by J D Cowan
Gemini Warrior
Gemini Man Book One
J.D. Cowan
Thomas Plutarch
Contents
Prologue
1. Matthew & Jason
2. Next Phase
3. Castor & Pollux
4. Magic City Mageuopolis
5. Escape from the Mist Prison
6. Big Wreck
7. Between Death and Dreams
8. Duel on Mist Mountain
9. Battle on Frog Mountain
10. Empire of Gold
11. In a Strange Land
12. Into Tyndarus
13. Fire Lizard Invasion
14. Thieves’ Town
15. Phantom Stab
16. What Lies in the Deep Woods
17. The One Who Will Save
18. Last Village
19. Into the Trap
20. Stone Mountain Castle
21. Edging Toward Cavern’s End
22. Serenity
23. End of the Road
Epilogue
Heroes Unleashed
Review Request
About the Author
Dedicated to Phyllis Pascas Goodwyn
Prologue
Matthew White walked the length of the narrow hall with his mind moving faster than his legs. He’d heard stories about Williams’ Tech Corp, but he never imagined they would send their employees to meetings so far out of the way in Greycoast. This slummier area of Serenity City had a reputation, and this building upheld it well. Painted grey halls, old hokey pictures of abandoned country-sides, and faded carpets swallowed him whole and assaulted his allergies.
Dust choked the stifling heat. A sneeze caught in his nostrils. Even with summer blazing outside, these jokers still put the heating on. A job was a job, and this was no different, but an eerie feeling clung to his nerves. Two looming men in grey suits led him onward through the humming fluorescent lighting while Matthew fought against his gut.
“Have either of you ever been to Cavern Cove?” he asked them. The silence was too much. He straightened his cheap tie. He wore an ugly lavender suit, all that he could afford from the Salvation Army. Richie wouldn’t take any more credit from him. Not that he could blame the poor guy. “It’s no Serenity City, but it sure is a nice place to hang your hat. No Primes, city lights, or chaos there. Good vacation spot.”
His two sentries continued on in silence. Footsteps glided across the carpet. He cleared his throat.
“I’ve only heard rumors about this place. Do you guys research superhero—I mean Prime powers here? I can’t imagine why you would want to. They’re not going anywhere.”
A large wooden door swung open at the end of the long, winding hall. Matthew moved into the small room with two chairs in the center. A woman in a blue suit, glasses, and her platinum hair in buns sat in the one facing him. She held a tablet on her lap and smiled towards his entrance. Before Matthew could say anything, the door shut behind him. Pale light from the fluorescents buzzed above, emphasizing the emptiness and reminding him that the two of them were alone. He grabbed at his collar, hoping his sweat wasn’t showing through.
The woman gestured to the chair in front of him, and he sat down.
“Mr. Matthew White,” she said in a honeyed tone. Her lips lingered on every word. “I am Marguerite Stohl. Thank you for applying to Williams’ Tech. You are an interesting individual. I have been looking into your application, and must say I’m mystified.”
He was more confused at the fact that this wasn’t the Williams’ Tech building but didn’t bring it up. “I’m pretty mystified, myself. I thought I applied for a general security position at a warehouse down by the bus depot. How did my application get to Williams’ Tech?”
“We have a lot of friends. Do you mind if I ask some personal questions?”
Sweat ran down his back, causing him to shift. “It’s your position. Ask away.”
“You are twenty-two years old, have no formal education, have worked many menial jobs, and yet you also do not have any references. Is there a particular reason for this?”
Matthew bit his lip. “I . . . made a lot of mistakes when I was younger. You probably won’t find my name anywhere online or in any files. There’s no big secret—I just keep to myself. I don’t have any family left, and I’ve never had much in the way of friends.”
“That is a shame. No children? I have one little girl I constantly worry about. Surely you hope to one day have young ones?”
“Money is about all I need. If that’s a problem, I’m sorry. I’d rather keep to myself and away from that kinda thing. That’s why I applied for a job in such an out of the way place. I didn’t expect someone like you would take my application.”
“You do not have to sell yourself short, Mr. White. My sources say your work ethic is admirable. Very good. Apparently, you worked as a dishwasher for a Chinese restaurant for two years and were well regarded there. I do like what I’ve heard.”
“Thank you. The Rustik was a good place. Friendly folk; paid well.”
“But this job is not for a security position. I want you for a product tester. You will work on your own, and keep to yourself. Mostly. This is why I sought out someone with your personality.”
“How do you mean?”
“You will be required to move into an apartment of our choosing and be monitored for all hours of the day for at least a month. You can sign for an extension when your time is up if you wish to go longer. It is challenging, but I feel you are perfect for the position.”
Matthew scratched his carefully shaved chin. “I don’t know. I prefer privacy.”
“One look at the contract and you will change your mind. The amount paid is far more than what that security position would earn you.”
She showed him the tablet with an estimated number staring back in his face. For a second he couldn’t tell if he imagined it, or if these people were just that crazy. With this amount, he could live high off the hog between jobs for years. Resisting this would be hard.
“I still have one question,” he said, keeping a stony expression.
“You can ask whatever you like.”
“What exactly am I testing? Food? Drugs? Tech?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I can assure you that you will not have to ingest anything unnatural.” Her smile broke into a line of bright white teeth. “In fact, there is a strong possibility that you will not have to do anything at all. It depends on how you work out.”
It would have been a lie to say that this job didn’t pique his interest. But he’d been around this block before. Work that didn’t involve work was too good to be true. There must be a catch.
Still, it didn’t matter. He didn’t care how real it was. In a city of superheroes where he could be wiped out at any moment, he had long since given up on expecting a long life. All he wanted was a place to work, and a way to live for the moment before the end arrived. He wanted what he could scrape together. Whatever this place offered was already more than he expected.
Even though she went on with her sales pitch, Matthew had already made his decision. When she wrapped up, he would sign on the dotted line. He had made that call when he walked in the front door. This was exactly what he needed—a place to forget the chaotic world outside.
He just wished he could figure out why it was so hot inside.
Chapter 1
Matthew & Jason
Heavy sweat ran down Matthew’s back as he watched the clear blue sky from the inside of his new apartment. Ever since he had moved to this place a month ago, it rubbed him wrong. The cameras in the corners of the rooms watched his every move, and no one ever came by. Even the view through his window was a forgery—a w
all-length video screen constructed to give him the false impression of a world outside his door. But there was no outside. Matthew had been left alone.
He wouldn’t complain even if there were someone else to tell it to. This was the job, and he took it, warts and all. But that didn’t mean sitting around in a fake apartment doing nothing was a healthy way to spend a month. He wore old black sweatpants that clashed with his blonde hair and pink skin and had nothing else on to fight the heat. It was just too hot; there was no air conditioning, and he hadn’t packed any shorts. He couldn’t imagine walking around in his underwear with those cameras on him. They could already see the abs on his shirtless body. The first thing he would buy with his pay for this job would be a decent set of clothes.
Matthew fell back in the faux-leather couch and yawned. Only two more days until his contract ran out and he could leave. Then he could pocket the money and get a real apartment with a real view. Dreams of real furniture filled his every thought. He’d kill to have proper hardwood floors. Heck, he could even live off the extra money for a year without needing to get another job. It was perfect.
But also not his style.
The sofa leather squeaked under Matthew’s weight as he sat up. He slammed his fist against the armrest.
“I can’t just sit around,” he whispered to himself. He found himself saying that a lot. Matthew didn’t like to talk to himself, but there weren’t many other options to keep his voice fresh. “I can’t do this.”
Yet he did. This was the twenty-ninth day of May, and freedom was close.
A sharp voice squeaked out from the speaker in the corner of the ceiling like a wooden chair against a bare floor. The intercom system. He hadn’t heard it since his first day. He crinkled his brow.
“Mr. White,” Marguerite Stohl said. Her voice crackled inside the tiny space. “You are doing quite well. It is time for the second phase of the project.”
“I hope it doesn’t take as long as the first.”
“Please open your front door, and we will begin the true test.”
He did not have to be asked twice. Matthew bounded off the couch.
The front door was usually locked, but he distinctly remembered a small narrow metal hall outside that led back the way he entered from. Matthew relished seeing it again.
If he were honest with himself, he would have admitted that he didn’t remember much about coming here. The building he had his job interview in was just a random warehouse. After accepting the offer, Matthew packed clothes like the sweats he currently wore. He didn’t have much else. Then they loaded him into a van and brought him to this building. He exited into a parking garage and took an elevator to a floor of metal halls. He saw a nice atrium of stone pillars on the way up, but little else.
But it did make sense to bring him here like that. With superheroes and villains in the world, there was no telling who was watching. If their work was that important, then they clearly didn’t need Primes getting in the way.
What didn’t make sense was what he found on the other side of the front door. A boy stood in front of him.
“Hello, sir, I’m Jason.”
Jason looked no older than fifteen and wore a green hooded shirt with jeans and sneakers. His blond hair, blue eyes, and general demeanor eerily reminded Matthew of his own. This boy was his doppelganger. Unlike Matthew, however, he was slightly shorter and looked dead tired.
Beside Jason stood Marguerite Stohl again. This time she wore a green dress and had her long platinum hair down. Matthew found himself staring at her until she spoke.
“Do you find this sort of wear appropriate, Mr. White?”
“You’re a bit overdressed.”
“I mean you.”
Matthew glanced at his bare chest, and his cheeks reddened. He ran back toward his tiny bedroom. He could hear that woman laughing to the boy as he dug through his clothes.
As Matthew shuffled through his small closet for a shirt, a sinkhole spread in his stomach. Jason was the first non-employee Matthew had seen in nearly a month, and he looked so much like him. This boy gave him a bad feeling. No one had said anything about children being involved when he signed up.
When he returned to the living room, he found both of his visitors sitting at the small kitchen table across from the couch. They didn’t talk. The boy had his arms folded and looked down at his shoes. Only the woman stood to greet Matthew.
“You really must invest in a new wardrobe, Mr. White.”
“I haven’t seen another body in a month, and this is all you have to say? I sure hope the second phase is more involved than the first.” Spending all his time doing push-ups and sit-ups exhausted his energy and his patience. The only other thing he could do was think about old times, and he had no interest in that. “This whole project has been a massive disappointment.”
“Oh, I promise you that you will enjoy what is to come. I certainly will.”
He joined them at the table. The two males sat across from each other and didn’t so much as look each other in the face. The woman watched with a smile. Finally, Matthew broke the silence.
“Is awkward silence part of the project?”
“No. There are three parts. Phase one was getting you acclimated to these surroundings and weeding out the other candidates. Only you two remain.”
“Weeding out,” he repeated. “You mean I could have been fired at any moment?”
“You would have simply reached the end of the testing period and then been sent on your way. But the two of you have passed, so you both move on.”
“I hope phase two has more than health food and water in the fridge. I’m dying here.”
“It is simple, Mr. White. For the next forty-eight hours the two of you are to stay in this apartment and learn as much about each other as you can. And you will be wearing these.”
The woman lifted a hand from her side and placed it in the middle of the table. Her slim fingers opened, and two round objects fell free from her grip, bouncing against the cheap wood. Bracelets. The circular trinkets rolled to a stop in the center. She laughed at their confused stares.
The accessories were perfectly circular bands without any engraved words or jewels to be found on them. Other than the bright yellow color, they looked like normal bracelets one could see at a jeweler or a pawn shop.
One of them caught Matthew’s eye. The pair looked precisely the same, no difference whatsoever in their simple shape, and yet the one on the right had a distinctive vibe to it. It whispered for him to reach out. Before he even realized it, he did exactly that. The boy did the same to the opposite bracelet, spinning it in his fingers. They glanced at each other in bewilderment before the celebratory shouts of Ms. Stohl broke their confusion.
“Put them on,” she said. “This is part of phase two.”
The two males scanned the bracelets then glanced at each other. Matthew could not get over how much this kid looked like him. Maybe this was also part of the experiment.
“If you say so,” Matthew said.
He placed it on his left wrist and showed it to the woman. She nodded her approval. The boy followed a second later.
“Good,” she said with a bright smile. “Leave those on for twenty-four hours, and we will continue on to phase three, and you will be paid. You are almost there!”
“This is it?” Matthew looked over the bracelet once more. “What’s the gimmick?”
“The gimmick is that we need two subjects perfectly in sync with each other. Having the bracelets helps. It would also aid us if you knew more about each other. If there are no further questions, I will take my leave.”
Marguerite Stohl bid the two of them goodbye and strode to the exit, her slim form gracefully sliding like a swan through a calm lake. Matthew did want to ask questions, but couldn’t muster them up. A dull pain formed in the back of his brain. He decided to ignore it. He was so close to being paid. He wouldn’t risk it now.
She grinned. “The two of you have forty-eight hours t
o spend together. I suggest getting started.”
With that, she closed the door behind her and left the two alone. The view screen where the windows should be now displayed a hard orange sunset. The stifling heat continued unabated. Jason faced Matthew, his serious expression as irritating as ever.
“You’re Matthew?” he asked. “Good to meet you.”
“I’m Matthew White. What’s with your clothes? You look like you fell into a clothesline. That’s weird for a serious looking kid like you.”
The boy blinked and looked Matthew over.
“You’re one to talk, Mr. White. You look like you just rolled out of bed.”
“Don’t call me Mr. White. It’s Matthew. I’m not that much older than you are. And of course, I’m wearing this. It’s boiling in here. I forgot to tell that woman to turn down the heat.”
“Mrs. Stohl told me that it’s high because it is part of the stress test.”
“Trying to see how quick they can cook us, I’d say.” Matthew thought for a second then jumped from his seat. “Wait, Stohl is married?”
“Of course she’s married.” The boy looked genuinely confused. “Didn’t you talk to her before the experiment started? It was one of the first things she told me about her. She’s happily married to a great man with a daughter of her own.”
“I don’t pry into other people’s lives. I have my own crap to worry about.”
“Is that why you’re here? To avoid other people?”
“I’m here because it was a job with good pay. Why else would I be locked in a room with a nosey stone-faced kid like you? Why are you here, smart guy? Aren’t your parents worried about you?”
