AN: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I know it's kind of getting off to a slow start, but trust me, there'll be plenty of action and drama as the story progresses. Now that I've babbled long enough...

xxxx

Spydah slammed me into the ground and everything went white as my head connected with the rooftop. I heard the evil bastard laughing as the world came back into focus. I was surprised he hadn't knocked me out with that hit. I knew if I had any chance of getting away I needed to fight back and quick. I swung my body up and threw a punch at Spydah's face. If he had expected the move he probably would have been able to avoid it, but I think he expected me to be too scared of him to fight back. My punch caught him across the jaw and in his surprise he let go of me. I landed on my hands and flipped myself over onto my feet, instantly falling into a fighting stance.

Spydah recovered from his surprise and smirked just slightly, "I always knew you couldn't possibly be as much of a pussy as you act. Makes this that much more fun."

I didn't bother to retort. I could have told him about my military training, but I wanted him to continue to underestimate me. It was one of my single greatest advantages. Everyone underestimated me which always left me plenty of room to surprise them.

Spydah pounced just like he did the last time we were stuck on a rooftop together, but this time I was ready for that. I ducked low and sprang forward with a right hook to his jaw that rocked him to the side. I followed it with a left hook, but he ducked away from a third swing. I followed, trying to keep the pressure on him, but he blocked another right hook and stepped into me with a jab that caught me just under the sternum. I stumbled back, winded, and he tackled me. I rolled with his momentum and used my feet to send him flying across the roof. I flipped to my feet and took a few steps back, watching him warily.

"You put on a really good act of being a moron for someone who fights as well as you do," Spydah said as he got to his feet.

"Or maybe you're just a bad fighter," I suggested, giving him the cocky smirk he had come to expect. "I mean, you get your ass kicked constantly."

Spydah snarled and charged me with exactly the reckless abandon I had been going for. People never seemed to realize they don't fight as well when they let anger control them. I neatly ducked and dodged all of Spydah's wild attacks, getting my own in every opportunity. But he had a lot of limbs to keep up with and as I side stepped the thrust of one of his mechanical arms he caught me with a punch to the kidney that sent me sprawling to the ground. Then he just started kicking me, following me as I tried to roll away. With one final brutal kick he used his mechanical arms to pick me up by the shoulders and hold me in front of him.

"You put up a pretty nice fight, kid, but you'll never be good enough to beat me," Spydah taunted. He held me just far enough away that I couldn't kick him. "And if you thought nearly choking you to death was bad, just wait. I'm going to have some fun with you, pretty boy, before I turn you over to Paine."

That was more motivation than I ever needed to get away from the psycho. There was that tone of voice again, the one that told me he was thinking of doing bad things to me. I was old enough not to be naïve about what that meant. There was no way I was just going to let him take me so easily. I made a show of wiggling around, making him focus on my supposed efforts to escape. What he didn't notice was me wiggling one of my shoes loose. I then kicked my foot up and sent my shoe flying into his face. The shock of pain to his system caused him to let me go and I did several back flips to get away from him. He recovered quickly and charged at me, all his mechanical arm swinging forward and that's when I decided fighting him wasn't a good idea. I dove and rolled to the side and he passed me by, giving me enough time to snatch up my jetpack and sling it on. I heard him coming up behind me and took a running leap off the building, firing up my jetpack and zooming away.

I didn't get very far before I was forced to stop. I could see someone equipped with a jetpack hovering in my flight path several yards away. I was too far away to see clearly, but I thought it was possibly my brother. Any questions I had about intentions were answered when the other person hit some kind of afterburner and came right at me. I barrel rolled to the side and felt the heat of the other person's thrust indicating just how close it had been.

"Do I have some kind of target on my back or what?" I muttered to myself.

I twisted around to face my mystery attacker just in time to see I had no chance of dodging the second attack. I was hit with enough force to knock the breath out of me and felt the other person pulling at the straps of my jetpack. My heart gave a painful jerk as I realized what the person was up to. I struggled, both of us whirling wildly through the air. I managed to get an elbow strike to the other person's chest and that's when I saw the laser cutter. I tried to kick away, but I wasn't quick enough. Quick as a flash the straps of my jetpack were severed and I was freefalling.

Just as quickly as my fall started I was grabbed by one ankle and hauled upwards. That was when I really wished I had thought to change into my gear. I definitely didn't like hanging upside down and I really, really didn't like being so helpless. I was at the mercy of whoever it was that had a hold of my ankle. I used my upper body strength to pull myself up enough to get a bit of a look at my captor. If it hadn't been for the afterburner I never would have seen the person because of the black suit and helmet.

"Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions and I need you to answer me truthfully," a male voice said. "You can guess what'll happen if you don't."

"Whatever you think I know, I don't, so don't even bother," I retorted.

"Oh? Then there's no reason for me to keep you around."

And with that the maniac let go. I'm not ashamed to say I screamed like a girl as I plummeted to toward the ground. Then my ankle was caught again and my freefall came to a jolting halt. I whimpered in pain as my ankle twisted slightly and I knew that was going to be hurting for a while.

"Now, are you sure you don't want to hear my questions?" the man asked calmly.

"I think I'm open to the possibility that I might have answers," I replied quickly, not eager to face another freefall.

"Good boy," he took us higher into the sky before he went on. "Now, what do you know about Project Onyx?"

Ah, well, it just figured the psycho wanted to know about Wingstar Incorporated projects. I would have thought my father would have made sure everyone knew I was disowned, not a part of his world anymore. I had absolutely no clue about any of the projects he was working on for the military. I never knew anything even when I still lived with the man.

But I couldn't very well tell the psycho that I had no clue what he was talking about. He would probably drop me again and I still had no desire to plummet to my death. I needed to keep the man distracted long enough for me to figure out a way out of the situation.

"What makes you think I know anything?" I asked.

"Your father owns Wingstar Incorporated. You should know about his projects," the man retorted.

"I think you're mistaking me for someone else. I'm not a part of the family business," I told him.

There was a long moment of silence. My heart was pounding hard as I waited for his next move. I didn't have the answers he wanted. I couldn't have even begun to guess what Project Onyx was. Probably some weapon of mass destruction. And didn't it just figure that psychos would be after me because of my father's business years after he kicked me out on my ass?

"Alright, I'll give you twenty-four hours to find out," my captor said as if he was doing me a favor.

I balked, "Twenty-four hours. Newsflash, my father disowned me. There's no way in hell I'd be able to find out anything in a week let alone twenty-four hours."

"I can just drop you now if you'd prefer."

I definitely didn't prefer. "Okay, okay, I'll see what I can find out."

"Good boy."

xxxx

I had to walk, well limp really, halfway across Landmark City to get back to the Aquatics Center. Would have taken a cab, but I didn't have any money on me. I usually got around on my own. When I did finally get home the place was pretty empty. I considered that a good thing. I didn't really think I could deal with anymore drama. My biggest hope was that Sam wasn't there.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in."

I groaned as Sam sat up from where he had been laying on the couch, just out of my view. "I don't need this now Sam."

"Aw, c'mon bro, haven't you missed me?"

"What are you up to Sam? How did you find me?" I demanded, done playing his game while my friends weren't around.

Sam smirked, eyes twinkling with something I couldn't quite place. "Please Zach, you haven't exactly done anything to hide. Besides, did you really believe Dad wouldn't have eyes on you."

"He disowned me. He cut me off from the family fortune, wrote me out of his will, and kicked me out at his earliest convenience. Why the hell would that man keep eyes on me?"

"You may not be a part of the family anymore," Sam said, sounding absolutely thrilled with that, "but you still belong to him. You always will."

"I don't belong to anyone," I replied.

Sam snorted. "Don't be naïve Zach. Drew, you, me, we all belong to him."

"He lost any ownership he had over me the moment he threw me out the front door," I retorted. Sam's smirk simply grew and I let out a growl of frustration. I obviously wasn't going to win that argument, but I had more questions for him. "Answer my other question. What are you up to?"

"Me? I'm just here to ruin this pretty little lie you're living," Sam replied as if he did that sort of thing everyday. "I'm going to take your friends, take your job, and take that striking little surfer boy you have a crush on."

Without thinking I growled at him. He could take my job. I could always find another one. He could take my friends. The whole friendship was based on a lie anyway. But he wasn't going to lay a hand on MY Shark, who technically and probably never would actually be mine.

"You didn't even try to deny it. See, I was just taking a shot in the dark about which one of the boys you had a crush on and well, surfer boy does look a lot like the kid I caught you with way back when," Sam rambled on. "If you were smart you would have tried to throw me off, but now you've confirmed it. I can go for the kill."

"Sam, if you touch him--."

"Oh, I'm going to make sure you're the last thing on his mind," Sam sneered. "And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

I was confused, furious, and completely caught off guard. Sam was hitting on every one of my weaknesses and he knew it. "I thought you hated me because I'm gay."

"Oh that was the start of it, but over the years I've come to just hate you in general," Sam replied. He sounded like it was no big thing, as if I should have just known that, but I was confused.

"But why? If you're gay too, then why hate me? I never did anything to you."

Sam shrugged. "Dunno really, don't care. I hate you, want to hurt you, and that's enough for me."

"But you're my twin brother damnit. There has to be more to it than that," I insisted. "I can't accept that you just hate me for no reason."

Sam's nonchalant façade dropped quicker than I expected. He moved so quickly I didn't even have a chance to gasp before he had me by the throat and pinned to a wall. He was strong, stronger than he should have been for someone his size. I could feel all the muscles in his arm flexing as he held me off my feet.

"You want a reason? I hate that I'm not one of a kind. That you look like me and sound like me. I hate the fact that you breathe the same air as I do," he squeezed my neck a little harder, actually starting to cut off my air supply instead of just holding me up. "I hate that Drew still stands up for you in front of our father, that you can do no wrong in his eyes while I'm the disappointment. I hate that I'll never be whole, because you're my other half and I HATE YOU."

With that Sam released me and I slumped to the floor, back still against the wall. I drew in a deep breath and looked up at my brother with wide eyes. I shouldn't have been surprised. It was foolish for me to think that his dislike for me wasn't that deep. I had hoped, despite knowing better, that maybe somewhere deep inside him he still cared for me even a little bit. But his words spoke to the truth I should have accepted long ago after he tried to kill me while I slept. My twin brother hated me and that hurt more than when my father literally threw me out of the house.

"Now that we've finally come to that understanding I'm going to go back to ruining your life and you're just going to sit back and enjoy the show, because you can't stand the idea of telling your friends the truth," Sam sneered. "I'm going to make you wish I had killed you."