Jane shook her head, adamantly refusing to give in. “That’s not true. You know it’s not. The Robbie Stone standing in front of me is not the Scorpion and we can find another way to prove that. Together.”
“It’s all right, Jane,” I said, walking over to her and placing both hands on her shoulders. “You said it yourself. If the Scorpion really was a selfish man then what better way to show I’m not him than by doing the most selfless thing I could think of?”
Jane’s defiant face slowly softened as she shook her head. “Please, Robbie. Don’t do this.”
The girl seemed on the edge of tears and more vulnerable than I had ever seen her before. It was touching to know just how much she cared and actually caused me to form a bittersweet smile. “Thank you, Jane. But it’s ok. I’m done hiding.”
I then dropped the smile as I turned to Gunner and nodded. “I’m ready.”
Gunner raised his hand to reveal a shiny, thick gauntlet around his forearm. “That’s good, Scorpion. Come forward and accept your true fate.”
I left Jane’s side to slowly approach the assassins, forcing my wobbly legs to take every step forward. “Just make it quick, okay?”
“Don’t worry,” Gunner said as the gauntlet expanded into a chain gun. “It’s the least we can do for you and the others.”
His last word caught my attention. “Others?”
“Yes,” answered Gunner. “The others that will grow up and rise into the leaders of the Hope Army.”
I then stopped in front of him as the assassin brought his closed fist down to aim the gauntlet’s machine gun barrels right at my face. “We can’t just stop with the Scorpion. All who would have aided him must die to ensure the revolution he fueled never starts in first place.”
“No,” protested Jane. “That wasn’t the plan we came back in time for.”
Gunner smirked and kept his eyes locked in on his prey: me. “Neither was you betraying us. But plans change.”
What I said to Jane was true. I was tired of running and was ready for all this to be over. I’m not a hero. Far from it. But I was thrown into a position where people were dying because of me with many more on the horizon. I gave myself up because I thought it would put an end to this. Just one final act to make sure no more lives were lost, directly or indirectly, because of the Scorpion. Now I learned that wasn’t the case. These assassins murdered who knew how many boys who looked like me without thinking twice about their actions. I couldn’t let them hurt anyone else, and right now, that meant not giving in.
“I agree,” I said as Gunner’s tense arm prepared to fire his gauntlet. “Plans do change.”
I dashed to a pipe against the boiler room wall and threw my weight down on a lever. An opening in the pipe sprayed a thick cloud of steam that completely engulfed Cody’s head. Caught by surprise, the Asian assassin screamed as the hot mist seared his face. Next to him, Gunner managed to avoid a direct hit from the blast but caught enough to become distracted.
On the other side of Gunner, the steam missed Esther completely, and she wasted no time launching a sword like a javelin right at me. It all happened so fast I had no time to react and waited as the blade zoomed towards my face. At the last second, as the bloody tip was about to pierce my cheek, a Monarch baton came out of nowhere and knocked the sword aside.
Jane had thrown it, saving my life and then screaming at me afterwards. “Robbie, run!”
I was proud of my brief flash of bravery, but Jane had taught me the key to winning a fight is first learning how to survive. In this case, that meant listening to the badass teenage girl who was sworn to protect me. I took off running down the hall and could hear Jane preventing the three assassins from chasing after me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Without thinking or worrying about where I was headed, I took several twists and turns throughout the massive basement. It seemed never-ending and like I was only running in circles.
Eventually I slowed down and began creeping instead. If Jane couldn’t hold the assassins off any longer, then they were already looking for me, and the last thing I wanted to do was unknowingly turn a corner and run right smack into one. I came to a large intersection of corridors, and even peeking around every edge, I still managed to jump up scared when someone suddenly appeared before me.
Luckily, I quickly recognized her face. “Jane!”
It wasn’t the same face she had when I left her, however. There were several bleeding gashes along her cheeks and forehead, and her right eye was swollen from a direct hit. Weak and a bit battered, she held herself up against the wall and I tried to help her stand straight.
“It’s okay,” she said, brushing off my concern. “I’ll be fine.”
The fact that she was here was a good sign, but I was still eager to know the status of the assassins. “Did you … you know … get them?”
Even now, I was reluctant to flat out ask her if she killed anyone, but Jane got my meaning. “No,” she answered. “They’re still around somewhere.”
“What do we do?” I asked anxiously.
Jane responded while scanning every direction for signs of movement. “You’re right, they’re not going to stop. It’s either them or us. We have to figure out a way to end this now or—look out!”
She abruptly pushed me back as the pipes behind us were bombarded with gunfire. The iron cracked from the bullets, spewing steam over our heads. I looked down the hall where the shots had come from and saw Gunner as a tiny figure all the way at the other end.
“Come on!” Jane said, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the opposite corridor.
We ran with our heads ducked low, trying to avoid the spray of bullets pummeling the pipes all around us. The whiz of rushing steam filled the air as we zigzagged back and forth. Finally turning a corner, Jane had to immediately duck out of the way of Esther’s sword. The blade sliced across, missing its target and clanging against the concrete wall. Jane then retaliated by kicking the assassin square in the stomach.
Backing away from the skirmish, I heard a pained grunt behind me. Instinct took over, causing me to sidestep. It was the right reaction, too, for as soon as I moved, Cody’s large axe chopped down and nearly took my head off.
I turned around to look at my attacker and was horrified by the steam’s handiwork. Half his face was burned into a mess of bubbly skin. It looked painful and hideous, but the other half of Cody’s mug had a determined scowl, ready to make me pay for what I did to him.
Out of nowhere, Jane launched herself at Cody and clocked him in the jaw.
Both assassins were now stunned enough for Jane to turn her attention to me. “Robbie, you have to get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you,” I said, remembering how quickly I abandoned her last time.
“Don’t argue with me!” she screamed, in no mood to debate. “Just go!”
I really wanted to stay and help, especially since we both knew the assassins had to be dealt with, but Jane and I were at a severe disadvantage. We were unprepared and already on the defensive. These assassins were relentless, as evidenced by the fact that Cody and Esther were already getting up.
Jane went to engage them and I reluctantly turned to run away like a coward, but my attempt at escape didn’t matter. Gunner was standing before me, grinning that he had me at arm’s length.
His hands hung at his sides, completely unafraid or even registering me as a threat. I needed to show him otherwise and punched as hard as I could into his abdomen. It was like hitting a brick wall and, for a second, I swore I broke my hand. Gunner’s smile only grew.
Too busy catering to my injured fist, I didn’t notice him pull his arm back and swing it forward. The back of his hand slapped me so hard I flew into the wall beside us. My face barely nicked the hot steam pipes, singeing my skin and causing me to reflexively pull back.
Gunner didn’t let up, though. He grabbed ahold of my shirt, spun around, and tossed me farther down the hall like a ragdoll. After rolling
around on the cement basement floor, I staggered to my feet as quickly as I could and brought my fists up, ready to engage Gunner again as he approached me. It didn’t matter.
He pummeled me from all angles, brushing aside my defenses like they weren’t even there. Despite his size, Gunner’s fists moved so fast I couldn’t even see them. All I felt were sporadic shots of pain across my body. I tried to fight back and throw a punch of my own, but I couldn’t even tell how close I came to connecting. Compared with fighting the Monarch soldier, this Hope Assassin seemed invincible.
Gunner finally ended our battle, if it could even be called that, by grabbing the back of my head and bringing it down hard into his knee. I felt my smashed nose instantly fill with blood and my body dropped to the floor.
I couldn’t see a thing. My eyes were filled with water. I could barely hear, too. My ears wouldn’t stop ringing, but the hum was just low enough that I understood Gunner as he spoke over me. “You know, between you and me, I think Jane’s right. You’re not the Scorpion. Even outmatched, our messiah would never allow himself to be defeated so easily. I almost feel sorry for you.”
I wouldn’t call it strength, but I finally regained just enough energy to roll over onto my stomach and futilely attempt to crawl away from my tormentor.
Gunner was just toying with me now as he slowly followed down the hall. “Actually, I feel even more sorry for myself. This was supposed to be a glorious moment for me. An honor. I was chosen to kill the mighty Scorpion. And instead, all this feels like is stomping on an ant.”
I looked up and saw Jane masterfully fighting both Cody and Esther. They still had their weapons, an axe and sword respectively, while Jane was unarmed and still holding her own. She would fight them to the death if need be. I only wished I had that kind of courage.
Realizing what I was looking at, Gunner knelt down and watched the battle alongside me. “But Jane … now there is a valiant warrior worthy of a death by my hand. Maybe I shall make you watch her die first. Fill you with a thirst for vengeance.”
In a brilliant maneuver, Jane jumped and spun around, delivering two hard kicks with both legs to both her opponents. Cody and Esther fell to the floor, leaving Jane standing alone.
Gunner then seized on the opportunity by standing back up and aiming his gauntlet at his isolated target. “Then you might not be so pathetic and I could actually take pride in ending your life.”
Even though I wasn’t the one in Gunner’s crosshairs, memories flashed before my eyes in that moment. Specifically, the night my father was killed. I recalled watching him die and the agony that came with it. It was a pain I never wanted to experience again. One person I cared about sacrificed their life to save mine. I wasn’t about to let Jane face the same fate.
The energy I thought was gone suddenly surged through me, and I sprung up just in time to push Gunner’s arm to the side as he fired. A single bullet veered off to the ceiling and pierced one of the pipes above. Hot steam then shot out over Gunner’s head, just close enough to knock him off balance. The distraction was only for a split second but made Gunner’s body limp enough for me to direct his arm, still in my grasp, under his chin and pull the gauntlet’s trigger.
The whole event transpired so fast I didn’t even know what I was doing. Instinct had taken over, and before I knew what was happening, Gunner’s headless body lay at my feet in a pool of blood.
The shot rang out through the basement, causing Jane and the two assassins to freeze in place. It was awkward for me to be standing over a corpse, so I couldn’t imagine what kind of sight it looked like to them. They didn’t move, however, too shocked to do anything else.
Even though it felt like minutes, the tense standoff only lasted a few seconds and was broken by a man yelling through the basement’s halls. “Hello? Is anybody down here?”
I had no idea who it was, but Jane wasted no time shouting back with a frazzled and scared voice. “Help! Please! There are thieves here and they’re trying to kill us!”
She sounded like a frightened girl, which she obviously wasn’t, and then instantly snapped back to her stoic demeanor as she addressed the assassins. “It’s decision time. What’s it going to be?”
Cody and Esther exchanged glances with one another before turning around and taking off down the hall with their weapons. I even heard Cody yell something back at us in French as he ran, which I’m guessing was some sort of curse word directed at Jane.
When the assassins were about halfway down the hall, a troop of Monarch soldiers, dressed similarly to the ones we encountered earlier, entered the scene. In an instant, Jane again transformed into a girl terrified for her life as she fearfully pointed at the fleeing assassins. “Those two! They’re the ones!”
Unlike before, the Monarch soldiers appeared to believe her this time. The dead body on the floor probably had something to do with it. Spotting the assassins in the distance, the Monarch soldier in front of the pack motioned to several of the men behind him. “Get after them!”
The troopers ran off to chase the assassins, and their leader directed his attention back to Jane, who now looked panicked and at the edge of tears. “My friend killed one trying to fight them off but—”
“It’s okay, kids,” he said, showing more compassion than I was used to seeing from a Monarch employee. “You’re safe now.”
I remained silent, in awe of Jane’s brilliant performance as she trembled nervously while talking to the man. “We were with the field trip and there was this … this … this smoke and we tried to get out but … umm … an alarm went off and—”
Seeing that she was clearly distressed, the Monarch soldier held up a hand to cut Jane off. “It’s all right. Everything is fine now. Let’s just get you two to medical.”
Jane continued to sob as we were escorted down the hall and never broke character for a second. She still managed to shoot me a quick, reassuring glance, though. There were no words exchanged between us, but the confidence in her eyes told me everything was going to be okay.
Normally, I would’ve believed her, but it was still hard to accept the fact that I had just killed someone for the first time. Hopefully, it would also be the last.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The next couple of hours were surreal as I found myself being grilled by Monarch interrogators. I didn’t even see a police officer the entire time they were questioning me. Not that I was surprised by that. Butterfly was like a sovereign territory. Everything that happened on their property was theirs to handle as they wished.
I never got the feeling they considered me a suspect. Monarch was just covering all their bases. I was very good at lying, though, and followed the story Jane concocted for us before sending Anna up the stairs. A glitch in the elevator took us down to the basement, where we ran into some people trying to sabotage the computer system. Even though our overall mission to hack the server failed, things actually worked out in our favor because of it. Without the flash drive of classified Butterfly data, there was no reason for them not to believe we weren’t just some high schoolers that had gotten lost and ran into a group of terrorists.
But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t become national news.
Great.
It got even stranger when Colin Reilly showed up from Chicago to turn the incident into a PR event. One minute I’m being interrogated and the next I’m looking out into the crowds gathered in front of the building for a press conference. Jane stood beside me, looking just as confused as I felt. I suspected the billionaire knew what had really happened or maybe that was just my paranoia talking, but he gave no sign of it as he spoke.
“The heroism of these young people is a reminder of why Monarch believes in our youth,” Colin Reilly said, addressing the crowd. “It’s a struggle, I know, to hold onto a belief in corporate-government alliance given the great changes our nation is going through and I would be lying if I said I didn’t sympathize with the misguided masses of protestors who worry about our efforts. At least
a little. However, that’s never an excuse for terrorism and the fact these individuals risked their lives to save millions of jobs as well as prevent a cyber-apocalypse is something which needs to be recognized.”
What a blowhard, I thought, feeling like this entire speech was taking place in some sort of surreal alternate reality.
In addition to the swarms of reporters, the crowd also included Mr. Welles and the rest of our class. Anna was even there, too. I was happy to see that she had made it back to the group without getting caught by Monarch, but the deathly scowl she beamed in my direction was a preview of the wrath I would be getting from her later.
I could only imagine that the rest of H.O.P.E. was less than pleased by my actions, and who knew what happened to Christine after she stormed the lobby as our distraction. If she got away, then great, but there was a strong possibility she was arrested. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. She was technically just trespassing, but the assassins showing up definitely complicated things. There was still a small chance they’d let her go, but I just didn’t know and that scared the hell out of me.
“Please come forward, Robbie,” Colin said, gesturing to me.
I blinked and reluctantly walked over to him beside the podium. Just being in the man’s presence made my skin crawl. Colin looked at me with an amused expression on his face before putting his arm around my shoulder and directing me to face the crowd.
“Thank you, sir,” I said, faking gratitude with all the sincerity I could muster.
“Robbie has expressed how the opportunity to help Butterfly and its holdings was all the reward he needed.”
I almost retched.
Colin continued, “But I believe it’s important to show gratitude in more ways than just words. So tell me Robbie, what do you plan to do after high school? Looking into any colleges?”
“Connor University,” I answered reluctantly.
Predestiny Page 18
