Horton's Revenge: Flashback
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immortalstoriesPART ONE
Part Two
Part Three
Author's Notes: Aside from this flashback, the main part of this story will take place a couple of years after The New Hire. Disclaimer: Duncan MacLeod, Joe Dawson, and James Horton belong to Davis Panzer Productions, all other characters are original. Links to all the story chapters can be found here.
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Flashback: 20 years ago, Eglise Saint Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris France.
Hsu looked up as he sensed the approach of another Immortal. He was dressed to show off his Power, the bespoke Saville Row suit and gold, rings, watch, bracelet chain necklace and a diamond tie pin. Such a display of wealth and power was at odds in the small, humble church dedicated to the patron saint of the poor. His scimitar lay across at least three of the old wooden chairs next to him. He looked down the aisle as the door opened. Behind him Marcus stood ready with a Sig Sauer PDW , just in case there was trouble. Andy’s was slung over his shoulder, as he held a leather bound document holder in his hand.
The first man to walk in was Duncan MacLeod, a man of similar height and build to himself, dark hair tied back into a ponytail. Other than being the one who set up this meeting, Hsu had never had much to do with the Highlander. They’d had a mutual friend in Darius, whose church this had been, but MacLeod was also a judgemental do-gooder and Game player, who had killed some of his oldest friends. Behind the Highlander, and walking more slowly with the help of two canes was an older man, at least in appearance, in his fifties and handsome with salt and pepper grey hair and a white and neatly trimmed beard.
With a cursory glance at the disabled man, Hsu stood and addressed MacLeod, eschewing any greetings or introductions. “So, MacLeod, I heard you found him. Where did the Watchers murder Darius?” His phrasing was quite deliberate, and his intense gaze fell on the other man again.
“Nice to meet you too, Grayson.” MacLeod stopped and looked around too, taking in the bodyguards and Hsu’s sword. “It was over there.” He pointed to Hsu’s right, a little way down the apse.
Hsu investigated, with a brief check with the Highlander that he stood in the place where Horton had taken the head of the priest and former barbarian. “You know I never liked his conversion. It made Darius a shadow of his former self, but although I vehemently disagree with his pacifist ways, and he knew it, it took a very specific brand of evil to cut him down in his own church.” Agan Hsu’s icy gaze cut to the disabled man.
“Is that why you took Grayson’s name? MacLeod asked.
Hsu smirked and shook his head. “No. Grayson was a good friend of mine and one of my oldest. It felt an appropriate way of honoring him.” It seemed the HIghlander looked a little nervous, as well he should. “But don’t concern yourself, MacLeod. I’m not here for petty revenge. Grayson could fight his own battles. He knew the risks. But we’re not here to discuss how many of my friends and associates you’ve killed, are we?” Hsu returned to the chair he had occupied when they came in, next to his sword. Without any order or signal, Marcus searched both of the other men, finding only MacLeod’s katana and the other man’s 9mm. Both weapons were put aside. As were the man’s canes, and he sat across from Hsu. “So, introduce me.”
“You know who he is.”
Hsu shrugged. “People tell me I’m old fashioned.”
With a sigh, MacLeod gestured to the other man. “This is Joe Dawson, my Watcher. Joe, I’m sure you’ve heard of Robert Grayson or Dieter Haag.”
“Or Hsu Danmei.” Joe’s pleasantly low, gravelled voice cut between the two Immortals. MacLeod looked surprised, hearing his real name.
Hsu merely nodded, but he was unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice. “Like a good Watcher, he knows me. Of course, I’ve done my research too. Your sister married James Horton. And that is why you asked me for this meeting, isn’t it, MacLeod?”
Duncan stepped forward, coming close to an unseen line that Hsu’s bodyguards only knew about as their grips tightened on their guns.. “Aren’t they a little excessive?” He stopped and took a chair next to Dawson.
“Considering we are sitting in the very church where his brother-in-law murdered Darius, a place where any of us would think we are safe, then no, they are not excessive at all. Now, what proposition do you have?” It was also why Hsu had, when MacLeod had contacted him about a meeting, picked St Julien’s not only because it was holy ground and MacLeod would not try to attack him, but as a very present reminder of what they were dealing with.
A look passed between MacLeod and Dawson, then the Highlander answered. “A truce. You declared war on the Watchers, decimating them. Now there’s hardly anything left of them. I don’t know why you did this, except that it had something to do with Horton. I tangled with him, and I regret to this day that I failed to kill that bastard, but his group of rogue Watchers was small. Whatever he did to you, Grayson, why blame all the Watchers?”
A snort of bitter amusement erupted from behind Hsu. “Yeah, ‘cause all they do is ‘observe, record, and never interfere’ right? I think you’ve drank too much Kool Aid from your Watcher friend.” Andy shook his head, opening the leather bound document holder. He took out two sets of stapled papers, handing one each to MacLeod and Dawson. “The Watcher R&D department, headed by a man called Griffiths carried out genetic experiments to make Immortals fertile. My boss here was their unsuspecting guinea pig.”
“What?” MacLeod was stunned. “You mean….?”
“He means, it worked.” Hsu picked up the story, although all the details were in the papers Andy had given out. Duncan’s jaw dropped open at Hsu’s next revelation. “I fathered twins. Although I despised being used in such a way, I have always wanted my own flesh and blood, so good came out off it. This was also when I first learned of the Watchers, so you’ll forgive me if my experience with them is not as positive as yours.” Hsu rarely employed sarcasm, but on this occasion, it was fitting.
Duncan saw a chance to interrupt. “Do you know how they did it? That is such a breakthrough. Your children, are they….?” He didn’t get to finish his question.
There was no way Hsu was going to answer him and had no intention of sharing anything about the serum he’d been given and even less anything about the twins. He just continued with what he was going to say.“Somehow Horton also learnt of these experiments, and shortly before the woman who carried my children was due to birth them, he kidnapped her. I will spare you the details.” Because those got complicated, involving such things as time travel. “But she delivered the babies. I arrived in time to save my daughter, but Horton’s people stole my son, and for seven years, I believed he was dead. That was when my war really started, MacLeod. Horton wanted to destroy my children for no reason other than they were in his words, ‘ abominations’. I had never met nor heard of this man before that moment. I went after him, and his group, as I know you would have done the same. I killed him, did what you could not do. Yet, I discovered his poison ran deep through the Watchers, from their secret experiments for breeding us to experiments on pre-Immortals. Mengele would have been impressed. I collected all their records, on them and on us. How they have spied on us for millennia, and how they perpetuated, perhaps even created, the myth of the Game.”
“What?” Put out that Hsu had ignored his questions, that thought was too much for the Highlander.
“It’s all documented in there.” He pointed to the papers he’d given them. “But those are not their worst crimes. I would have been satisfied on avenging my children on those who were directly responsible. Then seven years after their birth, I learned my son was alive. He had been in the hands of a fully sanctioned group of Watchers in Tibet for some years, after being fostered by a variety of people, all with Watcher connections. I went to rescue him, and what did I discover? That this sanctioned Watcher group had raised my son like an animal. Starving him, beating him, abandoning him for long periods, and brainwashing him to hate, not just Immortals, but specifically to see me as the enemy. As I brought him home, I knew I had to wipe all of them out. Eradicate this cancer once and for all. My son still has a long way to go before he is fully recovered from his ordeal.” Hsu was standing by now, studying the reactions of the other two. Dawson had his head down as if ashamed of his complicity by default. MacLeod looked with confusion at his friend, perhaps hoping for an explanation or denial. “And now there are only a few left, either gone to ground or like him, protected.” By him, Hsu referred to Dawson.
“Joe? Is this true?” Duncan”s nature of jumping to judgement and the betrayal and accusation was in his voice. “Any of it?”
Joe looked up and nodded with a sigh. “All of it. You know I tried to fight what the Watchers were becoming years ago. I tried to stop Horton as family and not just as a Watcher.” He turned to Hsu. “I didn’t know what they did to your son, not until after. If I had, I would have done my best to stop it and the experiments. Those people are all gone now, thanks to you. The few of us who are left were never responsible for those atrocities, man. Let me rebuild the Watchers, properly. Back to the way we should be. Observe, record, and never interfere. Some of us couldn’t leave it at that.”
Hsu glanced to his men. He could see Andy in particular was trying hard not to roll his eyes. Then he returned his attention back to Joe. “You really don’t understand, do you? I want the Watchers to not exist anymore. Going back to what you believe you were will change nothing. Even if all these people, Horton, Griffiths, and others were rogue Watchers, if the organization still exists so does the chance of it being corrupted again.”
“What did you mean believe?” MacLeod asked.
“Do you really think it’s only in the past couple of decades they’ve meddled in Immortal’s lives? Are you that naive, MacLeod? They watch us, record everything we do, and they say it’s for the sake of our history. I don’t know about you, but I’m perfectly capable of recording my own story. I’ve had enough do it before and be complete lies to have no desire for anyone else to record my history” Hsu was more than familiar how history got recorded and twisted. ”And this is just a theory, but I believe that it could have easily been the Watchers who came up with the Game and the Prize.”
Duncan shook his head. It was impossible to believe what Grayson was saying. “Why? What would be the point of that?”
“What is the point of the Game anyway? There can be only one. Why? When? Every new generation spawns new Immortals. I can see only one reason. One point why mortals would want to see us fight amongst ourselves and that is to keep us divided. Because they fear what we could achieve if we united. Horton feared that. Look at the Horsemen, who you decimated, and how powerful they were at their zenith.”
“And evil. Don’t forget that.” MacLeod remembered his vicious history with the Horsemen, especially Kronos.
Hsu gave the smallest of shrugs. “That’s a matter of perspective. You’re a clansman.” MacLeod nodded. “I, too, come from a tribal people. The tribe, the clan, whatever you want to call it are central to us. You have your family, friends, as do I. There are the Lothbroks and others. Groups of Immortals who band together and yet never threaten to overthrow mortals. We merely want to exist and succeed. And I want a good future for my children, as does practically every other parent in the world. The Watchers want to not give us that chance.”
“That’s not true.” Joe said. “We won’t interfere, but your stories are important.”
“I see you don’t deny originating the Game.”
Joe threw his hands up. “I don’t know about that, man. But I’m a Watcher because ever since I first met one of you in ‘Nam, I’ve been fascinated by your lives and listening to your stories. You know Methos, you ask him.”
“You do realize half the stories he’s told you are probably complete bullshit.” Hsu almost smirked at Dawson’s slight nod. That the oldest Immortal was rarely completely honest was no secret. “But we digress. No more Watchers. I don’t care if you write down every single word MacLeod has ever said, no one is monitoring my life again.”
“So you’re just going to kill the rest of us.” Dawson said.
Hsu shrugged. He wouldn’t be against it. In fact, it was a very tempting thought. “It would solve so many of my problems. But MacLeod was the one to reach out to me in order to work out a truce. I’m not above negotiating, so in order for MacLeod to get what he wants -- you to live out the rest of your life, which will probably not be that long anyway -- I will set the conditions that will be met and maintained.” He paused just long enough for them to give a nod of understanding. “If I were to agree to a truce and leave what is left of the Watchers go unharmed, I want Dawson’s oath that those surviving Watchers have nothing more to do with Immortals and find a safer line of work. Any attempt by one of your people to do otherwise will result in a massacre of them and any family they have. Their names will be wiped from memory. This includes you.”
MacLeod was about to say something, probably in protest, but Joe held up his hand to stop him. The old Watcher nodded, taking Hsu a little by surprise with his readiness. “Agreed. Most of us who’re left are fed up with what’s happening and sick of what happened. Does this agreement extend to my niece….Horton’s daughter? She never had anything to do with his twisted plans. Mac can confirm that.” MacLeod dutifully nodded.
“If I had wanted to kill Horton’s offspring, I would have before now. But as you ask, she is part of the same condition. As long as she does nothing to continue the Watchers or attempt to follow in her father’s footsteps, she can live.”
“Thanks, man.” Hsu raised an eyebrow at the sincere yet casual gratitude.
MacLeod sighed that an agreement had seemed to be reached. “Yeah, thanks. It means a lot. We’ll be going then.”
“Going? I’m not finished yet. I’m a businessman, a banker, so I’m sure you’ll understand my need for collateral. To make sure this proposed deal holds.”
“You’re going to take one of us hostage?” MacLeod sounded as if he was on the brink of outrage.
The two security men exchanged a quick ‘can you believe this guy’ look, and Hsu looked just as put out. “No, nothing so medieval. As I said I’m a banker, and a significant portion of my unpublicized business is very long term accounts for a certain select part of the population, so the collateral that I demand to secure this truce is that you, MacLeod, open one of these accounts and transfer all your finances to it. And I mean all. You’ll get all the benefits, the excellent interest rates that all my other Immortal clients have, but also the same conditions. If you should lose your head, all your funds will be transferred to whomever you designate. If you should prove to be a threat to me, my family, or closest friends, your assets will be frozen until you see the error in threatening me and mine. If you go further and actually harm or kill me or mine everything reverts to my estate.”
Hsu continued. “In addition to those standard conditions, if at any point any Watcher or relative, friend, or descendant of a Watcher attacks me or anyone in my family or inner circle of friends, you will be held culpable in that your assets will be frozen as I’ve already stated and will remain that way until you help me in destroying what is left of them. This will extend beyond Dawson’s death.” At the glare he received from both of them, Hsu shrugged. “He’s mortal, old, and disabled. He’s more than likely to die in the next couple of decades, but hopefully, it will be peacefully in his sleep.” He couldn’t help smirking. “What do you say, MacLeod? Are you prepared to basically be the co-signer of this truce?”
The Highlander was still mulling over the details. “I can see you’ve set this up to protect yourself and your family, and I can appreciate that. But how do I know if someone comes to me looking for a fight is one of your friends?”
The smirk still lingered. “Then you have to start being very careful with who you challenge, although a fair fight is a fair fight, but I will have the causes investigated to my satisfaction. And yes, Highlander, I know how quick you can be to rush to judgement. After all, you only had Cassandra’s word on how evil the Horsemen were.”
“How the hell do you know what Cassandra told me?”
Joe stepped in before Duncan could take some kind of offence. “Mac, didn’t you know, Cassandra is Hsu’s adoptive mother?” The revelation earned a glare from Hsu, not that it was a secret..
Hsu let his annoyance go and smirked. “”Yes, but for a twist of Fate, she would have had me hunting the Horsemen down justas she persuaded you to. And while I don’t condone it at all, I can understand going after Kronos. We did business, but he could be a very loose cannon, but Caspian and Silas? What did they ever do to you?” Hsu made no mention that Caspian was alive and mentally unwell somewhere in the Hindu Kush. “Yet, Methos is still a close associate of yours despite his past, and a friend of mine also, but one I wouldn’t trust further than I could throw him. And speaking of Methos, you also killed my very good friend, Byron.”
“He was persuading people to kill themselves, making them believe they would survive just like him!” MacLeod hadn’t come here to justify his past actions but that’s what he felt he was doing. “But it’s what we do. Fight each other until there can be only one. From what I’ve heard about you Grayson, I didn’t think you were one to shy away from a fight.”
“All that tells me, is that those people were foolish and probably deserved death. True Byron was enigmatic, but not that much.” Hsu snorted. “I don’t ‘shy away’ from anything. If I’m challenged I fight, and I will win. However, I have better things to do with my time than constantly be on my guard for Immortals who believe in the Prize.” Especially now that he had children. “I know it will take some convincing, but we Immortals could be so much more if we could work together, form alliances and put behind us such ancient bullshit like the Gathering and the Prize.” He held out his hand towards MacDonald who dug through the folder and handed him another sheaf of papers. “Anyway, again we digress. Do you both agree to the terms I’ve set out?”
MacLeod still didn’t look sure as he looked through the contract Hsu had handed him, but Joe didn’t need to do that. “I agree. This war needs to stop. It was never what I and a lot of other good people ever signed up for. I’m happy for the Watchers to fade out of existence.”
“Including recording every move we make?”
Joe sighed. “Yeah. Although if any Immortal is willing to have his or her story told, I hope you’ll let them come to me and do that, if they want.”
Hsu considered and then nodded. It was a small concession, and he wasn’t one to speak for every Immortal either. “MacLeod?”
“You mean for me to transfer all my money to an account at your bank?” Surely it was asking too much.
Hsu nodded. “And I have ways and means to ensure that you haven’t accidently forgotten any. SIgn the agreement now, and I will give you five business days to get your bank information to me for the transfer, which is more than generous, and your Watcher friend and his surviving colleagues are safe. Otherwise, we go back to how things are.”
“Mac, please. It’s worth it, isn’t it? And from the reports from Hsu’s late Watcher, a lot of Immortals do trust their finances to him. It seems to protect them as much as it does him.” Joe reached into his pocket for his pen and signed his own agreement to end the Watchers.
Still with some reluctance, MacLeod took Joe’s pen and also signed his agreement. Hsu then signed them himself, collected the papers, and handed them to MacDonald. “I will have copies sent to you by end of business today. I hope it won’t ever come to it, MacLeod, but if it does, you and I might fight on the same side for once.” Hsu picked up his sword off the chair and walked out. Andy and Marcus were a lot less casual and backed out behind him, making sure neither Dawson nor MacLeod reached for their weapons.
Once they had gone, Duncan looked to Joe. “Tell me who this guy is again. I can’t believe no one’s taken his head before now.”
“He’s at least two thousand years old, Mac. And don’t let all his talk of peace and harmony among Immortals fool you, the guy is a skilled warrior and fierce fighter. You do know what one of his identities was?” Mac shook his head. “Attila the Hun. Yeah, really. You ask Cassandra all about him.”
Part Two
Part Three
Author's Notes: Aside from this flashback, the main part of this story will take place a couple of years after The New Hire. Disclaimer: Duncan MacLeod, Joe Dawson, and James Horton belong to Davis Panzer Productions, all other characters are original. Links to all the story chapters can be found here.
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Flashback: 20 years ago, Eglise Saint Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris France.
Hsu looked up as he sensed the approach of another Immortal. He was dressed to show off his Power, the bespoke Saville Row suit and gold, rings, watch, bracelet chain necklace and a diamond tie pin. Such a display of wealth and power was at odds in the small, humble church dedicated to the patron saint of the poor. His scimitar lay across at least three of the old wooden chairs next to him. He looked down the aisle as the door opened. Behind him Marcus stood ready with a Sig Sauer PDW , just in case there was trouble. Andy’s was slung over his shoulder, as he held a leather bound document holder in his hand.
The first man to walk in was Duncan MacLeod, a man of similar height and build to himself, dark hair tied back into a ponytail. Other than being the one who set up this meeting, Hsu had never had much to do with the Highlander. They’d had a mutual friend in Darius, whose church this had been, but MacLeod was also a judgemental do-gooder and Game player, who had killed some of his oldest friends. Behind the Highlander, and walking more slowly with the help of two canes was an older man, at least in appearance, in his fifties and handsome with salt and pepper grey hair and a white and neatly trimmed beard.
With a cursory glance at the disabled man, Hsu stood and addressed MacLeod, eschewing any greetings or introductions. “So, MacLeod, I heard you found him. Where did the Watchers murder Darius?” His phrasing was quite deliberate, and his intense gaze fell on the other man again.
“Nice to meet you too, Grayson.” MacLeod stopped and looked around too, taking in the bodyguards and Hsu’s sword. “It was over there.” He pointed to Hsu’s right, a little way down the apse.
Hsu investigated, with a brief check with the Highlander that he stood in the place where Horton had taken the head of the priest and former barbarian. “You know I never liked his conversion. It made Darius a shadow of his former self, but although I vehemently disagree with his pacifist ways, and he knew it, it took a very specific brand of evil to cut him down in his own church.” Agan Hsu’s icy gaze cut to the disabled man.
“Is that why you took Grayson’s name? MacLeod asked.
Hsu smirked and shook his head. “No. Grayson was a good friend of mine and one of my oldest. It felt an appropriate way of honoring him.” It seemed the HIghlander looked a little nervous, as well he should. “But don’t concern yourself, MacLeod. I’m not here for petty revenge. Grayson could fight his own battles. He knew the risks. But we’re not here to discuss how many of my friends and associates you’ve killed, are we?” Hsu returned to the chair he had occupied when they came in, next to his sword. Without any order or signal, Marcus searched both of the other men, finding only MacLeod’s katana and the other man’s 9mm. Both weapons were put aside. As were the man’s canes, and he sat across from Hsu. “So, introduce me.”
“You know who he is.”
Hsu shrugged. “People tell me I’m old fashioned.”
With a sigh, MacLeod gestured to the other man. “This is Joe Dawson, my Watcher. Joe, I’m sure you’ve heard of Robert Grayson or Dieter Haag.”
“Or Hsu Danmei.” Joe’s pleasantly low, gravelled voice cut between the two Immortals. MacLeod looked surprised, hearing his real name.
Hsu merely nodded, but he was unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice. “Like a good Watcher, he knows me. Of course, I’ve done my research too. Your sister married James Horton. And that is why you asked me for this meeting, isn’t it, MacLeod?”
Duncan stepped forward, coming close to an unseen line that Hsu’s bodyguards only knew about as their grips tightened on their guns.. “Aren’t they a little excessive?” He stopped and took a chair next to Dawson.
“Considering we are sitting in the very church where his brother-in-law murdered Darius, a place where any of us would think we are safe, then no, they are not excessive at all. Now, what proposition do you have?” It was also why Hsu had, when MacLeod had contacted him about a meeting, picked St Julien’s not only because it was holy ground and MacLeod would not try to attack him, but as a very present reminder of what they were dealing with.
A look passed between MacLeod and Dawson, then the Highlander answered. “A truce. You declared war on the Watchers, decimating them. Now there’s hardly anything left of them. I don’t know why you did this, except that it had something to do with Horton. I tangled with him, and I regret to this day that I failed to kill that bastard, but his group of rogue Watchers was small. Whatever he did to you, Grayson, why blame all the Watchers?”
A snort of bitter amusement erupted from behind Hsu. “Yeah, ‘cause all they do is ‘observe, record, and never interfere’ right? I think you’ve drank too much Kool Aid from your Watcher friend.” Andy shook his head, opening the leather bound document holder. He took out two sets of stapled papers, handing one each to MacLeod and Dawson. “The Watcher R&D department, headed by a man called Griffiths carried out genetic experiments to make Immortals fertile. My boss here was their unsuspecting guinea pig.”
“What?” MacLeod was stunned. “You mean….?”
“He means, it worked.” Hsu picked up the story, although all the details were in the papers Andy had given out. Duncan’s jaw dropped open at Hsu’s next revelation. “I fathered twins. Although I despised being used in such a way, I have always wanted my own flesh and blood, so good came out off it. This was also when I first learned of the Watchers, so you’ll forgive me if my experience with them is not as positive as yours.” Hsu rarely employed sarcasm, but on this occasion, it was fitting.
Duncan saw a chance to interrupt. “Do you know how they did it? That is such a breakthrough. Your children, are they….?” He didn’t get to finish his question.
There was no way Hsu was going to answer him and had no intention of sharing anything about the serum he’d been given and even less anything about the twins. He just continued with what he was going to say.“Somehow Horton also learnt of these experiments, and shortly before the woman who carried my children was due to birth them, he kidnapped her. I will spare you the details.” Because those got complicated, involving such things as time travel. “But she delivered the babies. I arrived in time to save my daughter, but Horton’s people stole my son, and for seven years, I believed he was dead. That was when my war really started, MacLeod. Horton wanted to destroy my children for no reason other than they were in his words, ‘ abominations’. I had never met nor heard of this man before that moment. I went after him, and his group, as I know you would have done the same. I killed him, did what you could not do. Yet, I discovered his poison ran deep through the Watchers, from their secret experiments for breeding us to experiments on pre-Immortals. Mengele would have been impressed. I collected all their records, on them and on us. How they have spied on us for millennia, and how they perpetuated, perhaps even created, the myth of the Game.”
“What?” Put out that Hsu had ignored his questions, that thought was too much for the Highlander.
“It’s all documented in there.” He pointed to the papers he’d given them. “But those are not their worst crimes. I would have been satisfied on avenging my children on those who were directly responsible. Then seven years after their birth, I learned my son was alive. He had been in the hands of a fully sanctioned group of Watchers in Tibet for some years, after being fostered by a variety of people, all with Watcher connections. I went to rescue him, and what did I discover? That this sanctioned Watcher group had raised my son like an animal. Starving him, beating him, abandoning him for long periods, and brainwashing him to hate, not just Immortals, but specifically to see me as the enemy. As I brought him home, I knew I had to wipe all of them out. Eradicate this cancer once and for all. My son still has a long way to go before he is fully recovered from his ordeal.” Hsu was standing by now, studying the reactions of the other two. Dawson had his head down as if ashamed of his complicity by default. MacLeod looked with confusion at his friend, perhaps hoping for an explanation or denial. “And now there are only a few left, either gone to ground or like him, protected.” By him, Hsu referred to Dawson.
“Joe? Is this true?” Duncan”s nature of jumping to judgement and the betrayal and accusation was in his voice. “Any of it?”
Joe looked up and nodded with a sigh. “All of it. You know I tried to fight what the Watchers were becoming years ago. I tried to stop Horton as family and not just as a Watcher.” He turned to Hsu. “I didn’t know what they did to your son, not until after. If I had, I would have done my best to stop it and the experiments. Those people are all gone now, thanks to you. The few of us who are left were never responsible for those atrocities, man. Let me rebuild the Watchers, properly. Back to the way we should be. Observe, record, and never interfere. Some of us couldn’t leave it at that.”
Hsu glanced to his men. He could see Andy in particular was trying hard not to roll his eyes. Then he returned his attention back to Joe. “You really don’t understand, do you? I want the Watchers to not exist anymore. Going back to what you believe you were will change nothing. Even if all these people, Horton, Griffiths, and others were rogue Watchers, if the organization still exists so does the chance of it being corrupted again.”
“What did you mean believe?” MacLeod asked.
“Do you really think it’s only in the past couple of decades they’ve meddled in Immortal’s lives? Are you that naive, MacLeod? They watch us, record everything we do, and they say it’s for the sake of our history. I don’t know about you, but I’m perfectly capable of recording my own story. I’ve had enough do it before and be complete lies to have no desire for anyone else to record my history” Hsu was more than familiar how history got recorded and twisted. ”And this is just a theory, but I believe that it could have easily been the Watchers who came up with the Game and the Prize.”
Duncan shook his head. It was impossible to believe what Grayson was saying. “Why? What would be the point of that?”
“What is the point of the Game anyway? There can be only one. Why? When? Every new generation spawns new Immortals. I can see only one reason. One point why mortals would want to see us fight amongst ourselves and that is to keep us divided. Because they fear what we could achieve if we united. Horton feared that. Look at the Horsemen, who you decimated, and how powerful they were at their zenith.”
“And evil. Don’t forget that.” MacLeod remembered his vicious history with the Horsemen, especially Kronos.
Hsu gave the smallest of shrugs. “That’s a matter of perspective. You’re a clansman.” MacLeod nodded. “I, too, come from a tribal people. The tribe, the clan, whatever you want to call it are central to us. You have your family, friends, as do I. There are the Lothbroks and others. Groups of Immortals who band together and yet never threaten to overthrow mortals. We merely want to exist and succeed. And I want a good future for my children, as does practically every other parent in the world. The Watchers want to not give us that chance.”
“That’s not true.” Joe said. “We won’t interfere, but your stories are important.”
“I see you don’t deny originating the Game.”
Joe threw his hands up. “I don’t know about that, man. But I’m a Watcher because ever since I first met one of you in ‘Nam, I’ve been fascinated by your lives and listening to your stories. You know Methos, you ask him.”
“You do realize half the stories he’s told you are probably complete bullshit.” Hsu almost smirked at Dawson’s slight nod. That the oldest Immortal was rarely completely honest was no secret. “But we digress. No more Watchers. I don’t care if you write down every single word MacLeod has ever said, no one is monitoring my life again.”
“So you’re just going to kill the rest of us.” Dawson said.
Hsu shrugged. He wouldn’t be against it. In fact, it was a very tempting thought. “It would solve so many of my problems. But MacLeod was the one to reach out to me in order to work out a truce. I’m not above negotiating, so in order for MacLeod to get what he wants -- you to live out the rest of your life, which will probably not be that long anyway -- I will set the conditions that will be met and maintained.” He paused just long enough for them to give a nod of understanding. “If I were to agree to a truce and leave what is left of the Watchers go unharmed, I want Dawson’s oath that those surviving Watchers have nothing more to do with Immortals and find a safer line of work. Any attempt by one of your people to do otherwise will result in a massacre of them and any family they have. Their names will be wiped from memory. This includes you.”
MacLeod was about to say something, probably in protest, but Joe held up his hand to stop him. The old Watcher nodded, taking Hsu a little by surprise with his readiness. “Agreed. Most of us who’re left are fed up with what’s happening and sick of what happened. Does this agreement extend to my niece….Horton’s daughter? She never had anything to do with his twisted plans. Mac can confirm that.” MacLeod dutifully nodded.
“If I had wanted to kill Horton’s offspring, I would have before now. But as you ask, she is part of the same condition. As long as she does nothing to continue the Watchers or attempt to follow in her father’s footsteps, she can live.”
“Thanks, man.” Hsu raised an eyebrow at the sincere yet casual gratitude.
MacLeod sighed that an agreement had seemed to be reached. “Yeah, thanks. It means a lot. We’ll be going then.”
“Going? I’m not finished yet. I’m a businessman, a banker, so I’m sure you’ll understand my need for collateral. To make sure this proposed deal holds.”
“You’re going to take one of us hostage?” MacLeod sounded as if he was on the brink of outrage.
The two security men exchanged a quick ‘can you believe this guy’ look, and Hsu looked just as put out. “No, nothing so medieval. As I said I’m a banker, and a significant portion of my unpublicized business is very long term accounts for a certain select part of the population, so the collateral that I demand to secure this truce is that you, MacLeod, open one of these accounts and transfer all your finances to it. And I mean all. You’ll get all the benefits, the excellent interest rates that all my other Immortal clients have, but also the same conditions. If you should lose your head, all your funds will be transferred to whomever you designate. If you should prove to be a threat to me, my family, or closest friends, your assets will be frozen until you see the error in threatening me and mine. If you go further and actually harm or kill me or mine everything reverts to my estate.”
Hsu continued. “In addition to those standard conditions, if at any point any Watcher or relative, friend, or descendant of a Watcher attacks me or anyone in my family or inner circle of friends, you will be held culpable in that your assets will be frozen as I’ve already stated and will remain that way until you help me in destroying what is left of them. This will extend beyond Dawson’s death.” At the glare he received from both of them, Hsu shrugged. “He’s mortal, old, and disabled. He’s more than likely to die in the next couple of decades, but hopefully, it will be peacefully in his sleep.” He couldn’t help smirking. “What do you say, MacLeod? Are you prepared to basically be the co-signer of this truce?”
The Highlander was still mulling over the details. “I can see you’ve set this up to protect yourself and your family, and I can appreciate that. But how do I know if someone comes to me looking for a fight is one of your friends?”
The smirk still lingered. “Then you have to start being very careful with who you challenge, although a fair fight is a fair fight, but I will have the causes investigated to my satisfaction. And yes, Highlander, I know how quick you can be to rush to judgement. After all, you only had Cassandra’s word on how evil the Horsemen were.”
“How the hell do you know what Cassandra told me?”
Joe stepped in before Duncan could take some kind of offence. “Mac, didn’t you know, Cassandra is Hsu’s adoptive mother?” The revelation earned a glare from Hsu, not that it was a secret..
Hsu let his annoyance go and smirked. “”Yes, but for a twist of Fate, she would have had me hunting the Horsemen down justas she persuaded you to. And while I don’t condone it at all, I can understand going after Kronos. We did business, but he could be a very loose cannon, but Caspian and Silas? What did they ever do to you?” Hsu made no mention that Caspian was alive and mentally unwell somewhere in the Hindu Kush. “Yet, Methos is still a close associate of yours despite his past, and a friend of mine also, but one I wouldn’t trust further than I could throw him. And speaking of Methos, you also killed my very good friend, Byron.”
“He was persuading people to kill themselves, making them believe they would survive just like him!” MacLeod hadn’t come here to justify his past actions but that’s what he felt he was doing. “But it’s what we do. Fight each other until there can be only one. From what I’ve heard about you Grayson, I didn’t think you were one to shy away from a fight.”
“All that tells me, is that those people were foolish and probably deserved death. True Byron was enigmatic, but not that much.” Hsu snorted. “I don’t ‘shy away’ from anything. If I’m challenged I fight, and I will win. However, I have better things to do with my time than constantly be on my guard for Immortals who believe in the Prize.” Especially now that he had children. “I know it will take some convincing, but we Immortals could be so much more if we could work together, form alliances and put behind us such ancient bullshit like the Gathering and the Prize.” He held out his hand towards MacDonald who dug through the folder and handed him another sheaf of papers. “Anyway, again we digress. Do you both agree to the terms I’ve set out?”
MacLeod still didn’t look sure as he looked through the contract Hsu had handed him, but Joe didn’t need to do that. “I agree. This war needs to stop. It was never what I and a lot of other good people ever signed up for. I’m happy for the Watchers to fade out of existence.”
“Including recording every move we make?”
Joe sighed. “Yeah. Although if any Immortal is willing to have his or her story told, I hope you’ll let them come to me and do that, if they want.”
Hsu considered and then nodded. It was a small concession, and he wasn’t one to speak for every Immortal either. “MacLeod?”
“You mean for me to transfer all my money to an account at your bank?” Surely it was asking too much.
Hsu nodded. “And I have ways and means to ensure that you haven’t accidently forgotten any. SIgn the agreement now, and I will give you five business days to get your bank information to me for the transfer, which is more than generous, and your Watcher friend and his surviving colleagues are safe. Otherwise, we go back to how things are.”
“Mac, please. It’s worth it, isn’t it? And from the reports from Hsu’s late Watcher, a lot of Immortals do trust their finances to him. It seems to protect them as much as it does him.” Joe reached into his pocket for his pen and signed his own agreement to end the Watchers.
Still with some reluctance, MacLeod took Joe’s pen and also signed his agreement. Hsu then signed them himself, collected the papers, and handed them to MacDonald. “I will have copies sent to you by end of business today. I hope it won’t ever come to it, MacLeod, but if it does, you and I might fight on the same side for once.” Hsu picked up his sword off the chair and walked out. Andy and Marcus were a lot less casual and backed out behind him, making sure neither Dawson nor MacLeod reached for their weapons.
Once they had gone, Duncan looked to Joe. “Tell me who this guy is again. I can’t believe no one’s taken his head before now.”
“He’s at least two thousand years old, Mac. And don’t let all his talk of peace and harmony among Immortals fool you, the guy is a skilled warrior and fierce fighter. You do know what one of his identities was?” Mac shook his head. “Attila the Hun. Yeah, really. You ask Cassandra all about him.”
