- I have good reasons to do this, Shizuo. Please, trust me.
Ishikura looked away from his brother's eyes.
- I trusted you all my life, Minoru - he hissed - And look how great that just turned out!
His fists clenched, but stood still at his sides.
Had it been just for him, he would have punched him again, and to hell with the consequences: better be dead than at those fools' mercy... but there were civilians cought in the middle and he was an Officer; he could not involve them, although he didn't believe at all that Thorn would have really let them go without consequences after taking out him, Tetsuro and Sylviana.
A mercenary approached him with a pair of handcuffs in his hand.
Ishikura looked one last time at his gun, lying on the ground nearby, then at Thorn, Tetsuro and Sylviana, at the group of civilians gathered on the rails and finally at the mercenaries surrounding them on every side at gunpoint.
No... we're all in their line of fire. It's over.
He took a deep breath and held out his wrists.
He closed his eyes and shuddered at the icy touch of metal on his skin.
The click of the lock, in the absolute silence, sounded like a death sentence to him.
- Look, Shizuo...
- Leave me alone!
- Cut it out, Minoru - the calm voice of Thorn - If you want your beloved brother on our side, you already know what to do.
Ishikura gave him the death stare.
- If you think I'll let you turn me into one of your puppets, you're wrong. You'll have to kill me before that! And if you won't, I will.
Thorn's laughter echoed between the wrecked station's vaulted ceiling.
- Come on, don't be so melodramatic, Lieutenant Ishikura - he turned in his hands Tetsuro's Cosmo Dragoon with studied slowness - I wouldn't have done such a thing anyway. Down at the lab I just wanted to scare you a little to make you talk...
- Tell your fairy tales to somebody else - Tetsuro stared at him like at a poisonous insect while the mercenary before him handcuffed him, searched him and took the hard-disk from his hand - I know you already did it. Doskoi. Taro. Kiddodo. Does any of these names ring a bell?
Thorn stood unimpressed.
He swung the gun with the nonchalance of a man used to handling weapons and pointed it straight ahead, at Tetsuro's face.
- Sure. I sent three undercover agents to track down a group of pirates hidden on Heavy Meldar under those fake identities, in response to late Gun Frontier Sheriff Lund's desperate requests. Unfortunately, they were mercilessly killed by Harlock and those ruthless criminals of his men... oh, but don't tell me you're involved in these horrid crimes, because I might kill you out of anger and decide to leave your body to rats...
He cocked the hammer and Ishikura gasped.
Tetsuro did not flinch. He kept staring at him, impassive.
- That's your story for the media?
- Assuming that, one day, I'll have to justify myself for your death, Hoshino - Thorn lowered the weapon and nodded to circumscribe everything around them - It may be another few centuries before anyone finds your remains here. Until it happens, you'll be just another friend of that pirate mysteriously gone missing.
Tetsuro smiled, glacial.
- You're not getting off that easy. A copy of all we have discovered about Project Herakles, starting with the autopsies of our poor friends and their clones, is already in safe, reliable hands. Should something happen to me or Dr. Ban, they know what to do.
Thorn tested the weapon's balance, showing no concern at all.
- I see. The same trick ten years ago. I doubt you'll succeed again, Hoshino but, was it, I can tell without fear of contradiction I had nothing to do with their sad end.
- Translated for you Boy Scouts: he had them killed by someone else without indications as to how, where and when and has forbidden to talk about it in front of him - Sylviana smiled back, contemptuous - Indeed, he probably disposed of the killer himself after he got the job done. An old trick to make the goody-goody in case someone questions him with a polygraph *.
Thorn looked her up and down while handcuffs closed around her wrists and Minoru pushed her next to Tetsuro.
- I just said I did not want those guys in my way during operations - he ran a finger on the Dragoon's shiny barrel - How those I entrusted this assignment perceived it is not my business and what became of them after they carried out their task isn't anyone else's, least of all yours or a judge's. Nice gun, Hoshino. Do you mind if I keep it in your memory?
Tetsuro held his gaze grimly.
- Be my guest. But beware: that weapon tends to always come back into my hands, and bring misfortune to people like you.
Totally unimpressed, Thorn pulled out his gun, took the energy cell from it and threw it away, on the rails. He swung the Dragoon another few times and put it in his holster.
- Misfortune only affects those unable to predict it... and simple-minded people like you and your friends. But the one puzzling me most is you, my dear Blossom - he shook his head - I thought that, after El Alamein, you learned the lesson about trust... and knew which side you should stay. I'd really have given you that list, you know? And you'd have found out quite some interesting things...
He came near Sylviana and pulled her to him with a sharp tug on the chain of her handcuffs.
She did not put up any resistance as he threw his arm around her hips.
- We can still make up - she intertwined a leg around his and pressed herself against him, her voice pure honey, full of promises.
Thorn laughed, lifted her chin with two fingers and kissed her again on the lips.
Ishikura clenched his fists even more, up to stick his nails into his palms.
He immediately called himself an idiot: it was just logical that a cornered mercenary tried everything to save her own life... and it was not the first time Sylviana played the "seduction" card to bail herself out of troubles: she had done it with him too, after all.
So why I am taking it so badly? What did I expect?
A moan and a low laugh interrupted his unpleasant reflections.
Thorn pulled himself away from Sylviana. A thin trickle of blood dripped from the left corner of her mouth.
- Sorry, baby, but you already had your chance and blew it - the fake Commander pushed her back next to Tetsuro and ran a hand through his hair - You really disappoint me: had you not concentrated on saving your pretty officer boy and had you not trusted Minoru, perhaps you could even have fooled me. You are just like Stem...
She licked her lips and stared at him without a word.
- Oh, I know what you're thinking: I'm a heartless monster, a real bastard, isn't it? Well, let me tell you one thing: you have to be it to survive in a world like ours. Feelings are a luxury that those fighting and those commanding them can not afford.
Ishikura thought of his Captain, his friends and what tied them to one another; a strong feeling, forged out of the experiences they had shared and that, over time, had made all the differences between them meaningless: age, race, origin, culture, even the fact that some of them had a body full of circuits like the enemies who had taken his brother from him and he had hated for so long... at some point, all that had stopped to mean anything to him.
Gradually, that feeling and those ties had erased his hatred, filled and enriched his life; they had prevented him from turning into a soulles weapon, crushed by guilt for the choices he had made... and to think that his comrades shared the same emotions towards him had helped him to feel a little less lonely, up there among the stars.
And this man says all of it is useless?
- This is a huge nonsense - he shouted - Feelings are what allow us to remain humans even amid the atrocities of war, to distinguish good from evil and make us remember that even an enemy...
- Spare me your gooders, Lieutenant - Thorn raised his hand to stop his tirade - I will not change my mind. Project Herakles is the future, you and your friends like it or not. To be good for anything, all a soldier must do is obey: to think about what is right or wrong, to friends or family, to feel sorry for the enemy or try to understand him is a one-way ticket for defeat, you should know it more than anyone else. And you should know too, Blossom: it was just for your scruples and desire to discover your true identities that Project Red Rose was dropped...
- Yeah - Sylviana licked the blood away from her lips - Trying to get Stygma, Anther and Prickle out of that Mechaized Empire Base before you blew it into pieces must have been really unforgivable, from your point of view.
- That hesitation could have costed us the failure of an important mission - snapped Thorn - And then, the investigations you tried to carry out in secret to find your families, your contacts with Commander Arngeir... did you really think that nobody would have noticed? That nobody was watching you?
Ishikura couldn't resist further. He raised his fists restrained in metal.
- You're a real bastard, Thorn - he took a step toward him - It's only natural those kids to want to know if they still had a family, somewhere... it's just human!
- Exactly - he returned his gaze, calm - To err is human.
- To err?! How can desiring your own family's love be an error?
Minoru held him by the shoulders and Thorn looked him up and down, amused.
- You know, you're so naive that I wonder how you got to your rank, Lieutenant Ishikura. A spy with a past or, even worse, loved ones and feelings, is vulnerable: can be blackmailed, deceived and induced to betrayal. That was why we recruited Red Roses at such an early age and stripped them even of their names. Unfortunately, it seems, no training can delete some kind of instincts...
- But with Herakles such a problem does no longer lo exists - finished for him Tetsuro - They are the perfect soldiers: human intelligence and logic, no will and editable memories. Too bad that cloning people is forbidden, not to mention the serious torture you inflicted on these poor creatures you used as guinea pigs...
Minoru let Ishikura go and looked at him: his lips were tight and he was white as a sheet.
He wondered if he, too, was seeing again Takeshi's face, devastated by pain in that laboratory, or that unrecognizable corpse lying on the ground.
Thorn seemed not to even notice it.
- We found the solution to that: the new Herakles are not obtained from human clones and the problem of rejection has successfully been solved. Furthermore, the bad apples that experimented on sentient beings and those who financed them already paid for their mistakes.
- You made sure they paid for you too, you mean - Tetsuro's voice was filled with disgust - And I don't even find it hard to imagine how: they all had families, isn't it?
Thorn folded his arms across his chest and nodded phlegmatic.
- Further evidence of how feelings can make people foolish, weak and dangerous.
Ishikura wavered, struck by the weight of that last phrase and its implications.
Then our father killed himself to protect Minoru and... me?
For the first time in years, he felt something different than resentment for the man who had brought him into the world. It was not the love of the past, it was not forgiveness or understanding for what he had done, it was not pity... or maybe it was a bit of all this.
- Did you hear, Minoru? Dad...
He caught his eye and words died in his throat: his brother's expression was sad, but without the slightest hint of anger or surprise.
- You... you knew? - he asked in a faint voice.
Minoru bowed his head and he could no longer restrain himself.
- And you're still at these crazy murderers' side?! How can you look in the mirror without spitting on your face every morning?!
He threw himself on him, oblivious of all his scruples as a soldier, but Sylviana got in his way. He stopped just in time to not stumble on her.
- Move! - he tried to get around her, without success.
- Calm down! - she propped him - What do you think you'll get like this? You're unarmed and handcuffed: you'll only get yourself killed for nothing!
Ishikura burst into hysterical laughter.
- We will not get out of here alive anyway! And you... did you hear what that thug said about you and your friends? How can you be so calm?!
- Sylviana is right - Tetsuro got in his way too - You won't get anything attacking Ifiklìs like this, Mr. Ishikura.
- But...
- And then, we can not risk to involve innocents - Tetsuro looked down the rails where his comrades were gathered - We have responsibilities, don't forget it.
Ishikura followed the line of his gaze, then looked back at Minoru.
- Why? - he asked for the umpteenth time.
- I told you. I have good reasons, Shizuo.
- Then tell me, dammit! - he shouted in exasperation - Give me a reason not to hate you... just one!
He lowered his weapon and approached him.
- I'm your brother - his voice broke - I love you... and... and everything I did was to protect you. Believe me.
It was like hearing his father's voice again, back in that courtroom, many, many years before, like seeing that last look he had thrown to him as guards led him away.
He believed him, just like he had believed his father then. And maybe it was what hurt him more.
- You're like him - he clenched his fists and wished more than ever to have his hands free, and something, anything, to vent his frustration on - You have already decided everything and what I want, what I think, you don't care, isn'it?
Minoru took him by his shoulders and looked at him gloomy. Ishikura struggled.
- That's not true and you know it - Minoru's fingers shook him stronger - I tried, Shizuo: I tried to let you free to go your own way, to stifle my anxieties, not to think that you, too, may... - his voice broke again, his hands trembled before letting him go - But you have no idea... you have no idea how it feels to sit around waiting, fearing to receive that communication instead to see you back... and pretend nothing ever happened, laugh and joke in those few days a year we can be together... you just have no idea!
- You could have tried to tell me instead of plotting with these madmen for... for what? What did you think you'd get?!
Thorn approached, his pace and face calm.
- I'll try to make that clear in short, Lieutenat, although you should have understood by now - he turned Tetsuro's hard-disk in his hands without meeting his gaze - All that is happening is nothing but an old story repeating itself, chapter and verse, ten years later. You told it yourself: Minoru is like your late father and like him he just want a chance to get his family back and protect it. All his family.
All? Ishikura's heart skipped a beat. Can it be...?
Minoru bowed his head and his long bangs fell on his eyes.
- They promised me we will embrace Takeshi again, Shizuo. And above all that they won't hurt you, if you only...
- If I only pull myself out of it - a cold shiver ran down Ishikura's spine, his teeth screeched - If I forget everything we've been through because of these crazy maniacs, everything all my friends are going through... If I betray them. Sorry, big brother, I can't. I don't want to. I'd rather you stick a laser shot between my eyes here, now.
Minoru stood in absolute silence. His lips curved in a bitter twist.
- I thought you to be smarter, Minoru - Sylviana gave him a stern glare - Do you really think this traitor will keep his promises? When you'll not be useful to him anymore, you'll end up like your father!
- She's right, Ifiklìs - Tetsuro's voice was calm and low, his eyes covered by the tattered brim of his hat - For this guy you are nothing but a pawn. What do you think it would happen if your brother accept the conditions you proposed him? At best, he'll blackmail you both with each other's lives, just like he did with your father to push him to take all the blame and kill himself while he and Kurai revived their group of fanatics.
- Had Secretary Ishikura not have that footage and those documents brought to you, Hoshino, and had you not sparked that scandal, we wouldn't be where we are right now - Thorn rubbed his sleeve with a nonchalant gesture - Really, I can not understand what it was that got that man: the studies were well under way, that sentimental Professor Kurai would have kept his promise and our Army would have had its invincible soldiers long ago... not to mention we had power of life and death on at least one of his beloved sons.
- Yeah, I guess you'll never come to understand someone with a conscience and a heart, Commander - with a slow arm motion, Minoru turned the gun on Thorn - Do you think that's enough, Tetsuro?
- I guess so - the young hero's grim expression broke into a satisfied smile - He admitted even more than I hoped.
- I can't believe it - Sylviana broke out in her familiar laugh - You got fooled just like a movie villain, Thorn! After this, you can only go and hide!
Thorn looked at them as if they were gone mad and Ishikura could not blame him; they were outnumbered, surrounded, handcuffed and in the fire line of least fifty guns, let alone the hostages.
- Are you crazy, Minoru? - even with a gun pointed at him, the false Commander didn't lose his admirable phlegm.
Minoru cocked the hammer with equal calm.
- Never been more myself - he looked him straight in the eye - When you double-cross, one of the main rules is having no scruples to fool friends and enemies, but there is another even more important: to always have clear who your opponent is and, if you get the opportunity, make him believe that his is someone else.
- You mean...
- Yeah - Tetsuro gazed at him with a look somewhere between pity and contempt - Actually, the king you had to check was not me.
A quiver of anger shook Torn's tall, elegant figure. Only for a moment.
When he turned to face his assistant, his face, voice and gestures had again their usual composure.
- You know you have just signed your own death warrant, Minoru?
He pursed his lips and paled, but his hand remained firm.
- At least I'll die free - no tremor in his voice, no uncertainty in his eyes - And maybe Takeshi won't slap me, when we'll meet again in the afterlife.
- Well, tell him I say Hi - hissed Thorn - Because you'll see him again very soon.
On every side, amplified by the tunnel's high vaulted ceiling, a sound of footsteps, loose gravel and weapons that were loaded and aimed came to their ears.
Ishikura sweated cold: the mercenaries were tightening the circle around them.
We need a way out, now!
With the speed and the cold blood coming from training, he assessed all the possible ones: the tunnel from which they had come, the one to its left side, the three on the other.
No.
They were manned by Thorn's men, but even if they could pass their barrier, they would have run the risk of getting lost in the dark, trap-littered maze of the old subway line tunnels.
The main exit!
With a flicker of hope, he scanned for the stairs.
He saw it, with one eye. Right behind him, at the end of a short but wide corridor on whose sides even benches stood intact; it did not seem to have suffered damage, only the railing was rusted and partially torn.
With a little luck, perhaps, the station was still connected to the outside.
With a faint rustle, the mercenary who had handcuffed him moved sideways.
Ishikura barely held back a curse: he had understood his intentions and had placed himself so as to block even that escape route, his gun pointed on Minoru waiting for a false move allowing him a clean shot at his head. It was only a matter of time.
No, we'll never get out of here alive, even with him as a hostage!
- Come on, no more games, boys - next to Tetsuro, Sylviana yawned and stretched her arms - A little bit more with these bracelets on me and my lovely, white silky skin will turn all red and fill with bubbles!
To Ishikura's ultimate amazement, handcuffs slipped away from her wrists and ended up on the ground with a slight rattle.
- How...?
She looked at him, arrogant as ever, and winked.
- Oh, you men - she mimicked an allusive kiss and dangled Thorn's keys in his direction - How easy is to cheat on you when you're thinking about something else!
A noise behind him made him turn suddenly.
The mercenary, now, was pointing at her, his finger already on the trigger.
Ishikura sprinted , fell on him with all his weight and overbalanced him.
As he finished on the ground, a metallic sheen wounded his eyes and a slight wind brushed his hair.
The man dropped the gun and collapsed beside him.
Some spasm, a gasp and his eyes became glassy; his hands clasped around his throat sank down powerless, revealing a throwing knife stuck just below Adam's apple.
Thorn moved to Minoru's side, took his left arm with his right hand and with his free hand punched him on the outside of his elbow.
Minoru screamed and dropped the gun.
Thorn kicked it off, walked away a few paces and pulled from his holster Tetsuro's Dragoon. He fired.
Once, two, three times.

* The polygraph or lie detector is a device that measures and records an individual's physiological responses while answering a series of questions. However, it is necessary that the subject is aware of lying, because a false statement who's true to the subject does not produce the physiological changes induced by stress. From Thorn's point of view, it would be true he had nothing to do with poor Taro, Kiddodo and Doskoi's deaths...