Appleseed Ex Machina

Eye for an Eye

Chapter 3

It was almost the time, and Caren was leering to the big hangar, where Sebastian was with his men.

"Okay, mister H, a plan?" Caren asked and moved back behind the wall. Briareos made an 'umm', and answered: "Not excatly." Caren said loudly: "What! We are here and you have no PLAN!"

"Shut up, someone will hear!" Briareos said and took Caren into a grip, holding his mouth.

At the same time, someone shouted from behind the corner: "Who's there! Walk here slowly, or I will shoot!" Briareos let Caren go, and they couldn't do anything else than step behind the corner, reveal themselves. There were two men pointing at the with guns.

"C-Caren? What are you doin' here, weren't you arrested man?" asked the other, who seemed to a cyborg.

"I was, but this guy got me outta there. We thought if he could join Sebastian...?" Caren answered carefully, and the human said: "Why should he?"

"I have proved myself to be useful, Caren can proof it", Briareos said and crossed his arms.

"Well... lets see what Sebastian says..." the cyborg said, and the two led Caren and Briareos inside.

"Sebastian, we have visitors!" shouted the other man, and the whole group turned to look at them.

After explaining the same story for Sebastian, he glared and searched Briareos carefully.

"A Hecatonchires body... Impressive. No one else have survived the tests, even the transport into a H-body", Sebastian said and walked around Briareos, who felt uneasy, being surrounded by men with impressive guns.

"Well, I happen to be the only one", Briareos said.

"Doesn't that prove something about his strength, boss?" Caren asked, but Sebastian told him to shut up.

Briareos was nervous. Sebastian walked before him. The truck of drugs was being emptied.

"Come on, hurry up!" Briareos thought. Then suddenly Sebastian lifted his gun towards Briareos.

"B-boss, what are you-?" Caren asked, but then Sebastian shot his leg, making him to cry in pain and fall on the floor. Briareos startled and moved a bit towards Caren.

"Don't push an inch, you filthy cop", Sebastian said and turned the gun back to Briareos, who moved backwards. Every gunman lifted their guns towards Briareos.

"I am no cop", Briareos said lifting up his hands, and Sebastian said smirking: "ESWAT, police... it is all same for me."

"How did you know I was ESWAT?" Briareos asked, and Sebastian laughed.

"I saw you there. When I shot that one cop, what ever was her name. Tell me, how is she doing? Is she already dead?"

That's when Briareos got angry. He took quick steps closer and said: "Don't you DARE talk about her like that!" The other men loaded their guns, and Briareos stopped.

"Oh... so that is the thing..." Sebastian smirked and said quietly. Briareos tightened his hands in fists.

Then suddenly a large explosion was heard. The truck exploded. ESWAT was here. The criminals started running to the truck, trying to stop the ESWAT. While Sebastian had his view elsewhere, Briareos had his chance. He ran to him, took a hold of his gun and threw it away. But he didn't know that Sebastian had another one on his belt. He loaded the gun and shot.

The bullet flew straight towards Briareos' face, piercing his left eyes. Briareos fell on the ground, and Sebastian shot again, not aiming at his hand, which tried to reach a gun, and the third pierced his left side. Before Sebastian reached to do anything else, he was being knocked down by Tereus.

Sebastian was taken away by few SWATs, and Tereus knelt down next to Briareos.

"Briareos, are you alright? Your eyes..." he said and reached to the eyes. Briareos was in pain, and his wounds bled badly. Briareos was going to stand up, but Tereus forced him to stay down.

"Don't move, your sight could go blind forever if you do! We need to get a tech-doctor... HEY, WE NEED A DOCTOR!" Tereus shouted.

Briareos was in the cyborg hospital, his wounds were tied up and the left eyes were replaced. The doctor was checking his eyes, the working and all. They were fine, and the doctor was ready to stop and give him a permission to leave home. But before Briareos even reached to stand up, Lance stepped in the room.

The doctor had left them alone.

"Briareos, everything you did was against rules. You went on a mission, alone and without any back up. You also didn't care about that you were banned from job", Lance told his arms crossed. Briareos was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning his hands on his legs.

"I am sorry sir. This will not happen again", Briareos said.

"But everything you did led us to Sebastian, and we finally caught him. Goob job, Briareos", Lance continued, having Briareos' look upon him. He nodded.

"Thanks."

"But you are still banned, because of your actions, and because you are wounded... Get yourself healed, and come back to work as soon as possible", Lance said, smiled and patted Briareos' back.

It was evening, somewhere around seven or eight. Briareos was at the gym, and he was alone. He hit the ball on the wall once again. The wall has been replaced, so there wasn't any holes in it. Briareos didn't hit the ball as hard as last time; he was at peace as he knew that Sebastian was caught. But he was still worried about Deunan; she hasn't woken up yet.

After cleaning up himself, Briareos turned the shower off and walked by the mirror, outside the shower room. He cleaned some fume off the mirror, and froze where he stood. The door reflected on the mirror as well as the character by the door.

"I knew you would be here, Bri", Deunan said. She was leaning on the wall. Briareos just looked at the mirror. An awkward silence fell upon them for a minute, before Deunan continued: "How is your wounds?" Briareos looked at his side and hand.

"...Better than yours", he said, and Deunan turned to look at her arm, which was in bandages. Briareos walked towards the showering room where his towel was, and Deunan took steps inside the showering hall.

"Come on, I have seen you naked before..." Deunan said, trying to sound hilarious, even letting a chuckle after the sentence. Briareos wrapped the towel around him and stepped out from the room.

"Deunan, sweetheart... This isn't something to joke about..." he said and stopped few meters away from her. Deunan smiled a bit.

"I know..." she said.

"I... I was so ...afraid. I thought I lost you", Briareos said, turning to look on the floor. Deunan stepped right before Briareos, took her hand on his cheek and turned him to look at her.

"And I thought I lost you..." she said before pulling herself onto Briareos' chest. Briareos opened his arms and wrapped them around her. Deunan could hear Briareos' heart beating under his chest. She closed her eyes.

"I love you..." she said, and Briareos stayed quiet. They stayed like that for a long time.

Fin