A/N: Sometimes I think I'm too mean to my characters lol. Well I'm still having fun writing this, so again... I'm sorry if it sucks lol.
Travis was not having the best day. He wasn't happy to be back in this creepy, paper filled office, not when everything had gone so horribly wrong…
First he'd failed to bring the girl in for removal. Totally, completely, miserably failed. His ears were still ringing from that girl's scream.
But that wasn't the worst part, no, not by any means… Travis had been there when Cole had all but gone berserk and slaughtered all of the others… no one had escaped Cole's wrath. No one but him, and that was only because he'd hidden up a tree before Cole could spot him.
From his perch in the tree, he'd watched Cole pass by. The boy had been shot in the back multiple times, and yet… he was still walking around and looking for more people to brutally murder. It made no goddamn sense! The boy wasn't immortal, wasn't immune to pain. Their experiment could still be hurt, still be injured… the red stuff oozing down his chin and neck was real blood. The boy was bleeding in his lungs.
So what the hell was going on? Had Kessler known that would happen? Had the boss willingly sacrificed his own people just to test his experiment?
Kessler was pacing the office, scraps of papers clinging to his white coat. His face was alight with wild happiness, his teeth bared in a twisted grin.
"Brilliant!" Kessler hissed, gazing around the room. "Oh, the future is bright, Muller… the future is bright indeed!"
"Everyone you sent is dead," Travis said harshly. "How is that brilliant?"
"And why do you care?" Kessler said, still beaming insanely. "You are only interested in power for yourself, yes? Power I have not yet seen fit to grant you."
Travis grumbled under his breath. He had a feeling Kessler would have watched him die too without blinking an eye. He was starting to wonder if he'd made a mistake joining this guy, even if it was for power beyond any normal human. Was power worth dying for?
"The boy's power is extraordinary, is it not?" Kessler continued as if he'd already forgotten about Travis's interruption. "Death should have taken him, but it did not! He survived! His power kept him alive, kept him fighting."
"How could all those gunshot wounds not kill him?" Travis asked incredulously. "That bastard should have drowned in his own blood!"
Kessler's mechanical hand creaked as he stretched his fingers.
"Simple as ever, Muller..." Kessler sneered at him. "Tell me what would happen if you held your breath in an attempt to kill yourself?"
Travis frowned, staring at the tangle of wires hanging from the ceiling.
"I'd pass out, and then I'd automatically start breathing again," Travis said after a minute.
"Exactly!" the madman said triumphantly. "His powers work the same way... he knew he was dying, and so his powers involuntarily surfaced to keep him breathing. Call it a defense mechanism. He can no longer be killed by such simple methods as gunshots, just as I'd hoped. There was no way his power was going to let him die."
"So now what?" Travis interrupted yet again. "The girl's still out there, and her powers are growing too! Isn't she still a flaw in this brilliant plan of yours?"
Kessler's crazed excitement dimmed slightly.
"Yes, I have not forgotten. She must die, of course," Kessler said, pulling a tiny screw driver from his pocket. He carefully tightened a little screw near his metal wrist. "I have constructed the device to contain her, but…"
Travis heard the rest of the sentence, though Kessler didn't say it. But how would they get her to use it on her? Her powers made her especially slippery, and judging by his actions during the snow storm, Cole would do anything to protect her. He'd probably lay down his life to keep her safe, and Kessler did not want to destroy his precious weapon.
"So what's the plan?" Travis asked, trying to get them back on track. Kessler glared at him, apparently not happy to be reminded of this mistake that was still floating around out there.
"Nothing's changed, Muller," Kessler said, the anger evident in his voice now. "The girl must die, one way or another. Our time line will alter itself significantly if she is not eliminated."
"Why is it such a big deal, her existing? Your 'weapon' is powerful despite her interference."
"Are you really so dense?" Kessler demanded, pulling something out of the desk. "You can think of this like a play, and we are all players in it. The script cannot be altered or changed in any way, or the end result will not be what I have seen."
Travis was silent. He was starting to get seriously pissed. Kessler slapped the object on the table. It was some sort of metal ring, less than a foot in diameter. What could it be for?
"How many people have the chance to rewrite the future... How many men have the opportunity to change the course of history?" Kessler mused to the metal ring.
The metal ring gleamed on the table. Water dripped off in a corner somewhere... water from melted snow, no doubt.
"Strange that this would be how it's done... I saw him, and so it had to be him. There was no other possible choice..." Kessler murmured, trailing a finger over the ring's smooth surface.
"So it's true about the powers... controlling him?" Travis butted in. Kessler didn't even look up.
"I told you that broken souls are so much easier to manipulate..." the madman growled to his invention. "Do your lungs control you because you need air to survive? Does your heart control you because you require blood in your veins?"
Kessler let out a harsh laugh and finally looked up, his hollow eye sockets reflecting the dim light, like tiny oil filled pits in his face.
"He needs it. He requires it now... his progress is right on track, no matter how he struggles... I just told him what he needed to hear. Because once his development is complete, he'll see that the future I saw is the only possible choice for his survival..."
Travis grit his teeth. He still wasn't entirely sure what kind of sick future Kessler saw, but he'd only been interested in power. Kessler's so called future wasn't important to him. But that was seemingly the deal… help Kessler achieve his future, and Travis would get the power he craved.
Kessler shuffled through some papers at his feet before picking one up. It was weird how he was always able to find whatever paper he wanted in this mess...
"And you... you still don't understand what this is about, do you?" Kessler said to the paper. It seemed to be a blueprint of the ring. There were wires all along the inside of the ring, a battery, and other pieces Travis couldn't identify.
"I understand enough," Travis growled back. "You let him have power and he hates it. He won't cooperate."
"And that barely matters... because this power isn't something he has. The power is something he is... And that is what you're asking for. You barely comprehend the consequences."
"I'll take the consequences," Travis hissed. "You swore to us that we'd be powerful when we joined you on this little mission..."
"I did, didn't I?" Kessler said easily. "Hmm..."
He spun the metal ring in his hands.
"I swear, if you don't deliver, then I'm done," Travis growled, a hand on his gun. "I'll take my chances with the Reapers, and you can find someone else to do your dirty work."
Kessler simply spun the ring faster, seemingly not the least bit worried about the threat.
"And you still want this power, though you don't understand it... well, maybe you're right, Travis... perhaps it is time I gave you the power you desire..." Kessler said, his eyes still on the device in his hands.
But then Kessler grinned at him, and that's when Travis knew something was wrong.
"That's twice you've failed me now, even after I warned you about further mistakes... I am no longer in need of your services, Travis Muller. Now you will serve a higher purpose!"
Faster than the eye could follow, Kessler had slapped the metal ring around his underling's neck. The next thing Travis knew was something akin to almost nothingness... and then something like the feeling of having his neck slowly seared through by a white hot wire... Travis sank to his knees, his hands scrabbling weakly at the metal ring.
"Really, enough with the screaming, Muller..." came Kessler's voice in his head. "You did say you wanted this, after all..."
Travis was lying on his back on a bed of papers. He was dimly aware of his limbs twitching, his hands unable to continue tugging at the ring. The next thing he knew, his body was being dragged down the blackened hall and into a tiny holding cell, a cell he'd assumed was for the girl while they worked out how to kill her.
"I was saving this room for the girl, but I think you deserve it more!" Kessler proclaimed, tossing him inside with ease. "I really would have given you your chance when the time was right, but you lack patience. Not a good quality in a soldier... Wait here, will you?"
Travis could barely breathe... he attempted to move his arms, to do anything at all, but it was useless. Whatever was in this collar, it had all but paralyzed him. He had no choice but to lie there, still feeling like his head was being ripped from his body.
Eventually, he heard Kessler's footsteps approaching once more. What was Kessler going to do with him?
"Here, hold this," he heard Kessler say cheerfully.
The next thing he felt was something metal and spherical being shoved into his hands. Against his will, his fingers closed around it. This, no... it couldn't be... it was destroyed by MacGrath...
"Oh, this one may do some unexpected things... I gave the best one I made to MacGrath, naturally... but let's see what it does, shall we?"
How could he have thought this madman would just let him get power and then walk away? He should have seen this coming from a mile away, but he'd been too wrapped up in his lust for power...
The metal grew hot in his hands. He could smell the flesh on his palms burning... Something hot, like molten metal, was coursing through his blood. And now his blood was on fire, his bones breaking apart... It seemed like power would be something he would die for after all.
Somewhere in his quickly dissolving consciousness, Travis could still hear Kessler talking.
"Perhaps if you live through this, I may find some use for you yet... you will most likely die within seconds, but still, aren't you pleased to have been given your chance at power?"
If Travis could still have formed coherent thoughts at that point, he might have cursed and swore revenge for being betrayed. He might have wondered why he ever thought he could trust the word of a guy who blew up a city just for his idea of an experiment...
As it was, Travis's mind was looking for a way out. This body was dying, the energy from the defective ray sphere tearing him apart. Travis might have thought of Cole as lucky at that point... Cole's sphere had merely exploded. This one was working slowly, too slowly.
Just when he thought he might not be able to escape his decaying shell, he found the way out... the only way out. And he took it.
Kessler watched intently as his underling's body twitched and jerked under the influence of the sphere. The madman could see the flesh beginning to burn, the skin eventually breaking apart and spilling fluids out all over the dirty floor. The defective sphere sank through the decaying chest, snapping ribs as it went.
Kessler stepped into the room, his face impassive as he observed the rest of the body decay in fast forward until there was nothing left but a pile of broken bones in a pool of sludge. After a brief moment, the madman leaned down and picked up the metal ring out of the puddle of fluid.
That was it, then. Travis was dead. Too bad... He'd been curious to see whether or not the sphere would convey any actual powers that might rival MacGrath's. Yes, that would have been interesting to see... Perhaps he could have used Travis as another way to test MacGrath's strength.
Ah well, he'd simply have to test the boy himself. After he got rid of that little mistake, of course... It had been amusing for a while to have underlings to do his bidding, but now that time was running out, he had to take these matters into his own hands. At least this little exercise was proof that the ring was fully functional. This would be enough to restrain the girl in human form.
Time to find out where the two of them were hiding. Surely the girl was still with him, especially after that impressive stunt the boy had pulled last night. If she wasn't with him, that would make things a bit trickier. But if she was with Cole, and she most likely would be, he would be the one to give away her position. That's how Kessler had known for sure she was still alive the first time Travis had pointed it out... Cole had given her up, though he didn't know it.
Kessler scowled at the curtain of mist hanging in the hall. Seeing the into past was easy. Seeing into the present was harder, and seeing into the future was even more difficult. But Kessler was powerful, and he needed this infomation. His metal hand began to glow as he focused his power... He raised the metallic limb. Within seconds, an image began forming in the mist.
There was MacGrath, walking slightly unsteadily down the street. His clothes were spattered with dried blood and dirt, his face was whiter than the snow on the ground, most likely from blood loss. And his right hand... his right hand was extended outward slightly, as if he were waiting to grab hold of something. Then it clicked. Of course... he was holding her hand.
"So," Kessler said, smiling to himself. "Do you think yourself safe, little girl?... But you are not safe. Not even with him."
The boy stumbled over something that was hidden under the snow, but he didn't fall. Some invisible force kept him from going down. Kessler laughed harshly at the sight of Cole grinning sheepishly.
"And you, boy... Do you think you have a second chance at love? Apparently I haven't broken your spirit quite enough yet, eh? Well don't worry, I will fix that soon enough."
Fortunately, killing the girl would conveniently serve two purposes. It would get rid of an unwanted problem, and further crush Cole's spirits. Two birds with one stone.
Kessler watched the two of them, boy and invisible girl, for a few more minutes as they continued on their way. Where did they think they were going? Because really, even if they did find another way off the island, what did they think they were going to do back in normal society? Blend in? Well, they had a snowball's chance in hell of achieving that...
No, surely once the girl was dead Cole would see things his way. The boy would understand that his vision of the future was the only way things could possibly unfold.
Kessler waved a hand through the mist and the image vanished. He dug an oily rag out of his pocket and carefully cleaned the metal ring.
"Perhaps you think that love will save you, hm?" Kessler mused to the ring once more. "Perhaps you think it will help you hold on to yourself."
He laughed again, tucking the ring into a pocket inside his white coat.
"It's alright, Cole..." Kessler hissed, grinning once again. "You would have found love to be a useless emotion anyway. It didn't save your old girlfriend. It won't save your new girlfriend, and it certainly won't save you."