by T E Stouyer
“Sure you do,” Damien said, finally rejoining the conversation. He took a step towards his sister, and added, “Adam could.”
“Stay where you are!” Arianne warned.
Damien stopped. “I just explained to you that the virus wasn’t designed to kill anyone. I thought you’d be happy about that.”
“Even if what you just told us is true,” Arianne said. “The data on this card would still have the potential to cause total mayhem. I can’t imagine why our father would create such a thing, but I don’t believe he would have wanted us to use it. I can’t hand it over to you.”
Damien’s expression hardened. “And I can’t let you leave with it.”
“Then I’ll destroy it,” Arianne threatened. “Right here, right now.”
Damien shrugged. “No, you won’t.”
Arianne paused and tilted her head to the side as she studied her brother. Something about his demeanor troubled her. She didn’t understand the reason for his calm assurance.
But she wouldn’t be left to wonder about it for very long. As it turned out, Damien was more than willing to share the information she had been trying to glean from him. “No one ever said that the virus was the only data contained within the card,” he told her. “You were correct when you said that we were our father’s legacy. And that’s precisely why you won’t destroy it.”
Upon hearing those words, Arianne’s eyes stretched open to their limit as her gaze slowly shifted to the small data chip squeezed between her fingers.
“You do understand what I’m getting at, don’t you?” Damien said.
Kincade shot a quick glance at the young woman and said, “Well, I don’t. What’s he talking about, now?”
It took Arianne a good three seconds to recover from her shock and to be able to answer him. “He’s saying that the card also contains the details of the process Adam used in the Eritis project. He’s saying it contains the secret to making clones like us.”
For the second time, Kincade sensed that Arianne’s resolve was wavering. “Don’t listen to him,” he urged. “He’s lying!”
“Am I?” said Damien.
“And how the hell do you know so much about what’s on this thing?” Kincade challenged.
“Professor Karpov’s safety deposit box in Berlin,” Damien replied. “It was a real treasure trove of information.”
There was a long period of silence following Damien’s revelations. And during that time, the trio stood facing one another, frozen like statues as the breeze picked up and the moon cast a bright light over their faces.
Then, from the corner of his eye, Kincade saw Arianne lower her arm and put the card inside her jeans’ front pocket. “What the hell are you doing?” he bellowed.
“I already told you,” Damien said to him. “Arianne could never destroy Adam’s legacy. None of us could.”
The young woman turned to Kincade and said, “I’m sorry. But if he’s telling the truth, and I believe he is, then I cannot destroy this chip. It never made sense to me that Adam’s last project would be a virus. I always suspected there would be more to it. Now, I finally understand why he made me promise to give the pendant to Lucielle.”
“It should have been passed on to me,” Damien said.
“Our father disagreed,” Arianne countered. “He clearly chose Lucielle as his successor.”
“We’ve already been through this,” Damien said, his tone growing menacing. “She’s just a child.”
“I’m sorry, Damien. But it’s not your decision.”
Kincade shot another glance at his companion. There was no longer any trace of hesitation in her voice or in her eyes. There was only a steely resolve to fulfill the promise she had made to her father.
As he observed the young woman, Kincade’s head turned slightly towards her.
He regretted it immediately.
Chapter 20 – Life is Not a Gift
The moment Kincade turned away, Damien darted straight at him.
The gap between the two men vanished in the blink of an eye.
When he turned his head back, Kincade’s brain registered Damien’s leg lifting off the ground. But all he could do was put his guard up and brace for impact.
Reacting even faster than her brother, Arianne bumped Kincade out of the way, and placed herself in the path of Damien’s kick. But by then, Arianne no longer had time to adopt a defensive stance. She took the full brunt of the attack, and was sent flying through the air, and back into the same sunken courtyard from where she had retrieved the card, earlier.
Kincade cringed at the sight of Arianne getting hit with such force. And even though he was worried about her, the experienced soldier within him instantly overrode that emotional reaction. He couldn’t afford to waste the opportunity she had created.
He still had a knife in his hand. So before Damien had time to shift his weight and launch another attack, Kincade lunged forward and stabbed the young man in the abdomen.
But to Kincade’s surprise, he hadn’t been able to drive the blade all the way in. It had almost felt like stabbing some thick-skinned animal rather than a person.
Once again, the mercenary found himself asking the question, what the hell are these guys made of?
But that question would have to wait.
Kincade had a far more pressing concern. He had only managed to inflict a superficial wound on Damien. Nothing that would significantly slow the young man down. And as their gazes crossed, alarm bells went off in the back of Kincade’s mind. The murderous intent behind the green pupils was so intense that the mercenary could practically feel it against his skin.
This was the second time Kincade had spilled Damien’s blood. No doubt something very few had ever been able to do, especially in recent years. In that instant, Kincade realized that, in Damien’s mind, he had just earned a promotion from minor annoyance to full-fledged obstacle. He tried to jump back to a safer distance. But before he could do so, a claw-like hand closed in around his wrist once again and held him in place.
While Kincade was still clutching the knife, he felt Damien tighten his grip and then slowly push away until the blade was forced out of his body.
Desperate to break loose from Damien’s hold, Kincade threw two left hooks to his opponent’s jaw. But despite making two clean connections, his punches had little effect.
Before the mercenary could try something else, he felt his right arm twist irresistibly, to the point where his fingers could no longer keep hold of the knife. He grimaced in pain as the blade dropped on the floor.
It wasn’t looking good for Kincade. He was now completely disarmed, and engaged in close-combat with an adversary who possessed several times his strength. It would require all his training and experience to stand even a small chance of surviving such a one-sided confrontation.
In a move that caught Damien completely by surprise, Kincade jumped straight up in the air and wrapped his leg over his opponent’s arm. Kincade then twisted his body in the same direction as his contorted elbow in order to return it to normal and, using his weight, took Damien down and into an arm lock. He now had one leg over the young man’s neck and the other over his torso.
Kincade then seized Damien’s arm with both hands and, summoning every bit of strength he had, exerted pressure on his opponent’s articulations.
But in the end, that too turned out to be a waste of energy.
It didn’t take long for Kincade to realize his arm lock would have little effect.
You gotta be kidding me, he thought to himself. Nothing works against this guy.
The former soldier was quickly running out of ideas. But that’s when he saw Arianne running up the stairs.
Help was on the way.
All I need to do is hold him for a couple more seconds, Kincade thought.
But Damien had also spotted his sister.
In a feat of pure strength, the young man grabbed Kincade by the collar and returned to his feet as though he was wearing nothing m
ore than a cumbersome wristwatch.
“Uh-oh, that’s not good,” Kincade muttered under his breath as he hung upside-down at the end of his opponent’s arm.
All of a sudden, a shock wave rippled through the mercenary’s body as Damien slammed him hard against the marble tiles.
“Don’t!” Arianne screamed as she rushed around the courtyard.
But she was too late.
She could do nothing other than watch as her brother hurled Kincade towards the rooftop’s south corner.
Moving through the air at high speed, Kincade smashed into the protective glass panel, the only barrier that stood between him and the deadly void beyond.
Now in danger of falling from the monument, he stretched his arm, desperately trying to grab onto the ledge. Unfortunately, his momentum was too great. He tumbled over the edge before he could get a firm grip and then disappeared beneath the rooftop line.
“Nate!” Arianne shouted as she looked on, in horror.
And just like that, Kincade was gone.
Arianne stood there, aghast, staring at the broken glass panel. She seemed to be in shock, unable to move, or speak. It was like her mind was trying to reject what had just happened. Like it refused to let reality sink in.
“Now,” Damien said, turning to her. “Stop this nonsense and hand over the card.”
But Arianne was no longer in a mood to listen to her brother. In fact, the very sound of his voice seemed to enrage her. Her eyes burned with a fury unlike any Damien had ever seen before in his sister. It prompted him to pause. And just for a second, he let his guard down.
In very much the same way Damien had done, earlier, Arianne charged at him and delivered her own version of a round kick.
Even though Damien managed to block it, the kick was so powerful that it sent him rolling back over a dozen feet. And by the time he recovered and looked up, Arianne had already leapt in the air and was flying straight towards him.
She landed with another devastating kick which forced her brother further back, until he bumped against a glass panel at the edge of the roof.
Despite the damage he had incurred, this time, Damien had remained on his feet. But barely. And when he steadied himself again, Arianne was right in front of him, ready to resume her relentless attacks.
A second clash between the two siblings ensued.
They went at each other, holding nothing back, and traded a series of ferocious blows, each one carrying enough force to break any bone in a normal human body.
Arianne was quicker and more agile. But Damien was stronger and sturdier than she was. And yet, strangely enough, the young man noticed that he was the one being gradually pushed back. At this rate, he would soon fall off the roof, just like Kincade.
That realization gave rise to a feeling of revolt in Damien. And his eyes turned bloodshot red.
Arianne immediately sensed the change in her brother. She had seen that look before. She understood what it meant. Her only chance to stop Damien now, was to end the fight quickly and decisively.
Summoning the last of her strength, Arianne spun around and kicked her brother with her heel so hard that she broke his jaw.
But as her foot landed back down, Damien dropped a hammer blow on her head with his closed fist. He hit her with such force that he nearly cracked her skull.
Arianne collapsed on the floor, bloodied and dazed.
It’s over, she thought as she lay on her back, feeling completely drained.
But after a couple of seconds had passed, she wondered why Damien just stood there, barely moving. That’s when she realized he needed to recuperate, as well. He had taken a lot of damage—though not quite as much as her. And through her blurry vision, she saw the image of her brother reeling backwards and leaning against the glass.
Arianne’s mind conjured up an image of Kincade. Up until then, anesthetized by anger, she hadn’t really felt the guilt and sadness of his death. But now, that pain and grief swept over her like a tsunami. Nate … what have I done? Nate … Nate!? She shouted in her head. She thought she was hallucinating when she saw his face suddenly appear behind Damien.
“Your turn,” Kincade said as he reached across Damien’s chest and pulled him over the ledge.
Weakened by his injuries, and stunned to hear Kincade’s voice again, Damien had been too slow to react and fight back against this ghost who had returned to drag him down into the abyss.
Without a sound, the man with silver hair disappeared into the dark void.
Arianne sat up and gasped. “Damien!”
Kincade strode over the broken glass panel, and then went to her. “Are you OK?” he asked as he knelt down to check her injuries.
She didn’t respond.
He wasn’t even sure she had heard him. She was staring in disbelief at the spot where Damien had been standing a few seconds earlier, her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry,” Kincade said in a meek voice.
Arianne continued to stare straight ahead for a while longer, before she eventually turned to him with a bewildered expression. “How?” she asked.
“Pure luck,” Kincade replied. “There’s a net hanging along the side of the monument, just below the ledge, about twelve to fifteen feet long. I was able to grab onto it. I don’t know if it was left there intentionally, or if some construction worker forgot to remove it. Either way, it saved my life.”
A glimmer of hope appeared in Arianne’s eyes. “Then, perhaps Damien …”
Kincade bowed his head. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
At that moment, Soran and Ben came rushing up the main stairs.
“Ah, there you are!” Soran exclaimed.
The two men promptly made their way towards Kincade and Arianne. But as soon as they got close enough to see how badly his sister was injured, Soran stopped dead in his tracks. He looked shocked, at first. But then his expression quickly shifted to anger. He gave a sweeping look around and growled, “Where is he?”
Arianne wobbled to her feet and wiped her tears. “Let’s hurry back down,” she simply replied.
Ben took a long look at Kincade, and thought that he too looked like he had gone through particularly rough time. “You gonna be all right, Nate?” he asked.
Kincade nodded. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just go.”
As the four of them rode the glass elevator back down to the ground, no one said a word. And the moment they arrived and the cabin doors opened, Arianne shot out like a rocket.
Despite her bruised and battered body, the others had a hard time keeping up with her. Kincade was truly astonished to see that she could still run that fast. While Soran and Ben wondered what had prompted her to move with such feverish haste.
Considering the extent of Arianne’s injuries, Kincade imagined that each of her strides was accompanied by a strong jolt of pain. But still, she didn’t slow down. She ran to the top of the stairs at the base of the cube-shaped monument and scanned the ground below.
It wasn’t long before she spotted Damien, lying on his back in a pool of blood, between the monument and the shopping center. She tumbled down the stairs and ran over to her brother, and then dropped to her knees, right beside him.
“Ari … Arianne …” Damien said, in a barely audible voice. His mouth was filled with blood and his glassy eyes struggled to focus on her face.
“I’m here, Damien. I’m here,” she said as she took his hand. Her voice was trembling, and her tears were now flowing uncontrollably.
Kincade stopped a few steps back and stared at them. Then, mechanically, he gazed up at the monument to once again gauge its height. He couldn’t believe Damien was still alive, and conscious.
“I’m sorry … I’m so sorry,” Arianne mumbled through her tears.
In a final feat of willpower, Damien tightened his grip on her hand and focused his gaze. “Up … to you now … sis-sister … watch over … Luce.”
Those were Damien’s last words.
Arianne buried her f
ace in her hands and started weeping aloud.
Kincade stood silently behind her. He felt a strong urge to hold her, to comfort her. But perhaps he was the last person who could offer her any consolation. Then again, perhaps he was the only one who could alleviate her pain by taking the full responsibility for this tragic ending.
It was clear that the guilt over her brother’s death weighed heavily on Arianne. Even though it had been Kincade who had ultimately committed the act, he would not have been in a position to do so were it not for her. They had done this together. Damien had left them no choice. If not for the hand of fate, Kincade would have been the one resting at the foot of the Grande Arche monument with his bones shattered.
All of a sudden, the group heard the sounds of footsteps approaching rapidly. Kincade quickly moved in front of Arianne, who had not reacted at all, and raised his gun—he had recovered both before they had made their way down.
Ben, who had been waiting further back along with Soran, also aimed his weapon up ahead and waited.
The footsteps grew clearer. And before long, Lucielle appeared before them, followed by an enormous figure.
The young girl had spotted the group at the foot of the monument and had run out to meet them, despite Doc’s protestations.
Rock had immediately gone after her.
When Kincade saw the pair, he breathed a sigh of relief and he lowered his gun.
Lucielle was the first one to arrive. She noticed Damien lying on the ground, and Arianne kneeling next to him. The young girl froze for a moment, as though her brain was struggling to process the image conveyed by her eyes. But then, she rushed to them and knelt beside her brother. “Damien! Damien, wake up!” she shouted as she shook his body.
Arianne gently caressed her sister’s silver hair, and said, “He can’t hear you, Luce. He’s gone.”
The young girl burst into tears.
No one said anything, for a while. Until Rock went over to Lucielle and gently lifted her up. He held her against his chest and, in a softer voice than Kincade had ever heard him use, he said, “I’m really sorry, kid. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling, right now. Both of you. It’s hard losing a member of your family. No matter who they are. Let alone two.”
