Kings, Gods and thieves

*

Cebra walks around the room closely examining the walls, he runs his hands all along them feeling every bit of stone. Ika takes a seat on one of the pillows and closes his eyes while crossing his legs, he takes a deep breath before he speaks.

"Patience... If there's nothing we can do of a productive nature then we must wait for the situation to change. Perhaps someone will arrive soon or even Alvarez."

Cebra stops for a moment from his apparent analysis of the walls and rolls his eyes and head dramatically while groaning. An evident dismissal of Ika's attempt at coming up with a plan. In Cebra's mind all Ika said was he didn't have an idea at all. Cebra however was a little more pro active. Ika could almost feel Cebra's frustration at waiting in this room, it might have been amusing if his pacing back and forth feeling the walls wasn't annoying. Truly an odd feeling for the normall calm and measured Ika, Cebra brought out a side of him similar to dealing with an ass of a big brother but less close.

"There's nothing I can detect in the walls, no cameras or motion trackers present. Huh... It's not like I can go snooping around since I dont know the layout."

Cebra turns his head to Matilda with a pout.

"The kid might be right Matilda, if we want to get to Alvarez we might have to play things their way for now. Though I have no idea if they're being honest with us, what has Alvarez gotten himself into I wonder."

Ika's eye twitches at being called kid again, though he hides it well enough not wanting to Give Cebra the satisfaction. Ika then wondered if it might have been prudent to study more on Egyptian culture and mythology. The Shaman had told him he was merely hired to be a bodyguard to a good friend on a noble assignment. Of course a monk of the binding light is never just sent to deal with mortal issues. This meant there was some kind of dangerous magic involved, that being the reason Ika was armed with some banishment scrolls and demon wards but nothing strong. He also wondered if the Shaman knew that Cebra would be here and this woman. Ika was more comfortable around women oddly enough, he wasn't by any means romantically inclined. The fact was he just felt more at ease and light hearted with a feminine presence.

"We could always..."

"No."

"But you dont even."

"Yes I do and you're not going to be 'interrogating' anyone."

"Dont say that like I'm going to put nails through their hand and acid in the eyes. Just a little five knuckle shuffle you know."

Ika opens his eyes and looks sideways at Cebra with an incredulous expression.

"... Geez I was kidding, lighten up. You monks are stone cold I tells ya... But really I dont have a plan right now, we might as well relax I guess. Hey look fruit!."

Cebra walks over to a rickety looking wooden table, on the table is an ornate bowl with figs, pomegranite and some kind of nuts.

*

Cebra immediately and clumsily drops one of the figs on the table suprised by the old mans return.

"So about Alvarez, not to seem rude but you've kept us waiting a long time. Not to mention I'm still a little irritated at your... 'associates' attempt to dissuade us."

Ika turns to Cebra giving him a look that a disappointed mother might give her child and coughs trying to interupt Cebra before he offended their host.

"What? It's true. We dont exactly have many reasons to trust these people and it's already late in the night."

"You have a point I suppose, but it serves no purpose to be unkind."

Ika turns to the elderly man bowing his head.

"Would it be possible to see our friend Alvarez now?"

*

Cebra looked at the disheveled bloody Alvarez with a quiet cold anger, his gaze quickly shifting to the two thugs that carried him in. He could feel it like electricity running through his veins besides the saxon energy. Cebra was ready to outright murder the two and the old man who sat there non nonchalantly. His fists clenched and relaxed in a rhythmic motion as his cold robotic glare fixated on one thug then the other. Part of him wanted to skip any formalities and shove his arm down one of their throats and start ripping out entrails. He managed to hold himself back as Alvarez was merely injured and not dead.

Ika had a tendency to wear his emotions on his sleeve, honesty being part of the monks psyche. A blue aura surrounded his body as the sound of crackling lighting can be heard coming from him. He stares with ire at the elderly man who he had once thought to be at least a reasonable person. At the same time he also notices Cebra and the general homicidal feeling emanating from him. While Ika would like nothing more than to punish these men for what they did to Alvarez he did not want to see them all killed. Everyone seemed to be angered by this turn of events including Matilda. Perhaps it was best Ika tried to keep a level head less this devolve into a bloody brawl.

"You will answer her right now. Why have you brought harm on this man? There was no need for such brutal measures, or is this how you treat all foreigners to your country?"

*

Cebra looks back to the now armed Alvarez with an annoyed expression.

"You've got to be kidding me. I came half way around the world to get stabbed in the back by you? Just why do you want the necklace so bad anyways? A piece of jewelery is nothing to kill over."

Cebra's muscles tense as he gets ready to spring himself on Alvarez. Cebra could stop a bullet no problem, but being fast enough to block them from hitting anyone else was another case. Judging by the distance between Ika, Matilda, the thugs and the old man he'd only be able to protect Matilda and Ika. Ika was however more than capable of evading gun fire if he needed to, part of the monks training was learning to evade modern fire arms. Ika was a little moe shocked at Alvarez sudden turn. He backs up to the wall and moves near to Cebra.

"Any ideas?"

"He looks pretty intent on getting that necklace. I would like to know what's so important about it."

*

The ensuing chaos of the guards coming at Alvarez and the rest of the group was a mess. In an instant Cebra puts his palm to one of the guards chest and releases a surge of Saxon energy . The burst while not strong enough to kill the guard sends him flying back ten feet and slams against the wall, he hits the floor twitching. Cebra then runs over to the elderly man on the floor with the gun shot wound and kneels down looking him over. Cebra's medical abilities outside of his own nanobots healing himself was minimal. Cebra was made for espionage, assassination and warfare, he managed to download a first aid course for first responder android. He applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, as he had no other tools or material there wasn't much else he could do.

Ika stood directly between Matilda and the other thug staring both of them down. Ika glances back at Matilda unsure of if he should just stand and fight or get everyone out. The thug gives little time for Ika to choose becoming angered at the sight of Cebra striking his comrade. On the side of his waist is another hand gun which he goes for quickly. He takes aim at Ika and squeezes the trigger with no hesitation. Ika manages to move himself out of the aim of the gun faster than the thug can aim, he keeps the focus on him and away from Matilda not sure of her mental state.

"Come on old man talk to me. Fuck I cant stop all the bleeding!."

Cebra not paying attention to the fight catches a ricochet in the shoulder forgetting to shield himself. The thunderous pain is immediate as shown by the silent gasp on Cebra's face. Being used to such pain however Cebra merely uses his energy to push the bullet out of his own wound. That gives him an idea to try and draw out the round in the old man. When Cebra tries he feels no round in the man, looking at the mans back he notices the problem letting out a defeated sigh. The round went through the old man hitting his lungs and making a large exit wound. He didn't have long to live.

*

Cebra didn't notice Alvarez approach the necklace being preoccupied now with the chaotic fighting. Not wanting to actually murder the guards but also not get hit himself was a tricky task. The blinding light however was enough to distract both Ika and Cebra.

"What?!"

Ika tosses one guard over his shoulder before he see's the light and raises his arm to block out the light. Cebra's sensors detect an unknown energy emanating from the amulet. The energy keeps growing as Cebra backs up now having the energy interfere with his cybernetics. He begins discharging Saxon energy at random putting everyone in danger.

"Gah it... it burns! Fuck! My skin! Grrrrrrrrr! Get away!"

A change comes over Cebra's voice, some deeper malevolence echos in his words as they sound more angry. The sound of his words alone affect others around him like an aura of oppressive evil pushing others back. The energy bolts fly out from Cebra striking two of the guard. They both scream out in terror as the energy bursts from their eyes and flesh. They burn up from the inside out reducing to ash.

"Cebra!"

"I... I cant stop! There's something!.... In me! K... Kill me!"

Ika looks at Cebra shocked grimly for a moment. He the realizes Cebra's powers and that he has no choice but to kill Cebra before the situation grows worse.

"Matilda I know this may seem wrong but we've got to kill Cebra."

*

Ika would much rather kill Cebra and have him regenerate than risk their lives with a dangerous gambit. But Matilda seemed unconvinced by Ika's plea so rather than argue he'd just make sure she didn't get hit. Ika grabbed the table using it as a shield for whatever protection it would provide. Ika knew the level of destruction Cebra could cause when he was a willing participant, out of control who knows what would happen. If need be he would kill him or at least try to. Ika managed to block one hit of energy from Cebra before it exploded like confetti. Ika then changes to bright fist stance and uses closes to help shield Matilda.

Cebra ceases moving or speaking but still firing energy. His flesh is both healing and burning at the same time revealing the bone and metal underneath periodically. After a moment Cebra seems to regain himself and looks over his body, still firing energy off erratically. In a now calm yet completely different deeper voice Cebra speaks.

"Hmm interesting... This host is not suitable and yet. Strong enough to hold me... Sort of."

Cebra turns to Ika and raises an eyebrow. Ika stops dead as do his clones and look back taken back by the sudden change.

"You... your name is Ika... your one of those insufferable demon wardens I see. Have you come for me? No impossible, your kind would not know of my creation."

"What... Who are you? What are you doing to Cebra?!"

Ika yells out half in hopes of knowing what creature or thing is in Cebra and half to distract from whatever Matilda was planning.

*

A bit too distracted with Ika, Matilda manages to slip past the beings notice.

"Cebra?... How common, you will address me as YOUR GOD!"

In that moment the being in Cebra radiates with intense energy amplifying by the second. It looks as though he's going to release it as well, there' no way for Ika to tell how destructive it's going to be and he tries to shield himself with his clones. Luckily before anything could happen Matlida lept forward in such an intense burst of speed the being in Cebra did not have time to react. The swift strike to the back of the head made the being yell out loud as he fell forward. The tone of his yell changing quickly from the echoing boom of that thing possessing Cebra back to Cebra's voice. Cebra goes down hard smashing his head on the floor, the blood slowly seeping out. The energy coming from Cebra seems to have calmed down, only a moment later a massive surge of energy in an almost spectral form screeches loud and rise from Cebra's body. It's eyes despite the energy and light radiating from it is are pitch black. It growls with malice at Ika and Matilda before vanishing.

"... What in all the Hells was that thing?"

The clones of Ika vanish and a sense of calm and quiet returns to the small room, but the feeling of death lingers. The scorches on the floor and the walls outlining the dead, piles of ash litter floor.