Double Helix

chapter nine
~ zion ~

Wolfwood wasn't looking at her anymore. He wasn't smiling or trying to lighten her mood or wink at her playfully. He didn't offer to pull out her chair at breakfast yesterday and he didn't ask her how she slept. In fact, he wasn't even talking to her. He seemed to be outright avoiding her.

Vash was acting strangely, too. He was still polite and cordial to her, but was rude and obtrusive toward Wolfwood. He didn't smile at all, not even out of a sense of courteous obligation. Worse, his eyes seemed to have a disquieting gleam about them. Milly couldn't help but to notice the harsh expression he wore whenever he spoke to Wolfwood.

Something had definitely changed. Something bad.

As they traveled together by car across the open desert, Milly couldn't bear the uncomfortable silence any longer. She leaned forward from the back seat and asked the question that had been nagging at her for the last four hours. The question she was afraid of asking.

"Why are you two acting so strangely?"

The car felt even more oppressive once the words left her lips. Wolfwood said nothing, his lips pursed together to form a tight, thin line as his eyes stared straight out onto the road ahead. Vash simply scowled. Finally, the blond gunman turned in his seat to face Milly. The severe look in his eyes made her blood run cold, "Why don't you ask Wolfwood here where your partner is? That might answer your question."

Milly's mouth dropped open as she looked from Vash to Wolfwood and back again. The look on his face when he spoke was bad enough, but the tone of his voice was far worse. Eyes wide with uncertainty, Milly wished she hadn't said anything at all.

"Well, why don't you tell her, Chapel," Vash said, giving a sidelong glance to Wolfwood as he drove. "She deserves to hear about what is happening to her friend, don't you think?"

"Ch- chapel?" Milly asked, her confusion evident. "What are you... I don't... what's..."

Her voice trailed off into a thin whisper when she saw Wolfwood's eyes looking at her through the rear-view mirror. Regret shone in his eyes for the briefest of moments before he forced himself to look away. In that instant, she knew he had done something terrible.

"Okay, I'll tell her." Vash turned in his seat to face Milly again, "Wolfwood here works for Knives. Did you know that? He is Chapel the Evergreen of the Gung-ho Guns."

Milly blinked and looked back at Wolfwood. Shoulders tense and jaw tightly clench, he kept his eyes trained to the road.

"N-no," she breathed.

Vash straightened in his seat. "Oh, yes," he said. "He's been lying to us all along. Chapel here knew that Meryl was walking into a trap, but didn't stop her. Knives has your partner and is using her for some sort of experiment that will ultimately kill her. Because Chapel didn't stop Meryl or speak up sooner, the experiment has already begun and we're probably already too late."

The outlaw peered at Wolfwood, eyes narrowed and dangerous. "Does that cover it, Chapel? Do you have anything you'd like to add?"

The priest clenched the steering wheel in a white knuckled grip, "No."

The car fell back into silence for several moments, only the sound of the wind rushing past the car and Milly's quiet sniffles from the back seat filled the emptiness of the vehicle.

"I'm sorry you had to find out that way," Vash said, his voice tinged with a familiar kindness. "But there is no easy way to hear news like that."

Milly did not reply. Grief choked her voice and stole away her ability to speak. She could feel the tears building behind her eyes, begging for release, but Milly fought against the urge. She needed to hear it from him. She needed to know for sure.

Clearing her throat, she gazed at Wolfwood's profile and forced herself to speak. "Where are we going?"

"There is a compound in the Northern region that Knives used as a hideout," Wolfwood said, "It's the only place I know of where Meryl might be."

"So it's true?" Milly asked, her voice broken. "It's really true?"

Wolfwood glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. "Yes, it's true."

Her fist flew forward and struck Wolfwood on the temple, causing the car to suddenly veer to the left. Wolfwood quickly corrected the path of the car, but the young woman wasn't quite finished yet. With an angry hiss, she leaned forward in her seat and hit him again. This time she struck his mouth with all the strength she could muster and was rewarded with a thin ribbon that leaked from his freshly split lip.

After several moments of silence, Milly's quiet broken voice invaded the tension that filled the empty spaces of the car.

"Wolfwood, I... I can't forgive you for this."

• • •

The compound was empty of inhabitants, just as Chapel thought it might be, but some equipment had been left behind. Vash spend nearly twenty hours reconnecting wires, soldering components and jury-rigging the computer together in the hopes of being able to access any information that could help him in his search.

Knives was the type to be extremely organized. Even as a child, he would write out his ideas and thoughts. He said it helped him to organize his mind. Vash doubted his brother would be foolish enough to leave pertinent information pertaining to his plans involving the little insurance agent on the computer, but it was the only lead he had. If Knives saw this as a game it would be just like him to leave his brother a piece of the puzzle behind. Just enough to tease Vash along. Knives was nothing if not arrogant.

That, coupled with the fact that Vash's bounty had been steadily going up in value and mercenaries were constantly on his trail told him that Knives was well aware of his movements. If his twin really wanted to stop him, Vash was certain Knives would employ other more destructive methods rather than rely on hired hit men. Vash was confidant that Knives' true objective was to simply delay him.

He could attempt to delay the outlaw all he wanted. It didn't change the fact that Vash would find his brother and put a stop to this sick experiment.

As the last few components were soldered together, the free-born plant hoped his brother's brazenness would lead to his undoing. The result of Vash's day as a makeshift computer tech was a crude reconstruction of what had once been a control and communications center.

All that it needed was a power source. Vash placed his hands on the console and began to carefully funnel some of his energy into the machine. He watched with a guarded smile as one light glowed at him cheerfully, then another, until the entire system began to whirl with life.

The monitor blinked at him, displaying the default welcome screen.

Vash entered in a search command seeking out any data having to do with the seedling or Meryl. The computer whirled for a moment, then a new message appeared on the screen.

Security 05: Enter Password

Smiling to himself, Vash began to enter a password he remembered from his childhood, a password he was confident Knives would most likely use.

Error: Incorrect Password

Undaunted, he entered another password he remembered from his time on the SEEDs ship.

Then another.

...then another...

...until dozens of passwords and variations thereof had been exhausted.

Knives was tormenting him. Vash had no doubt now. The bread crumbs were so glaring they were almost screaming at him. Had Knives truly wanted to prevent Vash from breaking into his files, he would have been completely locked out after the first failed password attempt or there wouldn't be a computer for him to hack into at all. Obviously Knives wanted Vash to work for his reward. The bastard was probably enjoying a good chuckle at his expense.

Running a flustered hand through his hair, Vash began to enter random words that he thought might unlock the system, his hope beginning to dwindle with each failed attempt. After several minutes, a fist slammed down against the console with a frustrated whine.

It was no good. He couldn't get into the system. To be so close and yet so far...

Vash slowly let his body slump to the floor, his forehead resting against the metal skin of the control panel.

"Damn it," he muttered as he tried to ignore the threatening sting of tears. "Damn it!"

His options were running out. With each dead-end that delayed him was another minute of pain for a woman who cared about him. She was counting on him, he knew she was. He couldn't let her down. This was his chance to make up for Rem, to make up for all the humans who died in the Great Fall, to make amends...

He couldn't let them down. He couldn't let Knives win again. Anger flared up and blanketed the pain as he thought of his brother. Vash didn't know what he was going to do when he confronted his twin, he only knew that Knives had to be stopped. Permanently.

Even if it meant that he would have to kill him.

Vash chewed on his bottom lip. He didn't know what disturbed him more: the actual thought of killing Knives or the fact that the thought of killing Knives didn't bother him anymore. It wasn't too long ago when such a rationalization would have made his flesh crawl in revulsion.

Now it seemed like the only logical thing to do.

"Rem," Vash whispered brokenly, "what should I do?"

With a tired sigh, Vash stood up to face the jeer of the flashing monitor. It seemed to wink at him mockingly, daring him to try again. He stared at it for several minutes before the answer came to him. An analogy his twin told him once came to mind. Knives used a biblical reference to illustrate why the humans must die. He compared the current plight of the plants to the Israeli's of ancient earth and their exodus to freedom. God commanded the Israeli's to kill their enemies. All of them. Otherwise they would always be at war over the land. The Israeli's failed to follow God's command and war always haunted them.

For the plants to live in peace, their enemies must be destroyed. The humans must all die.

'Canaan...'

With the trembling hands of a man out of options, Vash typed in his last try.

Genesis1513

Access Granted

Please Wait.

Genesis 15:13: Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years..."