AS I LOOKED INTO HIS EYS I COULD FINALLY SEE WHAT Jason had been hiding from me the entire time. He was afraid of me. Not afraid in a sense where he was unwilling to face me in combat, but in a sense where he feared for what I could become. I could see in his eyes that he thought I was dangerous, and he felt that it was his duty to keep me in check. It was as if he had planned to silence me all along, should I ever become out of control.
For a fraction of a second, I considered the possibility that I could have been overreacting. That was until I saw Charlie’s gun holstered on his hip. Was that why he asked Agent Wells for it? Instead of keeping it as a trophy, did he really keep it as a way to cause me pain, should he ever find himself pitted against me in a fight? He probably considered his treacherous posturing precautionary and necessary, but I considered it deceitful and betraying.
“What’s with the gear?” I growled.
“Adam, what's going on here? Tell me what’s wrong,” Jason said, while remaining completely still. His strong jaw line tightened as he maintained strong eye contact with me. He was acting as if he was interacting with a wild animal, taking extra care not to make any sudden moves, lest the beast lash out.
“That’s not my name!” I shouted. “My name is The Reaper,”
“Adam-”
“Stop calling me that!” I bellowed, clinching my fists as blood and adrenaline rushed to my head, which further clouded my judgment.
Jason had placed his right hand on the handle of Charlie’s pistol before I had even realized it. Neither of us moved as we glared at each other. Finally, Jason released the pistol and held his hands in the air. Who did he think he was kidding? We both knew that he was still quick enough to draw the pistol regardless of how high he held his hands. Still, I accepted his token and relaxed my fists and softened my aggressive posture.
“Reaper, whatever is going on, you know I’ll help you through it.”
“Help me? You came here to kill me!” I growled.
“Reaper, that’s not true!”
“Then why are you wearing your gear, Ace? And why did you bring Charlie’s gun?”
“It’s not what you think,” Jason replied.
“Then what is it?” I demanded.
“I’m here to help you, Reaper. You have to know that.”
“If you want to help me, then give me that gun,” I said darkly.
“You know I can’t do that,” he replied.
“Then I suppose I’ll just take it,” I grumbled as I tightened my fists.
“I’ll have to stop you, Reaper,” he said firmly.
“I’d like to see you try,” I replied. In truth, I wasn’t sure if I could actually beat Jason, but in the end I didn’t have to win to get what I wanted. I had come there to end it all. It didn’t matter if it came by my own hand or by his. The way I saw it, I would win either way.
“Don’t do this, Adam,” Jason pleaded as I held my fists before me. He sounded as if he truly did not want to fight, but I didn’t care.
He quickly leapt over my head as I rushed him. He was as quick as Tango when it came to changing directions, but I still believed I could get the upper hand if I was able to keep him inside.
I threw an emphatic overhand right for his head, but he ducked it and used my momentum to hip-toss me across the room. Blood rushed to my head as I slammed against the wall and fell to the floor. It was pissing me off that I was so much more powerful than he was, yet I couldn’t lay a finger on him. As I pulled myself from the floor, I realized that he was fighting me the same way that Tango did. If I wanted to stand a chance, I knew that I would have to slow down and focus my attacks. Fighting in hyper-speed didn’t work against this type of fighter. He was too disciplined. Too polished. I was the exact opposite.
“This doesn’t have to go any further, Reaper. Stand down!” Jason shouted, as I trudged toward him.
“Is that an order?” I asked smugly before I suddenly dashed towards him. I caught him off guard as I slowed my approach and threw a three-punch combination. He blocked all three punches with his forearms, but I could tell that they still did some damage. I threw another barrage of punches, but he managed to dodge them all and then returned fire with an astonishingly swift left jab that he stopped millimeters away from hitting my throat.
The two of us were frozen in the center of the room with his fist still dangerously close to my throat. As we glared at each other, he could see that I was pissed that he was pulling his punches. The nerve of him to think that he could stand up to me without fighting for his life angered me beyond belief.
I lunged for the gun at his hip but I was hit in the face by a swift knee as soon as I unstrapped the holster. I stumbled backward from the force of the attack. I rushed him again, only to have my face meet the bottom of his shoe. Just like that, he had adjusted his strategy as quickly as I had adjusted mine. I couldn’t get close enough to do any damage because of his lightning quick kicks. They didn’t hurt at all, but they were surely pissing me off. A rush of adrenaline hit me when he kicked me in the face again. That’s when it hit me. That’s when I realized what I had to do to defeat him.
I attacked him once more but was floored by another devastating spinning heel kick. I slammed my hands against the floor as more blood rushed to my face. I was getting angrier by the second, which is exactly what I wanted. The more I opened myself to his attacks, the angrier I was becoming, and with my rage came even more adrenaline. That’s what I wanted. Higher levels of adrenaline gave me added focus. It allowed me to focus so keenly on the world around me that it seemed to pass in slow motion.
Instead of standing, I lunged at him from the floor. Just as I thought, his movements now seemed much slower. I knew that he wasn’t really moving any slower. I was simply moving faster and I could now focus on his movements better. As he leapt into the air, hoping to leap over my head, my right hand shot up and grabbed his left foot. Charlie’s gun flew out of the unstrapped holster and fell to the floor as I stopped his momentum.
We were almost frozen in time as I contemplated flinging him against the wall with all my strength. That would have killed him without question. Though we were pitted against each other, I couldn’t find the resolve to end his life. I only wanted to show him that with all his training and skill, he was still no match for me.
I still hurled him against the wall but not hard enough to kill him. I hoped that he would stay down, but he was not so easily beaten. When the fight started, I noticed regret and compassion in his eyes, but as he leapt to his feet and glared at me, there was nothing left in his eyes except for rage.
We both looked to the gun lying in the middle of the floor between us. I dove for it as he broke into a dash. I hit the ground hard and grabbed for the handle of the gun. Before I could secure it, Jason dropkicked me in the face with both feet. My head violently snapped backward, causing me to see stars.
Despite my disoriented state, I still managed to pull myself to my feet. It pissed me off that he had kicked me in the face so hard, after I spared his life by not throwing him against the wall with all my might. I drew my right hand behind my head and flung it at Jason as hard as I could. He easily ducked my wild punch and struck me hard in the throat with his left hand. The entire right side of my body fell numb upon impact. Before I could recover, Jason unleashed a vicious combination of punches and kicks that ended with a punishing spin kick that sent me crashing against the large monitor mounted on the wall behind me.
As I fell to the ground, he was upon me grabbing my collar and thrusting Charlie’s hand cannon into my face.
“Do it!” I yelled. He bit his lip so hard that I thought he would draw blood. “Do it! Dammit! If you won't, then I will!” I shouted.
Jason screamed as he jammed the barrel of the gun into my face. I closed my eyes as the cold steel dug into my left cheek. This is it, I thought, but my heart sank when I felt him release my shirt collar and heard the sound of the gun falling to the floor.
I opened my eyes and glared at him.
“What are you doing?” I growled through gritted teeth.
“I won’t do it,” he replied solemnly.
“Fine,” I said as I shoved him away.
The nerve attack that he had landed on my throat was still limiting my motor functions, but I still managed to grab the gun and stick the barrel in my mouth before he could stop me.
“Adam, no!” Jason bellowed as he rushed toward me.
I told you not to call me that anymore, I thought as I prepared myself for oblivion. I took one last glance at his tear filled eyes as I squeezed the trigger and my world faded to black.