The Prodigy

Aftermath

As the situation calmed down, the dead were accounted for and the living checked for injuries, it was discovered that a hole had been burned through the bottom of the limo, a sewage drain cover just under it. A team had been sent down, but Jake had seen as far as his sight would let him, and he knew already the Caesar was long gone. While most of the elites were in a simple state of shock, General Petrocious was in a rage.

"Just what the fuck happened here? How did the most advanced equipment in the world and, supposedly," he gestured his hand in a wide arc, "the best trained men, get caught with our pants down. The Caesar kidnapped in broad daylight! The plebs are going to eat us alive."

He wasn't ranting to anyone in particular, just a general rage. Jake, however, noticed his heart rate was normal. No unusual brain activity. He also sensed, just on a human level, that something about his anger seemed forced. One of the soldiers came over with a quick brief of the situation. Jake wasn't part of the circle, but he was close enough to hear.

"Sir, we've run tests on the bodies. There...there clones, sir. Including our lead cyclist."

"Fucking..clo...you mean Triton." His eyes went wide as he began to look around. "Where the fuck is Titus?"

"He didn't attend the convoy, sir. Changed his plans at the last moment. Just like the convoy changed its route. And the dispatcher, James Rudley, who gave us the changed route instruction. Upon attempting to apprehend him, he apparently shot himself in the temple. Instant death."

Petrocious put his jaw in his hand and twisted at the skin. He spoke calmly now.

"FInd out where Titus is. Get a map of these sewers, cut off every section in a 20-mile radius."

He seemed to notice Jake. His eyes bulged and his finger shot up like a switchblade.

"And get that fucking kid in handcuffs."

. . . . .

Caesar awoke in a blink. No grogginess or haze. Just a slight sting in his arm. He saw a strange, frog-headed creature moving away from him with a syringe in his hand. The sight of him made him recoil slightly into the large, thick-cushioned green couch he was seated in. No restraints. Only a guard with long dreads and dark skin seated at a stool a few feet away.

"Tell me the meaning of this. Where am I?" He said it with authority and disdain, immediately regretting his tone as he finished. The gunmen gave him a disinterested glance, then turned back to the door he was watching.

He began to get up, but his vision was blasted with white fuzz as he did so, and his body began to tingle and go numb. He was more effected by whatever drugs they had used on him than he thought. He tried to remember the last thing he could, and could only muster a blurry memory of riding in the imperial limo.

"Best you remain seated, old friend," came a familiar voice. Titus. He looked back to the doorway the gunman, now standing with his arm to his chest in salute, resettling as Titus waved him off, and saw this thin blonde figure standing in it. He could have felt anger, but instead, his voice emanated only hurt and confusion.

"Titus...what have you done?"

Titus turned to the guard and nodded. The gunman left. Only him and the strange toad creature standing quietly in the corner remained in the room with him. Titus grabbed the stool and moved it over next to the couch, sitting on it with his legs spread out, one propped up on a bar halfway down the legs.

"Can I offer you a drink, sir? We have some good wine stored here."

Now the anger rose in Caesar. He was clearly being mocked.

"Vurdwyn, get the Caesar a glass..."

Caesar shot up, despite his delirious state and his age, and gripped Titus' shirt collar tightly, putting his face an inch away. He spoke low and slowly, but with venom and severity.

"I'm going to give you one chance to explain this non sense, or I will have your head displayed Jupiter's temple, and your hands nailed to the senate doors. Do you understand me?"

Titus, nor his mutant, made any move to subdue Caesar. Titus turned his face away, as if avoiding bad breath, and rose from his stool. Caesar decided to release his grip and not push his luck. He would have liked to remain standing, but the beckoned his frail state like a tractor beam, and he returned to its plush cushions. Titus turned back to him, looking down on him once more, only now with a much more sincere expression.

"You will indeed be returned to your position as soon as possible."

Caesars hope rose slightly, but something told him this was the worst news he could here.

"You can't just send a clone of me to do your bidding. They will test my blood. You will be found out."

Titus only smiled.

"You doubt my competence so freely. Perhaps, that is why you are in the position you are now. Did you think, for instance, that my ambitions would lay rest at the feet of my fathers? That wasting this miraculous technology on producing simple crowd-pleasing fodder was its destiny?"

"Titus, of course, not. Please, have some reason. Me and your father were friends since our childhood."

"And yet you did nothing to avenge him. Far from it, you have invited those devils onto our soil. I read your itinerary. Not a word of my father's name."

"Titus, these are not the people responsible. You must..."

"They are all responsible. Every last human on that continent is a traitor to Rome. So are you for inviting them to our land as guest."

"Titus...please. For your sons sake..."

At this Titus turned his head away and moved back towards the doorway. As he reached it, he offered one last thing.

"Under my command, Rome will be greater than ever before."

"You are a madman! You will never rule Rome!"

But he had already left. Three men came through the doorway now. No guns. No armor or fatigues. Instead they were dressed in medical gowns. Behind them, a series of advanced looking medical equipment began being rolled in. The strange frog creature was next to him again, a new syringe in his hand, a big grin on his face.

Caesar tried to fight, kicking at the toad man and resisting against the doctors, but it was futile. A few moments later, and he receded back into darkness. The last thing he saw, was one of the men in medical clothing holding a glass casing shaped like...no, it can't be...shaped like a brain.