Page 65 of Repossess My Heart

This time he moves first and fuck if it doesn’t take everything in me to follow. That lethal precision from our first fight makes so much more sense now. He’d always hated it when I beat him at anything. Silly games kids played, or if I had wolfed down my dinner before him. He worked hard. When the butt of the blade connects with my cheek, I’m knocked backwards, everything in me desperately not wanting to do this.

“Michael…” I pant, dodging the following flurry of stabs and slices he directs towards me.

“No! Not Michael at all, just like you aren’t Nathan. No matter what the girl might’ve convinced you.”

There it is… the rage.

I tap into it, letting it swath me and carry me forward like an entity of its own. Letting it fuel the barrage of clashing blades, fists and kicks that come next. There’s no logic here and my mind hates it. There’s no technique, only twenty some odd years needing to vent and with each time my knife nicks him, it vents it. The betrayal, the pain being bled out of us both, only for bile to gather in its place. My first strategic move comes low as I crouch, narrowly missing the crazed slashing of his double bladed knife. He grunts as barrel into him, letting my body weight knock him off kilter as I slam into his knees. When I spin my blade in my hand, I can’t look as I dig it into the back of his knee. Then another lower severing his Achille’s tendon. His huge frame bows over me, his fucked left leg doing nothing for him any longer as he falls.

“Michael, I’m running out of fucking patience.” I warn as I heave him off me. Rolling onto my back, I jerk to a stand. When pain bursts in my back, it’s enough to bypass the blocker pills I forced us to take, making me stumble forward. I don’t need my drone to know I’ve been stabbed, and somewhere that counts. I reach out to it, the connection flickering.

We’re all running on fumes.

“Set the charges for the exits and get to her.”I send out mentally.

“Master, you are-“

“She is the priority! If I don’t get there in time, you fucking blow the place!” I bellow out loud, my teeth gritting so hard I swear they’ll snap.

There’s nothing more than pure hatred on my brother’s face when I turn towards him. Contempt and repugnance as he glares up at me from the floor. He’s upright now and I can’t help but admire him for getting up on his knee. His fucked leg crumpled underneath him as a crimson-colored pool seeps from it.

I twist the blade around between my fingers as I approach him, “Do you think mom will ever forgive me for this?” The words leave me without my permission, but my mind isn’t slipping right now. This wasn’t the epic fight it should’ve been. I’m butchering him and he’s at a disadvantage. He’s bloody again, but this time I won’t look away, no matter how bad it gets.

He laughs. “You’re abandoning me again, all for a fucking girl!”

“What could I have done!? Every day I hate myself for not dying beside you! I was a kid, and I was scared Michael. I tried to drag you in with me, but you knew! You fucking knew who was at the door! When mom begged you to listen, she begged you to hide and all you could do was fucking smile! That disgusting, empty fucking smile. You knew they were going to fucking kill her! You knew it!” My mind fuzzes and my screams continue, but I’m no longer an active participant in any of it. I’m a bystander and so is he. My Michael is back, his willowy frame and wavy hair free from blood as he watches me. There are no words that pass between us, only the echoed shattering of my soul can be heard as it bounces off him. I’m panting now, my arms shaking as I stare down at what I’ve done. My arm trembling from the force of it all.

He’s no longer sitting up, blood is quickly bubbling up around his fingers as they’re clasped around his throat, “When the Migs approached me, everything they said made so much sense. What mom was doing was wrong. She was ignoring us… fighting a battle that didn’t need to be fought. People were content down here. She was going to throw our world into anarchy. It was easy Nathan…” he sputters, our chests heaving as he spits up blood. “Easy to tell them where we were hiding out. It was easy that night. It was easy every day that followed. The pain was temporary, the Migs wanted a way in, a weapon to destroy it all and you’ve done so well.”

I’ve done so well…

“For your sake, Michael, I hope none of that was true.” The sound of his drone zipping through doesn’t alert me and when the sound of charges exploding in the distance plunges us into darkness, I slip into the shadows leaving him there. The flashing red lights edge my nerves, grating just as thoroughly as the blare of the siren.

“The exits are gone?”I send the thought to my drone, already knowing the answer.

“All but one.”

Good.

I’m so close now to getting everything I want. Blood drips to the floor like the rain I remember from Above as I make my way down the corridor towards the reactors. They were at least half smart in putting the only true controls to the grid down here. Sure, setting the charges and bailing would set them back, even kill everyone in the building, but that’s not enough. It’ll take seconds to turn the reactors on full blast, overloading what’s left of the one in the Down and spilling over to the top… over everything.

Then it’ll all sink into the sea, going lower than it can withstand. Those who aren’t killed by the blast the pressure will take care of-

The sound of hushed rambling makes me pause, my back throbbing with so much pain I have to squeeze my eyes closed against it for a moment. I’m slowing down, and I can’t afford to. Not with her on the line. When I step around the corner to the reactors control room, eyeing the charges set by my drone, I almost miss his hulking form.

“I was waiting for you.” Anton laughs. It’s far from his loud booming one. This is hushed and… uncomfortable. His tied back hair is pulled out from its signature band, wild and knotted in places.

Set your remote override, get your girl out and end it all. Simple.

“I’m not letting you stop me.” I growl, ignoring the man that’s quickly losing his grip. The man that ruined my life… that took-

He laughs again, flicking what I assume is the key to the control room over the landing. I don’t give him a second glance as I punch through the reenforced glass door.

Fucking manual keys.

“Is she safe?”I ask, the sight of Anton up here setting my already tormented nerves on edge.

I let my vision blur for a moment, seeing the outline of her form hunched over in the upper control deck with Six. I posted my drone just outside the door, running patrols in the vicinity. When it clears, I’m already fishing Ten- Michael’s implant from my pocket, waving it over the readers. My heart racing in my chest as it all comes to life around me. When blaring sirens light the room and warnings pop up dotting the holo displays, I take a step back, my brain trying to make sense of what I’m seeing.

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