The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 38

'For many years, I have fought Al Sa-Her to protect our League,' Simon narrated. 'He is a traitor amongst us and goes against our code. And I intend to stop him.'

'What did he do?' I asked quietly without realising I had said my thoughts aloud. But, I did want to know, I just didn't know if Simon was willing to spill the beans.

'When he left Nanda Parbat,' Simon started, surprisingly answering my utterance. 'Al Sa-Her told us of his plans. Not on purpose of course, he just happened to be under the influence of a truth drug. He then tried to escape by killing us in the process, but he did not succeed.'

Walking to the other side of me, Simon bent down to where I knelt, once again my hands handcuffed together.

'If he had, we'd be dead.'

'I really wish Malcolm had succeeded,' I hissed, giving Simon a look of pure hatred. 'So then your body could be rotting in hell, where you belong.'

Slapping me across the face, Simon found joy in his abuse, before matching my look of hatred.

'Shut up,' Simon spat. 'I'm doing what's best for the people in your precious city, not just for me.'

Returning back to his story, Simon crouched in front of my face, looking me straight in the eyes.

'Al Sa-Her told us he wanted to get revenge for his wife,' Simon continued. 'To unleash a great evil. And he wanted someone to help him with his plans. Someone like you.'

So I wasn't in Starling to protect Tommy? But how could I trust Simon, of all people?

'I don't believe you,' I stated. 'Malcolm is not like that!'

'Would I be lying to someone if was about to kill them?' Simon asked rhetorically.

'Ok then, fair point,' I muttered, annoyed that he was right. And the fact that he was about to kill me.

The suspense was already metaphorically killing me.

'But, how do you know this?' I questioned. He wasn't exactly a time traveller.

'I just know,' Simon said.

'You're deluded!' I exclaimed. 'You don't know something until you have proof.'

'I am not deluded!' Simon yelled, his anger scaring me. 'And killing you will make him despair. His only chance to compete his plans, gone. He doesn't care about you, Aria, but his own selfish intentions.'

As Simon talked, I tried to find another way of escaping. Tommy had already escaped with my help; now it was my turn to escape.

But there was no way of escaping.

'Then why is he being so nice to me?' I asked.

'Because he wants you to feel loved so you will do his bidding, eventually,' Simon said. 'How much training has he already taught you, to be able to do what he can do and be like him?'

Another good rhetorical question.

'And now for your death,' Simon announced.

Walking to the laptop, he clicked various buttons until returning to his position. Looking into a webcam, Malcolm surely was on the other end, and if he could see what was happening, he would surely come for me.

But his absence wasn't exactly reassuring.

'Malcolm will come for you,' I shouted. 'And when he does, you'll be dead.'

Laughing at me with a jeer, Simon took a curved dagger, it's blade embellished with an Arabic inscription.

'Al-Thar,' Simon pronounced, reading my thoughts. 'It means revenge. For nearly taking my life, in vengeance I will take another's.'

'Get away from me!' I shouted as Simon pointed his blade towards me. Locking my hands behind my back, Simon turned me to the webcam lens and rested the edge of the blade on my neck.

'For what you did,' Simon said to the lens. 'You will watch her die, Al Sa-Her. She will die a long, painful death so that by the time anyone finds her, she will be too dead to save.'

'I don't think so, Al-Mawla,' Malcolm boomed from behind the Arkwright brothers, who both had an arrow in their chest by the time I had seen them.

'What did you do?' Simon screamed. 'They were my friends!'

'Then you should have concentrated on them instead of Aria,' Malcolm said. 'I know you as the good man you used to be, Al-Mawla. Your name given to you by the League means The Protector. Live up to that honour instead of trying to get revenge.'

'No, I will get my revenge,' Simon whispered just so Malcolm could hear him. 'Because I'm The Protector, protecting the city from destruction and despair.'

Digging the blade into my neck, I felt the sharp, cold death-bringer against my skin. Daring not to breathe, I crossed my fingers in the hope that I would be free. And it sure worked.

Cold smoke filled the room as Malcolm punctured one of the nearby pipes with an arrow, making Simon lose his bearings. Dropping his blade, I tried to run, but my strength was no match his tight grip around my hands.

'You are not getting out of this, Aria,' Simon growled, dragging me up the nearest staircase. 'I will get my revenge!'

Coughing as I tried to clear my airways from the smoke, I found myself outside in the cold. And I seemed pretty far up.

'Where are we?' I asked curiously with gritted teeth.

'The roof of the SCPD,' Simon shouted over the noise of the passing traffic. 'Or, you could call it your grave.'

Shoving me to the side of the building over the roads far below, I quivered in fright as I saw my doom.

'I will kill you, Aria, if it's the last thing I do.'

'I think you'll find that it isn't the last thing you'll do,' a voice shouted. It was Tommy.

Before he could react, Tommy shot Simon in the leg. Wincing, as Simon tried to fight back, many officers surrounded us, Simon unable to fight back.

'Oh yes, it is,' Simon shouted, letting go of me and making me fall over the edge of the building. Quickly, Tommy grasped my hands as my feet dangled mid-air, my grip loosening every second.

'Tommy, I'm slipping!' I shouted over the noise of the helicopter blades and policemen shouting. 'I don't think I'm going to make it!'

'Yes, you are,' Tommy reassured. 'Just hold on.'

From a distance, a black arrow flew in my direction, connecting a rope to the building.

'Just grab onto the rope and I'll pull you up,' Tommy instructed.

'Thank you, Tommy,' I hugged him as I got back to safety.

'Don't worry about it,' Tommy smiled. 'I would do anything to save you. You saved me, and so I saved you.'

Looking into his deep grey eyes, I felt both privileged and honoured about the day's events. And Tommy, out of all people, had gathered the courage to come back to rescue me.

And now Simon was going to pay for his crimes.