Sins of the Brother (TCoR)

Chapter 4
Iva stepped queasily out onto the street, lugging a heavy backpack full of the items she had managed to salvage from the warzone that was her apartment. She'd seen blood before, but this had been the first time she'd had to actually clean it up.

It had been a good twenty minutes since she had made the call, and she now waited underneath the lip of the apartment building as she waited for her brother to arrive. Peering into the grey distance, Iva hoped he'd bring a car - the thought of having to ride in the thunderous rainstorm that surrounded her making her shiver. In her hands she clutched a thin translucent umbrella, but she knew that as soon as she stepped out from the windbreak that was the apartment block it would be blown out of her grasp like a piece of grass in a hurricane.

Several more minutes of fruitless scanning up and down the street passed, until she finally saw a pair of headlights belonging to a large SUV braving the storm towards her. She thought her hopes were confirmed when the vehicle stopped in the middle of the rode in front of her, but even as she stepped onto the street she realised something was wrong.

The man that jumped out of the passenger door was large, but not the giant she remembered her brother being. But the thing that made her stop in her tracks was the large brown trenchcoat and the black balaclava that covered his face. Neither Orc nor his companions would ever wear something like that...

Iva's hand immediately dropped the umbrella and disappeared into her coat, but she was too slow. The man charged towards her as soon as his feet his the pavement, and with a swipe of his arm, knocked her revolver to the side as he reached the grab her.

Unwilling to let herself be taken so easily, Iva suddenly dropped low and shot upwards - slamming the top of her head into the bottom of his jaw and forcing him back onto the road. Acting on pure instinct, she then threw her backpack into his chest, stalling him long enough for her to leap forward and punch him square in the nose.

Her mysterious assailant stumbled backwards, clutching his face and cursing in a surprisingly upper-class sounding voice. To her alarm, she noticed his hand move down towards the pistol holstered at his leg as he decided she was too much trouble to take by brute strength. She scooped her revolver off the ground and raised it in retaliation, and was about to pull the trigger when suddenly, the man disappeared.

One moment he was standing there, and the next he was gone - tumbling down the street as a black blur shot past. Iva blinked in surprise when it happened, only to jump back as another blur passed her by. A second later she heard a great tearing of metal as the side of the SUV was torn open, as if a giant had slashed open half of it with a razor-sharp knife.

Then she saw them. Two figures clad in black and white, riding separately atop dark steel choppers. One held a large scythe-like weapon in one hand, which he had seemingly used to immobilise her would-be kidnapper's escape vehicle. His black helmet was adorned with a large animal skull that appeared to have been molded onto the front, although it belonged to no creature Iva was familiar with, and from his leather garments many silver chains clinked and rattled as they shook in the wind.

The other man was shorter and wore a simple black skullcap along with a black leather jacket with white tribal patterns. He was the one who had collided with her attacker, and was currently making a point of finishing off the man with a kick to the head from his motorbike.

Iva's attention was drawn back to the SUV, as a second man jumped out of the driver's seat and began firing a pistol at the two bikers. Immediately, however, he was silenced as Skull-Mask raised an arm and unleashed a short volley of bullets from a machine gun strapped to his wrist. The driver collapsed to the ground, riddled with bullet wounds. Quite dead.

An eerie silence fell upon the scene, besides the pouring rain that Iva had since filtered out. The entire ordeal had taken about twenty seconds, and left Iva completely frozen in confusion and shock. Eventually, the two men began rolling their bikes in her direction until they were perched right in front of her.

"Hello again, Iva," the second man said, in a smooth, seductive voice. Behind the biker gear and his long blond goatee, two intelligent eyes stared at her with disconcerting interest.

"Weasel," Iva eventually replied in a shaky voice, pushing her rain-soaked green hair out of her eyes as she looked over the biker. "I'm guessing Orc sent you."

"Naturally," the man named Weasel replied, seemingly unfazed by his disrespectful nickname or the fact that he had just assisted in the murder of two people. "Your brother is far too busy to come himself, so naturally he sent his second in command."

His voice carried a damning edge of sarcasm, but it was his last comment which piqued Iva's interest.

"Second in command? You've certainly done well for yourself."

Weasel shrugged. "Our dear old Sabastian was charged for arson last year. He'll be gone for a while."

He then waved his hand to his masked companion, who had stood silently throughout the entire exchange, unmoving.

"And let me introduce my good friend. Sindri here is our Club Chaplain. He rode all the way from Mistral, through the night, when he heard of Auriel Aquila's demise. We are lucky to have such venerable allies in this time of great uncertainty. Isn't that right, Sindri?"

The man inclined his head at Weasel, then turned his red-eyed gaze at Iva, before nodding slowly.

"Exactly! Now, unless you want to continue standing in this blasted weather, I suggest you hop on. Your brother is waiting for you at the clubhouse."

Weasel patted the back of his seat and smiled. It might have been charming, had she not seen it a thousand times before, and had not known of the man's infamy as a womaniser.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll ride with Sindri, if you don't mind," Iva replied, smiling smugly at the look of repulsion on Weasel's face at the thought of it. Sindri, however, seemed indifferent to idea, and merely indicated for her to jump on.

"And...err...who were those guys, anyway?" Iva asked uncertainly, directing the question to the silent biker in an attempt to prompt a normal response. Unsurprisingly, it was Weasel who answered.

"Not sure. We thought it was odd when they stopped in the middle of the road like that, right in front of your apartment. Figured it was worth the risk slamming into the guy." Weasel glanced back the the mangled body of the man he had hit. "I'd give him a closer look, but we really should get out of here before somebody spots us."

For once, Iva agreed with the man. With any luck, the storm would have masked the gunshots. But it wouldn't be long before somebody spotted the corpses and called the police - and Iva really didn't want to be around when that happened. She was in too deep at this point, and anything more would be sure to drown her.

"Alright, let's go," she decided, supressing her indoctrinated urge to report the incident on the radio clipped inside her coat. She knew she'd have to think this through in greater detail, but right now she was too hyped up on adrenaline and fear to think straight. First she'd see her brother, then she'd figure out what the hell was going on.

"It's time I met Orc."

***

(More to be added)