EARLIER...
"I think we've given Ryan enough time to worry about you," said Noah amusingly, roaming around the living room with careful steps. He did not take his mean eyes off Luka.
"W-would you mind lowering your gun?" Luka whimpered kindly. "It's scaring me." He was sitting on the couch, hands in his lap, defenseless, and had nowhere to run if he wanted to.
"I'll be happy to pull out my knife instead," Noah offered. "Ryan will be very anxious to hear what I have to say."
"You touch my son; I will touch you back!" Luka threatened through his teeth. "Every bone. Every bruise. Every scar the same!"
"You gonna fight me all by yourself, Chandler?" Noah said, unintimidated by him. "Or are you going to forget we even had this conversation?"
Luka was ready to spit in his face. "I will always remember you."
"I don't remember this being part of the plan," said Isabelle. She presented herself into the living room, arriving at the scene.
For a moment, Noah dropped his mouth from shock. "Well, look who it is," he said, shaking off the startle. "The one time you decide to come to my house, and you choose now. What are you doing here?"
"What do you want Ryan over here for?" Isabelle asked calmly.
"I need his help with something," Noah answered.
"There are nicer ways to ask than to use his father as bait."
Noah laughed at her. "I wanted him to be desperate enough to get here."
During their conversation, Luka was staring straight at the wall, dead silent, and Noah almost forgot he was in the room with them.
"And why do you so desperately need Ryan's help?" Isabelle asked slowly; her voice sounded taunting.
"To kill you," Noah answered straightforwardly. "I'm handing you into Nightfire. Thanks for saving us a trip."
Isabelle nodded her head once. "You're betraying me," she realized. "I knew it was going to come to this."
"I trusted you," Noah growled. "I never expected this from you. We were supposed to take over the universe together. Take control of the Orichalcum. Defeat the Cluster finally. And you pull strings behind my back?"
"Oh, like you aren't pulling strings behind Sag's back." Isabelle reversed the accusation right back to him. "You planned your own kidnapping, and now your son believes you're in danger."
Luka glanced at Noah, then. "I'm disappointed in you, Noah," said Luka.
"Shut up, Chandler!" Noah snarled, raising the gun toward him. "Don't interrupt us!" He finally lowered his gun and started waving it around Isabelle. "I am in danger!" he protests at her. "I have everybody from Prescyla One, down to the Nebula Armstrong galaxy looking for me. I couldn't let him know that I had gone into hiding. It was too risky."
"You are nobody's hostage from where I'm standing," Isabelle said. "For the record, I was loyal to you. I didn't tell the Cluster I knew where you were. Or that we have the Orichalcum. The plan was to get close to the Cluster to steal their technology and use the Orichalcum at its full potential. Don't you remember? I am still doing all of this for us."
"You put my son in harm's way," Noah scorned. "I had to find out from the Nightfire tournament on TV that the Cluster captured him. They used the biochip you planted in him to track him. How do you think they knew about that? I don't remember that being part of the plan, either. You're driving your own bus."
"And what kind of bus are you driving?" Isabelle's voice raised to a shout. "Ryan kills me over here, and then what? Are you going to kill him, too? Destroy the entire A'Dimsyte galaxy with the Orichalcum? Your son," she adds on sternly, "will never join you. He has become quite a bit attached to Nightfire. And he won't appreciate what you're doing."
"Oh, he will," Noah assured her. "It's only a matter of time before Sag realizes what Nightfire really is. A cult!"
Isabelle sneered. "You've lost your mind, haven't you? Forget to think this through?"
Noah smiled back, chillingly. "Here's how this is going to play out," he declared. "You give me the Orichalcum back this instant. If you don't, Ryan will kill you on the spot. They will never know I was here, and you will suffer a horrible, horrible death. He is on his way here right now, as we speak. You best hurry and make your decision."
Isabelle was already clutching it in the pocket underneath her weapons belt. There was the sweat of fear in her eyes. "This is how you're going to end our relationship?" The pain in her voice caused Noah to hesitate.
"As a formal member of the Exchurch," he said. "It is still my obligated duty to make sure people like you aren't planning to use the Orichalcum to take over the universe for themselves. Do us both a favor and give me the Orichalcum. So I can destroy the A'Dimsyte galaxy for the last time!"
"This revenge scheme you have on them is starting to get old, Noah." Isabelle didn't reveal the Orichalcum but kept it tight in her clutch. "Are you going to kill everyone who ever hurt your feelings?"
"Give. Me—" Noah said impatiently, raising his gun at her. "The Orichalcum back. Now."
"I'm going to make you a deal," Isabelle said.
"You are in no position to bargain with me," Noah said dismissively.
"Wanna bet?" Isabelle challenged. "I'm the only one you know who can get you to Maxwell safely. You still need his technology, reports, and knowledge if you want to use the Orichalcum correctly. If you kill me, who is going to teach you everything that I already know? I've been talking to the Cluster the most." She was starting to sound desperate. "Let me keep the Orichalcum for now, and I'll take you to Maxwell. You can study how to use the Orichalcum all you want. Because let's face it, you don't know how to use its functions."
Noah was prepared for this and even lowered his gun an entire yard. "You're a crazy woman. This is just a tactic to buy yourself more time to figure out what you will do. You and I both know you were planning this whole time to use the Orichalcum against me. You thought you could get one over me? I've figured out how to use the Orichalcum, no thanks to you."
The look behind Isabelle's eyes was an obvious hint her deal was pointless. "What are you talking about?"
"How do you think Luka and I got over here in the first place?" Noah asked rhetorically. "I keep a cryogenic chamber in the sanctum."
Isabelle didn't know about that. "But," she stuttered. "You kept using mine."
"And I appreciate the favor," Noah said.
Isabelle snapped. "You are not taking the Orichalcum away from me," she said. "It's mine. You will never beat Maxwell's army all by yourself."
"Your first mistake," Noah said. "Was not having a backup team." Noah glanced back at Luka, distracting Isabelle long enough to make the first attack. But when he's about to punch her across the head, dead, it was at that precise moment Isabelle dodge-rolled across the floor and pulled out a large pistol from her weapons belt. The bullet, sticking out in the back like an infusion, is a needle made of glass.
Isabelle's back was facing Luka now, and she couldn't see him smiling for outsmarting Noah. "You know what gun this is?" Her voice shook.
Noah didn't answer. He just stared at it.
"Yeah," Isabelle whispered. "You know what this is. Kor calls it the Amorcore. Drop your weapon now."
Noah chuckled at his situation and tossed his ordinary pistol to the side. It was no match for what was facing him. "Did Maxwell give you that new toy, hmm?"
"What do you want with Ryan?" Isabelle demanded. "You don't need him to kill me. What does he have that you want?"
Noah doesn't take away his disgusting smile. "All you need to know is Ryan will be dead by the time—"
BOOM!
Luka sprang from the couch, out of rage—triggered about the threats towards his son. A shot was fired from the Amorcore. But Isabelle didn't pull the trigger. Luka had grabbed hold of her hand, took control, and shot a needle right at Noah's chest. The bullet shatters instantaneously, but the chemicals released afterward make him noticeably weaker—as if his super strength drained.
It took a moment for Noah to realize what had happened. That it took all his strength to endure such a ghastly bullet, someone with ordinary muscles would have suffered an excruciating death. Still, now he doesn't have his genetic ability anymore. He may very well experience that.
Isabelle and Luka struggled on the floor, trying to take control of the gun. Terrified, Noah fled the scene.
"No!" Luka cried, watching his formal best friend escape. He concentrated hard, and with the help of telekinesis, he threw Isabelle off him, the Amorcore skidding across the floor with her.
Luka had no idea where Noah beelined off, but his first instinct was to search the sanctum. Trying to concentrate was difficult. Luka couldn't remember what he was doing, and his memory would sometimes go haywire. All he could think of was how much he wanted to get back to Ryan. He was not going to let Noah getaway if it meant he was going to hurt his son. He never stopped focusing on that.
When Luka stumbled into the sanctum, he saw a running generator, a worker's bench, chalkboard, but no sight of Noah. He took a step forward, resting his hand on the worker's bench, and skimmed around the room aimlessly. Noah could have been upstairs for all he knew.
"Noah, you are a very bad man," Luka mumbled, and that's when he saw it. Behind the chalkboard was a secret door, like a passageway. Except this door didn't have a doorknob. Carved into the wall, it's one of those doors you must push on to open. "Noah, you are a clever man."
The chalkboard and two boxes had been pushed back to access this door. He gave it a gentle push, and the door opened halfway. Right when he stepped into this spare room, he witnessed Noah trying to escape through the upright cryogenic chamber.
Luka ran forward, catching Noah by surprise, and smacked him across the face. Noah rammed him back, but the lack of his super strength was easy to overcome. It was an intense struggle about pulling Noah out of the cryogenic chamber while Noah was trying to keep Luka from getting in. Finally, after grunting for maximum efforts and receiving bloody blows from each other, Luka bit down on Noah's hand, deep.
"ARGH!" screamed Noah, pulling away.
Andthen Luka closed the cryogenics door on them both. Wherever Noah was freezingoff to, Luka had no choice but to follow him, too.