136

 

136. End of the Road

Out they shot from the center of the metropolis: cement-and-metal fused lines of serpentine technology, weaving through the wasteland.

An intricate network of pathways and escapes made up the central highway system of Houston, threading across the 600 square miles that made up the city. Any given path would take a traveler up and over the mess of civilization below, careening along the auburn plains of Texas.

It was on one of these concrete tentacles that Frank Arazia drove in a brown Volvo, with a man named Heakins sitting at his side.

"Are you sure our wives and kids are going to be safe in your sister's cabin?" Heakins asked nervously.

"That's the best place I can think of," Frank replied. "My brother-in-law won't ask questions, and he isn't friendly to strangers, so it'll do."

"If you say so." Heakins snorted. "No offense, but your wife doesn't exactly have a knack for keeping quiet. You heard all about the ruckus she threw while you were gone 'in another dimension,' or whatever."

"I would have done the same thing," Frank replied coldly. "Nothing matters more to me than protecting the people I love. That's why I'm doing all this."

"I get you, I get you." Heakins ripped a beef jerky wrapper open with his teeth. He was a stout man, with a short salt-and-pepper beard. The circular shape of his nose almost made him look dwarven, which reminded Frank of reading Tolkein books back in his college days. "And I believe you. In this past month, man, I can't even begin to tell you all the weird shit I've seen Grayson and Edward get up to. I even think they've got some weird Japanese company roped into this."

"Edward's under Grayson's control," Frank repeated, as he had many times before. "I'm sure it has to do with those Greymatters. We need to snap him back into reality and figure out a way to destroy those brainwashing machines. That's the first matter of business."

"I still say you should try it once, just to see what it's like," Heakins suggested. "I was scared to hell when I put it on, but at least I know what it really is, and can talk about how bad it is. You haven't experienced it yet."

There was a moment of silence before Frank answered. "You don't want to know what I've experienced."

A bit of rosiness had returned to the dark circles around his hollowed-out eyes, but for the most part, Frank's face looked cold and lifeless. Not even reuniting with his family and spending a few days in peace had been able to heal him. Despite his newfound ability, Frank's eyes looked as hollow and cold as a corpse's.

Sasuke gave me a great gift, but I'm naïve enough to think it lets me stand a chance against Grayson. I've been living on borrowed time for so long – and I'm not afraid of death. I'm only afraid of leaving this world before I get a chance to stop this insanity once and for all.

Frank peered over to Heakins. A wad of jerky poked out from his bottom lip. I originally got in touch with him to get information on Houston. Why did I bring him with me? To fill some kind of void? To act as a placeholder? Or maybe it's just because I'm tired of suffering alone. At least he knows his way around the Houston

*************

office isn't directly connected to Bakersfield," Madeleine explained. "First, we need to go to Yamato and transfer."

"Yamato?" Vance echoed. "That's the second time I've heard that name. What is it?"

"A heretical universe filled with lots of black-haired, black-eyed people," Bruce replied with a grunt. "It's also where Azuka was born. She's royalty there. Sold out her allies to try and gain support for her family's war from the Church. Didn't work out for her in the end, though."

"Grayson's been using Yamato as a testing grounds for the Greymatter," Madeleine explained. "But don't ask me any more than that. I've never really bothered to explore it, since it seems to be filled with crazy people."

"Well, whatever," Vance said, shaking his head. "Just take us there so we can get to Houston, Madeleine."

"Alright, but I need to take some precautions first," she said, and transformed into a tall Asian-looking man with an afro.

"Who the hell is that?!" Vance gaped.

"You want to stand here talking for the next hour, or do you want to go to Houston?"

With that, the six slid through the portal with ease, feeling matter and existence rearranged like they had so many times before. After the jump, Vance was surprised to see white clay not only beneath his feet, but surrounding his sides and above him as well. The plain walls were encased and decorated with extremely detailed wooden frames that overlapped and covered each other in confusing, geometric patterns. From pockets in the identical ceilings and walls, neon lights added an eerie glow to the optically illusions.

"Trippy," Wendy marveled. "Where are we?"

"The Shieikan – government headquarters in Neo-Edo," Madeleine said complacently. "I think."

They stood at a small checkpoint that was slightly wider than the long hallway behind it. Across from the portal they had just stepped out of was a paper screen built into a wall.

"Mask your auras," Madeleine warned as she slid open the paper screen. "We're getting–"

The shapeshifter was stifled as her eyes met another pair staring down at her from the new corridor. They were wedged in a thick face that rested on two monstrous shoulders and a hulking body covered in a blue-and-white jacket.

"Hey, Captain Saito!" Head Scout Shimada Kai greeted his superior with a dumb smile and raised a small wooden stick with three sauce-drenched dumplings skewered on it. "How did the meeting with Sasuke go?"

"I'm...escorting some of his VIPs right now," Madeleine quickly lied. "Sorry, but I must be on my way."

Shimada hummed playfully and passed his eyes over the foreigners. "Seems like a weird bunch of VIPs to me."

Madeleine ignored him and continued to walk. Shimada made his way around the five foreigners, but stopped when he came to Vance.

The Albavitrean did his best to ignore the large man, despite his curiosity at the feral psynergy he could feel. Then, just as he moved to follow the others, he felt something wet strike his cheek. It came so fast, so suddenly and without force, that it made him stop right in his tracks.

Vance turned around and caught a dumpling as it rolled down his sleeve.

Shimada Kai stared at him with suspicious eyes. "Something's up here. Why don't you tell me what's going on, S–"

Before he could get out those last two syllables, Vance's fist clouded the man's vision. Shimada desperately raised the dumpling stick in front of his eyes and channeled his psynergy through it. The food and wooden stick took the brunt of the blow, sending tiny splinters and sauce splattering onto Shimada's face.

"So you're not completely defenseless," Vance murmured. "Good to know."

Left fist joined right, and Vance's hands had taken up all the space in front of Shimada Kai's eyes. Despite the scout's defenses, this sudden rush of violet was too much to bear. His body jackknifed backwards, falling into a reverse somersault as he went torpedoing down the hallway.

Shimada growled through the pain, then shot strengthened deer antlers out from his back and lodged them into the ground to slow himself down. A gargantuan rhinoceros horn exploded from the man's cranium, jutting into the ceiling and bringing him to a full stop.

Seizing the chance, the group dashed around a corner.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Madeleine shouted. "We could have a whole bunch of them on us any minute now!"

In the background, Averyl giggled as Vance formulated a response. "I thought he was gonna attack us! Who was that, anyway?"

"I don't know," Madeleine sighed, then turned one last corner and reached a keypad on a blank wall. "We're

*************

here," Frank muttered as he closed the door to his Volvo and stepped out into the cool desert air. "You sure you're with me on this?"

Heakins groggily moved out of his side of the car. "Yeah, I told you, I believe you. Grayson's bad news. I miss the old Ed."

Frank looked at his watch. "It's past midnight." Suddenly, he longed dearly to be something as insignificant as the Rolex on his wrist.

"This place gives me the heebie jeebies." Heakins shuddered as he gazed around the deserted parking lot. "There aren't even any cars here."

The new Zexaron HQ looked like a very large warehouse, lined with loading bays and large floodlights. If it wasn't the Greymatter production facility, it was certainly their distribution center. As always, the logic behind Grayson's machinations eluded him.

The lot was surrounded by miles and miles of old, unused farmland. They had gotten off the highway at Fulshear, a sleepy old town just outside of the city, then headed deeper into the plains. A few lonely houses were scattered on the horizon, but other than that, there was nothing but flat earth for miles.

Frank approached the looming building. 20 years ago this company was founded, built up by Victoria's hard work and Sasuke's family fortune. Victoria must have been dedicated to learning more about the Space-Time Continuum from the start. She wanted to uncover the secrets of the universe, but at the same time, she was chasing something else: a quiet life with her husband and child. But you can't have it all, can you?

Frank moved up to the thick black gate that led inside the loading bay. "Heakins, it's your time to shine."

Heakins took out his chip-equipped ID and slid it through the authenticator. There was a pleasant click, and the thick doors slid apart.

Grey concrete blocks lined the inside of the warehouse. Lining the walls were ladders that led up to the catwalk that framed the second level. Aside from a small, vacant reception area in the front, Frank could only see nondescript corridors leading down to the various storage areas.

Heakins looked down at the grey blocks as he walked across them. "This place is weird."

Frank's pulse pounded – he could sense them, somehow. Ed and Grayson were here.

"Ed!" His voice echoed through the chamber. "Get out here right now!"

Silence.

"What's going on, Ed?! None of this makes any sense!" The more Frank heard his own voice echo back to him, the weaker he felt. "Think, man! Remember who you really are!"

In a corner of his soul, Frank sensed something rise – psynergy. It felt familiar. He swerved and stared up to the left corner of the balcony in horror and anticipation, knowing what to expect: dark, slightly moistened eyes, a wide forehead, followed by a slightly masculine jaw, finished off with a tired grin.

Ed. That's who I'm going to see.

But what appeared before him was different – those moist eyes were still there, although they were monochrome, blazing with a youthful vigor. This man's cheekbones were thinner, his chin looked sharper, and the wild, spiky hair around his scalp made Frank realize that he was looking at not Ed, but his son.

"Vance?" Frank stared in confusion as the Albavitrean's companions filed out behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Frank Arazia..." Averyl's eyes glimmered. "So we meet again."

"Wait a minute, what are you doing here?!" Frank shouted.

"We came from the Bakersfield office." Vance walked down the stairs. "Are you okay? Is my dad here?"

Frank suddenly backed up. "Vance, no... you shouldn't have come here. You don't know what's happened to your father, do you?"

"You do?" Vance's pace quickened, and everyone surrounded Frank in the center of the room. "I just saw him on TV, and they said he's the new president of Zexaron."

Frank looked as if he was on the verge of saying something, then bit his tongue and turned his head away. "Do you know? Maybe you do? I don't know, though, how could you? Should I tell you?"

Confusion flooded Vance's eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know if I can, though." Frank floundered, looking into Vance's eyes and seeing Victoria's. "What Ed told me Vance, it's just so insane. I honestly don't know if I can repeat it."

"He's here?" Vance's swerved back to face the stairways. "Dad! Dad! It's me, Vance! Where are you?"

"I tried..." Frank sighed. "But..."

Then, it came. Like materialized terror, knives of impending doom rose up and pierced their minds. The green emerged from deep within, like a primordial beast, roaring and gnashing its teeth, yet abstracted from basic senses.

Out from the deepest catacomb stepped a man who stood no taller than 6'3", with flawless peach skin and shimmering blonde hair pulled back into a single braided ponytail. Encased in glass frames were sparkling green eyes, followed by a straight nose and sanguine lips. Not a speck of dust existed on his pinstripe suit, nor on the snakeskin shoes that clacked across the concrete.

"Why the long face?" Two serpentine eyes glimmered. "Isn't this what you've all been waiting for?"

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