CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ethan's POV
Revelation and several more of it keeps on coming like rain would from a cloud.
The moment Ares ended his side of the story that led back to that very day, I was honestly disturbed by the thought that his dweebish assistant knocked me out from flinging a gun on my head.
Secondly, I never thought that the Colonel would sign a contract with ARC let alone comprehend the fact that Ares agreed to it, clumsily making a mess out of the operation.
So much for the peace afterwards.
It was actually funny the way things turned for the worse if one should say so. The firm I once served so obediently was now against me, wanted to have my head.
Robyn, Ares, his troops and I were all cornered in the hall by Emily and her troop that was twice more than what we had with us. It didn't take a genius to go figure that we were on the losing end.
"It was almost about a year ago or so when he contacted me," began Ares, Emily had a gun fixated on his head, from this angle it was hard to tell how she was taking all this in.
"He warned me about ERA's on going project that could possibly mean mass destruction for the world, and it was all because of the one living project they had from us. At first I had no idea what he was talking about, so I began doing massive research on what it was that they had,
"He admitted that from the looks of it, ERA might not possibly be able to control it because they were just power-hungry, so I suggested that whatever it was that they had needed to be destroyed, but he told me it was useless and that he could possibly be the key to end what ERA started since it was from him,"
"Michael?" Asked Emily, loosening her grip on the gun "the key to end what ERA started was Michael?"
"Back then I had no idea what he meant, but no it wasn't Michael. The key is actually Ethan,"
"Me?" I sputtered incredulously, "What did I start?"
A slow, solitary applause echoed down the halls. We all looked around but found no one only to recognize the noise coming from the speakers that was probably built in the walls of the building.
"Bravo," spoke a familiar voice, "well done Dr. Portley, I couldn't expect anything less from someone as excellent as you are,"
"Show yourself you coward!" Roared Robyn as she pounded the heavy chrome walls, actually leaving a dent.
I nearly forgot about what they did to her while we were held captives.
"I'm no coward," he answered smoothly, "its just that I have more important places to be in rather than be with you at the moment,"
"Then why bother talking to us?" I hollered.
"To be honest, I can see each and every movement you guys make from my laptop and... I wanted to see you one last time Ethan, my boy, before you go," his voice was clear as it resonated from the high tech speakers as if he was just right here even if he wasn't.
"Fuck you!" I spat, adding a crisp tone in each syllable. There was a moment of thoughtful silence before he spoke again.
"It was never my intention to create some bond between us, that way I could spare you from any more damage than what the firm intended to do with you,"
Beyond loss for words, I decided to wait for more explanations out of him as I debated whether or not to feel sympathy for the man.
"You were just extracted from the competitor to device a project that could surpass them, all your training was actually just tests to measure what you were capable of and boy was it hard to make a replica of you before we could actually start designing ours," he chuckled after, and I could imagine him shaking his head.
"Why?" I asked, simply not understanding the need to compete and why he had to make me feel like he cared for me when in the end, this was all he ever planned. A baleful feeling gnawed its way to the pit of my guts as hearing all these straight from the man himself didn’t make things any better on my end.
"Because I'm tired of being the leader of guinea pigs.”
I scoffed incredulously and shook my head. This man had no heart and from here, I can already see how his priorities were set. All those years he spent time with me did not deserve an ounce of my sentiment.
“This firm is full of gifted people and we don't need those snooty scientists running their experiments on us, we can make our own. We don't need ARC anymore, and I can show just that to the President once he sees what ERA is capable of. For once in my life, I will no longer come in second! With Gould out of the way I will finally be the best!"
"Whatever happened to the peace you promised?" Ares hollered desperately.
"Oh that's too late right after you decided to abduct Ethan, remember? You broke the deal--"
"It was an accident--"
The Colonel didn't speak anymore but just laughed heartily, "for a respectable prodigy, it was foolish of you to destroy the trust of a forming truce. I almost forgot, this was the actual reason why I called in, Commence Black Bird Trial, good luck boys!"
"What?" I furrowed my brows the moment he uttered random commands.
"Ethan stay back!" Ares hollered, as I looked over to him past the enemy soldiers who I nearly forgot about, Robyn instantly came into my view, actually, she was more of charging right at me. Barely given a nanosecond to dodge a blow, I quickly retaliated by kicking her back.
"Robyn, what are you doing?" I hissed, dodging more and more of her punches and kicks rather than intending to hurt her. In a fraction of a second her fist almost connected to my jaw had I not caught it with one hand, she tried to hit me again, and I caught it.
"Robyn, cut it out!" My thoughts were racing faster than what I could manage as I tried to remember what her reason could be for lashing out on me. "Didn't we already settle this back in the White room--"
And then it hit me. This must be what she talking about back then, why she nearly lost her sanity because they injected the bots in her too. Holy fuck, it all made perfect sense now, why else would she have been mentally unstable, that was because those bots are trying to latch onto her brain, douse anything that granted her personality basically taking hold of her and control her like an actual Robot!
I threw her back and somersaulted away from her as she came charging towards me with renewed vigor.
"Ares!"
"Can't you see I'm a little busy myself?" I heard him call back, merely getting a glimpse of him fending himself from Emily in the midst of a messy brawl between his and her soldiers.
"I repeat!" I heard Emily say, "do not open fire!"
"ERA's finished product is in Robyn!" I managed to yell out before the woman actually landed a kick at my chest, I stumbled back from the massive force she packed. Damn! I felt like I've been kicked by a horse.
Down on my back, I gasp for air that was knocked out from lungs while she began sauntering towards me with a pointed gun. I looked right at her and memorized her every feature she had, from her softly angled face, her adorable perky nose that twitched when she talked, her tiny plump lips that could stretch to a beautiful smile and her big blue eyes that I could look at all day, which was now brimming up with tears.
She had me at her mercy, whether she seemed to like it or not. Her eyes told me everything from how much she was trying to resist what her body was doing, to how she silently begged for me to run. I knew I could, but at the same time, I didn’t understand why I wasn’t thinking on running.
Instead, I sat there on the floor immobile as my train of thoughts took a trip down memory lane back to those days where Robyn was once that annoying Banshee who couldn’t even fire a gun. She was never this brutal, nor was she strong, instead she was this useless girl who couldn’t even lift her own weight when a blood bath begins. It was almost too funny to think about that seeing what ERA had done to her now pained me watching her take a triumphant stand a few feet away from me.
My back was pressed again the metal wall, and there she was cocking the gun with a crisp click.
>
“Robyn, get a hold of yourself!” I desperately tried to reach out to her. Chances of that working was just as good as expecting rain from the dry season.
"I need fucking tasers!"
The moment I heard that, the dangerously blonde who was about to pull the trigger collapsed wordlessly to the floor, convulsing slightly before laying limp.
"Ethan, are you okay?" Ares quickly came to my side, pulling me up to my feet as I nodded curtly. I couldn’t believe I was seconds away from being a goner, I could have taken her on if I wanted to. I was trained to kill, not sit helpless on the floor. Shit. What is wrong with me?
The surge of raw power coursed through my veins. It was useless now, and it was so frustrating because she had me right there and I just… I just…
BAM!
Instant silence reigned in the cacophony of soldiers chatting away with each other. I quickly ignored them, paced uneasily for a bit and then punted the wall with my foot. It wasn’t enough though; I wanted to lash out some more.
“Dude, what’s wrong?” Ares asked, he was standing five feet away from me looking pretty cautious with that stun gun he was holding.
“What’s wrong?” I repeated, at this point I was so frustrated I no longer knew if I should laugh or scream. What was wrong with me? I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes and held in that air.
“Don’t worry, bro,” Ares said mutely, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll… fix her up real good.”
I sighed, falling limp against the wall. Somehow, his words of reassurance comforted me in ways as if a thorn has been plucked out from my skin.
"Dangerous isn't she?" Remarked Emily as she approached us, out of instinct I snatched the gun Ares was holding and aimed right at her but before I could pull the trigger Ares kneed me on the stomach and I doubled over in surprise from the blow he packed.
"Easy there bro, she's with us now,"
"Coulda just said so," coughing, I struggled to stay on my feet. "Why the sudden change of heart? Thought you hated me and shit"
She rolled her eyes, "I hate Marduk more than I hate you, so don't be too full of yourself. I'm only sticking around to try and understand what Craw is trying to tell me,"
I didn't linger too long into her mawkishness, instead I walked over to Robyn and knelt down before I began checking her pulse and did a quick scan on each of her eyes. My hands lingered on her even when I was done with my quick assessment. The simplicity of holding her like this made me feel a little better and the longer I looked at her, the thought of hugging her right now was tempting.
"She won't stay down forever," mused Emily, folding her arms across her chest before regrouping her men. I got to my feet a little too quickly, I just hoped no one noticed.
"She's right bro, what do you plan, it's a little too late--"
"No, ERA simply stole your technology," I reminded him, "now we steal theirs,"