The Talon Family The Assassination of Two Part 7

Helbis wasn’t sure if she wanted to trust Kirk or Decker, who they now knew were Ironblood, but they seem like they wanted to help. Kirk told them everything he has been doing to fight the Shadow Mod of the city. It was a lot, and it has been more than Paladin had in years. Of course, he was using his money to find out the information he was sharing which was how they worked within the city. He used methods Paladin would never do like working with arms-dealers and hitmen in the mob. They were going far outside the law to get the Voice.

                She wasn’t sure Paladin was outside the law or above it, but they had rules for how they did things, not like Kirk right now. Kirk paid a lot of money to find out what he has about the Voice and most of all where he was right now. Or where he was believed to be at right now.

                “Like the office fight?” Gabriel asked. “What was that about?”

                Kirk rubbed his head and said, “Yeah, that was a mistake.”

                “It was my fault,” Decker said. “I found about the meeting from some underworld contacts and when to smash heads.”

                “What he didn’t know was I was in the middle of setting up a deal,” Kirk told them. “I have some weapons I was about to pass off.”

                “What?” Helbis asked.

                “I wasn’t going to let them get on to the street,” Kirk said.

                “He was going to send me in,” Decker explained, “but I messed things up.”

                “And now we have to rethink our plan,” Kirk said. “Which is where you two come in.”

                Gabriel glanced over to Helbis who shrugged as Gabriel said, “Go ahead.”

                It wasn’t the best plan Helbis has ever hear, but it was the only one they got at the moment. Kirk was going to meet with the Voice while the three of them garb them both. They were going to make it look like Kirk had no idea what was going on. Helbis smiled to herself, she always did want to punch the man for being a pig. The only problem outside of the power the Voice had was the meeting was taking place on a ship in the dock. It was not the best place to set up an ambush, but they didn’t have much of choice.

                “Do we let Lohengrin know?” Helbis asked her sister they drove to the meeting spot.

                “After we get the Voice,” she said.

                “And what about Ironblood?” Helbis asked. “Do we have a duty to turn him over?”

                Gabriel stared ahead not saying a word. Helbis knew she once dated a man who was a hero and she turned him over to Paladin and never saw him again. Gabriel never did forgive herself for her actions. It was the right thing to do but her once lover did save so many lives. What he was doing was more righteous than what Paladin did to him. It almost made her leave until her father talked her out of it. She would never let Paladin hurt someone like that again, but Ironblood? Did they trust him this much? Was he really a good guy? And then there was the fact Kirk was playing with fire. He was bound to get burn and who was he going to take with him, they didn’t know. Didn’t they have a duty to say something?

                Helbis sat back in the sit and asked, “Well?”

                “No,” Gabriel said shaking her head. “If Paladin wanted Ironblood then they would do everything in their power to find him. They don’t care because he is doing enough good for them.”

                “Or not bad enough to for them to take notice of him,” Helbis counter. “We don’t know him not li---”

                Gabriel shot her a look begging her not to say his name and Helbis bite back the word. She couldn’t remember the last time Gabriel ever said his name. It must have been years if not longer. “You know what I mean,” Helbis said.

                “I do,” Gabriel nodded in agreement, “and we will keep an eye on him, but for now we’ll say nothing. Plus, we trust Kirk.”

                “Do we?”

                “Dad does,” she said.

                “I know, but Kirk is playing a dangerous game,” Helbis pointed out.

                “Agree so we will make sure they stay safe,” Gabriel said. “I’m not handing them over to Paladin, I’m not.”

                “I think it’s a bad idea,” Helbis said, “but I will do it for you.”

                “Thank you.”

                They pulled up the meeting spot a few blocks away from the shipyard to find Decker waiting for them. He was carrying a briefcase and smiling. “I have something for the both of you,” he said as they came up to him. Helbis wished they had time to take a bath but they did not, and she still had to wear the combat gear from hours before. It was comfortable for the most part, but she would have given anything to be out of them. They were not her style at all.

                Decker opens the case to show them six radio ear prices.

                “We already have radios,” Gabriel said.

                “Not like this,” he told them. “They blocked out voices of people outside of anyone on the radio, and they allow you to hear everything else. The Voice's power will not work.”

                “Are you sure?” Helbis asked.

                “Kirk is,” Decker said.

                “I wish we had our combat suits,” Helbis said thinking of the armor Alexander made for each of his children for when they went to battle. It would make life a lot easier right now.

                “I forgot to pack them,” Gabriel frown never planning on making that mistake again.

                “Where is your suit?” Helbis asked Decker with Gabriel handing her the radios.

                He smiled stepping back and said, “Watch this.” He took off his jacket, and they watched the steel of the Ironblood suit pour out from his wrist and neck like someone had cut them open. The liquid metal raced all over his body forming the hero’s domoic look. “It comes with me always,” he said in a rough tone.

                “That’s the bio-steel,” Gabriel said pointing at him.

                “Sure,” Ironblood told her. “I don’t make the suit I just wear it and fight in it.”

Author's Note

Writer’s Notes: So, these stories for the Talon family takes place between two novels I am working on right now; The Curse of the Witches and The War of Spies. The novels would be the second and third ones I had an outline and written up for the Talons.

However, what is occurring within these blog stories are forcing me to go back to some of my older work. I am finding out more about the Talons, just like you. The more I write these stories, the more their lives and histories come to me. I am enjoying this, but it is making me step back for a moment to make sure I get everything right. I’m sure you can tell when I am adding something to a character for the sake of the story, but I hope when I am done with the novels that will not be the case. I believe the events of someone’s past should be somewhere in the underlining of the character. You as the reader might not know something of the character’s past but when or if you find out what those events were then there should have a moment when you say to yourself, “Ah, that is why they act that way.”

The events of the characters past help me to understand why they are the way they, just like in real life. If we meet someone who hates dogs and finds out they were attacked by one as a child, then we can understand their fear better. The same principle stands for a character in stories. What I like most of all is when you the reader never find out all the characters past or another way of saying it is you don’t explain the character away.

One of the greatest examples I can think of is Darth Vader. Darth Vader was a giant in our minds when we knew very little about who he was before the black suit. All we knew was he was a monster and in the end a father before anything else. It was all we needed to know and made him a cultural icon, but as a writer sometimes it is hard to know where to draw those lines. As a writer, if you come up with this in-depth history for a character you want to share it. If you put all this work into something you want people to see it and understand it, but sometimes, maybe most of the times, it better not to share.

How much better is the Joker because we know nothing about his past? A thousand times better for it but I would bet my life that the man who created him knows all of his past. I bet you the man who made the Joker could tell you the way he takes his coffee or his favorite kind of ice cream, but we, as the reader, do not need to know those things about him.

I just hope I am not explaining away the Talons, is all.

These short stories or as I like to think of them Saturday morning cartoon episodes are a great tool to explore this family and I hope you enjoy finding out about them as much as I am.