Chapter 6
Ed raced towards the Agency in a car he stole from a bio-terrorist and was doing all he could to win a battle that couldn't be won. He edged closer and closer to quicksilver madness as he approached the Agency.
He could see the building and it was a welcome sight. But the terrible urge for counteragent was becoming overwhelming. Arnaud was right; he wanted a drug that he hadn't even tasted yet and he would do anything to get it. He knew he wouldn't find it at the Agency. There was only person who could give him what he craved and the irresistible desire to go back got stronger as each moment passed. Ed fought the urge with all his being and swung the car around into the back parking lot smashing it head first into the back wall. The air bag popped out and prevented any serious injury. Ed chuckled like a drunk, "Oops, Arnaud's going to be pissed."
Ed opened the door and tumbled out of the car clutching his head. The headache was worse and he cried out in pain. After a few moments, the searing pain subsided and he gazed at himself in the side mirror. His eyes were nearly red and there was no way of pushing back the demon. He was too close for that now.
"God, please…" Ed pleaded as he staggered to the double doors.
Hobbes had finished his paperwork and had gone to check on Claire and Darien. Both were hungry and he had left to get something for Claire and Darien to eat. Claire had stepped out to get equipment for another test leaving a curious Darien to get into anything that caught his eye in the Keep.
Tom headed for the Keep to see how Darien was doing with the tests. He figured that Darien could use the support. Sloan was almost done with her research and she would join Tom in the Keep to check on Darien's progress.
Outside, Ed reached the double doors. He pulled the doors opened and tumbled to the floor. Sweat poured from his face, his usual fluff of brown hair was now matted to his scalp. Ed breathed heavily and a soft plea escaped his lips, barely audible, "Someone, help." He crawled along the floor and finally reached the wall. Pain raced through his head and an inner voice kept begging to be let out. Ed tried desperately to push that voice back deep inside one more time, but failed. He knew now it was only a matter of time before he lost the battle.
Tom walked towards the Keep when he sensed a strong presence. Curious, he walked closer. He froze in his tracts when he read the electrical impulses and knew right away that someone was in trouble. Tom ran down the hall as fast as he could. The impulses got stronger as well as conflicting emotions, a feeling of urgency, fear started to give way to hate and anger. At first he thought it was Darien, but the impulses he sensed were human.
Tom turned the corner and down the hall he saw someone struggling to get to his feet. He was close enough to read the signature of the human. His eyes widened, "Ed?"
Ed looked up and saw Tom, he held out his hand and pushed himself using the wall as support, "Tom, help."
Tom caught a glimpse of the eyes and ran towards Ed, "What happened?"
In an agitated voice, Ed replied, "Get Claire." Ed fell into Tom's arms, through gritted teeth he repeated his plea, "Damn it…just get Claire! I don't have much time, only she can help," Ed was barely able to finish his sentence when another seizure hit. Ed's back arched in agony and his eyes squeezed shut, "Augghh." Ed groaned in misery as he clutched the back of his neck. His faced strained in torment.
Tom sensed the internal struggle that Ed was having. It was as if he was competing with a beast for control of his own mind. "Ed?" Tom said as he tried to help his friend. Then as quickly as the seizure started, it stopped. Ed's body relaxed. Tom thought that he had passed out, there was a calmness that he could sense, but it wasn't the same emotion that characterizes Ed. This was a cold emotion. Ed had lost to the beast within.
"Ed?" Tom said again.
"You should have done what I asked, Tom, because now," Ed opened his eyes, lifted his head, a cruel smile was on his face.
Tom nearly dropped Ed; he wasn't prepared to look into the eyes of a mad man. Cold blood colored eyes pierced into the soul the stoic dominant. Tom was nearly in a trance, the face wasn't even Ed's, and the voice, cold and malicious.
Ed slowly moved away and like a predator, rose to his feet. His smile never changed, he completed his sentence in the same ominous voice, "I'll have to kill YOU!" Ed charged at Tom.
An agency agent heard the threat and ran to see what was happening. He came around the corner and saw Tom fighting with someone. "Hey!" The agent yelled.
Ed stopped and tossed Tom across the hall and up against the wall. Tom hit his head and slumped to the floor. Ed turned to face the agent, "What the hell do you want?"
The agent pulled out his gun and aimed it at Ed, "Stop, don't move."
"Oh yeah," Ed said malevolently and let the quicksilver flow. The agent stood there transfixed not sure what to do and before he could finally react, he was thrown up against the wall. Ed whispered in the agent's ear, "Time for you to go nighty night." Ed pulled him by the collar and his hair, slammed him into the wall head first successfully knocking out the agent.
Ed reappeared and laughed cruelly at the man on the floor, "You just gotta love this! I'm kicking some ass today!" He turned his head around and glared at Tom.
Stunned, Tom watched as Ed reappeared, 'He can go invisible too.' Tom wondered how this happened to Ed as he rose to his feet and put his hands up, "Ed, stop. I don't want to fight you."
Ed laughed again and held his arms out to his side, "But Tom, I do. I'm in the mood to see blood, yours in particular." Ed made his arms disappear and he looked at Tom emotionless, "Are you ready for a magic trick, Tom? I know you'll love this one." Ed approached Tom, "Do dominants even like magic tricks?" He asked as he cocked his head to one side.
Tom stood his ground trying to figure out what Ed was up to. He found out.
Ed smiled, "Keep your eyes on the hands cause where they go no one knows." Ed chuckled wickedly, "Oh I forgot, mine are invisible." He made his left hand reappear and caught Tom of guard.
Tom was distracted by Ed's reappearing left hand that he forgot about the other one. Ed connected with a sound punch to the face that sent Tom falling to the ground. Ed reached down and picked Tom off the floor roughly and tossed him against the wall face first.
Tom turned quickly to counter with a punch of his own, but he didn't connect and his motion sent him to the ground. Tom looked around and heard a disembodied laugh, "Did you really think I'd give you a fair fight?"
Sloan was on her way to the Keep when she heard the familiar voice, but it didn't sound right, "Was that Darien?" She mumbled and decided to investigate. She hurried her steps towards the sounds, 'Sounds like someone's fighting,' she thought to herself.
Sloan turned the corner and nearly tripped over her own feet from what she saw. Tom was fighting with Darien, 'Oh no, Darien's at it again.' She approached closer, "Darien!?!"
Ed had Tom pinned up against the wall. His hands were around the shorter man's neck and his feet dangled a few inches off the floor. Ed didn't turn to look at her, he sneered, "Wrong, Sloan."
Sloan stood there for a moment and realized that it wasn't Darien; it was Ed. "Ed? But," she heard Ed growl like an animal. The shock wore off and she yelled, "Ed, STOP!"
Ed turned his head and glared at Sloan.
She took a step back and nearly fainted, her eyes wide in horror when those eyes glared at her, "Oh my God." Sloan regained her composure and took a timid step towards Ed. "Let him go, Ed. We'll get Claire and she'll help you."
Ed laughed, "Yeah, that's a good idea, get Claire and the three of us can have a real good time. But at the moment, I'm a little busy right now. So, be a nice girl and just wait, I'm… almost…done," Ed's words trailed out slowly as his grip got tighter around Tom's neck.
Tom continued to struggle, but Ed was stronger than he expected. The adrenaline rush in Ed gave him the strength of a dominant. He heard Sloan's voice and he wanted to tell her to get away, but the only sound that came out was grunts. His world grew darker.
Sloan could see that Tom wasn't going to last much longer. "Ed please, just let him go!" She put her hands on Ed's shoulder. Ed shrugged her off.
Darien stopped toying with the beakers, the feeling inside him was too strong for him to ignore. For the past few minutes he hadn't felt right, his gut had been telling him something's wrong. He had shrugged it off thinking that he was starting to act paranoid like Hobbes, but the feeling grew in intensity. He got up and just walked out the Keep when he bumped into Claire. A look of desperation spread across his face. The feeling was stronger outside the Keep.
"Darien, you okay?"
"Get the tranq gun and meet me at the back door."
"The tranq gun? Why"
Darien shot Claire a stern look, "Trust me."
Claire watched as Darien ran down the hall. She went inside the Keep and went to her drawer to prepare the tranquilizer gun.
Ed released Tom and he fell to the floor in a heap. Ed turned his attention to Sloan, "You want to know something, Sloan? I'm so tired of hearing you whine." Ed approached Sloan with his hand raised, he looked as if he was about to strike her.
Sloan closed her eyes waiting for the pain, but instead her head was pulled back by her hair. When she opened her eyes, Ed was leaning down close to her, grinning, "We're going to have some fun now, Sloan."
Sloan just stared into the eyes of the man she had once known. They were hypnotizing, the crimson color blazing with anger and hatred.
Ed didn't say a word as he slowly moved his finger down her shirt. He could feel how heavy Sloan's breath was against his cheek.
"Please, Ed, don't do this," Sloan pleaded with him. She felt him pull tighter on her hair and she cried out in pain, "Please, Ed, you're hurting me!"
"Shut up! You think I care, you think I give a damn after all those years you took me for granted!?! You and Tom took credit for stopping Dr. Copeland when I was the one that helped *YOU* with the vaccine. I found the region where the dominants came from, but who took the credit? YOU! You took credit for everything I did and now, it's time to pay the piper, my dear."
Ed pulled harder on Sloan's hair, "I loved you, Sloan. I wanted to be more than friends." Ed took a glance at Tom, "Then he had to come into your life," Ed turned his attention back to Sloan, "Now I'm gonna show you what you passed up." He roughly pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers.
Sloan tried to struggle, but his hold on her was too strong. Making him angry was not in her plan either. Something was obviously wrong with Ed and she would just have to hope that help would arrive in time.
Ed broke the bruising kiss and stared at Sloan's swollen red lips, "That was nice, but I think you're not really into this yet." Ed went to kiss her again when he felt a hand grab his shirt.
"Let her go, Ed."
Ed's smile turned to a sneer, "I reeeeaallly hate being interrupted!" As Ed turned to face Tom, a fist sent him staggering backwards towards the wall. Ed looked at Tom and wiped the blood from his mouth. He smiled and then turned his attention to Sloan, "Don't go anywhere, Sloan. There's another part of you I want to taste," Ed gave her a wink.
Tom looked at Sloan, "Run, Sloan, get out of here." Tom watched as Sloan ran down the hall.
"Aw come on, Tom, you're a real party pooper. Time to finish what I started." Ed let the quicksilver flow and he lunged at Tom. Ed quickly got him in a head lock and shed the quicksilver, "Good bye, Tom."
Sloan turned the corner and saw Darien. She ran up to him, "Darien, please help."
"Whoa, take it easy, Sloan, what's going on?" Darien held onto her shoulders.
"It's Ed," Sloan panted.
"Ed!?!" Darien looked off to the side as if in thought. He knew something was wrong. But since he was in the Keep, he was too far away for his senses to pick up exactly what was happening.
"Ed's going to kill Tom, you have to help."
Hobbes pulled up and saw the car that Ed drove into the wall. He pulled out his gun and walked towards the back door carefully. He pulled the double doors open and saw Darien trying to break Tom's neck. He ran towards the two men, "Fawkes, what's the matter with you!?!" Hobbes held up his gun and aimed it at Darien, "Stop it right now, Fawkes!"
Ed shrugged Hobbes off, "Damn, when are you people ever going to learn?" Ed let Tom fall to the floor again and slowly rose to his full height. He turned and glared at Hobbes.
Hobbes stared at the red eyed maniac in front of him. "Ed?" He asked in a surprised tone.
Ed smiled, "Hello, Hobbes. How'd you know it was me?"
Hobbes took a step back when he saw the red eyes, "Well, for starters, Fawkes doesn't smell like a walking ad for Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion."
Ed laughed, "That's a good one." He approached Hobbes slowly.
"I don't know why you've got the red eye thing goin', but Claire can help you." Hobbes tried to distract Ed from going after Tom. He kept his gun aimed at Ed.
"What makes you think I want help? I feel just fine and quite happy." Ed approached Hobbes like a predator tracking his prey. He especially paid close attention to the gun in Hobbes hand. Ed quickly played out a plan in his mind to retrieve the second gun he knew Hobbes carried.
"I'm sure you do, but this isn't you," Hobbes scoffed internally as he saw himself with all his own mental short comings, trying to reason with a mad man who didn't care about anyone's life, including his own.
"Ah…but you see, this is me, at least an uninhibited version of Ed Tate. Come on, Hobbes," Ed put his hands up like a boxer, "You know you want to fight me. You've wanted to ever since I first slept with Claire." Ed smiled, "Man to man, mono e mono."
Darien came around the corner and saw Ed, "Ed, stop!" Sloan ran to Tom's side.
Ed heard Darien's voice. He turned around and had his back to Hobbes, "Well, hello brah. Look at what I can do." The quicksilver flowed over Ed and in an instant, he was invisible.
Sloan covered her mouth, "Oh my God!"
Hobbes checked the agent for a pulse. Satisfied that he was only knocked out, he stood up again and kept his gun ready. The best thing for him to do now was to let Darien handle this. But if things got out of hand, he would use it to stop Ed from killing anyone or getting away.
Darien had seen the scarlet eyes and when Ed disappeared he knew for sure that Ed had been implanted with a gland. He quicksilvered his eyes and saw the blue ghost like figure that waved at him.
"Ohhhhh crap."
"So, what you do think, pretty cool huh? Now I guess we really are twins, well apart from you being a dominant," Ed said as he approached Darien. "Bet you're wondering what happened?"
"Yeah, that is the main question on my mind," Darien moved forward and then the men circled around each other like two boxers in the ring assessing each other.
"Well, you can thank your friend Arnaud for this one," Ed said.
Darien stopped, "Arnaud? But…how? You were in Atlanta."
Ed jeered at Darien's remark, "I never made it to Atlanta," Ed's arms flared outward, "In fact, Mr. Secret Agent Man, I never made it on the damn plane!" Darien felt the anger coming off of Ed. "Where the hell where you, Darien? You let him do this to me!!" Ed yelled.
"No, that isn't true. You know if we had known…" Darien was interrupted.
"You're the big hero that's supposed to rush in and save the day, but you didn't. None of you did, now I'm living in hell and it's your fault. Weren't your little toys supposed to keep me safe?" Ed moved closer to Darien.
Claire turned the corner and saw Darien as he walked around in a circle. Sloan was attending to Tom who seemed to be in bad shape. "Darien, what is…" Claire was interrupted.
"Ah, look the pretty Keeper is here."
Claire looked at Darien quizzically.
"Hey, don't look at me, I didn't say it," Darien said innocently.
Ed shook off the quicksilver and reappeared in a silvery shower. Claire stared in shock as she took in the sight of Ed and his glaring crimson eyes.
"Oh bloody hell," Claire exclaimed as she held the tranq gun in her hand.
Hobbes held up his hands and looked at Ed, "Easy there, doc. We're gonna take care of you now."
"Easy? What are you nuts?" Ed laughed, "Oh yeah, you are, aren't you?" He turned his attention on Claire, "What you going to do with that? Shoot me? Teach me how I can trust you, roll over, play dead, do tricks for the government, you know your basic slave crap."
"Ed, Claire just wants to help," Darien tried to reason with Ed, but knew it wasn't going to do any good.
"Help? I don't think so. I like the new and improved me."
Darien tried to reach into Ed's mind. 'Ed, I know what you're going through. Just let Claire help you. You can trust her,' Darien moved towards Ed.
Everyone watched as Ed seemed to stand still as if he was hypnotized. Darien inched closer. 'That's it, Ed, you're doing good,' he kept talking to Ed as he moved closer carefully.
Ed continued to stand motionless, staring off into space as if in a trance. Darien was nearly arms length away when Ed lunged forward and knocked Darien to the ground. He wasn't expecting Ed to use his body like a line backer. Ed set his sights on Claire and headed straight for her.
"Claire!" Darien yelled.
Claire raised the tranq gun as Ed approached her. She saw the blazing speed that Ed was coming towards her. She wondered if she would get the shot off in time.
Darien yelled again as he scrambled to his feet, "Claire! Shoot!"
Hobbes raised his gun and took aim.
Sloan screamed, "NOOOO!"
The sound of a gun made Darien stop and he watched as Ed stopped, mumbled something then fell to the hard floor just inches from Claire. He took a quick glance at Hobbes who lowered a smoking gun.
TBC….
Ed raced towards the Agency in a car he stole from a bio-terrorist and was doing all he could to win a battle that couldn't be won. He edged closer and closer to quicksilver madness as he approached the Agency.
He could see the building and it was a welcome sight. But the terrible urge for counteragent was becoming overwhelming. Arnaud was right; he wanted a drug that he hadn't even tasted yet and he would do anything to get it. He knew he wouldn't find it at the Agency. There was only person who could give him what he craved and the irresistible desire to go back got stronger as each moment passed. Ed fought the urge with all his being and swung the car around into the back parking lot smashing it head first into the back wall. The air bag popped out and prevented any serious injury. Ed chuckled like a drunk, "Oops, Arnaud's going to be pissed."
Ed opened the door and tumbled out of the car clutching his head. The headache was worse and he cried out in pain. After a few moments, the searing pain subsided and he gazed at himself in the side mirror. His eyes were nearly red and there was no way of pushing back the demon. He was too close for that now.
"God, please…" Ed pleaded as he staggered to the double doors.
Hobbes had finished his paperwork and had gone to check on Claire and Darien. Both were hungry and he had left to get something for Claire and Darien to eat. Claire had stepped out to get equipment for another test leaving a curious Darien to get into anything that caught his eye in the Keep.
Tom headed for the Keep to see how Darien was doing with the tests. He figured that Darien could use the support. Sloan was almost done with her research and she would join Tom in the Keep to check on Darien's progress.
Outside, Ed reached the double doors. He pulled the doors opened and tumbled to the floor. Sweat poured from his face, his usual fluff of brown hair was now matted to his scalp. Ed breathed heavily and a soft plea escaped his lips, barely audible, "Someone, help." He crawled along the floor and finally reached the wall. Pain raced through his head and an inner voice kept begging to be let out. Ed tried desperately to push that voice back deep inside one more time, but failed. He knew now it was only a matter of time before he lost the battle.
Tom walked towards the Keep when he sensed a strong presence. Curious, he walked closer. He froze in his tracts when he read the electrical impulses and knew right away that someone was in trouble. Tom ran down the hall as fast as he could. The impulses got stronger as well as conflicting emotions, a feeling of urgency, fear started to give way to hate and anger. At first he thought it was Darien, but the impulses he sensed were human.
Tom turned the corner and down the hall he saw someone struggling to get to his feet. He was close enough to read the signature of the human. His eyes widened, "Ed?"
Ed looked up and saw Tom, he held out his hand and pushed himself using the wall as support, "Tom, help."
Tom caught a glimpse of the eyes and ran towards Ed, "What happened?"
In an agitated voice, Ed replied, "Get Claire." Ed fell into Tom's arms, through gritted teeth he repeated his plea, "Damn it…just get Claire! I don't have much time, only she can help," Ed was barely able to finish his sentence when another seizure hit. Ed's back arched in agony and his eyes squeezed shut, "Augghh." Ed groaned in misery as he clutched the back of his neck. His faced strained in torment.
Tom sensed the internal struggle that Ed was having. It was as if he was competing with a beast for control of his own mind. "Ed?" Tom said as he tried to help his friend. Then as quickly as the seizure started, it stopped. Ed's body relaxed. Tom thought that he had passed out, there was a calmness that he could sense, but it wasn't the same emotion that characterizes Ed. This was a cold emotion. Ed had lost to the beast within.
"Ed?" Tom said again.
"You should have done what I asked, Tom, because now," Ed opened his eyes, lifted his head, a cruel smile was on his face.
Tom nearly dropped Ed; he wasn't prepared to look into the eyes of a mad man. Cold blood colored eyes pierced into the soul the stoic dominant. Tom was nearly in a trance, the face wasn't even Ed's, and the voice, cold and malicious.
Ed slowly moved away and like a predator, rose to his feet. His smile never changed, he completed his sentence in the same ominous voice, "I'll have to kill YOU!" Ed charged at Tom.
An agency agent heard the threat and ran to see what was happening. He came around the corner and saw Tom fighting with someone. "Hey!" The agent yelled.
Ed stopped and tossed Tom across the hall and up against the wall. Tom hit his head and slumped to the floor. Ed turned to face the agent, "What the hell do you want?"
The agent pulled out his gun and aimed it at Ed, "Stop, don't move."
"Oh yeah," Ed said malevolently and let the quicksilver flow. The agent stood there transfixed not sure what to do and before he could finally react, he was thrown up against the wall. Ed whispered in the agent's ear, "Time for you to go nighty night." Ed pulled him by the collar and his hair, slammed him into the wall head first successfully knocking out the agent.
Ed reappeared and laughed cruelly at the man on the floor, "You just gotta love this! I'm kicking some ass today!" He turned his head around and glared at Tom.
Stunned, Tom watched as Ed reappeared, 'He can go invisible too.' Tom wondered how this happened to Ed as he rose to his feet and put his hands up, "Ed, stop. I don't want to fight you."
Ed laughed again and held his arms out to his side, "But Tom, I do. I'm in the mood to see blood, yours in particular." Ed made his arms disappear and he looked at Tom emotionless, "Are you ready for a magic trick, Tom? I know you'll love this one." Ed approached Tom, "Do dominants even like magic tricks?" He asked as he cocked his head to one side.
Tom stood his ground trying to figure out what Ed was up to. He found out.
Ed smiled, "Keep your eyes on the hands cause where they go no one knows." Ed chuckled wickedly, "Oh I forgot, mine are invisible." He made his left hand reappear and caught Tom of guard.
Tom was distracted by Ed's reappearing left hand that he forgot about the other one. Ed connected with a sound punch to the face that sent Tom falling to the ground. Ed reached down and picked Tom off the floor roughly and tossed him against the wall face first.
Tom turned quickly to counter with a punch of his own, but he didn't connect and his motion sent him to the ground. Tom looked around and heard a disembodied laugh, "Did you really think I'd give you a fair fight?"
Sloan was on her way to the Keep when she heard the familiar voice, but it didn't sound right, "Was that Darien?" She mumbled and decided to investigate. She hurried her steps towards the sounds, 'Sounds like someone's fighting,' she thought to herself.
Sloan turned the corner and nearly tripped over her own feet from what she saw. Tom was fighting with Darien, 'Oh no, Darien's at it again.' She approached closer, "Darien!?!"
Ed had Tom pinned up against the wall. His hands were around the shorter man's neck and his feet dangled a few inches off the floor. Ed didn't turn to look at her, he sneered, "Wrong, Sloan."
Sloan stood there for a moment and realized that it wasn't Darien; it was Ed. "Ed? But," she heard Ed growl like an animal. The shock wore off and she yelled, "Ed, STOP!"
Ed turned his head and glared at Sloan.
She took a step back and nearly fainted, her eyes wide in horror when those eyes glared at her, "Oh my God." Sloan regained her composure and took a timid step towards Ed. "Let him go, Ed. We'll get Claire and she'll help you."
Ed laughed, "Yeah, that's a good idea, get Claire and the three of us can have a real good time. But at the moment, I'm a little busy right now. So, be a nice girl and just wait, I'm… almost…done," Ed's words trailed out slowly as his grip got tighter around Tom's neck.
Tom continued to struggle, but Ed was stronger than he expected. The adrenaline rush in Ed gave him the strength of a dominant. He heard Sloan's voice and he wanted to tell her to get away, but the only sound that came out was grunts. His world grew darker.
Sloan could see that Tom wasn't going to last much longer. "Ed please, just let him go!" She put her hands on Ed's shoulder. Ed shrugged her off.
Darien stopped toying with the beakers, the feeling inside him was too strong for him to ignore. For the past few minutes he hadn't felt right, his gut had been telling him something's wrong. He had shrugged it off thinking that he was starting to act paranoid like Hobbes, but the feeling grew in intensity. He got up and just walked out the Keep when he bumped into Claire. A look of desperation spread across his face. The feeling was stronger outside the Keep.
"Darien, you okay?"
"Get the tranq gun and meet me at the back door."
"The tranq gun? Why"
Darien shot Claire a stern look, "Trust me."
Claire watched as Darien ran down the hall. She went inside the Keep and went to her drawer to prepare the tranquilizer gun.
Ed released Tom and he fell to the floor in a heap. Ed turned his attention to Sloan, "You want to know something, Sloan? I'm so tired of hearing you whine." Ed approached Sloan with his hand raised, he looked as if he was about to strike her.
Sloan closed her eyes waiting for the pain, but instead her head was pulled back by her hair. When she opened her eyes, Ed was leaning down close to her, grinning, "We're going to have some fun now, Sloan."
Sloan just stared into the eyes of the man she had once known. They were hypnotizing, the crimson color blazing with anger and hatred.
Ed didn't say a word as he slowly moved his finger down her shirt. He could feel how heavy Sloan's breath was against his cheek.
"Please, Ed, don't do this," Sloan pleaded with him. She felt him pull tighter on her hair and she cried out in pain, "Please, Ed, you're hurting me!"
"Shut up! You think I care, you think I give a damn after all those years you took me for granted!?! You and Tom took credit for stopping Dr. Copeland when I was the one that helped *YOU* with the vaccine. I found the region where the dominants came from, but who took the credit? YOU! You took credit for everything I did and now, it's time to pay the piper, my dear."
Ed pulled harder on Sloan's hair, "I loved you, Sloan. I wanted to be more than friends." Ed took a glance at Tom, "Then he had to come into your life," Ed turned his attention back to Sloan, "Now I'm gonna show you what you passed up." He roughly pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers.
Sloan tried to struggle, but his hold on her was too strong. Making him angry was not in her plan either. Something was obviously wrong with Ed and she would just have to hope that help would arrive in time.
Ed broke the bruising kiss and stared at Sloan's swollen red lips, "That was nice, but I think you're not really into this yet." Ed went to kiss her again when he felt a hand grab his shirt.
"Let her go, Ed."
Ed's smile turned to a sneer, "I reeeeaallly hate being interrupted!" As Ed turned to face Tom, a fist sent him staggering backwards towards the wall. Ed looked at Tom and wiped the blood from his mouth. He smiled and then turned his attention to Sloan, "Don't go anywhere, Sloan. There's another part of you I want to taste," Ed gave her a wink.
Tom looked at Sloan, "Run, Sloan, get out of here." Tom watched as Sloan ran down the hall.
"Aw come on, Tom, you're a real party pooper. Time to finish what I started." Ed let the quicksilver flow and he lunged at Tom. Ed quickly got him in a head lock and shed the quicksilver, "Good bye, Tom."
Sloan turned the corner and saw Darien. She ran up to him, "Darien, please help."
"Whoa, take it easy, Sloan, what's going on?" Darien held onto her shoulders.
"It's Ed," Sloan panted.
"Ed!?!" Darien looked off to the side as if in thought. He knew something was wrong. But since he was in the Keep, he was too far away for his senses to pick up exactly what was happening.
"Ed's going to kill Tom, you have to help."
Hobbes pulled up and saw the car that Ed drove into the wall. He pulled out his gun and walked towards the back door carefully. He pulled the double doors open and saw Darien trying to break Tom's neck. He ran towards the two men, "Fawkes, what's the matter with you!?!" Hobbes held up his gun and aimed it at Darien, "Stop it right now, Fawkes!"
Ed shrugged Hobbes off, "Damn, when are you people ever going to learn?" Ed let Tom fall to the floor again and slowly rose to his full height. He turned and glared at Hobbes.
Hobbes stared at the red eyed maniac in front of him. "Ed?" He asked in a surprised tone.
Ed smiled, "Hello, Hobbes. How'd you know it was me?"
Hobbes took a step back when he saw the red eyes, "Well, for starters, Fawkes doesn't smell like a walking ad for Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion."
Ed laughed, "That's a good one." He approached Hobbes slowly.
"I don't know why you've got the red eye thing goin', but Claire can help you." Hobbes tried to distract Ed from going after Tom. He kept his gun aimed at Ed.
"What makes you think I want help? I feel just fine and quite happy." Ed approached Hobbes like a predator tracking his prey. He especially paid close attention to the gun in Hobbes hand. Ed quickly played out a plan in his mind to retrieve the second gun he knew Hobbes carried.
"I'm sure you do, but this isn't you," Hobbes scoffed internally as he saw himself with all his own mental short comings, trying to reason with a mad man who didn't care about anyone's life, including his own.
"Ah…but you see, this is me, at least an uninhibited version of Ed Tate. Come on, Hobbes," Ed put his hands up like a boxer, "You know you want to fight me. You've wanted to ever since I first slept with Claire." Ed smiled, "Man to man, mono e mono."
Darien came around the corner and saw Ed, "Ed, stop!" Sloan ran to Tom's side.
Ed heard Darien's voice. He turned around and had his back to Hobbes, "Well, hello brah. Look at what I can do." The quicksilver flowed over Ed and in an instant, he was invisible.
Sloan covered her mouth, "Oh my God!"
Hobbes checked the agent for a pulse. Satisfied that he was only knocked out, he stood up again and kept his gun ready. The best thing for him to do now was to let Darien handle this. But if things got out of hand, he would use it to stop Ed from killing anyone or getting away.
Darien had seen the scarlet eyes and when Ed disappeared he knew for sure that Ed had been implanted with a gland. He quicksilvered his eyes and saw the blue ghost like figure that waved at him.
"Ohhhhh crap."
"So, what you do think, pretty cool huh? Now I guess we really are twins, well apart from you being a dominant," Ed said as he approached Darien. "Bet you're wondering what happened?"
"Yeah, that is the main question on my mind," Darien moved forward and then the men circled around each other like two boxers in the ring assessing each other.
"Well, you can thank your friend Arnaud for this one," Ed said.
Darien stopped, "Arnaud? But…how? You were in Atlanta."
Ed jeered at Darien's remark, "I never made it to Atlanta," Ed's arms flared outward, "In fact, Mr. Secret Agent Man, I never made it on the damn plane!" Darien felt the anger coming off of Ed. "Where the hell where you, Darien? You let him do this to me!!" Ed yelled.
"No, that isn't true. You know if we had known…" Darien was interrupted.
"You're the big hero that's supposed to rush in and save the day, but you didn't. None of you did, now I'm living in hell and it's your fault. Weren't your little toys supposed to keep me safe?" Ed moved closer to Darien.
Claire turned the corner and saw Darien as he walked around in a circle. Sloan was attending to Tom who seemed to be in bad shape. "Darien, what is…" Claire was interrupted.
"Ah, look the pretty Keeper is here."
Claire looked at Darien quizzically.
"Hey, don't look at me, I didn't say it," Darien said innocently.
Ed shook off the quicksilver and reappeared in a silvery shower. Claire stared in shock as she took in the sight of Ed and his glaring crimson eyes.
"Oh bloody hell," Claire exclaimed as she held the tranq gun in her hand.
Hobbes held up his hands and looked at Ed, "Easy there, doc. We're gonna take care of you now."
"Easy? What are you nuts?" Ed laughed, "Oh yeah, you are, aren't you?" He turned his attention on Claire, "What you going to do with that? Shoot me? Teach me how I can trust you, roll over, play dead, do tricks for the government, you know your basic slave crap."
"Ed, Claire just wants to help," Darien tried to reason with Ed, but knew it wasn't going to do any good.
"Help? I don't think so. I like the new and improved me."
Darien tried to reach into Ed's mind. 'Ed, I know what you're going through. Just let Claire help you. You can trust her,' Darien moved towards Ed.
Everyone watched as Ed seemed to stand still as if he was hypnotized. Darien inched closer. 'That's it, Ed, you're doing good,' he kept talking to Ed as he moved closer carefully.
Ed continued to stand motionless, staring off into space as if in a trance. Darien was nearly arms length away when Ed lunged forward and knocked Darien to the ground. He wasn't expecting Ed to use his body like a line backer. Ed set his sights on Claire and headed straight for her.
"Claire!" Darien yelled.
Claire raised the tranq gun as Ed approached her. She saw the blazing speed that Ed was coming towards her. She wondered if she would get the shot off in time.
Darien yelled again as he scrambled to his feet, "Claire! Shoot!"
Hobbes raised his gun and took aim.
Sloan screamed, "NOOOO!"
The sound of a gun made Darien stop and he watched as Ed stopped, mumbled something then fell to the hard floor just inches from Claire. He took a quick glance at Hobbes who lowered a smoking gun.
TBC….