The Undergrad [Watty Awards 2012][Complete]

Chapter Nineteen

Ethan's POV

Revelation and several more of it keeps on coming like rain would from a cloud.

The moment Ares ended his side of the story that led back to that very day, I was honestly disturbed by the thought that his dweebish assistant knocked me out from flinging a gun on my head.

Secondly, I never thought that the Colonel would sign a contract with ARC let alone comprehend the fact that Ares agreed to it, clumsily making a mess out of the operation.

So much for the peace afterwards.

It was actually funny the way things turned for the worse if one should say so. The firm I once served so obediently was now against me, wanted to have my head.

Robyn, Ares, his troops and I were all cornered in the hall by Emily and her troop that was twice more than what we had with us. It didn't take a genius to go figure that we were on the losing end.

"It was almost about a year ago or so when he contacted me," began Ares, Emily had a gun fixated on his head, from this angle it was hard to tell how she was taking all this in.

"He warned me about ERA's on going project that could possibly mean mass destruction for the world, and it was all because of the one living project they had from us. At first I had no idea what he was talking about, so I began doing massive research on what it was that they had,

"He admitted that from the looks of it, ERA might not possibly be able to control it because they were just power-hungry, so I suggested that whatever it was that they had needed to be destroyed, but he told me it was useless and that he could possibly be the key to end what ERA started since it was from him,"

"Michael?" Asked Emily, loosening her grip on the gun "the key to end what ERA started was Michael?"

"Back then I had no idea what he meant, but no it wasn't Michael. The key is actually Ethan,"

"Me?" I sputtered incredulously, "What did I start?"

A slow, solitary applause echoed down the halls. We all looked around but found no one only to recognize the noise coming from the speakers that was probably built in the walls of the building.

"Bravo," spoke a familiar voice, "well done Dr. Portley, I couldn't expect anything less from someone as excellent as you are,"

"Show yourself you coward!" Roared Robyn as she pounded the heavy chrome walls, actually leaving a dent.

I nearly forgot about what they did to her while we were held captives.

"I'm no coward," he answered smoothly, "its just that I have more important places to be in rather than be with you at the moment,"

"Then why bother talking to us?" I hollered.

"To be honest, I can see each and every movement you guys make from my laptop and... I wanted to see you one last time Ethan, my boy, before you go," his voice was clear as it resonated from the high tech speakers as if he was just right here even if he wasn't.

"Fuck you!" I spat, adding a crisp tone in each syllable. There was a moment of thoughtful silence before he spoke again.

"It was never my intention to create some bond between us, that way I could spare you from any more damage than what the firm intended to do with you,"

Beyond loss for words, I decided to wait for more explanations out of him as I debated whether or not to feel sympathy for the man.

"You were just extracted from the competitor to device a project that could surpass them, all your training was actually just tests to measure what you were capable of and boy was it hard to make a replica of you before we could actually start designing ours," he chuckled after, and I could imagine him shaking his head.