Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 28)

Chapter 28 - Stella

As a tear drops from Elena's eye, she turns to Leon's Uncle Damien, giving him a hard stare as her hands tremble at her sides.

"He better come back, or I'm sending you after him," she says in a desperate tone.

"I promise," Damien responds with a nod.

The door clicks closed and the three of us, Elena, Leon and I, stand frozen. Trapped within our confined room and feeling as alone as ever. Damien and Ethan have left us three here, to keep us safe while they attempt to infiltrate the control room.

"It's a death mission..." Elena whispers from her spot on the floor, still staring idly at the door.

"Ma...come on, now. Don't talk like that. You know Dad and Uncle Damien. They're brothers, they won't let anything happen to each other or their family. They're going to be just fine," Leon responds, striding the length of the room and placing his hand on his mother's shaking shoulder.

I join them both in the middle of the room and Elena wraps an arm around each of us, leaning her head to Leon's shoulder as she regains her composure.

"Elena, it's not every day that I get to meet and work with my idols. The people I read about in history books are the people I've come to know and love. You, Ethan and now Damien...I've read everything there is to read about you. And Dante too. I know he was a friend of yours on the Zeus," I say to her.

"He was Ethan's very best friend. Always there for us, sacrificing himself in the end..." she whispers in reply.

"I spent my entire young adulthood worshipping you guys, Elena. Your courage, strength and intelligence. I worked so hard to ensure I'd be at least a small bit like you when I grew up. Don't you see, Elena? I say, placing my hand gently upon her shoulders and looking into her eyes. They will be ok. They will find a way out of this. They were trained for this; you were trained for this and now...Leon and I have been trained for this. Trained by the best in the world."

"Stella's right, Ma. Your team is made up of the most brilliant minds to ever grace the galaxy. Hell, for Uncle Damien, this is his favorite rollercoaster! Dad's probably reliving his glory days, feeling my age again, side-by-side with his brother, the two most fierce combatants ever born."

"Thank you, Stella. You are right. They're both master tacticians, the best in their fields of weaponry, strategy and combat. They both know how those Sekrid do things better than anyone else. They were made for this job, and if anyone can get us out alive, it's them. We need a strategy," Elena says, seeming to shed her gloomy shell, showing the courage and ferocity that she's famous for.

"What do you have in mind, Elena?" I reply, as she wipes the tears from her sodden cheeks, standing up straight and looking up at the two of us, a new hope shining in her eyes.

"First off," Leon interjects, "We're going to need a way of communication between not only the three of us, but also with Dad and Uncle Damien."

"Good thinking, son. You re more like your father every day."

Elena begins pacing the floor, stopping every now and again as if trying to un-knot a particularly difficult string. It amazes me how I can almost see the cogs of thought turning in her head, formulating a plan of action for our escape.

"It's going to be a waiting game...we'll have to time it just right. There's no way in hell we can get out of this room until those Sekrid do a shift-change."

"How do we know that they'll even do a shift change, Ma?" Leon asks, sitting on a nearby shipping crate and pulling me onto his lap. He wraps his arms around me and Elena stops pacing, looking over at us.