*BANG*
All I saw was red.
I flinched backwards while the hostage slipped from my grip.
In an instant, I recompartmentalized my thoughts entirely to observation.
The hostage fell sideways. His head hit the floor with a wet sound.
Blood drops splattered and hit my pants.
Suddenly, the blood stuck-in-the-air fell down too.
It hit the ground and scattered. More blood on me.
But now that the air-stuck blood was gone, I could see past it again.
I looked at the stairs, at the culprit who dirtied me.
James's expressionless clone lowered its gun with which he had shot both men in the head.
And the one I was holding hostage, he put a barrier between the hostage and my head, which had stopped the bloodied bullet that went through.
Now in the aftermath, the clone kept staring at me.
And I stared right back, with the same expressionless face.
Because James was digging me for something, and I wouldn't give him anything.
I had flinched, but the barrier had blocked his view too. He had taken it down in just a second or two, but that was more than enough for me to suppress every thought and emotion. I hadn't given him anything.
Now the seconds were passing by as I just stood still and stared back thoughtlessly.
Until the clone moved again.
He put the gun behind him on the stairs, after which he immediately dissipated into thin air.
And once I saw that, finally, I let my thoughts return again.
*Huh* *ha* *huh* *ha*.
I immediately started hyperventilating and shaking.
They'll be here any second now. I had to control myself.
Br… Breathe in, breathe out. In. Out.
I kept it going for a while, only focusing on breathing.
Slowly, my body stopped shaking too. I… I could think normally again.
…The gun first.
I walked around the body and blood in front of me towards the stairs. Once I was there, I grabbed the gun and holstered it.
It went a bit awkwardly, since I had to use my left hand and the holster was on my right leg. My right hand was too painful to move. The bones probably broke when I covered my head from slamming into the ceiling, but better my hand than my skull. And a broken hand was the least of my worries now.
Therefore, I removed the holster and put it on my left leg instead while continuing to think.
James had shot them in cold blood. Why? Well, I knew why.
To prevent me from interrogating them further. He must have sent the clone downstairs to help me. Then when he heard what I was doing, he made sure to prevent me from finding any connections back to him. And afterwards, he was staring me down to figure out if I had any suspicion towards him at the moment.
*Pat* *pat* *pat*.
My thoughts got interrupted by the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs.
I walked a few steps back to await them coming down while continuing to think.
Damn it, I was now completely sure James was involved somehow, but I still lacked any definitive proof. And James probably killed those guys upstairs too, so the best way to gain any proof was now a dead end.
But there must be other ways to link James to those guys. As I thought about everything I knew so far, a few possibilities did come to mind, but I had to be subtle about it.
I needed to be absolutely sure that Willow would be convinced. Because if James manages to defend himself, I could get neither on my side ever again. My father would have them both in his pocket forever.
So, for the first possibility that I could explore, I needed to do it as soon as possible.
With that thought finished, I put my hand in one of my coat pockets and grabbed my hidden phone.
I typed a message to Elise.
And when I was finished and took my hand out again, I finally saw someone rushing down the stairs towards me.
Ken was running towards me with a mix of concern and fury on his face.
"Jack, are you alright!? Are you hurt!?" he immediately asked when he stopped in front of me.
"Just a few bruises and a broken hand. My head feels fine. …My stomach hurts, but I think I'm alright."
"Are you sure!? I saw…"
He looked at my stomach.
"I didn't vomit blood. But quick, tell me, James."
"I… I saw…, he shot at you."
"I know. But he put a barrier between us."
"But why!?"
"Don't know. But what took you so long?"
"I… James was hesitating. I saw it all go wrong so quickly."
"When did he hesitate?"
"Upstairs, when I saw you charge in, but he eventually decided to grab Willow's gun and sent his clone to fly down—"
"Did he wait somewhere during that time?"
"I… he reached you just after you started interrogating. Before that I was too focused on you fighting."
"Alright."
Nothing substantial enough to accuse him of anything.
I wanted to coordinate more with Ken for later, but I held my tongue because I saw Willow run down the stairs next.
She first looked at me and Ken, then at the rest of the room.
When she saw the corpses, her expression grew conflicted, but she quickly turned her attention back to me.
"Are you alright? You're not wounded? She asked…
"I'm fine, nothing critical."
"…What happened here," she asked, once again looking at the corpses.
"…I'd like to know that too, but we'll have to wait for James to explain."
Willow's eyes shifted back to me. Her expression showed flashes of conflict once I said my brother's name, but she quickly stifled them before silently nodding.
And while continuing to look at the two corpses, after thinking for a moment, she summoned a few of her clones to drag them out of sight.
'And out of mind,' I thought as I looked at the real Willow's expression. She was keeping a good poker face. I wasn't sure if she was satisfied, regretful, conflicted…
But time kept going, and after she had moved the bodies, we three continued to wait in silence for maybe about half a minute. After that, I once again heard footsteps, but this time at a slower pace than the two times before.
And a few more seconds later, James emerged down the stairs, walking.
Once I saw his face, I knew he was the real one and not a clone, because he had an expression.
He was staring at me in anger.
I had decided to match his emotions.
He stopped at the bottom. Ken was still seething and standing next to me, and I was standing across from my brother. Willow was in between the three of us to the side.
All of us were silent for a moment, until James finally opened his mouth towards me.
"You goddamn vegetarian! I knew you didn't have it in you! I should have said something! What the hell were you thinking, offering to let them go!"
"So you just decided to shoot them, with me in the crossfire!?"
"I put a barrier in front of you, that's not the point! The point is that you, as always, can't put your morals aside to do what needs to be done!"
"You want to take a look in that elevator to see if I can't put my morals aside!"
"I'm the one who shot that elevator down."
"It was my plan, and I would have shot those guys here myself if my gun didn't vanish in thin air! In fact, when everything went to shit, I didn't run away so they had a chance to escape, unlike you cowering in that room!"
"My circumstances were different. In contrast, you had a gun upstairs, and somehow those guys were still all alive!"
"I didn't need to."
"And we needed to clean your 'didn't need to' upstairs! And here, you decided for yourself to keep your hands clean and let them go once you were done playing question and answer!"
"So you were here! Why didn't you interfere earlier! I almost died!"
"My clone had just arrived there at that moment! Answer the question!"
"Of course I wouldn't have let them leave! We would all decide what to do with them afterwards, until you decided to take matters into your own hands!"
"Oh yeah!? Looking back at all our hunting trips and your actions upstairs, I didn't have the confidence that you would simply stand by and let us kill them if it would come down to that."
"I would have, but it doesn't matter anymore anyway by the sound of it. Did you execute those guys upstairs too!?"
"…I did," Willow said after just silently watching me and James 'talk'.
I looked into her eyes, waited a moment, feigned taking a few deep breaths to calm down, and continued speaking to her calmly.
"…Why didn't you wait until this was all over?"
I saw her eyes briefly move towards James before snapping back to me. James' idea then.
"They could have woken up before this was all over. It was too dangerous to keep them under control then, so I shot them when I still had the chance."
"…I see. Then we'll never know why they were here."
"What do you mean?"
"…I wanted to make sure if they weren't here for someone specifically, for… you or James."
Willow's eyes went wide. I saw some doubt and anxiety cross her face, before finding back her composure to ask further.
"Why did you think that?"
"I found it odd that they were so well organized. It was almost like they had planned it beforehand, which would be odd if done so quickly after the riot started. And when things went wrong for them here, they stubbornly stuck around despite the danger, like they had a purpose here."
"…When did you realize this?"
"…The moment I took that guy hostage. I… needed to buy time to keep the other guy from fleeing or becoming desperate, so the idea to interrogate him while promising his freedom came to me. And when I thought about what to interrogate him about, that's when I began thinking that there was something odd about this whole set of events. That's the best I can describe it."
"…So why didn't you kill those guys upstairs?" She asked, looking intensely at me.
"…I didn't need to. I didn't want to. …It… in the moment, it didn't come up in me to kill them. …I don't really know. …I'm sorry."
Her eyes softened a bit before continuing.
"You should have said something. If you weren't comfortable with it, we could have thought of something else."
"…I was the one best suited to do it. And… I thought when I told you my plan that I didn't want to let someone else be responsible for murder on my behalf. And I thought I could do it …I still think that."
"…I understand. But it was everyone's responsibility, even if you came up with everything. And if you were reluctant, you were not the most fitted to do it. Something we would have figured out together if you came clean."
"…You're right. I'm sorry."
"…Don't be. Just… keep it in mind. We got them in the end."
I nodded. I glanced at my brother too. Disappointment and worry towards me. Yeah, I figured. But… where was his suspicion?
"…So, what we were talking about just now," Willow continued, drawing my attention back to her. "When you interrogated them, did they… say something?"
"They were following their captain's orders. He said none of them lived here or ever been in the building, and that they were here for the… women," I said, the last part coming out of my mouth with some difficulty, and Willow briefly grimaced too. "I wanted to ask more, but… well…"
I looked at James, and Willow followed my gaze and spoke to James next.
"You overheard them, right? What do you think?"
"…I thought he was just buying time to let them live, I didn't realize he was interrogating them for some other reason. …I'm sorry for saying that stuff, Jack."
…He dropped his suspicion that I had potentially figured him out just like that?
…Well, I guess in his eyes I'm still just his 'little brother'. Best keep it that way and use Ken.
"…It's fi—"
"No, it's not!" Ken interrupted next to me, exactly like I thought he would.
"Ken, I said it's—"
"He almost shot you! And he hesitated in helping you when you were—"
"It was a chaotic situation. Sometimes you hesitate. I hesitated too when that gun disappeared out of my hand."
"…But."
"Thanks for getting angry for me. But it's fine, really."
"…Alright then," Ken finished with, finally relaxing that frown constantly aimed at my brother.
And when I looked back at James, he had a small smile on his face, making him seem more at ease compared to before.
"You found a good friend."
"…I know."
"Shut up," Ken muttered.
"But coming back to the topic," James continued by turning towards Willow to answer her question. "From what Jack said and their…. motive…, I think this is just another random tragedy we got caught up in, like what is happening in the rest of this city. …It didn't sound to me like Jack was getting anywhere when talking to them."
"…Okay," Willow said softly, while sinking into thought.
I waited a few seconds, and when nobody filled the silence, I turned to Ken.
"What do you think?"
"Me?"
"You were watching them constantly. Did you notice something? What's your opinion?"
"…Well."
Ken fell into thought, with us turning our attention towards him. After a moment he spoke and told me.
"I thought they worked well together too, and you said they called their leader captain, right?"
"They did. …Did you see their powers when I—"
"Yeah, it looked like—"
"A tackle and a kick."
"So, were they?"
"A football team."
"Again! Goddamn it! I swear, all those guys really are—"
"Um…," I heard from Willow.
"Oh, sorry," I said, turning towards her before continuing. "They were probably all part of the same football team."
"…Are you guys sure? I thought footballers didn't really tackle?"
…I looked at her confused. Wasn't that common knowledge?
"American football, Willow," James added after a moment.
"Oh, I see…
Willow looked clarified before turning her head back to me and Ken.
"You… said again?"
"We've had some bad experiences with football players at our school… and recently outside it..." I managed to say calmly despite the now dead stooges flashing through my mind.
"Bad experience being a real understatement," I heard Ken mutter in addition while figuratively hearing his gnashing teeth.
"…Okay," She said, curious to ask more but suppressing it. I just continued the conversation.
"Did any of you know or recognize these guys, or other people in a football team?"
"I don't know anyone from any football team," Willow said, whereafter we all looked at James.
"I don't know them, but I know of them. They were probably part of this university's football team, damn it."
"Grr, of course. Of all the things," Willow spitted out.
I waited a moment, and then continued asking.
"I want to make sure. Nobody has a… grudge against either of you? Either in that football team or in general?"
Willow's head immediately snapped toward me, eyes wide. But after seeing I was seriously asking, she responded calmly.
"I can't imagine."
I looked again at James, but this time next to calmness I saw some sharpness in his eyes towards me.
"No. And to add, we're not out of the woods yet. I'd rather be out of this city as soon as possible if the military could be around the corner."
"Me too, but before we go, I'd like to figure out if we're still in danger, because… someone could have ordered this team here to target either you or Willow?"
"And what makes you think that? Willow asked me with an intense gaze.
"I… I just find everything still suspicious, is all, so I wanted to say it out loud. What do you all think?"
Everyone stayed silent, and fell in thought once I said that. After only a moment, Ken was looking at me again, and Willow shortly after towards James, who was still considering things.
I still saw uncompromised trust in her eyes.
Not good, her dismissing suspicious behavior towards him so quickly. She had to think on her own to start questioning what happened.
…I needed to work on that. Less trust in James, more towards me.
After a few more seconds, James gave his answer to me.
"It still doesn't make sense. They said they were after the women."
"That could have been just the excuse that their captain used to convince the rest of the team."
"It's still far-fetched. Why are you still not satisfied with the simple explanation?"
"Because I want to be thorough, for Willow."
Her eyes went wide at me again, and I continued talking to her.
"Despite possible danger, if there's really someone still out there that targeted this building to get to you, would you just let it go without absolutely making sure?"
"…I—"
"Even if, and that's a big if, there was someone like that, it would be impossible to find them," James interjected.
"That's not true. Willow could leave a clone behind here in hiding, to see if someone else shows up. And even better, if we can find a motive, that can give us a direction."
James fell into thought, and I looked at Willow. She was in thought too.
"What do you think?" I asked her.
"…Well, I think leaving a clone behind is good. And a motive… I can't think of anything…"
She looked at James, but he shook his head. They then focused back on me.
I saw renewed sharpness in James' eyes. Maybe I had pushed things too far. I needed to let him drop his guard again.
"…I can think of two for now," I said, looking James in the eyes.
…His gaze penetrated mine, and Willow also gained a serious expression.
I prepared myself for a moment, because it was time…
To play the fool.