The Marked People

Disgustingly rich

Indigo

After putting enough distance between Aradonious and his house full of scientists I pull over and try to clean and dress Phoenix's wound. While I stop the bleeding Phoenix doesn't come around until the next day and by then I've ditched the yellow sports car and have found us a nice place to bunker down.

Well when I say 'nice' I mean that it's safe. After leaving the sports car in some parking lot I carry Phoenix to an area of the city that is largely made up of storage warehouses. In the early hours of the morning, when no one in their right mind is awake, no one sees a human walking around and I manage to break into one of the warehouses before the sun rises, and the usual bustle that accompanies it, begins.

We stay there for the day, tucked away in some corner in case anyone should decide to inspect the warehouse and it's contents, though I doubt they will. The warehouse doesn't contain anything, making me wonder exactly how sketchy the owners of this place are.

"Where are we?" Phoenix half slurs while he tries to sit up.

I'm sitting a little away from and him and moving over to him I help him sit, though he gives a sharp hiss as he does. "Back in the city, I had to get rid of the car quickly and you weren't in great shape. Hiding out here seemed like the best option."

Phoenix nods. "Aradonious will have figured out we're hiding in the city, but he'll want to keep this quiet. After all there's no way he'll want any competing companies discovering his experimental human."

"And I'm sure he's keen to keep everyone in the dark about you still being alive." I say while leaning back against the wall.

Phoenix sighs. "Even without blockading the entire city I'm sure he's tapped into every camera. As soon as we try to leave he'll know about it."

I arch an eyebrow. "Which is why we're not going to."

Phoenix gives me a blunt look "Planning on living in here for the rest of your life?"

I shake my head. "No, but we'll have to stay put until you heal and besides, I'm not leaving until I find Demon, my Uncle and everyone else."

Phoenix looks at me as if I'm mad "We just escaped and now you want to go back? You don't even know if they're alive."

"It doesn't matter. If I can't find them then we're finished. Aradonious destroyed our stronghold and rounded up most of the people that weren't already in captivity. The only way we're ever going to stop all this is if we break everyone out."

Phoenix looks unsure for a moment before finally saying "Fine, any ideas about how we do this without getting ourselves killed?"

I blink, surprised he agreed with barely a fight. Phoenix notices and half smiles "Don't look at me like that, just because I agreed with you this time it doesn't prove you're always right."

I return his smile "Yeah but it doesn't disprove it either."

I lean over and check his wound. At the moment it looks healthy and the all signs of bleeding have stopped, something I'm grateful for. "Until you're healed there's not much we can do which gives us plenty of time to come up with a plan. I'd really love to do some scouting, see exactly what the farms look like. I'm sure after I escaped they made some improvements and if we go in blind then we're not coming out."

Phoenix bites his lip "Well unless you're suddenly going to grow markings and a tail then you're out of luck. There's no way you can blend in long enough to get a look at the camps. I doubt you'd even get five steps down the street without getting caught."

He's got a point. I half shake my head at my own stupidity, "We're looking at this all wrong. Everyone thinks your dead, why aren't we telling everyone you're back?"

Phoenix shakes his head. "Because Aradonious will do everything to stop me. As soon as I announce myself I'm just asking for Aradonious to send someone after me, and besides what good will it do? Legally all the company holdings I had belong to my brother and even if they didn't there's no way the board would let me suddenly release all the humans."

"But if you were alive wouldn't all the holdings Aradonious owns return to you?" I've never been one for the law and I certainly don't know Marked People's laws but I'm fairly sure Phoenix would get his shares back.

"Yeah and normally you'd be right but we're talking about Aradonious. I don't think you understand just how powerful he is. With him owning most of the city's infrastructure and human farms he's got influence. Legally I should get everything back but all Aradonious has to do is pay off the right people and they'll turn their backs while someone slices my throat."

I bite my lip "You weren't kidding when you said your kind are cold."

Phoenix gives a sharp laugh "Actually this kind of behaviour is common in both our kinds. When you have money you can always find ways around the law."

"So we make you known to the media, if everyone has eyes on you then there's no way you brother can kill you." I'm just throwing random ideas around now but when you're in a tight spot any plan will do.

Phoenix stops "Actually I have something better. All my control over the company might have gone to Aradonious but he wasn't the only one to get something if I died."

Phoenix cuts himself off as he thinks it over and after a moment I say "Well?"

He nods slowly "My family has always had this thing about keeping everything in the family, so usually we always write in the will that all our possessions go to the next closest family member. So of course both Aradonious and I said that should anything happen to us our various company holdings would remain in the family but I gave my personal belongings to someone outside the family."

Phoenix is starting to smile "My father always had a thing about reminding the 'help' that they were our workers, not our family. But I'd never seen my butler, Patrick like that. So to prove that Patrick was family, at least to me, I said that if I ever died Patrick would get all my personal possessions outside of the company."

I'm still sceptical "But wouldn't that mean your butler owns the house that Aradonious kept us locked up in?"

Phoenix shakes his head "No that belonged to the company but Patrick does own all my private bank accounts, cars and a few little businesses I'd been setting up."

I can see the start of a plan clicking together "So even without your company earnings you're still disgustingly rich?"

He nods and I burst out laughing "Then I suggest we track down Patrick and see if he'll be willing to give you back your money."

Phoenix doesn't even bat an eyelid "He will. Unlike my brother, I chose Patrick to be a part of my family. He has more loyalty in his thumb than Aradonious will ever have."

He gives me a serious look "Once I announce myself to the public there's no going back. If we decide on this idea than we have to follow it through to the end."

He's right of course. Once everyone realises Phoenix is alive, every news reporter and camera crew will be after him. I nod slowly "We can use it to our advantage. Aradonious will be so busy coming up with excuses behind how you're still alive he won't have time to try and catch or kill us."

Phoenix shoots me a grim smile "It's funny how we'll be safer with millions of eyes on us."

I give a shiver at the idea of being that exposed, of that many people knowing our every move "We've got no choice, at the moment Aradonious holds all the power. If we want to level the playing field than we need to steal some of his power away."

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