An unexpected arrival

At the same time

“Raven!” a mildly amused voice called from the helm of a medium sized yacht, which was currently breaking through the crystal blue waters of the Aegean sea on its way to the city of Rhodes on said isle. “You seem to be enjoying yourself, given the circumstances.” Indeed he was, as Raven was currently stretched out on the front deck of the yacht with his eyes closed, looking almost like he was sleeping. Jasper on the other hand, was at the stern on the boat, busying himself by fishing with three different poles and sipping on a beer, although one look at Jasper’s face would reveal to nearly anyone that he wasn’t in any mood to talk.

Raven chuckled a bit as he opened his eyes, his relaxed state of enjoying the calm sea breeze rushing over his face broken by the voice of the yacht’s captain. “I try to stay relaxed Jericho, especially in times like these.” He tossed a glance behind him to meet the eyes of his longtime friend and comrade, who was doing the Edge brothers a personal favor by giving them transportation to Rhodes without the hassle or exposure of a flight. Jericho Irvine, like Jasper, wasn’t an active member of the Illuminati, but his personal friendship with the two since childhood made him an ally all the same. “So,” Raven said, welcoming of any sort of conversation due to Jasper outright ignoring Raven since their departure a few days ago. “What brought you out to this part of the world anyway? Last time I checked, you were using The Liontamer for some sort of high class fishing trip gig.”

“Too cold,” Jericho said with a visible shiver. “The money was good and all, but I don’t do Alaskan temperatures well. Besides,” he said with a smirk. “Staying close to the equator means seeing more sights.”

“You would say that,” Raven laughed, quite familiar with Jericho’s ‘hobby’ of ‘babe-watching’. Probably the only reason Jericho was able to get away with his near blatant peeping of the opposite sex was the fact that he was extremely well off in terms of money and looks; women tended to admire a man with the body structure of David Hasselhoff and the brunette locks of Eddie Van Halen leaning next to a boat that looked like it should be owned by a millionaire. “So you feel like knocking a few heads with us for old times sake?”

“Not this time,” Jericho said with an emphatic shake of his head. “Don’t get me wrong; I love beating on Ut Puri whelps as much as the next guy, but that’s not the attention I need right now.” Jericho took a look from Raven to Jasper, having already noticed Jasper’s stand offish attitude towards his brother and wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. “Isn’t this supposed to be you guys’ mission anyway? I’m pretty sure you two can handle a legion of Ut Puri by yourselves as long as you guys are on the same page.”

“You trying to imply something?” Jasper called out, not even looking up at Jericho as he killed the rest of his beverage.

“I don’t know,” Jericho said with a knowing look. “Maybe I am, considering the fact that you and Raven haven’t said two words to each other since we left Athens. The last time I’ve seen you this quiet was when Raven won that stupid a*s bet back in high school.”

“Well then ask him why we’re not talking,” Jasper said emphatically before turning back around to face the sea, noticing that he had a bite on one of his lines.

Jericho shrugged his shoulders before turning his gaze back to Raven, who now had a sheepish look on his face. “Raven?” Jericho asked with a no nonsense tone. “The hell did you do this time?”

Raven put his hands out in front of him in a placating gesture as he shook his head. “I swear,” Raven said with a grin that pretty much gave him away before he even spoke. “I didn’t do squat to Jazz. I take no blame for the antics of my sons.” That was met by a blank stare from Jericho, almost as if to say ‘fess up’. “Alright,” Raven said with a sigh. “I might have told Quinton to hide Jazz’s stash of bud with actual grass.”

Jericho face palmed himself as he let out a deep sigh; even he knew not to mess with Jasper’s marijuana supply. “You know,” Jericho said. “I’m not even going to ask what possessed your ten year old son to do something that idiotic.”

“Rave!” Jasper yelled out suddenly, the whole time listening to the others’ conversation as he reeled in a decently sized Mediterranean sea bass. “He’s the only person alive with the balls to do something like that.” With a low grunt, Jasper hefted the fish over the railing before plunging his utility knife into its side, not bothered by the spurt of blood that hit his face. “And get this: Q forgot where he hid it the entire day.”

Raven couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud, remembering the anxiety that was stricken across his brother’s face as he tossed his entire house looking for the ounce of premium marijuana that Quinton had pilfered. “You should have seen your face!” Raven laughed, being joined by Jericho who at least had the decency to cover his chuckle. “You looked like someone shot your dog!”

“Hey!” Jericho interrupted with a point to himself. “I resent that.”

Jasper’s response was to roll his eyes as he wiped the blood off his face. “You were about to get shot that night,” Jasper said as he stuck an already rolled blunt in his lip before lighting it. “Rule number 1: don’t mess with the herb.”

“Alright, alright,” Raven said, turning back around to look at the sea with a twinkle in his eye, as the isle of Rhodes had finally started to become visible to them. “I get it. You got your weed back; now will you stop being anti-social so we can put our heads in the game?”

Jasper purposely coughed before answering his brother. “Let me finish tasting this herb and I’ll think about it.”

Jericho chuckled at the atypical answer from Jasper as he slowed down the yacht to a comfortable cruising speed. “I swear,” he said with a grin. “You Edge brothers are something different.” With that, he put the yacht into cruise control so he could get some time away from the helm. “We’ll be in port in an hour, so whatever you guys have to prepare, now’s the time.”

“Thought you were at least sticking around for a few days,” Jasper said as he offered the blunt to Jericho. “Rhodes has some nice beauties for you to appreciate.”

“Yeah,” Jericho said whilst waving away the offending smoke from his position. “But the yacht is going somewhere less conspicuous. Last thing I need is for a spy of Ut Puri yo see you two knuckleheads come off my boat. They might wind up doing something stupid, and then I’ll have no choice but to respond in kind.”

“True that,” Jasper said before tossing the refused blunt to his brother, who deftly caught it without turning around. “Raven’s buddies call me reckless, but you make me look tame at times.”

“Well,” Jericho said with a laugh. “When you’re known for breaking the walls down you get that kind of reputation.” The three friends all laughed at that; on one of their past excursions Jasper and Jericho ‘accidentally’ left their mark on China’s most prolific of structures. in the way of a hundred foot gap blown into the side of the Great Wall from an errant attack from Jericho. Since then, Jericho’s given name had left him with a stigma that rivaled Jasper’s own reputation, as well as a permanent ban from said country. “Good times though.”

“Yeah,” Raven said with a glance at the incoming isle of Rhodes. “Good times.” He just hoped that nothing like that happened once they arrived; this was one mission that needed no complications.

One could only hope.

_________________________________________________________

Ping!

The Justicar Commander who had brought the Alexandrian church under his submission grinned as he continued to spit pomegranate seeds from his mouth into a golden vase in the far corner of what used to be Siobhan’s office. Despite his personal beliefs towards the Illuminati- Ut Puri conflict, he had to admit to himself that Siobhan had good taste in decoration. Siobhan had flawlessly fused the native Arabic style with her homeland’s decor, with various Egyptian urns and anhks placed around the room next to miniature spires that one would find on the castles in St. Petersburg. “How goes our inspection?” he asked, addressing the contingent of seven guardsman that comprised his personal guard. “Any surprises that we need to be aware of?”

“It’s all clear,” The lead guardsmen said with a firm salute. “All traps are disarmed, and nearly all personnel are accounted for.”

“Nearly?” the Justicar asked with a questioning glance. “Why aren’t all accounted for?”

The lead guardsmen cleared his throat before answering his superior. “Well,” he said, procuring a rolled up piece of paper from his pocket. “There’s one Avis, Eric Vadilisi, who escaped a few of my men, but he escaped with critical wounds. The chances of him even making it out of here are slim to none.”

The Justicar scratched his stylized beard in thought; even if this Eric did escape, he knew for a fact that no one in any political circle in Egypt would give him the time of day to explain what was currently going on. Like most governments on the planet, although they very well knew of the presence of Sovrumano, they preferred to keep their hands out of Ut Puri or Illuminati affairs with very few exceptions. “That’s an anomaly that we shouldn’t have to worry about. Any other discrepancies?”

The lead guardsmen nodded before reading from the paper again. “There’s also a Santana Del Rio, Felis, aged 18, but he hasn’t even checked in in weeks.”

That piqued the Justicar’s interest; having been privy to Siobhan’s methods of security for her church, he knew that she had an outstanding mandate for all members of her church to check in on all missions, at the very least once a week. “Why hasn’t he?”

“We don’t know,” the lead guardsmen answered. “The last thing that was recorded on this Del Rio was a request to go on a training mission that was personally granted by our prisoner of honor. There was a time limit of two months, but no record of where he was going to train at.”

“What’s his rank?” The Justicar asked, trying to analyze if this would harm his plans for the church any.

The lead guardsmen let a humored chuckle out of his mouth, obviously not intimidated of Santana from what was listed in his record. “Just a mere corporal sir; he could be handled by any one of us, no problem.”

‘Can you handle me though?’ a female voice rung in his mind, sweet as silk yet had a distinctly dangerous edge to it. The lead guardsmen only had enough time to widen his eyes in shock before he grasped his head in obvious discomfort, screaming at the top of his lungs while the other guardsmen immediately sprung to action, taking defensive stances at the lone opening to the room.

“The hell is going on!” the Justicar yelled in confusion, rising to his feet himself and grabbing a medium length staff with one end that looked like a cattle prod. “Answer me this instant Vizekorporal!”

As if to grant his request, the Vizekorporal suddenly stopped screaming, dropping his arms in a matter that told the Justicar everything he needed to know about the situation… that is, before the man opened his mouth to speak. “You want an answer Jynx?” the Vizekorporal asked with a voice that most certainly didn’t belong to him. “Then answer me this: What is the meaning of your men laying waste to this church?”

The Justicar gave his Vizekorporal a sideways look, recognizing the true speaker from the knowledge of his first name as well as the female tone. “Saraya Steckzolfer, the newest Lamia Exemplar of the Illuminati,” he said before giving a slow, mocking clap. “I’ll admit, I’m surprised to hear your voice. What has it been? Three, four years since I last heard the voice of a succubus?”

“Answer my question damnit!” Saraya yelled through the Vizekorporal. “This is not the time to take a walk down memory lane. Where is Siobhan!”

Jynx idly spun the staff in his hand as he walked up to the possessed guardsmen. “All good questions my dear succubus,” he said before suddenly spinning the staff rapidly before jamming it into the guardsmen’s stomach. As he did so, he flicked a small switch, which turned on the staff’s other feature, that of electrifying whatever it touched with over two thousand volts of electricity. He held an impassive look on his face as the electrocuted Vizekorporal slumped to the ground, barely alive but obviously unconscious. “But those are answers you have to work for.” He snapped his head up to the other guardsmen, who instantly went to attention on sight. “Spread out. I want my sweet little vampire princess found. She has to have already entered the church if she was able to possess someone with that intensity.”

“Si, signore!” the other guardsmen shouted before leaving the room to accomplish their given task, leaving am irritated Jynx in their wake. In their minds, finding the Exemplar was a better trade off than staying with Jynx when he was annoyed; when that happened, he tended to experiment on some new ‘revolutionary’ equipment that he had, and he wasn’t above using them for it.

________________________________________________________

Saraya let an almost demented smile grace her face as she dropped her hands from their focusing position in front of her. “That got his attention,” she said before rolling her shoulders. “Not the fun begins!”

“What did you do?” Santana asked from his position behind her, he and a bandaged up Eric giving her questioning looks as they made sure to keep their distance from the angered Exemplar.

“I got his attention,” Saraya said matter-of-factly. “Now the prick is sending his guard to find me, which means that all but a few of the contingent that came here in the first place will be focused on me solely.” Saraya took a deep breath as she focused her ki around her body, giving off a dark red glow. “While I handle the cannon fodder Santana I want you to find where they’re keeping the others, specifically our Judge Magister.”

“The catacombs,” Eric said weakly, although not sounding like he was knocking on death’s door. “I saw them dragging Judge Bocharov there after they blitzed her.”

Santana nodded as he mentally saw the entire layout of the Alexandrian church in his mind’s eye. “That has to be where everyone else is: those cells are designed to hold in nearly anyone, Sovrumano or otherwise.” Taking a glance at the determined expression of Saraya, Santana couldn’t stop himself from worrying about her. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked out of concern. “If they could bring down Judge Mag-”

“I’m no Judge,” Saraya said emphatically, shutting up any further rebuttal from the Felis. “My level of power is far beyond my dear friend Siobhan, or have you forgotten already about the power of the Exemplars?” She didn’t need her powers to know that she had made her point, taking the lack of sound from Santana as an answer in and of itself. “You’ll find once you free her that her level of strength isn’t as depleted as you or these scoundrels might think either.” Picking up on a group of Ut Puri agents closing in, she swiftly walked down the dark corridor they were in to meet them. “Go!” she yelled. “Now!” Santana and Eric exchanged a glance before going into their warrior like mindset, nodding as Santana activated his invisibility, cloaking them both. Saraya waited until the two had departed to settle into a defensive battle stance, eyes on the end of the corridor as she anticipated Ut Puri’s arrival. ‘Come to mama you sons of b*****s,’ she thought. ‘It’s time I gave these fools a lesson as to what this Exemplar is made of!’

_______________________________________________________

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the brothers Edge,” Jericho said from the loudspeaker he installed on The Liontamer in a purposefully humorous tone. “Welcome to the beautiful isle of Rhodes. Now remember, Greek food is awesome, the herb is better, and the ladies are the best, so indulge to your hearts content!” The three men glanced at each other before breaking out into a laugh at Jericho’s speech. “And Jazzo, please don’t break anything archaeologically important this time!”

“Heh,” Jasper laughed as he made a beeline for the ramp that the boatswains mates on the pier had put up on the right  side of the yacht. “Didn’t your mom tell you to never call the kettle black?”

“He must got contact,” Raven said with a grin, putting his pack on his back before bidding farewell to Jericho. “But take your own advice Jericho, all of it.”

“Noted,” Jericho answered with a thumbs up as he accompanied the Edge brothers off the yacht. “So how long should all of this take anyway?”

“Give us a week at most,” Raven said, analyzing his mission one more time in his mind. “Once we got ‘it’ in hand, we’ll give you a call.” Raven was going to say more, but he was abruptly stopped due to crashing into Jasper’s back. “Jazz,” Raven said, mildly annoyed. “Move your a*s; you’re older than me by mere minutes not decades.” Despite Raven’s urging however, Jasper stayed rooted to his spot. “Bro, you good?” Raven asked, taking Jasper’s motionless state with a grain of salt.

“Um, Rave?” Jasper said, pointing to a small, open air restaurant that was a good few hundred feet away on the main boardwalk, the color draining from his face at what he saw. “We have a problem.”

Raven sighed; he wasn’t expecting to lock horns with any Ut Puri agents this soon. “Fine,” Raven said whilst cracking his neck. “Well, lets ignore them and if they pursue, we’ll knock some sense into them.” Raven wasn’t beat for a confrontation with Ut Puri out in the open; not only did it go against code, but the port of Rhodes in his opinion didn’t deserve to be trashed by their destructive style of combat. It was too beautiful in his opinion, a pleasant yet delicate balance of the ancient with modern Mediterranean style.

“That might be a problem for you guys,” Jericho said with an obvious amount of doubt in his voice, grinning as he saw just what had rooted Jasper to his spot. “Look man.”

Raven rolled his eyes at first, following the pointing of Jericho to the same restaurant that Jasper was still staring at. Once he focused in, however, it felt like his heart had dropped all the way to his feet. “No,” Raven said out loud, yet more to himself. “This can’t be happening.” Raven turned to Jericho, who still wore an amused look before he was shaken frantically by Raven, who was now going through a conniption fit at what he saw. “Tell me this isn’t happening!”

“I could,” Jericho said after separating himself from the frantic Exemplar. “But then I’d be lying to you, now wouldn’t I?” Jericho rolled his eyes at the way the Edge brothers were acting; even as a childhood friend, he still found himself surprised at times at the way the two could act so childish despite their power and stations. “C’mon,” Jericho said, easily pushing the two towards the restaurant as they were still in a shocked daze. “Might as well take care of it now rather than later.”

________________________________________________________

Inside the very same restaurant, three highly familiar preteen boys watched in amusement as their ‘Uncle Jericho’ pushed their respective fathers towards them. “So,” Roman said, glancing at Taji and Quinton, who were wearing matching smirks on their faces. “Think they like Mom’s surprise?”

Taji chuckled while Quinton outright laughed. “Here’s a better question,” he said as he fiddled with his trusty camera, not letting this chance at premium blackmail pass him by as he prepared to take a picture of the stunned looks on their older Edge brothers’ faces.. “Think Auntie and Mom care what they think?”

Roman just leaned back in his seat as he sipped some soda from a glass at their table. “Nah,” Roman said before joining his cousin and brother in humored laughter. As a matter of fact, neither did he. A trip halfway across the world was well worth it, especially when you got to see your father wearing a look that was better suited for a terrified schoolgirl. ‘And the best part,’ he thought with a small, devious looking smirk. ‘We get to see Dad and the God at work for real!’