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Death to Corruption

Chapter 10

The purr of Conner's sport bike rumbled beneath him as he flew down roads, following a GPS route. He was vaguely aware of the road ahead, his mind more focused on the words he had said to Daniella last night just before falling asleep in Treena's living room. It was clear that he was in love with his childhood best friend, he just needed some time to think about it and there was something he had wanted to do for a while now.

“Computer, is my window still open?" Conner asked as he weaved through traffic.

“Him and his entourage should be arriving in Ottawa within the hour, sir."

“Perfect," Conner said coldly as he reached the very edges of the city, Ottawa.

Exiting the Trans-Canada highway, Conner merged onto the streets with some of the worst drivers in Canada. Just like Toronto, Conner absolutely hated driving in Ottawa. After about a minute or two of dodging stupid drivers, he zipped into a parking complex after disabling the security cameras in the garage.

“Signal Jammer; Online."

Conner took a deep breath before dismounting his bike, he looked around him before nodding his head once he was positive he was alone. His armour quickly turned into typical civilian clothes, it of course was all black and his hat sat just above his eyebrows to hide his eyes and his mask sat on his face to cover his mouth and nose.

Exiting the elevator, Conner slipped through the numerous people walking to and from their cars. Some muttering about their phones or other electronic devices not working. A sinister smirk, hidden behind his mask and sunglasses, spread across his face.

“Got a bit of walking ahead, do I still have time?" Conner asked with his internal monologue.

“Still have plenty of time to set up on the specified rooftop," the AI responded into his earpiece. With his AI being able to read his brain activity, he could ask questions and give commands just with his mind. Perfect for situations like this where he was in a crowded space and didn't want others to hear him.

Conner cut through the crowd as quickly as possible before darting into a building a few blocks from the parking garage. He looked around the moderately crowded building before snapping his fingers.

The entire building went dark, Conner vanished into the shadows the second the lights cut out. He slipped through the closed elevator doors, climbing up the elevator shaft and onto the roof, the sunlight forcing him out of the shadows. Conner grunted before checking his phone on his arm, he tapped at the screen a few times before taking a peak over the rooftop ledge.

“There's that spineless coward…" Conner muttered as he spotted a convoy of at least eight black SUVs and four police cruisers. He tapped the side of his sunglasses, smirking as a few different things became displayed across his vision: A map of the city, the time, temperature and some more information that was less significant in that moment.

Standing up, Conner retrieved a plate of black metal from a pocket. Adjusting this plate in his hands, he looked down at its smooth metallic surface before squeezing it slightly. The plate immediately began transforming and expanding, similar to what one would see in a Transformers movie. This metal plate, in a matter of seconds, took the shape of a large military grade bolt action sniper rifle.

Conner adjusted the large sniper in his gloved hands before taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. Flicking the bipod legs down, he braced the sniper on the ledge, slowly tracking one vehicle in the convoy. His AI had identified his target.

“One lousy, lazy prick. Absolutely fucking embarresing to be a Canadian with this guy as our Prime Minister… two hundred fifty thousand dollars spent on food on his most recent vacation…. Taxpayer money no less…" Conner grumbled in simmering fury as he stared the Prime Minister down through his advanced rifle scope.

The crowd of people around Parliament Hill made Conner grin, he had an audience…. The vehicle convoy came to a stop and out stepped the Liberal Party leader. Conner's earbuds picked up a fair number of the crowd cussing him out, of course the PM responded in his usual way, smiling smugly and waiving.

“Wipe that stupid smirk off your face!" Conner snarled as he squeezed the trigger.

*KATISH!*

The supersonic .408 CheyTac round left the end of the suppressor like a very angry hornet, the crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier echoed as the Prime Minister's head popped like a grape being squeezed. “Pffffff, oh ho ho ho! That was fucking messy!" Conner laughed as he watched the man's head splatter everywhere, people unfortunate enough to be standing close got sprayed with bloody gore. “Therapists, prepare to have new clients in a week or two," Conner chuckled as he stopped himself from chambering a new round into his rifle and put it away.

“Alright Computer, blackout the city, I want utter fucking chaos while I make my getaway," Conner said coldly as he made his way to the other side of the roof.

“On it, sir!"

Conner peaked over the edge of the roof, the sight made him feel slightly uneasy and lightheaded, he never had been fond of heights. “Alright, let's go!" Conner took in a deep breath before stepping onto the edge of the building and crouching down. He grabbed the ledge before dropping down, hanging off the side of the building. He pulled his right hand off the ledge and aimed his now free arm at a brick surface. Armour plating crawled across his arm from his glove, connecting his glove and sleeve together. A projectile fired from the top of his gauntlet, anchoring to the wall, a metal cable connecting his arm and the anchor to the wall shook as the energy from the impact dissipated across its length. Conner gave the cable a few test tugs before quickly repelling down the side of the building.

Once Conner's feet hit the concrete sidewalk, he clenched his right hand into a fist, the anchor broke loose from the wall and retracted back into his gauntlet. Conner heard a few people shouting or calling out to him, but he didn't care. Conner needed to get to his bike as fast as possible, breaking into a sprint, Conner was running faster than most of the cars travelling down the roads at the moment. He knew the speed limits in Canadian cities were typically around 50 km/h, his heads up display on his glasses were currently showing his running speed was 67 km/h and Conner knew he could push himself harder without adrenaline.

Conner made it to the parking complex in record time, he weaved through parked cars, dodged pedestrians and moving vehicles before practically jumping onto his bike. His armour crawled across his body with a series of metallic clicking sounds as he started his bike. The modified sport bike roared to life before he put it into gear and flew out of the parking garage, pissing off quite a few people in the process.

Conner's pulse was thundering in his ears and when he heard distant police sirens, his heart rate increased even further. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Conner continued muttering and cursing as he drove as fast as he could, he needed to get the hell out of Ottawa ASAP!

“Sir! They're onto you!" the AI warned as police sirens began to get louder, looking over his shoulder, Conner spotted a helicopter heading straight for him.

“Mother fucker!" Conner growled as he cracked the throttle on his bike. The modified Ninja H2R responded with a roar as the front wheel of the bike left the asphalt. The crack of a rifle and the metallic tang of a bullet ricocheting off of Conner's back made him flinch.

Conner looked over his shoulder again to see the side door of the pursuing helicopter was open and a man was holding a rifle, a rifle that was currently aimed straight at Conner's face. Another bullet came sailing from the helio sniper's rifle, this bullet exploded across the full face visor of Conner's helmet.

“How in the fuck did they even have enough time to respond with a DAMN SNIPER!?" Conner exclaimed in shock and a tiny bit of fear. He needed to lose them immediately or things would get very ugly. “I really didn't want to have to do this already," Conner groaned with a whisper as he weaved through the traffic that was attempting to flee from the chaos he had caused. He tapped a button on his handle left handle bar:

“Power Limiter; Set or disable"

Conner hesitated before selecting “Disable", the bike responded immediately by lurching forward, Conner had forgotten to let off the throttle before unchaining the monster he had been holding back for a long time. He cracked the throttle again, the bike almost bucked him off, it was clearly so much more powerful than he had first thought.

This time, Conner prepared himself before somewhat slowly twisting his wrist, the bike responded by shaking the ground as he took off at blinding speed. He had to squeeze the handlebars with a deathgrip so he wouldn't get ripped away. With his face mere inches from the speedometer, his eyes widened in a mix of many swirling emotions. The most prominent of those emotions was disbelief. “600 kilometers!?!?" Conner practically screeched, well screeched as well as his deep voice would allow. “Are you fucking series!?" he gawked over the howling wind as he zipped down the highway that would take him out of Ottawa.

Eyeing the speedometer once more, he realized the bike was nowhere near it's top speed, he was in fourth gear, at five thousand rpm, travelling at almost 700 km/h. Conner was beside himself… he couldn't imagine what his Corvette was capable of as it also was fueled with the Element based fuel he made himself. He knew his Corvette would be slower but if his bike's performance was anything to go off of, it would be the fastest car that could actually be used normally ever…. The Thruster SSC would absolutely still be faster, but his Corvette actually looked like a car, not a rocket with wheels.

Shaking himself free from his thoughts, Conner looked over his shoulder and smirked, he couldn't see any police on the ground or in the air. Just when he thought he lost them, Conner looked ahead to spot at least fifteen cars and maybe five armoured Swat trucks blocking the road ahead.

“Well fuck…" Conner muttered, he knew was screwed if he got caught so he decided to try and escape. What did he have to lose? He was screwed if he didn't try so he had to commit. Ducking down, Conner tucked himself as close to his bike as possible to reduce drag and stop the wind from hammering against his chest and belly. As Conner got closer, he realized the police had taken time to make sure there were absolutely zero gaps between the cruisers that a bike could fit through.

Sighing, Conner decided to use his speed to his advantage, he hoped he wasn't wrong about the durability of his bike and armour as he sat up and yanked on the bike's handlebars. He kept the bike stable on its rear wheel as he approached the blockade. “Oh this is gunna hurt," Conner grimaced, anticipating the pain of the incoming collision.

The officers standing behind the blockade all stared in bewilderment as this crazed lunatic came flying at their blockade on one wheel. They all ducked for cover just before the bike SMASHED into one of the cruisers, completely totaling it. The bike and biker went flying, taking parts of the police cruiser's engine and front end with them, easily soaring fifty meters or more into the air before crashing down onto the road a kilometer or two past the barricade, chunks of road exploding everywhere from the bike and rider crashing into the road and thumbling for a hundred or more extra meters.

“Oh fuck…" Conner groaned as he shook his head, “That was either the stupidest idea or the best," he laughed before springing to his feet, spotting his bike, he dashed to it and heaved it upright. Turning back to the distant cluster of police cars that were currently speeding towards his direction, he smirked before giving them all the finger. Conner's bike shook the ground as he hunkered down on it, flying down the road at blinding speed.

“At least we know the impact absorbers work…" the AI chuckled.

…

“Police have still yet to locate the infamous biker and street racer known as “Blackout", even after his most recent assassination of the now former Prime Minister, they have yet to find any leads…. Whoever is hiding behind that armoured helmet is smart. There has not been a single sighting of any of Blackout's many vehicles, he has likely gone into hiding after his recent show in Ottawa."

Daniella stared at the TV as the newscaster continued on about the events that unfolded in Ottawa less than two days ago. She watched in shock as they began showing overhead helio footage as well as clips from bodycam footage during the incident. This entire incident had left her so lost and confused… was Conner really the human she thought he was.

“The first kill is never the last…" she whispered quietly. Daniella was torn about what to think, she knew that the man they called a Prime Minister had been a terrible and lousy Leader who only cared for himself, recklessly spending tax dollars, poorly managing immigration and destroying the economy and housing market. Rumours had also begun to spread that the Prime Minister had been involved with drug smuggling, arms dealing and possibly an illegal slave trade selling draconic beings like dragons, wyverns, and wingless drakes for various purposes.

She was absolutely certain Conner is the infamous biker and street racer, “Blackout". He had never told her directly but she knew and after he had returned the night after the chaotic show in Ottawa ended, he seemed very paranoid, jumpy and distant.

As time went by, Daniella noticed Conner getting worse, his paranoia seemed to be slowly decreasing, but his mental state seemed to be going downhill. After around six months of Conner refusing to talk and not stepping a foot outside, Daniella finally snapped.

“I can't fucking do this anymore God damnit!" she roared after Conner refused to go to her mother's birthday celebration. “I am fucking tired of seeing you spiraling down into a God damn pit due to you being stupid!" the dragon snarled as she advanced on the now cowering human.

Conner curled up into the fetal position next to the fireplace in the living room. “You have no idea the shit I discovered after putting a bullet through that fuckhead's skull…" he whispered quietly.

“What?!" Daniella shouted. She hadn't quite heard what Conner had said and she was beyond tired of watching Conner's mental health continue to plummet while he did nothing but make it worse for himself.

“I said, you have no fucking IDEA WHAT I DISCOVERED AFTER PUTTING A BULLET THROUGH THAT FUCKHEAD'S SKULL!" Conner shouted back after raising his head.

Daniella felt her claws slip free from her paws as her anger built higher and higher. Letting out a beastial snarl, Daniella slashed at the living room coffee table, shattering the glass and destroying the sturdy wooden frame before storming out of the house through the back door.

Conner sat in the corner, completely frozen stiff… never had Daniella ever broken anything in anger, EVER. She was always the calm and non-confrontational one…. “I've fucking done it now…" he muttered in disbelief at the mess she had made of the coffee table. Conner was usually the one to break things when he got angry, not Daniella.

Even though Daniella had been practically raised by his parents along with her own, she was still a dragon. Daniella definitely acted more like a human than most dragons, but she was still very much a dragon.

The next few days, neither Daniella nor Conner spoke a word to each other, they still took turns cooking and cleaning, but slept in different rooms and didn't so much as make eye contact. Conner's guilt for causing so much stress to his closest friend kept eating away at him and tinkering with Elemental prototypes was not distracting him as well as they did when he was just paranoid about getting arrested for the assassination.

“Fuck!" Conner shouted as he chucked a piece of tech he'd been trying to work on across the room, his mind would not ease up about Daniella. Muttering angrily to himself Conner stood up from his chair quickly, causing the chair to slide across the floor, smacking into his ankle as it was pushed away.

Conner winched in pain before turning and walking over to the chair, he picked it up before hurling it as hard as he could at the far wall in his lab. The plastic and metal office chair exploded against the far wall, scattering across the floor. Conner glanced at the scuffed concrete wall briefly before huffing in irritation.

“You angry mindless gorilla!" the AI scoffed from Conner's phone.

“Fuck off, not in the mood."

“No shit, genius."

“Can you get that mess cleaned up?" Conner asked with a sigh.

“Not until you talk with Daniella, these nanites will do fuck all until then," the AI said sternly.

“You mother fu-...." Conner cut himself off before dragging his hands down his face and sighing. “Fine!" he added with a grunt, angrily marching out of his lab, the door slamming loudly behind him.

Conner let out a long sigh before he entered the ground level of his garage, he glanced at his car collection before making his way to the doorway that led to the kitchen. He entered the kitchen and spotted Daniella putting some dirty dishes and dish detergent into the dishwasher. The black dragon glanced at Conner from the corner of her eye, she started the dishwasher while pointing at the meal she had cooked on the stovetop with her tail.

Conner inhaled slowly before hesitating. “I said talk to her damnit!" the AI barked loudly through the surround sound system in the living room. Hearing the AI's words, Daniella snorted before a deep rumble came from her throat, her tail began swishing with clear irritation as she turned to look at Conner. Daniella's expression held many different emotions; anger, irritation, concern and frustration while Conner's face remained emotionless.

His ability to hide his emotions behind a mask annoyed Daniella to no end, his face didn't often show much emotion and if it did it was usually anger.

“So are you gonna say something or are we going to stare at each other," Daniella growled, her voice lacking the usual warmth and happiness Conner had become so used to.

“I-" Conner sighed before swallowing his unusually dry throat, “Fuck, we need to talk," he said quietly, his voice filled with the signs of emotional exhaustion.

Daniella chuckled dryly, “Boy is that a fucking understatement." She turned away from Conner and stood up. “Couch, now!" she ordered with a growl before walking into the living room.

Conner put his head down before following Daniella into the living room. “Sit," she growled firmly while pointing with her right wing talon at the leftmost spot on the couch. Conner sat down and watched as Daniella sat on her hatches directly in front of him, her snout maybe two feet from his own nose. Daniella's predatory eyes bore holes into Conner's very soul, she stared at him for a while before letting out a snort, like she was satisfied with what she saw in his own eyes.

“What the hell was that?" Conner asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Your eyes, I hadn't looked at them in a while." Daniella let her wings droop as she sighed. “I think you've heard of the whole predator or prey eyes in humans, I wanted to make sure your eyes were still as I remembered them." Daniella said with a more lively chuckle.

“And what did you see?" Conner asked, he had heard about the whole eye thing but wasn't really sure if it was real or not.

“I saw the eyes of a calculating, cold, but still empathetic predator. Even though it is clear you do lack empathy, you can still feel empathy and compassion," Daniella sighed before turning back to Conner. “That means you have the ability to understand how stressed out you've made me, you may be a killer but I know you are no monster, so please do me a favour and stop pushing people away who are only here to help," Daniella said quietly, her voice cracking, her emotions threatening to burst free.

“I-... fuck," Conner closed his eyes with a sigh.

“P-please Conner, I want my Conner back!" Daniella cried out before shoving her head into his belly, her horns knocking the air out of his lungs.

Conner could hear Daniella start to sob, she slowly crawled up onto the couch, curling up into Conner's lap the best she could with her size.

“I'm sorry, El, I've just been terrified if they found out who I was, they'd come for those close to me…" Conner said softly, trying desperately to hold back his tears.

“Who would come for us?" Daniella choked out between sniffles.

“His family…." Conner muttered coldly.

“What?"

Conner sighed before tapping something on his phone, “I've sent you a file with all of the shady shit the PM had going on behind the scenes…. It was bad," Conner said with a barely noticeable amount of fear in his tone.

“I'm not interested in that shit right now…. I just want to be sure you will let me help you," Daniella whispered softly.

“I- fine…"