Episode One, Part 5:
B r o t h e r

Tired of the bickering between Kane and his sons, Rhea interrupted the conversation, walking close to Chessca with a demand of questions.

"Why should I believe you?" She asked the hostage. "How do I know you're not lying to me?"

Chessca stuttered, looking over to Quill. They hadn't prepared for this, but luckily, Chessca was smart: she knew what to do.

"I can describe them. I'll tell you what they looked like." She suggested.

Rhea hesitated. It was a good idea. Chessca hadn't been there when they were putting Elara through the phases, so if she could accurately describe what they looked like, it was confirmation that she was telling the truth.

"Fine." She agreed.

Chessca let out a shaky breath, wishing Rhea wasn't so close to her as she began to talk. "The girl is-"

"The Heir," Rhea was already correcting her.

"The Heir," Chessca copied, "is quite young. I'd say around 15, 16? Uh, her hair is red - but a little darker than her brother's hair. They look the same," she remembered what she had said to Quill in the labs when she observed them, grateful that she had pointed it out.

Rhea glanced over at Kane. She had seen Wynn before but couldn't recall him in as much detail as his father could. Kane nodded discreetly, informing Rhea that Chessca's statement was correct.

"Her hair is wavy, mid-waist length. Um, a lot of freckles... She was wearing grey jeans; one of the knees was wrapped up in duck tape... She-"

"That's enough," Rhea silenced her. She knew the girl was telling the truth. When Elara was at the labs, she had ripped a stitch on the leg of her jeans when she was in a vision. That was why they had decided to restrain her hands: because her movement was too wild.

Rhea's eyes narrowed not at Quill, but at Ares, as she made her declaration. "She's telling the truth. The Heir is at the labs," she announced to her people.

"No!" Ares screamed. He lunged forward, as if wanting to get at Rhea, but Quill held his arm out and caught his brother. Once Ares realised who was holding him back, disgust covered his face.

He pushed Quill away, trying not to hurt him, but he had to make it look believable. "What have you done, Quill? Why did you tell them that?" He yelled.

"They're right, Ares," his brother cried. It was hard to say, even harder to fight with his brother even though they both knew it was an act. "Elara isn't safe here! I know we care about her, but she's not! She's- She's getting worse, and you know it. The serum won't fix her. I can't watch her suffer anymore... This is what's best!"

Ares backed away at Quill's words. Tears were rolling down his cheeks - the brutality of their conversation tearing them both apart, speaking their greatest fears aloud. What if all they were saying was true? What if the only way for their sister to get better was to complete The Alteration?

With a heavy breath, hoping they had done enough, Ares knew it was time to leave. But there was one more thing he had to say.

"You've ruined everything! If we lose our sister, this is on you!"

It killed Ares to say it, but there was a relief that he was now planned to retreat back into camp as if to hollow away from his 'brother's betrayal', waiting anxiously to see if Wynn and Elara would ever make it back to Basilisk.

Quill watched his brother leave, feeling a lot more vulnerable on the battlefield now that he wasn't in sight. Feeling sweat coat his forehead, and his breath jagged and not even, Quill turned around to face his father, waiting to see what would happen next. 

Rhea had already fallen for their plan: she had concluded that Elara was at the labs, but they couldn't rest until Targo had left. 

Without a word to anyone, Rhea grabbed onto Kane's arm, pulling him over to the side. 

"What do you want to do with him?" She asked. 

A wave of horror hit the man, pulling the air out of his lungs. What was she suggesting? 

"He's my son... You can't hurt him, Rhea. You can't-" 

"Relax!" She snapped, rolling her eyes. "That's not what I'm asking. I'm offering you the chance to take him with us." 

"You... You are?" Kane searched. He had given up hope of his sons ever returning to The City of Targo with him, but after witnessing Quill's betrayal against his brother, it no longer seemed too far out of the picture. Even if Ares and Wynn would never change their minds, having two of his children with him was better than none. 

"Yes," Rhea told him, "but he's on probation, at least until we get back to The City of Targo. There, he can prove his loyalty to us." 

Kane nodded, smiling gratefully at his associate. It felt like he had been given his family back. "Thank you, Rhea." 

She rolled her eyes again, turning away from him, not caring much to share in his relief. Her attention shifted back to Quill and Chessca, figuring out her next move. 

"Reegan, Archer, secure the hostage. Check her for weapons," Rhea announced to her guards, waiting until they had accomplished her task before she turned to the boy who was now a little more worried than before. He had given Chessca a weapon in case she couldn't get away and now they were going to take it away from her. 

"And you," she said, once again beginning to circle around him, "Quill - you're coming with us." 

As she placed her hand on Quill's chest, almost teasingly, the boy gulped. 

"I-I am?" He asked. 

"Yes. You and your sister. Depending on what your red-headed brother does when we find them, I might feel generous enough to allow him to join us as well. Meaning you might only have to lose one brother today." She smiled at the boy, her hand moving from his chest. "Don't worry, you can thank me later," she said. "Once your sister has completed The Alteration."

Quill looked over at the Sovereigns, scared out of his mind, not knowing what he should do. The one thing they hadn't planned to happen was Rhea taking Quill with them. But now that she had taken a liking to him, he couldn't turn down her offer without throwing off the whole plan - or exposing it for being a distraction. 

Kodiak nodded once at Quill, unable to give any other indication than that, hoping that he had noticed it. It was his way of saying, 'we'll figure this out. We'll find a way to get you free. Don't panic.' 

"Ledger," Rhea called over her shoulder once again, "you make sure you keep an eye on this one." She declared, gesturing to Quill. Interrupting her order, Kane stepped forward, a hand on Rhea's shoulder as he guided her back. 

"I'll take over my son from here," he said. The two of looked at each other, Rhea searching for a reason not to trust him, but she couldn't find one. It had been her decision to take Quill with them, not Kane's. 

She nodded at him, taking a step to the side as Kane grabbed onto his son's arm, leading him away from Basilisk. Quill took one final glance over his shoulder at the people he called home, mournful at the fear he felt to be back with his father, praying that he hadn't just ruined everything. 

Rhea did the same, glaring down the Sovereigns before she turned and walked over to a select group of her people, muttering her demands to them without Basilisk overhearing. 

"Kill the Sovereigns," she ordered, "then get in their camp and kill everyone that's left. Keep your radios on and call me if they fight back or if you need me to send backup." 

The guards nodded, understanding what they needed to do for her, and not a moment too soon, Rhea and her army were heading back to the labs. They had taken the bait, but they had taken Quill as well... 

Once she was out of sight, Kodiak mumbled over to Sol and Dreea, worried what the boy's departure meant for their plans. 

"What do we now?" He asked, knowing they didn't have much time to decide. "If we lose Quill, they'll..." he couldn't bear to consider it, not when he knew how badly it would tear Elara apart. "We have to get him back." 

"We will," Sol promised him. "But for now, we have to take care of them." She nodded over at the guards Rhea had left behind. There must have been around 30 of them, all armed and aiming at the Sovereigns, ready to attack when they were. 

"Riv, we need to turn our radio signal back on. By now, Ares will have already left out the back of Basilsik with Fenn. He doesn't know that Targo have his brother." 

Sol sighed. It was a risk that she had to decide: if they couldn't communicate to Ares in time that Targo had his brother, or find a way to get Quill away from Rhea and Kane, then it was almost certain that Quill would be killed in the flood. 

"I know, I know," she assured him. "But we can't turn the radios on until we've killed all of them," she motioned at the people before them. "We can't risk them communicating to Rhea if one of us has to go after Ares. We deal with them, then we can go back and put out signals on. We just have to hope that Ares doesn't get to the dams before we can do that, otherwise his radio will be too far away to connect to our tower." 

Kodiak exhaled, knowing that his friend was right. He would just have to make sure that they killed Targo as quickly as they could. 

With both Kodiak and Dreea agreeing with Sol's statement, the Nobel looked behind her, nodding at one of her soldiers to give the signal to fire. They waited until they heard the first gunshot, then raised their weapons, running forth into the battle. 

One // Part Five
Kill the Sovereigns.

This got messy towards the end, sorry. I hope it's not too confusing!

14/04/20