Beast

It was a cool, calm night, too late for anyone to be out and too early for the joggers. Cain took steady, deliberate steps down Trinity Street, towards the Bushnell Park archway. He had a baseball cap on and his hood up, his hands resting comfortably in his pockets. He kept his shoulders back and his head held high, knowing that if he tried to hide, he'd only look suspicious and draw more attention to himself. The streets were nearly deserted. Cain had only passed one cop, an inattentive man too busy playing games on his smart phone to notice the felon walking right under his nose. Cain smirked. It was easy, too easy. There was a nationwide man hunt for him going on, and he was walking about like a free man, albeit, under the cover of darkness.

Cain whistled as he looked up at the arch, a monument erected in the memory of fallen Civil War soldiers. The bricks and statues were spooky at night, casting weird shadows across the ground. It was an odd place to meet, he thought, but it was the place that Ari, who had carved out his own little niche in the city of Hartford, had picked. It was a happy coincidence that Cain and Celine were hiding out only thirty minutes away.

Cain felt a knot of anxiety as he approached the east tower. He gulped, cautiously trying the door that opened onto the staircase leading up the tower. It was unlocked, so Cain stepped inside and closed the door behind him, immersing himself in complete darkness.

"Cain?" a deep, but nasally, voice asked from a few feet away.

"Yes," Cain replied, bracing himself to turn around and bolt back through the door.

"How do I know it's you?" asked the voice of Ari hesitantly.

"Four years ago, on the day of my arrest, we met a few blocks from here, on the corner of Trumbull and Church Street, and agreed that we would meet here one week after I got out at four in the morning. You gave me," at this point Cain pulled an old post card out of his pocket, "this. You said that if I needed to send someone in my place, to give them this so that you'd know they're someone you can trust."

As Cain spoke, a light, sudden and blinding, filled the staircase. The man, a stranger to us but a friend of Cain's, took the postcard and held it up to his eyes, pointing the source of the light, a flashlight, upon it. It was old and creased, with a picture of ancient Athenian ruins on it. In the corner was a marked a small, red A. This seemed to satisfy Ari, who pocketed the postcard, but still seemed apprehensive. He was the more paranoid of the two, as he had been hunted for much longer than Cain, and therefore had suffered far worse betrayals.

"It's good to see you," Ari said lifelessly as he sat down on the bottom step. Ari was a tall, towering man, skinny and lithe, with bony, defined features. His short white hair was dyed red, and he had icy blue contacts in. His voice was so quiet that Cain had to strain his ears to hear. Ari was always afraid of being overheard.

Cain leaned against the wall, even though it was dirty and crumbling. The staircase was too narrow for them both.

"Tell me about your escape. The papers, I'm sure, tell quite a different version of events from your own," Ari said calmly.

"It wasn't as exciting as it seems," Cain said, shrugging and pulling down his hood. "Celine, one of the nurses at the hospital, came to my room saying that I had a therapy session, and the guards just let us go. She led me to a closest where she'd stashed normal clothes, I changed and took off my hospital bracelet. They were doing maintenance on the building that day, so we left through an emergency exit in a section where they had cut the power. There were a million things that could have gone wrong, I guess, but we avoided hallways with cameras and hospital personnel."

Ari looked amused, "So much for a grand exit! What have you been doing since?"

"Lying low and looking for a place to stay, mostly. Ray, I most have told you about Ray, right? brought us to a lake house not too far from here," Cain explained.

"And you've been out in public? You haven't been recognized?" Ari asked, surprised.

"People don't pay attention," Cain said, scowling as he did. Their indifference was a convenience for him, sure, but Cain resented the public's apathy towards all things that they felt didn't concern them. Laziness was what it was. No one could be bothered to keep an eye out for anyone but themselves.

"That works in our favor then," said Ari with a cold smile.

"And what have you been up to?" Cain asked seriously, looking down at his companion with a stern expression.

Ari's face turned sour, "More of the same, I'm afraid. We're not... people aren't exactly rallying the way I thought they would. Even when you get them to believe, they're too scared to do anything."

"Too lazy," Cain interrupted.

"Yes, perhaps," Ari replied amicably. "The resistance is still going strong, but it's not growing. That's the problem. I've been looking for more people like you, but it's difficult. We need more of your kind. Mine... we just don't have the numbers. There is one thing though, and I'm sure you'll like this," Ari grinned. "Disguise is shamefully easy. Hair dye, colored contacts, and we're untraceable. It's perfect," he gestured towards himself as he explained. "Who would ever suspect? It's our back up plan. Families can move in to human colonies with their disguises and assimilate to their culture. It's not ideal, but it's better than being hunted."

"And have you tried this? Other than on yourself?" Cain asked.

"Yes. Mostly with sanguinarium like myself who live alone. It's difficult when you get to larger numbers, especially when children are involved. It looks suspicious," Ari explained. "To give away one family is to expose them all."

Cain nodded in understanding.

"Tell me more about this Celine," Ari requested.

"What do you want to know?" Cain asked, coughing because of the dusty smell in the place.

"What is she like? Is she a fighter? Is she submissive? Of what use can she be?"

Cain frowned at the mechanic tone of Ari's voice. Celine had already helped him to escape and much more. Ari should have been grateful.

"Once she places her allegiance with you, she's fiercely loyal," Cain said simply, making it clear that he trusted Celine with his life, and that if that wasn't good enough for Ari, then they were done.

"Would you like to meet her?"

"Not yet," Ari responded frigidly, his face unblinking, stiffened by Cain's sudden defiance.

"So what's next?" Cain asked, shifting uncomfortably on the spot.

"We find Milo, and we get him to tell the truth," Ari stated plainly. Cain restrained himself from rolling his eyes. That was a job much easier said than done.

"And then what?" he asked, growing annoyed. He knew that he shouldn't have been. He knew that Ari had been working hard these past years, but Cain had been hoping that things would be different than the way he had left them.

"Then? Then you can seek your revenge," Ari said pointedly, watching Cain for his reaction, only to be disappointed. The latter showed no enthusiasm, nor even a sign that he had heard what Ari had said. Cain would not rise to Ari's taunt.

"If you don't mind, there's something I think you should see. Will you take a walk?" Ari asked, straightening back up when Cain did not respond.

Cain nodded curtly. Ari turned off the flashlight, and they left the east tower to walk back down Trinity Street, towards the capital building.

"How did you get in there, by the way?" Cain asked once they had gone quite a ways.

"The ability to pick a lock is a fine and useful skill," Ari replied coolly. He was wearing a blue windbreaker and a pair of gray jeans that were slightly too short for him, and Cain couldn't stop thinking about how frighteningly normal he looked. This man, the leader of a secret revolution, hidden in plain sight, was nothing extraordinary to look at. Cain wasn't sure what he had been expecting, after all, Ari was just man, even if he was an exceptional one.

They walked down Trinity Street until they reached Capital Avenue, then from Capital Avenue they turned onto Main Street, where Ari's car was parked.

"It's not far from here," Ari said, starting the car. There was a little more activity on the streets at this point, but not much. Cain sat in the backseat, where the windows were tinted and he could travel unseen and unrecognized.

"Where are we going?" Cain asked, lounging in the backseat comfortably.

"Headquarters," Ari answered cryptically.

Cain raised his eyebrows. Ari had always creeped him out, just a little bit, and he certainly was not someone whom Cain would usually have chosen as a friend, but when the chips are down and you have no one, you can't afford to give in to those kinds of prejudices.

"Is that right?" Cain asked as he looked out the window, enjoying the view of the buildings as they whizzed by. He felt like a caged animal who had finally been set free and was now beginning to stretch his legs for the first time. He supposed that, in many ways, he was.

After a few minutes, Ari parked in front of a small deli.

"I live in the apartment upstairs," Ari answered Cain's unspoken question. "It's not the perfect place for hiding, but the rent is cheap and the landlord doesn't ask questions as long as he gets paid on time."

As they walked into Ari's apartment, the lights flickered on to reveal a small, drab kitchen with a tattered, green Futon where the dining area should have been. The walls were covered in photos, snapshots it looked like, of people and Fortis buildings, as well as scribbled notes, the more important ones underlined in red, and there were even a few official looking documents pinned to the walls here and there.

"This is home. For me, and the rebellion," Ari announced, looking around sadly.

There are few moments in life when you can understand another completely. This was one of those moments. In a sudden flash, so powerful that it almost brought tears to his eyes, Cain understood Ari completely. Cain understood Ari in all his contempt and mystery. Ari was a man after all, just a man, who had been working all his life, dedicating himself towards the future. And with all his bravery and attempts at justice, the unfairness of the world would have it that he would live in an apartment above a deli, hardly bigger than a closet. This was the kind of place he was forced to run his operation out of. Ari had done so much, and was still doing, so many different things for so many different people. He worked tirelessly just so that these nameless faces could lead better lives. That's all he wanted, for their lives to be better. He didn't need a thank you, didn't need them to know who he was. But still, despite all his efforts, Ari was nothing more than a man. He was not a God, nor any other supremely powerful being. And as a man, he was subject to the whims and emotions of man, and as a man, the injustice of the world made him angry, crushing him on the spot, making his limbs heavy and making him hurt right down to the bone.

"If anyone ever finds this place..." Cain said, unable to bring his voice to more than a whisper.

"I know," Ari said mechanically, dropping his keys on the counter and allowing Cain time to take it all in.

"How long have you been designing this?" Cain asked quietly, as if the room would shatter if he spoke too loudly.

"Five years," Ari answered, "but I've made most of my progress during the last two. I have a guy, a guy who's really good at what he does, who got me most of these pictures, and a few other sources who provided the document copies and some of the notes. It's hard to bring people in. You never know who you can trust. Luckily though, the Fortis doesn't know me. They don't have my name or face, and that's a very, very good thing."

Cain walked slowly around the room, examining the pictures and notes. He recognized many of the places, and even some of the people, verifying that the information scribbled on the notes was accurate. He had been out of touch with this world for so long that this sudden dive back in felt like an electric shock.
"How many people do you have following him?" Cain asked, referring to Milo, the middle-aged, salt-and-pepper haired man depicted in many of the photos.

"Three," Ari answered simply. "I have one spy in the Fortis who got me copies of those documents, and I have five more people following other high ranking Fortis agents. Most other people in on this operation are spreading the word and rallying support. It's hard to make progress without tipping off Milo. Another reason why we've been moving so slowly. You have to be careful in order to remain hidden in the shadows."

Cain nodded. Ari was trying to map out Milo's life in order to get closer to the target. The more he knew about Milo and the Fortis, the better.

"Who's this?" Cain asked, pointing to a picture of a young man with icy blue eyes, and a harsh, square jaw, wearing a tailored, gray suit.

"Julius Bayer. He caught my eye because he out ranks most other agents his age. Very passionate, very charismatic. We're watching him to see how much he knows. If Milo hasn't let him in, we can't dare to touch him, but if Milo has... we need to be careful, or history might just repeat itself," Ari replied, giving Cain a meaningful look. Cain pretended not to get Ari's hint and continued pacing around the room.

"Is there anything I can do?" Cain asked, feeling helpless at the sight of these places which he was now shunned from.

"There's everything for you to do," Ari answered. "You can start by getting me out of this hole in the wall. There's hardly enough space to fit all the information, much less for me to live here. I want to see this place you're staying at."

Cain was tempted to tell Ari to ask nicely, but stopped himself. Ari was one of the few allies he had left, and he couldn't afford to go burning bridges. Cain could tell how much Ari hated it there, could feel it radiating off of Ari's skin like a disease, and despite how he felt about Ari, Cain didn't like to see another suffer like that. He knew how it felt to be trapped, so he would do for Ari what Celine had done for him.

"Okay," Cain replied. "Are you taking all of this with you?" He asked, gesturing towards the walls.

"Of course," Ari said, retrieving a few boxes out from under the Futon, and depositing them at Cain's feet so that they could begin to disassemble the map of Milo.