The Herald Chronicles - Chapter 4 - Red Regret

The Bang Bang Cafe bustled with the usual after-church crowd that filled its seating in the late morning as masses and services ended. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and spicy breakfast burritos filled the air as families gathered for brunch on another gloomy early January Sunday morning in the Pacific Northwest.

Bryan and Kai found a small table in the corner of the cafe; he sat down two lattes, a macadamia for Kai and a chai for himself. Unlike the surrounding tables, theirs had no small talk. No chit chat. No pleasantries.

This was all business.

“So…” She let the word linger. He remembered that Kai wasn’t much of a poker player, but she was doing a hell of a job here. He listened as he nervously sipped his chai.

“I want you to understand I didn’t take this decision lightly.” His stomach tied itself into a new knot with every word from her mouth. “You know it’s just Nico and I, on our own. My parents are still in Hilo and working nights at the hospital doesn’t make for the best social life.”

He bit his lip as he fought the urge to attempt to save the day.

That’s why I wanna do this, Kai! I wanna be there for you and Nico. I wanna…

I wanna was the reason he’s in this right now. It’s all been about him. It was about him when he left to go to Japan all those years ago and it’s about him now.

The arrival of a couple breakfast burritos to the table next to them reminded him of his absent appetite.

“You’re saying you’ve got everything covered.” In an attempt to not seem too eager, he paused before nodding. “But I’ve still got bills to pay, you know?” Apparently the first statement wasn’t a question.

“I’ll take care of that too!” he blurted. He couldn’t help it any longer. “Kai, I’m tellin’ you. I’ll take care of it all - anything you need, I’ll get it done. Flights, tutoring for Nico, bills at home, spending while we’re traveling. I’ll spare no expense. I just wanna experience this trip together. The three of us.”

As Kai took a long draw from her drink, Bryan struggled to tune out the world around him in an attempt to focus on Kai’s next words. The moments felt like hours. What he really wanted to do was pull out a projector and present his “WHY YOU SHOULD GO ON THIS TRIP” slide deck.

The expression on Bryan’s face must have resembled a stray puppy because Kai’s stone cold demeanor seemed to thaw a little. She sighed heavily.

“This is going to completely upend our lives for the next three months…but I’m able to see past that because I’m not sure Nico will ever get the chance to travel like this again.” Life rushed back into Bryan’s body as Kai finally relented. He took a chance by reaching across the table to take her hand.

“Thank you, Kai.” He was doing everything in his power to hold back the adrenaline rush overcoming his body. He was finally going to get a chance to make things right and put the family back together. His ear-to-ear smile told her as much.

“Please don’t make me regret this” she pleaded as she let a small smile creep onto her face. He gave her hand a slight squeeze as his thoughts drifted to sunbathing in Australia and sightseeing in Japan…

…and then his eyes shot wide open. He immediately sat up, gasping for air that never quite seemed to fill his lungs. Wiping his brow of the cold sweat, he tried to control his breathing and dampen the static that enveloped the entirety of his body.

It was the same nightmare that plagued him since that day in Perth when Kai went missing. 🍍🍍🍍 “Nico, how’s the trip?” the teen’s voice was loud and clear through Nico’s headset. The internet was surprisingly good in Vladivostok…or at least, better than no internet at all.

The next Fortnite Battle Royale match was being prepared, so Nico was killing time by doing what teens do best - talking about nothing.

“It’s been…good? Seen a lot of cool stuff - did a ton of sightseeing in Japan last week before we saw my dad’s event in Osaka.” He mindlessly fidgeted with the controller as he talked. “I think my parents got in a fight, though. My mom went back home right after we got to Perth.”

Maybe Nico had overshared, as his teammate went silent. It gave him a moment to survey the room around him. Barren walls, small windows. It’s almost like they were staying in an AirBnB that someone forgot to decorate. His laptop sat on a plain desk that Ikea wouldn’t even claim as their own.

But video games are video games and in the moment, that was enough for the teen.

“That’s lame, bro. Parents do that though, right?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s only been a few months since dad came back and they haven’t been getting along super well…but it’s been cool to have him around.”

The game finally sprung to life on the screen and Nico got immersed into the throngs of battle.

His friend chimed in. “Where are you now, anyway? Still in Japan?”

“Oh…no, we got moved to some city in–”

“AHEM.” A gruff clearing of the throat interrupts Nico’s answer. He peers over his shoulder to see the armed security guard standing just outside the door. The guard stood an imposing six feet and a few inches and carried a good two hundred and forty odd pounds on his frame, most of which was muscle. An absolute tank of a man. He wagged a finger toward the teen as a warning.

“Sorry man, I think I gotta get goin’. We’ll catch up soon.” He quickly backed out of the game before spinning around in his chair.

“Where’d you go wrong in your life where you’ve landed the ‘guard a sixteen year old’ gig?” The man grunted but offered no response. “I guess my dad didn’t vet the security too well before he hired you.”

“We not report to father, boy.” The man spoke with a stern Russian accent. “None of concern. No reveal location. It for best.”

Nico sighed and popped in his Airpods before moving to the bed. “Suit yourself, man.” The response was yet another grunt from the guard, who exited the room and retook his post outside the door.

As he laid down and immersed himself in the music, Nico closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself anywhere else but here while the burning question of the past few weeks continued on a loop in his brain.

Where’s mom? 🍍🍍🍍 To say the last three months of Bryan Dawkins’ life had been a whirlwind might actually be the understatement of the year.

Winning the Alias Championship.

Flirting with the Red Army.

Kai getting kidnapped.

Losing the Alias Championship.

Joining the Red Army.

And now, he found himself wandering the streets of a country he’d never visited before and likely never thought he would.

The temperature was only in the thirties but something about the chill in the air made it feel like there wasn’t a winter coat warm enough to combat the cold. Maybe it was the breeze coming off of the Golden Horn Bay.

Or maybe it was the chill of the decisions he’d made over the past few months.

He looked at the post-it note in his hand and scanned the row of densely packed homes along the street in front of him. After finding the home with the corresponding house number, he found the crosswalk and jogged across the street. He slowed his gait to a quick walk and bee lined to the door. He knocked once and entered.

The door was unlocked and he walked into an empty home. The wood floors were worn and the paint on the walls was faded. This was a well-used home at one time yet now sat vacant like so many others in the area.

As he slowly made his way through the small rooms, he heard a sound from the kitchen. His heart rate increased with each step before rounding the corner and seeing…

“...The Herald? What the hell are you doing here?”

There he was, all hundred and fifteen pounds of youthful ignorance packed into a scarlet tunic, sitting atop the kitchen counter. He kicked his legs back and forth like a toddler on a park swing.

“The Bryan Dawkins! How good to see you!” The Herald smiled from ear to ear.

“I…I thought I was meeting someone about Kai.” Bryan crumpled the note and tossed it across the room in frustration. “I don’t have time for this. I’m leaving.”

As he turned, The Herald leapt across the room and into the doorway, blocking Bryan’ exit.

“MOVE. NOW.”

In a move that would shock no one, he didn’t move.

“I do believe that would be a mistake!”

Without thinking, Bryan took the diminutive man’s body and slammed him violently into the drywall.

“A mistake?! What the fuck do you know about mistakes?”

He wasn’t waiting for an answer. Instead, he put a hand around The Herald’s throat…not to choke, but to threaten.

“Opening the door when you knocked on it all those months ago. That was a mistake,” he seethed with every word. “Involving myself with your spineless fuckin’ master Max Kael was a mistake,” he spat. “Bringing my son and his mother on this tour was a fuckin’ mistake. So again, I ask you, dear Herald. What in the absolute fuck do you know about mistakes?!”

Without pausing for an answer, Bryan launched an absolute bomb of a body shot into The Herald’s ribs. The youthful man crumpled into a heap and a small trickle of blood dripped from his lips to the dirty linoleum floor. Nonetheless, he wore a pathetic smile.

“But…” he croaked between labored breaths “...we can…help.”

“No…you can’t. And even if you could, I don’t fuckin’ want it. You could’ve helped with Violent Purple and didn’t. You say you can help with Kai, but it’s not worth it. I never wanna fuckin’ see any of you Heralds ever again.”

Every word sent shockwaves through his already tingling extremities. He was running on nothing but adrenaline at this point. He picked The Herald’s broken little body from the ground and sat him in a chair. The Herald’s head lolled as Dawkins left the room.

Bryan returned a few moments later with a roll of electrical tape which he used to tie the young man’s hands behind his back and his legs to the chair. For a brief moment, Dawkins wondered if he might’ve gone too far, especially when The Herald’s breathing became more difficult. After finding a broom closet in the hallway, he drug the chair through the corridor and deposited the beaten body before closing the door.

Once the cleanup was complete, Bryan left the abandoned home and locked the door behind him, hoping he’d left the Herald portion of his life behind. 🍍🍍🍍 The door standing in front of Bryan made Lindsay Troy’s look modest in comparison. Painted with striking crimson gold accents and perfectly polished hardware, the door seemed to be a perfect metaphor for the man standing behind it.

After taking a deep breath, Bryan knocked upon the slab of steel and waited. He wasn’t an expected guest but somehow didn’t let that stop him from going into the grizzly’s den.

A few moments later, the door opened slowly and Bryan was met by Ivan’s less intimidating counterpart. Arina smiled at her newest comrade but tilted her head - she knew Ivan wasn’t expecting guests today, and certainly not ones of the Hawaiian variety. With his upcoming war with Cecilworth Farthington on the horizon, the Russian Bear was all business and what Bryan was there for was not related to the matter at hand.

“Hi Arina. Think I could talk to Ivan for a minute?” Bryan flashed a slight grin.

The gatekeeper to The Russian Bear smiled politely and glanced over her shoulder at the second door, which led to the inner sanctum of Ivan’s temporary office. “Uh… Starshy Praporshchik is busy. No visitors until after Culture Shock,” she replied in her best English.

Bryan Dawkins was never one to back down from a challenge. Then again, this one might’ve been too tall a task. Still, he persisted.

“Oh, yeah…totally understand! Need to make sure Ivan keeps the Universal Title in The Red Army.” He stalled for a moment, trying to think of a way to get through that second door. “I do think he’d want to see me, though. I’m not sure what he’s shared, but he and I came to an…agreement…before I decided to join The Red Army and I’m here to discuss that.”

Arina pondered for a moment, offering nothing more than a completely flat Russian expression. Breaking the seal of Stanislav’s door, when told not to do so, was only for the most serious of occasions.

“Five minutes - that’s all I’ll need. I promise!” he begged.

What Arina lacked in knowledge of English, she made up for with knowledge of people. Looking into Bryan's eyes, she saw less of the happy-go-lucky man she’d learned to recognize in PRIME, regardless of how well he tried to show it. No, cracking Ivan’s stony facade for years had made her an expert in reading people. This wasn’t your normal Bryan Dawkins.

He was worried.

She glanced at the door again and exhaled. “Okay.” She walked to the door and studied Bryan’s handsome face, as if to cherish her memory of him before she opened the door, and then did so.

The higher pitched Russian speaker was unmistakably Alexei Ruslan, who leaned over Stanislav’s tall desk with just his yellow shirt and brown pants with red suspenders. One might have believed him naked, with his brown overcoat hanging on a hook along the wall and so exposing what he wore beneath. The Russian Bear sat on the other side of the desk, looming from his perch atop his oversized chair.

Ruslan whirled around, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his red tie undone, while Ivan peered impassively from behind.

“Bryan Dawkins is here, Starshy Prap–” Arina began.

“What the fuck? We are busy here!” Alexei barked.

Bryan stepped in front of Arina, almost as if to act as a shield against the verbal daggers that Alexei had just hurled her way. He glanced back to her, offering a nod of thanks before she exited the room, locking Dawkins in with two of the most dangerous individuals he’d ever met.

“Good to see you too, Alexei,” Bryan muttered. He perked up when addressing the Universal Champion. “Ivan, thank you for accommodating Nico and I here in Vladivostok.”

Ivan remained silent as Ruslan yammered away in Russian to his old friend, clearly frustrated. Ivan listened without emotion as Alexei waved his hands in exasperation. At last, The Bear glanced beyond Alexei to Bryan and made a subtle movement of his jaw. “Alyosha, wait outside,” he instructed, without a glance at Ruslan.

Ruslan hesitated for just a second before pivoting sharply and marching past Dawkins, deliberately staring at him as he passed.  Reaching the door, he aimed his frustration at Arina. “This is all your fault…” he declared while Arina shut the door, trapping Dawkins in what could be a death trap.

The Russian Bear gradually stood up, using his large hands to push against the desk for support. His red uniform strained across his broad body as he stood upright. In his homeland, Stanislav seemed even taller, a man at the peak of his authority. He ignored Dawkins’ compliment completely.

“What is this about, Bryan?” His words traveled across the office like unstoppable icebergs.

Bryan got the message. No fluff, get to the point.

“It’s about Kai…” his voice trailed off for a moment. He swallowed the lump in his throat and recomposed himself. “...I need to get her back. And I need your help.”

He approached Ivan’s desk cautiously, knowing that one wrong step in a place like this could have him on a one way ticket to a pine box in the ground.

“I joined The Red Army. I made sure that you walked out of Tokyo with the Universal Championship rightfully around your waist. Now I need the great Ivan Stanislav to be a man of his word and help me find my son’s mother.”

The words crashed into Stanislav without a single reaction from The Russian Bear. He simply offered that frosty glare from on high. After a moment, he brought one hand behind his back and exhaled.

“You come into my office and demand something of me?” His words were frigid, but even worse, his expression was positively neutral.

Bryan’s eyes darted around the room from the military commendations on the wall to the newspaper headlines that highlighted the many triumphs of the Russian Bear…anything to avoid meeting the gaze of Ivan. The Universal Championship loomed high on the wall above him.

“All due respect, bruh…I mean, Ivan.” That was close. “I’m demanding nothing. I’m asking for help. Help that you promised when you asked me to join the prestigious ranks of The Red Army.”

There was another long pause, before Ivan exhaled. He pressed a button on his desk and spoke. “Arina, get me the Dawkins file.” The fact he said that in English must have meant he wanted Bryan to hear it.

Arina quickly entered, handed Ivan a file folder, and departed, giving Dawkins a brief look of sympathy. Stanislav then pulled out his thick glasses and began to examine the contents of the folder.

“According to intelligence file, your relationship with “Kai” is classified as ‘strained and contentious’.” Ivan snapped the folder shut and stared at Dawkins through his lenses. “Is this truly priority? With Culture Shock on horizon? You should be focusing on Manhunt.”

Ivan waved the file folder in his hand. "The only connection is your child with her, born out of wedlock." Stanislav's tone and insinuation felt like an invisible blow from across the desk.

“I…” Bryan was reeling. Now he knew how The Herald felt earlier that day. “...I was doing this trip to fix that. But you know that already, don’t you?” What an ill-fated attempt to jab at PRIME’s apex predator.

“Max Kael took her. I need to get her back.” Bryan circled around to meet Ivan in the forbidden area behind his desk. “I’ll make sure you walk out of Tokyo with the Universal Title on Night One. On Night Two, I’ll make sure you are standing tall as the winner of the Manhunt match. And when we are done, you’ll help me find Kai.”

Ivan had to lower his chin to stare down at Dawkins as he moved closer to him. It was clear he was listening.

“Are you doing this as a father, or as a boyfriend who misses his woman?” Ivan asked coldly.

“I just want my family back together, Ivan.” Bryan gestures to a photo on the wall of Ivan with Sergei and Fanya. “You understand.”

Ivan gazed at the photo of his parents for a long, painful five seconds. Then, he shifted his focus back to Dawkins and pressed the intercom once more. “Alyosha.”

One would have imagined Alexei had been listening to the door the whole time, because it opened immediately. He stood at attention with his baton in hand.

“Give comrade Dawkins everything he needs to find Kai.”

Ruslan’s expression flattened and he sadly collapsed his baton.

“Now.”

Ivan cut his eyes down at Dawkins. “Do not make me regret this.”

Bryan flinched. He watched the words fall from Ivan’s mouth, but he heard Kai’s haunting whispers from his nightmares. 🍍🍍🍍 The sound of the shoji sliding open caused Kai to stir. She willed herself to slowly open her eyes, which were swollen and red from the sobbing. Her…caretaker…slowly entered the room carrying a tray with a plate of omurice and glass of water. He carefully sat the tray on the table in the room and turned to face her.

“Miss Kai. Breakfast.” The words were sharp with a distinct Japanese accent. A black kimono was pulled tight across his thickly built body while his legs tested the structural stability of a pair of thigh high shorts. “Beyond failure lies success. Please, enjoy.”

With a grunt that said “I’ve been doing this for hours”, he lumbered toward the couch. His task was done though it was now just after eleven and he’d have to start working on lunch in a few minutes. As Kai eyed the dish set out before her suspiciously, he sought to bury his shame in his waifu body pillow, currently sporting a flash red hair piece.