Now that I knew the Secret, there was only one thing to do: tell it. The more people that knew about it, the better.
It wouldn't be easy taking down the TKA, so I couldn't do it alone. That prompted the question "who can I trust?"
Obviously not the person who's pointing a gun at me.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
My hand inches towards my still-concealed pistol. I don't want to use it, but it seems like I'm going to have to.
I pull the gun out and hold it close to my thigh. Then I spin around.
"Bil." I smile. "It's so lovely to see you."
He shifts the barrel so it's staring between my eyes.
"What did you learn?" His voice is rougher than I remember it to be. I suppose that Vanessa was right when she said that not everything is the same in parallel worlds.
"You must be impatient, to cut to the chase like that. Not even time for formalities." I cluck my tongue at him.
Though I'm keeping up a carefree attitude, my internal feelings are anything but. My hands shake, and my blood, rich with adrenaline, courses through my veins at an impossibly high rate.
"I suppose you could say that I am an impatient man, Maxx. My men will be here any second, and if you won't give up your knowledge now, they'll deal with you," Bil sneers.
"It's bad form to kill someone that you need information from," I point out. Hey, if it saves my life I'm fine with it.
Bil's expression doesn't change, but he lets out a small grunt. "Try me."
I open my mouth to respond, but a slight sound behind my attacker catches my attention. He hears it too and spins around.
Vanessa stands in the doorway, her body rigid as she assesses the situation.
"Get out," I mouth to her as subtly as possible. She shakes her head.
Bil must have noticed our exchange, because he hits a button and the glass door slams shut. Vanessa is now trapped inside.
"No!" I shout, lunging for her. Bil blocks me and grabs her, pointing his gun at her throat.
"Perhaps this will give you some motivation to tell us the Secret," he smirks. I aim at his chest.
"Make one move and I will kill you." My voice is filled with determined anger, like a snake ready to strike.
Bil laughs and pulls Vanessa in front of him. "You shoot, she gets hit. Your problem. I've got nothing to lose." He's right. We can't kill each other, but Vanessa is the unlucky one in the middle.
His finger hovers over the trigger. Every single one of my senses screams for me to fire now, before it's too late. But I know I can't. I lower my gun.
"Maxx," Vanessa says, her voice oddly even. I look at her. There is no trace of fear in her eyes, which surprises me. "Did the Secret reveal itself to you?"
"Yes," I whisper. She smiles.
"I knew it would."
I'm snapped back to attention when Bil speaks. "I'll give you three seconds to answer this question: who dealt the damage?"
I stand there, mute. I'm not sure why he needs to know the Secret, but it can't be good if he has to threaten me to find out.
"One." I refuse to say anything. "Two." His finger moves closer to firing. "Three." The trigger is pulled... Almost.
"Time travelers," I blurt out. No matter how dark his purpose is, I can't let Vanessa die because of me, even if she isn't the woman from my universe.
I look at her. Her eyes darken, and I nearly regret saying anything.
Bil pushes her forward a bit. "Hmm. This is an effective method," my former friend observes. "Next question: what is the damage?"
"One." Pause. "Two." I have to answer.
"Parallel worlds are being destroyed because of-" I start to say. In the middle of my sentence Bil slumps to the floor.
Vanessa yanks a needle out of his leg and tosses it to the floor. "Sedative," she explains. Then she reaches over, picks up his gun, and examines it.
"It wasn't even loaded!" she frustratedly exclaims. "Honestly, you can be so stupid sometimes." She glares at me. I shrug.
"What was I supposed to do? Take the chance?" I ask, exasperated. Vanessa crosses her arms.
"Yes!" she exclaims. I run a hand through my hair. Women are so hard to please.
"I would have saved your life, and you're telling me I shouldn't have?"
Vanessa looks me dead in the eye. "Look, Maxx, I appreciate it. But now you have to kill him, because he knows and we can't risk that knowledge being leaked."
I slam my fist into the nearest wall. "Way to go, Maxx," I berate myself. Shooting my best friend's counterpart was not on my agenda for the day.
"Give me your pistol; I'll do it," she says, probably noticing my distress.
"No. I started this mess, I've got to finish it." Really, I don't want to seem weak, but she doesn't need to know that.
I walk over to Bil's unconscious body and try to still the tremor in my hands as I aim.
Looking away, I shoot. My fiery red plasma bullet leaves a deep hole in his chest. The sound echoes throughout the cramped room. Bile instantly rises in my throat, and I feel dizzy.
Vanessa hits the button to activate the doors. I take a few deep breaths and lean against the entryway to steady myself. When I'm ready I walk out, my expression steel.
This is a parallel world. That was not the Bil you knew. You did what you had to, I reason. I'm trying to justify my action because it's all I can do to not completely lose it.
"Let's go," I say, my voice more hoarse than I would have liked. Vanessa nods and steps outside the room.
"I need to get back to my world. They've got to know, and I have to stop all time travel," I state.
"Sounds like a plan," Vanessa agrees. Thankfully she doesn't ask questions over how or why I developed my plan. We set off towards the room with all of the machines. I lead the way.
The sound of our footsteps bounces through the hallways. It's eerily quiet.
I frown. "Shouldn't there be people around?"
"Now that you mention it, yes," she confirms.
"We have to get to that room as fast as possible, then." I break into a run, Vanessa close on my heels.
The scanner doesn't pop up when we reach the door. I wonder why, until I see the control panel. It has been sabotaged. The wires are pulled out and sliced to shreds. There is no hope of restoration.
"Guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way," I mutter, heaving the doors apart by hand. It takes quite a bit of work, but eventually they open a tiny bit.
I raise my pistol and cautiously peer through the crack. Since the control panel was ruined, anyone could be in there.
Which is why I'm shocked when there is no one. I slip through, motioning for Vanessa to follow. She immediately grabs a long weapon from a shelf nearby. It has the appearance of a rifle.
I start towards the central platform. I'm halfway there when I hear a clatter behind me. Spinning around, I watch in horror as dozens of TKA soldiers pour through the open door. More come out from a secluded alcove in the back of the room.
We are surrounded within seconds. A young soldier with straw-blond hair turns and yells, "We've got 'em cornered!" I gulp.
An instant later the recipient of the boy's message steps into the room. He is the exact double of Greydon, but with a thick, ugly scar from his eyebrow to his chin. It crosses through the empty tissue where his right eye used to be, providing an eerie effect.
"Put your weapons down and your hands above your head," he orders. "Both of you!" the general barks when no one moves. We have no choice but to obey.
I look around. The ring of armed men is two rows thick. All of the exits are blocked, and there are no windows. The controls to the transporter are clear across the room. If either of us moves an inch, we're both dead.
There's no way out of this one.
••••••••••Author's Ramblings••••••••••
Greetings, Gifted!
Remember when I said that this story would be ten or eleven chapters long? Yeah, that's not going to happen. It'll be a lot longer than that- yay!
This chapter was a bit shorter, so sorry about that. The next chapter will have more action. I also apologize for the late update. I was quite busy with Easter festivities.
I edited the previous chapter (Chapter 9- Lies), so if you're interested give it another read. I didn't change much, but a few things are different.
Here is this week's question: Will Maxx and Vanessa get out of their sticky situation? If so, how?
Here is this week's fun question (NEW!): What is your favorite flavour of ice cream? I quite like Buckeye.
Let me know in the comments!
If you're looking for something to read, go check out @KitKatKates, @AgeOfVampires, @The_Fallen_Rose, @XBlueBirdsX, @BexiLee, @mandystache, and @DavidRovenoff14. They all have awesome stories that are worth a read.
See that little grey button with a star? Yes! That one! It is a sad button. Do you know what would make it happy? If you clicked it! :D
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Thank you so much for your support- I love you all!
That's it for now, so have a fantastic night!