It was a quarter to midnight when the intruder broke into Veidt enterprises. It hadn't taken a great deal of effect to bipass the security measures. It had been done before, a second break in had proved much easier. It was a wonder this building remained standing. Only four other buildings had managed to withstand the blast.
A sweat dampened hand pushed open the door to the pent house section of the building, the scent of outside dirt and murky water emitting from every pour of the rain-drenched figure that now stood in the doorway. Their target stood, unphased, almost expectantly, at the glass panels overlooking the partially dismantled city.
"Hello Dan." Adrian murmured, a dazed half-smile flickering at the side of his mouth as he turned away from the glass window to face the other. "I'm taking it you're not here for a social call." Adrian said, lightly, "Why are you here?"
"Laurie's dead, Adrian." Dan stated, bluntly. "She died tonight. Murdered."
At first, Adrian didn't respond. He simply stared back at Dan, wordless.
"I'm sorry Dan." He sighed, the cold lack of emotion he'd been conveying broken momentarily with the slightest hint of what could have been sympathy.
"Shot. In an alley way. She'd only come back here to help the survivors." Dan continued, his eyes becoming dewy with tears of frustration as he spoke.
"I'm sorry." Adrian repeated, blankly. "I really am."
"Oh I can tell." Dan spat, mockingly. "Not that the rest of the world will ever hear about her death. After the loss of 15 million, 1 life seems somewhat insignificant all of a sudden. Doesn't it, Adrian?"
"Every life counts, Dan." Adrian said.
The tone in his voice proving all too unconvincing and nonchalent to Dan, who's anger was beggining to dictate his calm composure.
"Apart from those you wiped out, without a seconds thought, I take it?" He hissed, struggling to avoid his voice breaking from rage rising within, as he began to walk towards Adrian, fist clenched, jaw stiffened.
"It had to be done. You know it had to."
The last, cold statement proved too much for Dan. Within seconds, his fist had come whirling square into Adrian's jaw, knocking him back slightly with shock. Another, this time across his eye, catching the gash on Adrian's cheek from their previous encounter, tearing open a larger wound this time. Another punch found him on the ground, all motivation of defense disabled, Adrian's eyes simply glazed over as he lay against the cold, black-tile floor. From the sideway view, he could see only the splash of blood skimmed across the ground, and Dan's feet. He lay still, eyes wide open, his expression blank.
"Is this your revenge, Dan? Beating me to a bloody pulp?" Adrian murmured, his voice hoarse from the numerous blows to his torso.
"Revenge, Adrian? No. Revenge would require killing you, and then bringing you back, so that I could kill you another 14.9 million times." Dan muttured, steel rimming every word he spoke. His arms closed around Adrian's chest, wrenching him from the ground, holding both Adrian's arms firmly by his side, before slamming, and then pinning him against the nearest wall, beside the glass cabinet of action figures, the product line of which, had been recently cancelled. Adrian's face seemed as blank as before, bloodshot eyes fixed against the floor, blood from the re-opened gash on his face leaking freely from his cheek.
"Thing is, Adrian, there seems to be a slight flaw in your all-knowing logic. If the mostrosity you executed had been effective, why was Laurie murdered in some dark little corner street tonight? I mean, if what you claim to have created is really happening, why is it that people are still finding the motivation to kill one another?" Dan growled, venomously, his face inches away from Adrian's as he spoke.
"Dan, what I did, didn't change the nature of human beings, as much as it did, the way the society around them works."
Dan's grip loosened. Staring back at his former friend, the steel gaze in Dan's eyes was no longer present, instead replaced with a look of sheer hurt, pained tears beggining to leak from his eyes.
"Why, Adrian? Why?" Dan hissed, shaking him as he did so.
"You know why." Adrian muttured, resigned, yet with somewhat confidence to his voice, sweat dampened strands of blonde hair falling over his forehead, and blood splattered cheeks. His eyes still refused in meeting Dan's.
"I never understood you properly, but I thought I understood that much. You were better than this, Adrian. We could have done this another way." Tears fell freely down Dan's face now, the pain on his face contrasting with Adrian's emotionless expression, who's eyes remaining tranfixed to the ground.
"Look at me, goddammit!" Dan sobbed, slamming Adrian's back harder against the wall.
Adrian looked up. Blood stained cheeks streaked with tears, eyes wet and bloodshot. He smiled.
"You know I'm right, don't you?" He said, his voice a little more than a whisper. "You hate what I did, but you know... you know, deep down, it has saved the world."
For a while, Dan said nothing, his eyes bore into Adrian's, with wordless contempt, sorrow, and heartache. His grip loosened, he let go.
"Maybe you're right, Adrian. Maybe you have saved the world." He muttured, quietly, taking a step back, "But what about the people in it? Didn't you stop and think about how this would effect them?"
Adrian's eyes glazed over. His eyes were now equally as dewy as Dan's. A first for him, in all the years of friendship between the two, Dan had never once seen Adrian cry.
"No." He muttured, simply.
Dan turned away, realising there was no longer a threat in turning his back to the other. Adrian was done, finished with the violence, the deaths. He knew it was beyond Adrian to throw so much as a punch at another living thing now.
"We're the only two men on earth who'll have to keep on living this secret now." Dan muttured, turning slightly. "Now Laurie's gone. It's just us. Only us."
"I've always been alone, Dan, you know that. In every thing I've ever done. I was alone when my parents died. I was alone in my decision to save humanity, and I'm alone every minute of every day now." Adrian muttured, his quiet voice breaking slightly as he spoke. "Even in the richest of company, I shall always be alone for what I've done, and you must realise- by creating this peace, I will never find peace."
Dan turned to face Adrian fully oncemore. He noticed Adrian's complexion had become paler within the last few minutes, now his whole form seemed to be shaking slightly as he spoke.
"Do you understand now, Dan?" He whispered, allowing himself to slide freely down the wall he'd been pushed against, until he was nothing more than a lump against the floor, his skin now bearing little more color than a sheet of paper.
"Adrian?" Dan asked, hesitantly. He took a step closer to where Adrian's form lay, slumped.
"I'm glad you came here tonight." Adrian sighed, weakly. "You see... ten minutes before your...arrival, I was already expecting to die."
"What do you mean, you expected to die?" Dan asked, his brow furrowed in confusion and distress.
Adrian looked up at Dan, green eyes seeming somewhat dazed, and unaware.
"I'd ingested a toxin, you see. A delayed reaction poison. It really doesn't matter now." He sighed, his head falling to one side as he breathed out shakily. "I wanted to feel the pain they did, Dan." He whispered, his mouth almost curving into a smile as he spoke. "I had to understand how they felt. I couldn't let myself die a quick and painless death."
"Oh, Adrian..." Dan muttured, softly. His mind began to rack itself for something to say, anything, but there was nothing.
It lasted little more than a minute, before Adrian breathed his last, painful breath, and his eyes lowered shut, as he became limp, and lifeless, against the floor. Dead.
Dan stood up, taking momentary pause to take in what had happened. He felt a single tear fall down his cheek, before he turned away.
"Maybe now, you can find peace." Dan said, quietly.
And just like that, he was alone.