Raphael returned to the compound, still in his full Nightwatcher gear and headed straight for his room. He pushed his way past other agents and didn’t even stop when Bishop tried to address him, “I saw Hun in the helmet’s camera….” Raph just pushed him out of the way as he passed.
The surrounding agents stood in awkward silence, waiting for Bishop’s reaction. The intensely private man showed no outward emotion and simply followed Raph to their shared room.
Raph stood seething in the middle of the room. He removed his helmet and threw it at Bishop as he entered the room. “You fucking asshole.”
Catching the helmet with ease, Bishop closed the door behind him. “I understand that something like that can be emotionally draining but don’t disrespect me in front of agents again.”
“Fuck you! He’s just a kid,” Raph fought to hold his tears. “On top of that, you tell me that he’s your great grandson right before sending me to him. Every time I looked at him, all I could see was you.”
Bishop placed the helmet on the bed as he made his way over to Raph. “You have always had a good heart.”
“Shut up,” Raph’s taut voice was scarcely above a whisper.
Bishop cradled Raph’s cheek with his hand and thumbed away a tear. The intimate moment was interrupted when the phone started to ring. Bishop walked over to answer it, putting it on speaker. “What?”
“Sir,” the agent on the other end sounded nervous. “The helmet.”
Bishop looked at the bed, “Thank you,” then ended the call.
Raph couldn’t help but laugh as Bishop picked the helmet up and place it in its soundproof case. “You had to equip it with a camera that couldn’t be turned off. That almost came back to bite you in the ass.”
“I set it up that way for your safety.” Bishop stated flatly. “No matter what, we will get a signal. I will always know where you are.”
“So then,” Raph cleared his throat, trying to regain composure. “You watched the whole thing?”
Bishop nodded, “I did. You handled everything… quite well.” He walked back over to Raph and helped him remove the rest of the suit. “You need to get some rest before your night patrol. I want you to check that building where you saw Hun today.”
Raph nodded and walked over to the bed as soon as he was undressed. Bishop removed his suit, down to his briefs and joined Raph. They faced each other on the bed, finding comfort in the other’s touch. They caressed each other’s cheeks then leaned in for gentle kisses.
Overwhelmed by a sense of belonging, Raph started to relax. The anger he was feeling only moments ago vanished among the soft kisses.
As Raph started to doze, Bishop quietly told him, “I ran that test while you were out. The shell is back under your pillow, unharmed.”
Raph’s eyes opened a little, “How did you know I kept it under my pillow?”
“I found it after you moved in,” Bishop said as a matter of fact. “I knew you would tell me about it in your own time so I left it alone.”
“What did you find out,” Raph’s voice was thick with sleep.
“It was a perfect DNA match to yours,” Bishop answered. “He was your twin.”
Raph let out a shuddering sigh and croaked out, “Thank you.” A tear fell as he closed his eyes and was overcome with sleep.
**
Hun escorted Garbageman to the next storage facility full of untouched Triceraton technology. Garbageman looked around and figured that most of the items were nothing more than scrap but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t useful.
“This will keep me busy for a while,” Garbageman grinned.
Hun looked over at Garbageman then down at the armored, hover chair that the large man used for mobility. “I thought about your request to upgrade your chair.”
Garbageman looked up at Hun, keeping his features schooled so not to betray his emotions. He had put the request in months ago, saying that he needed the ability to defend himself if the Nightwatcher happened to attack.
“Meet your quota with this room then you can upgrade your chair with the left over junk.”
It took all of Garbageman’s control not to growl in response. “I will be defenseless until then and it will take months to accomplish what you ask.”
“You could always leave,” Hun shot back. “But then, where would you go, back to the junkyard?”
Garbageman was starting to wonder if he really wanted to establish a relationship with his long lost twin. He sat, silent, glaring at Hun and digging his fingers into the seat to keep calm. “I will get to work then.”
“That’s what I thought.” Hun grinned. “We have a client waiting for the new weapons. Make sure you have them operational with clear instructions on how to use them ready as soon as possible.”
“Of course,” Garbageman nodded.
Hun turned to leave Garbageman to his work. “Besides,” he called back over his shoulder. “You have your special, unsuspecting weapon ready if Nightwatcher were to show up, right?”
“Right,” Garbageman answered but he wasn’t sure if Hun heard him or not. He set the device in an unassuming place then went about his work. Hun didn’t give him any aids so he had to do everything on his own. It was a good thing too. No one was there to monitor him and the modifications to his hover chair were coming along nicely.
**
Raph watched as Hun exited the building and waited to make sure that he wasn’t coming back. He felt uneasy. “This could be a trap. Hun wanted me to see him earlier today.”
“I’m aware of that possibility,” Bishop’s answer came over the com. “Knowing it’s a trap lessens the probability of you triggering it. Take your time and see what’s inside.”
“Garbage is inside,” Raph shot back. “I can’t believe that fat bastard is still alive and that he’s the one who’s been uppin’ the number of weapons the Dragons have.”
“You should be able to enter on the south side,” Bishop said, disregarding Raph’s last comment.
“Headin’ in now,” Raph grumbled and jumped from his roof top perch, down to the building below. Rolling to absorb the shock, Raph was back up on his feet and running in one fluid movement.
As promised, there was a stairwell on the south side of the roof. Raph set the helmet to scan to see if there were any wires alarming the door. When he saw that the door was clean, he pulled out his lock pick and made quick work of picking the lock.
“This is too easy,” Raph mumbled as he opened the door.
“Stay on your guard,” Bishop replied.
Raph made his way down the flight of stairs, scanning the path in front of him as he went. He knew there was a team of agents watching all that he saw on a feed and that if they spotted something he missed, they would speak up.
The sound of something heavy being shifted across the floor greeted him when he entered the large storage facility. He was taken aback by the sheer number of crates and pieces of scrap that filled the room. Sticking to the shadows, Raph made his way through the maze of scrap.
He found Garbageman sorting through the items, using the mechanical arms of his chair. Raph crinkled his nose up in disgust. “I swear that man has gotten fatter since the last time I’d seen him. And I swear I can smell him through the suit.”
“Stay focused,” Bishop chided him. “Try to take him out before he knows you are there. If we get him, we put a huge dent in the Dragon’s supply chain.”
“Only if you drop him on it,” Raph joked.
“Enough,” Bishop sighed. “Save it for after the mission.”
“Yeah, okay,” Raph rolled his eyes. “You can be no fun sometimes, you know that.”
Raph moved closer to Garbageman. He prepared himself and waited for the opportunity to pounce. Moving fast, Raph closed in on his target and the next thing he knew he was flying through the air and into the wall.
One of Garbageman’s hover chair’s arms came out of nowhere and defended its rider. Gravely laughter filled the room as Garbageman turned to face Raph. “You think I’m defenseless? My chair is programed to detect movement and counter for it.”
Raph pulled himself off the floor and let his manriki fall into his hands. “I guess it’s time to test its reflexes.”
Raph sent a manriki aiming for Garbageman’s head and the chair moved, an arm caming up to deflect Raph’s attack. Garbageman laughed again, pressing a button on his chair to send an arm out to strike Raph.
Dodging the mechanical arm, Raph attacked with his second manriki but the chair managed to avoid it. “My chair is of greater technical genius than that mangy suit.”
“I hate braggarts,” Raph grumbled.
The two continued to fight, moving around the room as they dodged the other’s attacks. Raph got the idea to distract the chair and grabbed the nearest object to him. The suit recognized the item and deemed it harmless. He chucked it at the chair, followed by his twin manriki.
Garbageman’s face went wide with fear, “No!”
He moved to stop his chair’s reactions but he wasn’t quick enough. A mechanical arm collided with the cub shaped device and it exploded on contact.
