Tempest: The Renegade

Phase 7, part 3

"That's... that's true," Maria admits reluctantly. "He made me reflect on my life and my choices. I took the alcohol intolerance injection. And I'm here to help you."

"That means the whole gang is up again!" I say. "I feel so much better knowing my friends are here to support me. I will need all the help I can get."

"Let's kick some Yeoman asses!" Svetlana hollers and raises her fist. The girl with a doll-like face and golden locks is as cheerful as always. She's dressed in white shorts and a rather undersized tank top of the same color. However, her look can be deceiving. I know how skilled fighter she is.

The nice idyll is shattered by Konstantin's voice. "You! What are you doing here?"

He's pointing at Isaiah with eyes full of anger. I know these two fought during the battle for Bifröst. Isaiah stands up and faces the man, his bionic eye swaying slightly to the left.

"Stop!" I yell, then I turn to Konstantin. "Isaiah is the one who stole the Flicker serums from Nightingale and brought them here. I'm not saying he's a hero, but he's working on improvement. You shouldn't judge him so harshly. And besides that, Jaroslav would be angry if you two broke a fight here."

The old man looks at Isaiah with a calmer expression. "So I guess you took some of my words seriously, kid. If it's really true about the serums, you earned my respect. But that doesn't mean I won't be able to crush you if you attempted to hurt Zoya... or anyone else in this room."

"I'll keep that in mind," Isaiah replies.

I try to enjoy this brief moment of happiness as much as possible. Sotiris prepares us something to eat. Then, we all sit around one table (all except Isaiah who seems to be unsettled by the large company). We talk about casual things, as if there wasn't a serious conflict ahead of us.

Maybe this is the last time we can sit together like this. I know the chances that the whole group will survive as it is rather slim. I look at the smiling faces all around me. I imagine each one of them dying in front of me, just like Ryan did. All the scenarios hurt equally.

However, I try to enjoy this moment where my friends are alive and here with me.

Sasha tells us how did he help Maria and brought the gang back together. He is truly the heart of the party and even Jaroslav is interested in his tales (which are probably greatly exaggerated, but who cares). I hope that at least some of us will be able to gather like this after the whole nightmare ends, unburdened by the threats we have to face. Maybe someday...

I presumed Isaiah will act hostile towards me, but, to my surprise, he gives me a regretful gaze, like he wanted to apologize but couldn't find the right words.

Everyone else already left; since Jaroslav Havel's house isn't big enough for everyone, Zoya's friends rented rooms in a nice hotel not far away from here. Only Isaiah stayed here. And so did I - I have to examine this man's condition personally. I don't want him to hurt Zoya ever again.

"What do you want?" he asks me with an empty voice. "Did you come to kill me for good?"

"It depends on what are you going to tell me," I say. He makes a room for me on a couch in Havel's living room and I sit next to him. "I suppose we didn't start out very well back in Bifröst."

"No, we didn't... even though I don't remember much," Isaiah says. It scares me how empty he looks. Maybe he really decided to ditch all the grudge and hatred I've seen in him before - the question remains: what's left? Right now, he's like a child trying to find his place in life. He's fully accepted by nobody.

I can see some frustration in him. I can see why. Despite everything he has done, he only faces fear and mistrust. At that moment, my antipathies cease and start to make room for compassion. He's not evil - he has never been. Just confused, controlled by the dark side of his mind which changed him into what I've seen in Bifröst. He just needs someone to accept him, to assure him it's going to be alright.

Not just someone. He is probably so empty because Zoya, the girl he shared his past with, still acts reserved towards him despite his brave act involving the syringes. He will never feel like someone unless he gets Zoya's approval. However. That girl is friendly, but not naive. He will have to prove himself more in order to gain her favor. And sadly, I can't help him with this.

"How do you feel?" I ask calmly.

"I feel nothing," he replies. "I'm nobody, I belong nowhere. No matter how hard I try, the people are always looking down their nose at me. I should probably go and live somewhere in complete solitude, like a hermit. Disappear from the world's surface. Because that's what the world wants." He sighs. "Even the people I thought I mean something for them see me as a pest."

Even though he looks rough and uncouth, his mannerism and vocabulary give away surprising amounts of intelligence - it would be a mistake to see and treat him only as a savage brute. He's more likely a victim of his own mind. It's easier to see now than it was in Bifröst during one of his beserker rages.

"When you think about it, your mind made you do horrible things," I tell him. "You can't expect them to go away after just a few days and one heroic deed."

"So what I'm supposed to do?" he groans and bangs his head to fix his eye sliding to the side again.

"Keep going in the direction you started to walk. Sooner or later, the good things you do will outweigh the bad ones. And that's where she will start to realize she can trust you. Just be patient and don't give up after the first little failure. Some things just take time."

"She allowed me to join her during the final battle with Yeomen," Isaiah whispers and I can see his natural hand trembling. His new eye once again starts to wander in all directions, but he doesn't even try to fix it. "I'm conflicted. If I don't go, I will never be able to prove my worth. But if I go... and something happens to me... or her..." He clenches the hand into a fist, but the tremble shifts to his whole body.

"You don't know if you don't try," I say.

"So you advise me to go there?"

"I do. And I'll be with you."

"So you don't hate me? After all we..."

I look him in the eye looking in the right direction. "There's no reason to hate you. I know it wasn't you who fought me in Bifröst. I know how does it feel when your mind is playing tricks on you. And I want to help you. It's the fact you listened to the words I told you in Bifröst that made me decide you're worth saving."

Isaiah nods. "At first, I tried to deny them. But then, when I associated them with her, I realized I'm walking the wrong path. That neither Valentina or her mission can make me happy. And so I did what I did. The only thing I want right now... to get rid of the thing in my head for good and make things right with her again."

"And you will succeed. It just takes some time."

"Thank you," Isaiah says and finally fixes his disobedient eye. "And I'm sorry for what happened in Bifröst. Trust me - if it was up to me, I'd never pick a fight with you."

"At least you helped me move them old bones I have," I chuckle. "I'm also sorry that I lashed out when I saw you here. Just don't disappoint me. I've meant my threats seriously."

Isaiah manages to give a slight smile. "That's good to know."