Vance could feel it slithering throughout the room – a sinister, doomful
aura, threatening his soul. He had to consciously keep his body from shaking in
response to the being that stood on the catwalk above him: a smug, well-groomed
man in a silver suit, with a single thick braid resting on his right shoulder.
Grayson Lee. Vance had only met
him three times so far: in downtown Pittsbugh, at the end of the Belmarcian Tournament,
and then in Edgar Caskett's hut, where his stomach had been pierced by the
Snake's fist.
Vance remained strong. I can do it. His heart pounded in both
ears like an echoing war cry. I can kill this man.
"My, what a pleasant surprise." Grayson glided his eyes around
the room. "I wasn't expecting guests at this hour, but there's no way I
could possibly turn away such dear friends. Thanks so much for gathering
them all up for me, Bruce. I owe you one."
Bruce nodded slightly. "Well, don't thank me just yet, because
I had no idea you were even looking for these guys, Grayson. In fact, I hardly know
a thing about what's going on with you, since you never tell me anything,
like who really killed Roufas!"
"I thought it was clear enough." Grayson raised his thin
eyebrows in mock confusion. "Averyl. The brother of Victoria. Need I say
more?"
Bruce listened to Grayson's words then exchanged shifty glances
with his traveling companions.
"Bruce, it was Grayson!" Winslow shouted. "Rose herself
told me what happened after the tournament. It couldn't have been Averyl! He was
with all of them, just like they told you!"
"Now, now." Grayson shook his head. "I'm disappointed
in you, Bruce – or Test Subject #6284, should I say. You're going to believe the
words of traitors over one of the men who saved you from a life of perpetual
torture?"
Bruce curled his hands into fists, and flames leaped from his tongue.
"Grayson, I want the truth. Just tell me – I can take it. I just want to
hear it from your mouth!" Tears welled up in the monstrous man's eyes.
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Grayson smirked.
"You just didn't want to accept it – you couldn't bring yourself to believe
that I could do such a thing."
"He was like a father to me!" Bruce bellowed. "How?!
How could you do such a thing?!"
As Bruce quieted, a soft, stifled snicker could be heard. Gradually,
Grayson's red lips opened, filling the spacious lobby with mocking, hyenic
laughter.
"Your father?!" Grayson heckled. "That old piece
of shit?! A man who could kill hundreds, but was so afraid of a single woman that
he chose to hide from her?! A man so stubborn and set in his ways that–"
"Shut up!" Bruce bellowed. "Don't say another word,
or–"
"Or what? Or you'll kill me?"
Bruce raised a hand, gathering lava-red psynergy. "That's already
a given."
"Bruce, you've always been so stupid. So easy to malleate and
use. I wish I didn't have to lose such a useful tool, but alas, you too have
chosen to be difficult." Grayson sighed. "Which means there is
no longer any reason for you to go on living."
Averyl was in front of Bruce just a millisecond after a green ray shot
out from Grayson's finger. Metapsynergy cut through the Albavitrean's cloak and
chains, severing flesh on the side of his hip and drawing a trickle of blood from
within.
"If only Victoria would have told me she had a brother."
Grayson's eyes pulsated. "I could have had you out of my hair so much sooner."
"I am my sister's weapon, still sharp even years after you stole
her life..." Averyl whispered, tearing off his cloak and revealing his
black bodysuit. "And she will have her revenge."
Watching the emotion seeping from Averyl and Bruce, Vance could no
longer control himself. With teeth gritted and bared like a rabid beast, he
boomed: "Where's Eden?!"
Grayson scoffed. "You should have stayed dead, trash."
The grey stone buckled under Vance's feet as he shot diagonally upward.
The Snake did not turn his head to acknowledge Vance as he approached. I
know I can't sense his aura, but I don't care. Just being in the same room
as him is enough. Every word that comes out of his mouth, every smirk on his face...I
can't take it anymore!
A sonic boom burst through the stone building as Vance's fist
collided with Grayson's fingertip. The 18-year-old was frozen in space for a moment
as he felt a rush of plague green psynergy, pulsating with power and malice.
It's so overwhelming... Vance had to use more and more of his own psynergy just to keep Grayson
from taking hold. It's invading me, flooding me, as if his aura itself is telling
me to give up...
At last, Grayson slid his eyes over to the right side of his sockets
and made contact with Vance's.
"I killed your mother," he whispered with glee.
"And now I'm going to kill you too."
The words echoed in Vance's mind like a wrecking ball, destroying
all the self-control he had struggled to retain. Instantly, everything in front
of him was replaced by self-doubting darkness.
He's right.
It's impossible.
There's no way you could ever possibly stand a chance against him!
Your mother couldn't beat him! Nor could your uncle, who's still
way stronger than you'll ever be!
Just... give...
Vance's consciousness rocked as Grayson's foot connected with his
body. Barely able to protect himself, he flew straight into the ceiling.
Wendy waited at the bottom and caught him before he hit the ground.
Her frantic eyes flicked between Grayson and Vance, who was hacking violently.
What was that just now? Vance desperately attempted to get a grip on himself. I froze
up and let him get a direct hit on me!
"Ed!" Frank called out. "Are you really going to
let this man kill your son?! Get out here!"
"Oh, Arazia." Grayson's green might pulsated. "Always
so excitable. You'd think that a man who has been conditioned as much as
you would be able to realize the inevitable by now."
"Yeah, I'm smarter than you think, Grayson," Frank spat.
"Smart enough to realize that you're keeping me alive for your own amusement.
But don't expect me to just sit by and watch while you destroy the planet!"
"Oh, I won't be destroying anything," Grayson laughed.
"Will I, President Darcouver?"
Everyone's eyes darted to the final door on the right side of the
catwalk, from which Edward Darcouver appeared. His dark hair was now speckled with
white, and he was clad in a dark blue suit that stretched a bit at the seams. With
small brown eyes crowded by wrinkles, and a double chin that sagged beneath his
frowning mouth, he stared down curiously at the intruders.
"Ed..." Frank stared at the man, who looked a decade older
than he remembered. "Snap out of it already!"
"That's my line." Edward stared down on his co-worker in
contempt. "How dare you abandon the Bakersfield office? We need to keep strengthening
Greymatter support on the West coast."
Frank's jaw dropped.
The deep sound of his father's voice filled Vance's ears as he pulled
himself out from Wendy's arms. Turning to face his father, he was overcome with
a mixture of outrage and pain.
"Dad." Vance spoke the word with not love, but caution.
"Vance." Edward's mouth curved downwards. "Do not
fight. You haven't yet come to comprehend your true purpose in this universe."
Vance looked at his father as if the man was speaking a foreign language.
Edward's words were slow and definite, but they didn't sound like him at all.
"You're being controlled by Grayson, aren't you?"
"No," Edward corrected, "he simply enlightened me. All
I experienced broke my will, but like a broken bone eventually heals with the
proper setting, my will too was mended back into one of iron, with his...assistance."
"You're lying." Frank shook his head. "It can't be!
You're being brainwashed, just like Naomi and I were!"
"I am not. Go ahead, sense my psynergy, Vance. Do you feel Grayson's
on it at all?"
Sense his psynergy? But how can he... Vance's eyes opened wide, and soon he detected his father's aura. It
felt colorless, dark and bottomless.
"The Greymatter..." Vance moaned. "You've been
using a Greymatter?"
"Greymatters are mere toys compared to the technology they
were built upon," Edward explained. "Technology left behind by your
mother, might I add. It was her first project upon starting up Zexaron with
Sasuke and Edgar, which she stopped after uncovering a staggering truth about
what she was going to do."
"The Collapsing Project!" Wendy shouted. "I remember
my father talking about that!"
"Exactly. The Second Collapsing," Edward continued.
"Vance, that was what your mother researched."
"She wanted to open up portals through a bunch of dimensions
again?" Vance asked. "So what?"
"Still so impetuous..." Edward sighed. "Think before
you speak, son. Why do you think they called it The Collapsing to begin with?
What collapsed?"
"The universe," Vance moaned.
"The universe," Edward echoed. "In actuality, the
barriers between dimensions crumbled, swallowing up entire worlds and cramming
them together as the universe shrunk back... or 'reset,' to paraphrase Victoria.
She was trying to destroy everything, and she betrayed many people to make her
dream come true."
"You wanna talk about betrayal?!" Bruce roared. "Let's
talk about that son of a bitch you're working with!"
Edward was unfazed. "Along with the Clock, Victoria stole a
prototype in a project that involved the minds of Grayson, Madeleine, Roufas, and
Phileas, as well as the Psynergy Laboratory Metropolis: a tool capable of amplifying
psynergy."
Averyl raised an eyebrow. "Victoria never mentioned a thing
about that."
"No one involved with the project dared to," Edward replied.
"But Victoria needed it for what she was planning to do: and her first guinea
pig was Edgar J. Caskett."
"My father?" Wendy asked. "But all he could do was
perceive the history of objects."
"Yes. Psychometry," Edward went on. "Edgar's time
with the amplifier was short-lived, but meaningful. It evolved his ability, allowing
him to examine many Earthlings and discover their true talents – myself included."
"So that's why Victoria chose you," Averyl spoke up.
"Out of all the men in the universe my sister could have chosen, it always
puzzled me as to what the defining factor was. Yes...it all makes sense now."
"Victoria discovered my ability, then used me purely for my
genes, in order to make her son even stronger," Edward spoke with little emotion.
"It was along with this that Victoria found out answers to the true mysteries
of our universe: why Earthlings are integral to the balance of the universe, why
the universe is constantly expanding, and where the Space-Time Continuum truly
lies."
"But dad..." Vance pleaded. "I have happy memories
of being with you and mom. We were a real family. We had good times together.
She couldn't have just been using you! She loved you! And she loved me!"
"I thought the same, Vance," Edward said, "until I
woke up to the truth, and my real purpose in the scheme of things. But it's alright,
son. Don't you see? We'll continue your mother's work – what she originally set
out to do. Except we'll do it right this time. We won't just destroy the world.
We'll recreate it – with a brand new God. A better God."
"No!" Vance screamed. "That's not what she wanted!
She would never have wanted to kill millions of people like this!"
Edward shook his head. "Your mother was wrong in breaking her
ties with the Zodiacs, for their goals were actually the same. If only she
hadn't been so stubborn, a new balance could have been set in place by
now."
"Grayson is only out for himself, Ed!" Frank argued.
"How can you not see that?!"
"And yet neither God nor Satan rises to stop me," Grayson
chimed in. "As if they're powerless. As if they have no choice but to
approve – to sit and watch as I ruin all their puny creations."
"Grayson has the blood of angels and demons running through
his veins." Vance's father outstretched his hands, as if probing for agreement.
"He is capable of doing things no one else could – not even your mother.
She knew this," Edward's eyes flashed, "and that's why she feared
him."
Vance fell to his knees, clutching his ears in tortured agony.
"Stop! Please, just stop talking! Don't say any more!"
Frank stumbled back in horror. "So it was all true...everything
you told me on the phone?!"
"Yes...but that's not all," Averyl said firmly. "Victoria
did something that not even you know about, Grayson – something no mother should
ever do."
"No, Averyl!" Vance shouted. "Stop! I don't want to
hear it again!"
"That blood of yours," Averyl chuckled. "The blood
that makes you think you're so special – that makes Edward see you as a God...it's
all inside Vance, Grayson. She used you, and you never even realized it. She used
you both to create the ultimate son."
"What?" Grayson muttered, focusing his eyes on Vance.
"She...what?"
"I cursed my own sister's name the first time I heard it too,"
Averyl went on. "But now I know exactly what she was planning. A single soul,
bearing the blood and genetic information of an Albavitrean, an extremely potent
Earthling, and both pure angelic and demonic blood. It goes back to what
I have always told you, Vance: your potential is limitless."
"You're...my son?" Grayson's eyes widened. "She...she
fused my seed with Edward's?!"
"No!" Vance ripped his head up. "I'm not your son,
and never will be."
"Victoria..." Edward grit his teeth. "All she ever
wanted was to use us..."
Vance directed his furious eyes toward Edward – a man whom he no
longer recognized at all. The feelings welling up in his chest went far beyond his
teenage resentment. Now, he felt only heartbreak, and the humiliation of being
rejected and objectified at the same time.
"No wonder you made so much progress in such a short time. Well
then." Grayson's eyes radiated as he spread out his viral psynergy. "This
is your last chance to prove that you really are not a mistake. Remember, Vance,
we gave you life – life that can be so easily taken away."
Next: Honor Thy Fathers
