His Retribution

"Why Ed?! Why??" I asked and begged at the same time. My mind couldn't process what my eyes saw.

He just smirked as he gazed upon me being held by his robot. He wore gloves that controlled every movement of the giant robot arms through his AI Gustavo.

"What a sight, Joe. What a beautiful sight." He said as he walked towards me.

"Why are you doing this?? Answer me, Ed!! Answer me!!" I used all the force I got to get off the robot arm's grip but it's hopeless.

"You really wanna know?" He asked as he clearly was enjoying every bit of the moment.

"You traitor! Son of a b*tch! What have we ever done to you!?" Ariel regained her strength and shouted.

"So that's what I'm getting now for making your life better? Huh, Ariel?" Ed replied.

Our faces were question marks as Ed dropped the first of his many confessions.

"Well, since you both aren't getting out of here alive, Maybe I'll let you on my little secrets. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Ariel. I was the one who arranged your piece-of-shit life back to pieces after you chose to leave that Chino out of guilt. He was the one who provided for your family, right? Lots and lots of debt of gratitude. One of the biggest reasons you chose him over the once broke Joe..."

Ariel couldn't even look at the both of us as she listened to everything Ed says.

"Ed stop!" I tried to but he wouldn't. He even got closer to Ariel's cage as he continued..

"... But guilt got the best of you, so you left Chino as well. Leaving you in a tight situation. It was me who admitted you to a college where Dr. Chan teached disguising everything as a free scholarship. The recommendations that made you Dr. Chan's apprentice? You're welcome. It wasn't your wit that got that, little girl. Those were from me too! Everything you thought you had achieved was just a part of my grandiose plan for my brother here. You're not special, Ariel. You're nothing but a pawn!"

"Ed! This is too far! Stop--" I yelled but Ed interrupted me.

"Oh no. This just the tip of the iceberg, Joe." He turned to me and got back to her.

"I was just being kind enough to let you both meet once again. Isn't it sweet? HAHAHAHA! So, don't you think I deserve a "thank you"? Huh, Ariel?" He added.

Ariel dropped to her knees. She recalled all the events that seemed like a miracle to her. All the hard work she thought that paid off was all just tailor-fitted for that moment. She thought she was done paying for her faults. That she has been forgiven but it was all just a let down in the end. A scam.

"Well, honestly it wasn't supposed to be that way. Originally, I was just planning to kill off little Joe here with the tabs I was giving him. I wanted him to die a slow and painful death. But I realized you would be a waste not to be used against him. A very effective distraction.."

I remained speechless and overwhelmed in all the things I was hearing. Hearing all these enraged Ariel that she started punching the cage with her already sore fist.

"Monster!" She cried.

"How could you!!?" Ariel screamed as I just stared at Ed realizing he was totally a different person from the brother I knew him to be.

".. And the tablets, Joe. They're manufactured straight from Mars. So your AIs here on Earth could never identify its properties. Elon's men specially made it for you, brother. You even love it, right?"

"Elon!? You mean!? --" I reacted.

"Yes. He is my lapdog. All thanks to you, Joe Madrid. He was too broke after Earth's restoration. I decided to fund his research. Mars was on the verge of economic catastrophe. Like a dog who hasn't eaten for a while, Elon was willing to do anything to save his legacy; the Planet Must." He dropped another one.

𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"With all your achievements, I was always on the shadows reaping the fruits. Feeding both the lion and the wolf with them. Yes, Joe. I also supported both US and Russia in their pursuit to again rule the world. Well, it just happened that I like the perspective of Russian President better so I just used the US as my pawn along with Elon to keep you busy."

His confessions didn't stopped there. Every other one dropped liked bombs straight to the heart.

"Dr. Chan, poor thing." He said.

"Thing!? What do you mean! What did you do to him!?" I reacted as he clearly crossed the line way too far already.

"He's about to discover your illness that day. So, I had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. He shouldn't have butted in. He would still be alive by now--"

"You killed--" I couldn't believe Ed could do something so gruesome.

Ariel screamed at him and cursed until she lost consciousness.

"Hopeless piece of shit" He said to Ariel as she collapsed.

"Son of a-- stop it! She's had enough!" I screamed.

"Really? Awee. How cute. Anyway, yes. It was me, Joe. It was me all along. I hired that man to drive that truck and killed him to cover my tracks. No footage, no witnesses. I run the biggest underground organization this world has ever seen. Pretty convenient when you have a lot of money and power. Thanks to you, Joe. Your greatness and technology became a perfect oil for me to fry you alive." And he laughed to his content.

"F*ck you, Ed! You're a f*cking monster!" Tears of anger filled my tired eyes as I struggled to get off the robot's grip. I couldn't wait to get my hands on him and let him pay for everything he has done.

"YOU MADE THIS MONSTER YOURSELF!!" To my surprise, he shouted back at me.

"You're crazy, Ed. ALL I EVER DID WAS TO BE THERE FOR YOU!! YOU'RE ALL THAT I HAVE LEFT!!" I pointed at him and shouted back.

He stopped.

For a while there was silence in the air in the midst of all the chaos.

"... You killed her." He spoke.

"What are you talking about?? Who's her??" I was completely clueless of what he was talking about.

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"... You killed, Leonna."

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

~ 𝙽𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴

~ 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚙𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗

"Hello, E-Ed?" Leonna sobbed as she called Ed on her phone.

"Hi Leonna! How's it going? H-hey, Are you okay??"

Leonna burst out of sadness. She cried so much that she had a hard time breathing.

"Hey, where are you? Where's Joe?? Are you hurt??" Ed asked as he left the event in Japan that he and Mr. Zellwinger was attending.

"Uhm, a-are you in th-the city?" Leonna finally had talked straight.

"I'm in Japan but don't worry. I'll get to where you are. I'll be there in no time. What happened??" Ed asked.

"No thanks. Just... s-stay there. I'll be fine. I-I'm on my way to my mom." Leonna replied with a broken voice.

"I insist. I be there in a few hours. What happened?" Ed consistently asked.

Finally, Leonna spoke.

"Do you know a girl named, Ariel?"

"𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰. 𝘑𝘰𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦?" Ed thought to himself.

"Yes. Why? What happened??" He said.

Leonna again burst into tears. She got Ed worrying.

"Hey, Leonna. Talk to me. What's happening?" He asked as he got inside his private jet.

"So it was true... " She said.

"What is true?"

"He still loves that Ariel. He said it to m-my face, Ed. Th-hat he never loved me. How could he???" Leonna said as she tried so hard pulling her tears back.

"M-maybe he was dru--" Ed was interrupted.

"Mom!" Leonna shouted as she dropped the phone while the call was still on.

"Hey! What's happenning?" Ed panicked.

"MOOOM! Please! Save her please!"

"We're doing all that we could. Please stay back."

Leonna's mom was experiencing a cardiac arrest. She arrived at her mom's private room filled with doctors and nurses. She panicked.

Leonna wept her heart out that she forgot the call with Ed. Ed on the other side of the phone felt the overwhelming hopelessness of hearing the cries of the only girl that he ever loved. He wanted to be there for her, to hug her, to tell her that everything's gonna be okay, to wipe all her tears and worries away but there was nothing he could do. Despite his flooding riches, he could never buy time. He'd have to wait for four long hours until his private jet could arrive in the Philippines.

A few minutes later, someone talked to Leonna.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We did all that we could. Time of death: 11:58PM"

Leonna burst into tears as her only family had just left her in this cruel world. She screamed why. She begged the doctors to never give up but they wouldn't budge. She rushed to her mom and did chest compressions. She did it as her tears fell on her mom's dead body.

"No!! Mom! Wake up!! Mom!!! Wake up!!!"

Listening to the love of his life being broken down to pieces broke Ed even more. His heart broke and its pieces leaked through his eyes. He couldn't stand it that he cancelled the call.

He started to hate me.

But as much as he hated me, he knew that I was the only one who could be there for her. She needs someone. And with a heavy heart, he called my phone.

It rang...

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But it just rang and no one was picking it up.

"F*ckin' bastard! Pick it up!" He's already pissed.

I never picked up.

I passed out and was too drunk to even hear my phone ringing.

He called and called.

But it just kept on ringing.

He called Leonna's phone back. She didn't answer as well.

"Damn!"

He called his men on the phone.

"Find, Joe. ASAP! I need to talk to him. He's probably drinking in some bars. Search the area. Never leave any stone unturned." He commanded.

"F*ck!" Ed smashed the armrest of his seat with his clenched fist.

Realizing he had already done all that he could, Ed just stayed still and waited. He fell asleep.

*𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛*

"Sir, we have a problem" One of Ed's bodyguard woke him up.

"Oh, I slept. What problem? Are we there yet?" He asked.

"Look outside the window, sir."

Ed's eyes widen as the scene outside his window horrified ever nerve in his body.

Darkness.

Scattered fires.

Ruins.

Dusts.

Corpses.

The once prosperous and living city turned into ruins in a living hell.

"What's happening!? Is the city under terrorist attack??" Ed asked.

"No, sir. The city's hit by an approximately 8.2 magnitude earthquake." One of his men replied.

"What th-- 8.2!?" Ed got off of his seat.

"Find a landing spot nearest to Hospital this hospital" He added.

"Sir, there may be huge aftershocks if we land--"

"I need to land no matter what." Ed interrupted.

Minutes later, they landed about a hundred kilometers away from the hospital.

"Sir, we're here."

Just as they got off the plane, the ground shook. It shook in an upward motion. The paved road that were standing on cracked and howled. They couldn't even stand on both feet. The cracks on the ground swalloed half of the plane. The aftershock lasted for a few minutes but the damage it brought caused shivers on Ed's bones.

"Ok men. Listen." Ed called.

His men turned their attention to Ed.

"... I'll take it from here. Go to your families."

"But sir..." One of his men hesitated.

"...Thank you for your service. Think of yourselves and your families from this point on. Your bank accounts will be filled for your families needs. I'll be okay. So go." Ed assured him.

"Thank you, sir!"

Off they went, leaving Ed alone.

On his journey to the hospital, Ed saw the aftermath of the strongest Earthquake in the history of the Philippines.

Lots of ruins.

Survivors shouting the names of their love ones.

People begging for help.

Dead bodies laying on the ground.

Half dead people just waiting for their last breathe.

"Help!" An old lady grabbed Ed's leg.

She was laying on the ground. Her body was pierced with metals inside a concrete wall. She lost a lot of blood. Her hands bathed her own blood. It stained Ed's pants.

Ed's whole body was shaking in the sight of the old lady. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to save her but he knew there was nothing he could do. He panicked.

"I'm sorry!" He cried.

He pulled his foot from the old woman's hand and ran as fast as he could hoping to leave the hell he was on. He ran and ran despite bumping people on his way. He lost grip of reality and just ran towards the hospital.

He ran as fast as he could until he tripped from a cracked paved road. His knees sored and brought him back to his right mind. Struggling from the pain, he got up. He found himself surrounded by a noisy crowd again.

People from the hospital rushed outside.

But Ed ran inside.

"Leonna! Leonna!!" He called her phone and shouted her name to the crowd.

No one's responding. Everyone's too busy getting off the building. Doctors and nurses pushing hospital beds out of the hospital. Patients holding their IV stands hoping to get out safely. Cries of injured people and displaced children blended with Ed's cries.

Ed finally got out of the restless crowd. He immediately rushed to the information desk. Found a flashlight and began searching...

"Room 214" The private suite where Leonna's mom is.

He rushed to the second floor east wing. Many called for help but he ignored them all. He ran so fast holding a flashlight.

Finally, he could already see the door. It was on the end of the hallway. He ran and immediately opened the door.

His eyes bulged at the sight he came across.

"Leonna." He found her beside her lifeless mom.

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Hanging on a hospital blanket tied to a red fire suppression tube.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

~ 𝙹𝙰𝙽𝚄𝙰𝚁𝚈 𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝚆𝙾

"... You killed the only woman I ever loved, you bastard!" Ed cried.

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍]