and patted his masked face.

The mercenary's right eye opened, then his left. He seemed unresponsive, with a half-lidded gaze.

Nathan eyed her for a moment. He grinned and nodded. "Well, alright." He brought his hands together as if palming an invisible globe. The gap between the thumb and forefinger of each hand began to incandesce with a focused ball of illumination.

The remaining mercenary squinted through the eyeholes of his mask, woken by the heat of Nathan's faux spotlight.

Karla folded her arms and began circling the man. "Okay, pal. Get up; on your feet."

The last surviving mercenary ignored her.

Karla reached for his ski mask and pulled it off, exposing his face. "Now get up."

The man ignored her, staring through the pair in silence.

"Okay, tough guy. It's cool. I get it. You think you're going to die no matter what because that's what you would do if the situation were reversed." She crossed her arms beneath the ample swell of her bust.

Silence.

"Are you supposed to be good cop or bad cop, kiddo? Because you're a really bad cop right now. Possibly the worst I've seen, heh."

Karla smirked but kept her eyes on the mercenary. "Newsflash: we're not like you, so you really might want to consider talking." She lifted her right hand. Her palm glowed with a pink hue just beneath the skin.

The mercenary levitated from the floor until his feet hovered several inches from the tiles.

Karla continued to circle him. "So, you and your buddies work for this guy, Aris Falcon. Tell me what you know about him." She folded her arms again, but the mercenary continued to hover. "Well?"

The man continued to ignore her.

Nathan smirked. "Easy there, tough girl. Don't hurt him with your fierce interrogation methods."

"Give me a break," she snapped.

Silence.

Karla unfolded her arms and retrieved her phone from her handbag. She held it up and took a picture of his face. She held her free hand above the phone screen and made a gesture in midair, above the front-facing camera.

The display changed, manipulated by the gestures she made above the screen.

She faked a yawn. "Let's match his picture to other photographs on the internet and see if we get a facial match. Shouldn't take long."

Nathanial smirked. "I'm one step ahead of you, kiddo. He's a San Francisco police officer."

The mercenary's eyes grew wife. He glanced over at Nathan and licked his lips in an apprehensive manner. "Why would you say that?"

"Because," Nathanial murmured, "I'm familiar with this song-and-dance routine."

"You don't know ahit old man."

"Wrong," said Nathan. "I know for a fact that you're a cop, kid. I don't know what precinct. I don't know what badge number or if your commanding officer is in on this ... but I know you're a cop because I'm smart for an old man."

Karla eyed Nathanial. She glanced back at her phone screen. "You're a showoff. Nobody likes a showoff." She turned the phone screen to the hovering mercenary and smiled. "There's you. Lookie here, you have two hundred friends on Facebook and a sister in Seattle. Born in 1996; in a relationship but it's 'complicated.' Well..."

The man pursed his lips together.

Karla pulled the phone away from the mercenary's face. "Not as complicated as the situation you're in right now, huh?"

Silence.

She grimaced in frustration. "Unless you want me posting this on your wall and tagging you ... with bodies in the background and five decapitated buddies over your other shoulder ... then you should talk to us about your superior."

"Just kill me," he said. "I'm not sayin' shit."

Nathanial laughed. "You talk a tough game, but I know that's a bunch of bullshit, kid. You've never been trained for torture resistance."

The man looked away, floating above the floor helplessly.

"Karla," Nathan nodded to the floor. "Find a pebble and go a fraction of a centimeter deep."

The demoness leaned down and found a stone in the shoe of the next nearest body. She held it up on her finger. "See this tiny speck of a rock?" she asked the levitating man. It disappeared from her finger.

The mercenary shouted, gasped for air, and then shouted again, louder.

Karla reached up and plucked the pebble from where the flesh of his lip met the camber beneath his nose. "I teleported this little guy into your skin, but not deep enough to be lost."

A speck of blood beaded up, the size of a pimple, just above his top lip.

Karla held the stone up, even with his left eye. "This could be used as an ice pick beneath your fingernails. Oh, and have you ever passed a kidney stone? I can think of imaginative places to put it. I've been told the suffering is 'beyond miserable.' So. Who is Aris Falcon?"

The man's eyes glistened with moisture, mostly from the pain of having had the pebble pierce the sensitive flesh of his top lip. "We work for a woman named Krys Monroe."

Nathan scoffed. "She's a little blue-haired bitch. She lives with Doctor Falcon and her girlfriend."

Karla smirked. "We met. She's too emotional for this line of work." Karla cut her gaze back to the mercenary. "I think I'll teleport this pebble into your foreskin next."

The mercenary grimaced. "The team has been training for four years. This has been my ancillary for a year and a half. Falcon called the attacks the Silent Inquisition."

Nathan eyed the hovering man. "Is Falcon collecting any Specials?"

The mercenary replied with a nod. "Certain targets are to be brought to him, but most have to be killed. I've seen what they can do."

"You don't want to see me when I'm mad," said Karla. "You wouldn't like me when I'm mad."

The mercenary glared at her. "I don't know how or why the Government has hid the truth of your existence for so long, little girl, but now they provide the paychecks we collect in this goddamned war. I don't know how high up this goes. That's all I know. That's everything. If you're going to kill me, then do quick."

"Oh, like we did to your team?"

He swiveled his head, looking at the headless bodies. "Yeah, like you did to my team. Don't torture me. We didn't torture you during the operation."

"The 'operation.'" Karla huffed. She glanced back at Nathan. "The Silent Inquisition ... that's what I called it, the other day. I should have trademarked that term. Dammit." She flicked the pebble away. "Are they all cops?"

"No," said the mercenary, struggling to test the restraining bonds of the telekinetic field around his body. "Some are retired military guys. Some are cops. Some are mercenaries that used to work internationally. It's bigger than America, too. There's a commanding officer in each division. Monroe presides over the groups in central and south California. But because she lives with Doctor Falcon, she's extremely respected."

"Yeah. I've met her." Karla put her phone back into her handbag and folded her arms again. "She's not so tough. So, what field is Doctor Falcon a doctor of?"

"I ... I'm not exactly sure but it's not medical that I'm aware of."

Nathan cut his gaze to Karla. "He's a geneticist. Almost as old as me, but not quite as pretty as I am." Nathan flashed a toothy grin. The old man turned to the mercenary and asked, "Have they given the order to pull out and head east, yet?"

"What...? No. Orders are to hunt and terminate anyone with abilities. At the rate we've been going, there won't be any work left by November. So I'm working as many hours as I can before it's gone."

Karla snorted in amusement. "You're hourly? And you pass time by hunting? Man. What a great gig - shooting people and punching a clock. I bet you guys fluff your hours like crazy."

"I ... the money comes from the Government or something. And a few rich families in Europe. Who cares if we fluff our hours?" They can afford it."

"I hope you've been saving it up," Karla said with a smile.

The mercenary lowered his gaze. "Why? Not gonna be able to spend it when you kill me."

Karla groaned in frustration. "I just told you - if you cooperate then you go free. Are you retarded?"

Nathanial caused the orb of light to dissolve. "Karla. Hey. Not necessary."

"What?"

"Just ... that's a musical term, not an insult for people."

The demoness tilted her head back at Nathan. She nodded. "Sure, okay. Sorry." Karla cut her gaze back to the mercenary. "I know your name. We looked you up on Facebook, remember? Do you want to be exposed? I can look you up online or offline, if I want. But we're going to let you go."

"What?" The man blinked uncomprehendingly. "You killed my friends indiscriminatingly. You were probably showing off for each other when you killed them."

Karla turned back to Nathan and frowned. "He's right. You did it to show off - are Specials really that predictable?"

Nathan sighed.

The mercenary grimaced. "Why would you care enough about my life to let me go?"

"Look," said Nathan. "If you wanna die so bad, go home and do it yourself. You boys killed these people piled up on the floor. Your people drew first blood. I killed your team because they deserved it."

"I've seen your people showboat their powers before. You have no reason to let me live."

Nathan narrowed his eyes. "You get to live because you were a smartass who needed a lesson in humility. If you believe in karma, then your guys deserved death a little more than you did. So shut up. You've just been promoted to messenger."

"Messenger, huh?"

Nathan nodded. "The message is, 'The Reaper KNOWS about the operation out in the Atlantic Ocean. So quit working for Doctor Falcon or I'll entangle every least one of you and kill you by remote, from my home, while sipping a beer, watching the 49ers on TV.' Because guess what, kid? Quantum Entanglement works on a level you can't understand, and it works from a distance that even I don't understand. Now. Go back to your warehouse under that club that's being renovated, and tell everyone they better quit this gig because, soon, I'm mounting an offensive. And whoever is still hunting won't live through the night."

The mercenary stared at Nathan for a moment, licked his lips and bit his lower lip. "If you already know about all these things then, with all due respect, why are you giving us a choice after what we've been doing to your friends for the past week?"

"Because a lot of you are cops," Nathan growled.

Karla blinked.

Nathan continued. "Go stop drugs, rapes, murders, and robberies. That's what the tax payers need from you. Not this bullshit. Not this ... drama."

"No one even knows it's happening," said the mercenary. "Your kind are nearly extinct by now. If you kill me for saying that, well ... I'm sorry but it's true."

"I know, you numbskull!" Nathan shouted in a hoarse voice. "I'm giving you a chance. Now, get the hell out of here, punk. You don't even know what you're doing. You're just following crappy orders for a paycheck. But this is genocide, and that makes you no better than a war criminal. If you follow orders to kill indiscriminately, without questioning, then you're guilty."

"The government has unofficially sanctioned..."

Nathan interrupted the man. "You can't govern without consent of the governed."

"I'm just a trigger finger on the government's hand."

Nathan scoffed. "The hand of a governing body is just as responsible for your actions as the leaders who issue those orders. Do you understand, you sniveling little prick? You have a badge, dickhead. You're a state actor."

The mercenary's expression faded. He replied with a blank gaze.

"You are supposed to be a peacekeeper that is paid to find the best solution possible to keep your gun holstered. You're no longer upholding the meaning behind that badge. Instead, you're killing people without due process just because you're afraid of the powers you've seen us wield."

The mercenary ground his molars.

"Never mind all the laws you're breaking," Nathan said in a terse tome. "You're fucking evil to be able to do this work and call it a 'second paycheck.' Don't you feel anything at all when you take the lives of civilians?!"

Karla placed her hand on Nathan's arm. "Whoa, okay. Calm down there, poppa-bear."

The mercenary licked his lips apprehensively. "I ... we refer to you as Eso-terrorists. That's the name given to us by the Government agent who trained us on the tactics we use against your people."

The succubus' eyes widened. "Esoteric Terrorists, huh? Government agents training the townsfolk how to fight with up to four years of training, huh? Well. This is certainly news."

Nathan glowered at the man. "Get this dirty cop out of my face before I change my mind about letting him live."

Karla nodded. She waved her hand and teleported the mercenary onto the roof of an old building across the street from the speakeasy church.

Silence.

She turned back to Nathanial and said, "This is bigger than we thought."

"It's too late, Karla. I didn't stop it from happening," he mumbled. Nathan cleared his throat. "Don't ask. I'm just babbling. I'm not making much sense right now because I'm being emotional. Just ... Karla, there's something I need to do, okay? Can you give me some time?"

She leaned close and kissed the side of Nathan's grizzled old face. "I'll clean up here lest we have homicide detectives crawling all over this place. Go do your thing, babe."

Nathan replied with a wan smile. "Thanks. I'm going to stay at your apartment tonight. I know you'll be safe - you always are, but it would still help me sleep better knowing you're alright."

Karla returned a genuine smile and nodded. "I appreciate that you care. You're a good man, Nathan."

"Yeah. Just know that I'm going to die with my boots on sometime soon. Don't you get all busted up when it happens, okay? I've known it's going to happen and I've known for a while. But you can rest assured that it's not happening tonight. I'll see you when I get home. It'll probably be after sun up."

"That's awfully dramatic." She walked away from him. She paused and glanced over her shoulder. Her expression softened. "But manly. What're you going to do?"

Nathanial reached into his pocket and withdrew a computer flash-drive. "See this? I gotta go hide it in the glove box of a beat up old Chevy Chevelle. Then I've gotta get back in town early enough to meet someone before eight in the morning. I have a busy night, girl. So just leave the electric blanket out on the sofa, with clean sheets. I'll open up the sofa bed when I get back."

"Yeah, yeah. I've got things to do in the morning, Nathan. Just use my bed. I'll keep it warm with the E-blanket, and draw the shades so you can sleep in, alright?"

"Now we're talking. I hate sofa beds." The old man smiled.

"I know. Hey, thanks for taking me with you to kick some asses tonight. Thanks for believing in me."

"You're capable of a lot more than you realize, Karla."

"Yeah? How do you figure?"

"You just are, now go do your thing."

She teleported to Nathan's side, kissed the side of his face and disappeared.

Nathan grinned. He reached up and touched his cheek. He looked down at pink lipstick on his fingertips and chuckled.

Silence.

Nathan sighed. His thoughts turned to his last conversation with Tamamo-no-Mae. "I hope you get Sinopa over here quick, Mizukume. She has a lot of work to do." Nathan sighed again. "I hope I see Sinopa one more time before I die."

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