Terra Mortis II: The Gathering

The citizens all quieted down and looked at the army as if they were the loathsome Horde.

Sarge began his speech again, "I will tell you why you cannot kill him. You cannot kill him because to do so would make you as bad as he was. Wait, wait and hear me out," Sergeant Greene said as the crowd started to grumble again. "Remember that we are still Americans. Maybe the rest of the country has written us off, but we are still Americans. This country, this state, and this town were based on a system of laws that were in place so that we all could live in freedom without tyranny. Once we discard any one of those laws, we become no better than the thugs that the Horde -- and this Khan -- were.

"It wasn't so long ago I used to think as you do. But a friend...excuse me, family member of mine reminded me of whom I was." Sarge nodded smiling toward Nori.

"I was reminded of what is best about our country. Yeah, maybe it isn't perfect but it's the best we got. So like it or not, Khan will face a just and lawful trial. If for no other reason than to show to him how much better we are than he and his flunkies were."

Many in the riotous crowd looked down at their feet. A few were moved to tears remembering better times. Some even broke out in smiles and walked back to the army.

"Well," Jesse smiled. "I guess you touched a chord in all of us. Although many of our community will suffer the physical, mental, and/or spiritual scars for the rest of our lives, we will do so with our heads held high. Maybe we've suffered rape, addiction, and beatings, but we will carry on as a community. We'll help each other, and we'll do so with justice not vengeance."

Later that day Brady and Nori went to the cell to visit Dr. Vanders, a.k.a. Khan. The man once the leader of his own empire now sat huddled in a corner of a cell rocking back and forth.

"Dr. Vanders?" Brady tentatively asked.

The man looked up at the voice. His eyes looked right past Brady and he started mumbling.

"Uh...Khan?" Brady tried again.

This time Vanders eyes focused onto Brady and an evil smile formed on his face. A chill went up Brady's and Nori's back as the nasty smile took form under the two mad eyes.

"Ah, it's the rebel leader. So where is the rebel camp?" Khan asked.

Brady and Nori both looked at him. It was obvious that Khan had lost his mind.

"I'll ask you one more time, where is the rebel base?" shouted the mad man spraying spittle across the cell.

"Come on let's get out of here," Nori said as she grabbed Brady's arm and led him out of the cellblock. After the guards closed the door, Brady turned toward Nori.

"You know I feel sorry for him. All he ever had in life was his fascination with Genghis Khan. I wonder if he'll ever know of all the pain and suffering he's caused so many people?"

Nori looked up at Brady, "I doubt it. I think he should be institutionalized, unfortunately there aren't any asylums anymore."

"Yeah," Brady said starting to laugh.

"That's not funny, you should be ashamed of yourself," admonished Nori.

Brady smiled as he waved his hand, "No, no it's not that. I just felt like I was Luke Skywalker when he kept asking about the rebel camp."

Nori for a second was caught off guard, "Did you just make a movie reference? There's hope for you after all!" Nori laughed her infectious laugh and soon had Brady laughing along side of her.

"Though you're not Luke so much as Han Solo," Nori finally said.

"How so?"

"First of all you are no Jedi knight. Secondly I'm not your twin sister, and thirdly Han gets the girl," Nori said as she pulled Brady towards her and kissed him hard on the lips.

It took Brady a few seconds to recover his composure before he put his arms around Nori and returned the kiss.