Chapter #40Payback (Your Dues) by: Nostrum   You tap your ear. As you see the faces of your brother (or rather, whoever’s wearing him) and his companions distort, their weapons readied against you, you utter a single phrase.
“Release her.”
“What are you saying?” Morris asks.
“You heard me,” you insist. “Release her.”
You lower your arm, fearing the man with the gun more than the pen itself. Their leader looks at you, amused yet furious. “Smart kid. Brought some backup.”
The sounds of the streets do little to hinder the sounds of her steps – the clack of her heels resounds through the alley, heralding her approach. They grow slower as she approaches, and you see her flanking you from the left. “Clark?” she asks, but her eyes tell you she doesn’t believe.
“Not in control,” you tell her. “I did my best to keep him safe, but couldn’t convince them.”
Her face twists, and she slaps you. “What are you doing with him!?”
“I think it’s obvious,” you tell her. “Wearing him.”
“But why!?”
“I think you can ask your partner, Epsilon. I could ask you why you insist on keeping Nick with you.”
Your false brother cackles, covering his face. “Is this it? You’re angry I’m wearing your brother?”
“Yes, but that’s beside the point.” You remain still, your arms as far as possible from your pockets – even if they have nothing. “I suppose Epsilon told you why I’m here.”
“The ENNEU protocol,” he responds. “The Organization’s fail-safe against traitors.”
“I told you to leave,” Epsilon recriminates. “If you did, I’d make sure your family was safe.”
“They made the same deal. And unlike you, they didn’t use one of my siblings while making the deal.”
“You do know what happens when the ENNEU protocol is finished, right?” You suspect he’s bluffing, and you humor him with your silence. “You know too much. If you’re lucky, you’ll be mind-wiped. The Organization will try to clean things up to avoid attention. Worst case scenario...”
“I already got replaced,” you tell him.
“Oh - so you know what’s going to happen. If so, why are you working with them? You know what’s coming to you.”
“I was already working with them.” You look at Epsilon and grin. “Right, boss?” You feel the fiercest slap ever delivered to your cheek, or the cheek of someone you’ve been wearing.
The attention centers on Epsilon as Sigma snorts. “So, this was your plan?”
She looks at you, then at Sigma. “You’re gonna believe a dog of the Organization? I used him to get the pens from Wright and their goons. When he figured out the C-Sets Chen was pushing, he advanced our plans immensely. But I used him. He’s trying to bluff you.”
“Then why not bring me with you?”
“Because once I got what I wanted, all you were useful was to get the fall for me. Let me make this clear. I needed a useful idiot to get what I wanted, and you were the one who applied.”
That’s low, you think to yourself. “And you didn’t suspect I’d take their offer once I made it? Or that I’d get far enough to get you two here?”
“Dumb luck can get you far.”
“Then leaving me with your skin, with your memories, a phone, money, a gun and the D-pen, was an accident? No. That doesn’t sound like dumb luck. That sounds like a plan. You knew they’d trigger the ENNEU protocol once you went rogue. You just manipulated who’d they activate.”
You observe their reactions. Epsilon’s angry but startled, and Sigma’s mask of quietude has shown a crack. “You wanted someone trustworthy to chase you. But after what happened to Renner, you told them to choose an outsider. That’s why I was the one, right?”
“Is that true, Epsilon?”
“You believe his word over mine? He was already replaced by the Organization. I was going to off him after our reunion. I didn’t expect they’d get to him.”
“That’s not what you told me back home.” Once again, you notice Sigma’s look hardening. “You made me one last deal. Get off this. I could return to my old life--”
“After I noticed you escaped! And I was willing to agree, in fact.”
“But you decided to keep on using my brother for a little bit more. Your agency said they’d be safe, and they actually apologized for not being able to save my brother. They owned up to their mistakes.”
“And you’re going to believe a big agency whose whole purpose is to deceive?”
“And I should’ve trusted you, then, who’s lying even now? I thought Clark was the patsy.”
“You--!” Epsilon huffs, swallowing her words. “You recriminated me for wearing your brother, I countered by asking why you were wearing your sister. Pointing out your hypocrisy.”
You grin. “If we’re going to debate what happened there, we can debate about your feelings for Clark.”
“And as I reminded you, Adrienne is--”
“You’re lucky Clark isn’t awake to hear this. Or hear how I saw you kissing that guy.” You point at Sigma, drawing attention to yourself. “He promised you’d be free together, didn’t he?”
That shocks both of them, but it’s Sigma who responds. “So you were the one who spied on us.”
“After I got the tip, sure. Wonder how you were tagged.”
“The phone,” Epsilon replies. “After we disposed of it, they--”
“Yet you ended up in their house,” Sigma counters, and his companions focus their attention on Epsilon. “Why?”
“I had to act as him. He always goes to his house occasionally.”
“And you’re telling him that flaw now?” You chuckle, and though that draws their attention to you, you press that wedge further. “Epsilon, you knew I’d be there. You know I care about my family – or else, you wouldn’t have pointed out how his plan would endanger them. You knew I’d return once I had the chance, to check on them. And because of that, you needed to be Nick.”
“He’s right,” Sigma admits. You’re turning him against Epsilon. Your plan’s working. “I was wondering why you asked us to switch up until now.”
“I told you – I needed to deal with some loose ends. If I couldn’t off him back then, I’d do it there.”
“But you didn’t.” You grin, but your attitude doesn’t faze them. It confuses the operatives, of course, as they glance at you, but their threat is squarely upon Epsilon. “You were there to tell me all I needed. That wasn’t ‘tying loose ends’, Epsilon. That was a briefing.”
Your revelation was so shocking, even Morris had to react. “What’s that about a briefing?”
“I distinctly recall otherwise,” Epsilon claims in a feeble defense you immediately dismantle.
“You told me I was smart, that I’d figure it out. This all started when your phone got tapped. That’s how I knew you guys were using Nick.”
“When was that?” Sigma threatens.
“I didn’t know my phone would be tapped!”
“No. You made it so it’d be deliberately tapped, so I’d be there, at the reunion point. And there, you mentioned you’d miss Silva. I know why – because of Clark. You love him. But that’s not what you made Sigma think.”
That jars your fake brother, but only slightly. “Interesting. So you know our names.”
“Must have been on the report.”
“Actually, I learned your codename was Epsilon because he said it,” you say as you point at the impostor. “And I know their codename because you told me,” you say while pointing at your former companion.
“That was a lapse of judgment,” Epsilon says, barely defending herself – as if giving excuses to a boss. Sigma’s reaction – nonplussed – tells you everything.
“And in the same breath, she mentioned she cares for Clark.” You deliver the final blow with gusto. “Sigma, I’m sorry to say, but you were the patsy all along. You fell for the honey trap, hook, line and sinker.”
“What makes you think I fell for the trap?” Sigma whistles and grins.
You hear gunshots from above – a brief, clean skirmish, from the sounds of it. As bodies fall from the gutters into the hard concrete, splattering blood and brain mass all over, the armed operative readies his gun at you, and you raise your arms, facing death squarely in the eye.
And then, you see him fall. A loud bang deafens your left ear. Epsilon points his gun at Sigma, deadly serious. “That you didn’t believe him.”
You see your brother’s face distort. Sigma is furious. He tries to run away, giving his final orders. “Deal with them.”
The other operative readies his pen. Epsilon tries to fire, but she’s too slow. You see her body deflate, reaching only fast enough to grab the gun from her hands.
You aim the gun at the operative, gripping tight. He shoots at you, and you feel the same numbness as before; you waste no time squeezing the trigger, disabling him. As you recover, you grab the pen he’s trying desperately to reach, and with a click, end his pain and show him mercy.
It’s then when you hear a gurgle from a distance, and the buzz of a taser. Sigma’s on the floor, convulsing, as Morris draws a white pen from his coat. “You know what to do,” he tells you.
You approach close enough to zap him. You notice the bluish flare emerging from his body, and the pained cackle that follows. “Y-you’ll have to k-kill me, kid. I c... I c-can’t be turned.”
Morris grabs his arms and grins, holding him tight as he feebly resists. “Go ahead,” he says. “Go wild.”
You grab Sigma by your brother’s hair, ripping his face off. Like an onion, you peel layers of other people – Gina, a bum, many other strangers... It is only when you meet a teenager, barely your age, his skin pale from lack of sun, that you stop with satisfaction.
You clench Clark’s fist while grabbing Sigma’s neck with the other. You squeeze it tight, pulling your arm as your face deforms into a rictus of anger. And before you unleash it, you tell Sigma the reason.
“This is for my brother, asshole.”  You have the following choice:  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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