***

“Alright,” Melissa said over the line, “tell me again what happened?”. The people she sent out to protect Drake were a few minutes away from coming back. She was fine up until they reported they lost Drake to somebody who looked like Jack. She listened as they went over what happened again, nothing changed from the first time around. So it was true, Anderson did have a second Fusion stashed away.

Rachel, Lance and Sparky stood by as she put the head set down. All of them were thankfully keeping quiet as she tried to take that in. Eventually Rachel was the one who spoke first, “It went bad didn’t it?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” she said.

“Where they too late or something?”, Lance asked.

“No they found them before Anderson’s men did anything. Everything was going their way up until the second Fusion operative showed up.” They looked shocked at the news. They all knew Anderson had one somewhere, nobody was expecting it this soon.

“Is Jack alright?”, Rachel asked. Sparky was looking worried as well. How was she going to explain this part, she didn’t even understand it herself.

“Yes and no,” was all she could say. “From I could understand Jack took on this other Fusion then, for some reason, he just stopped. This other guy knocked him around for a bit then went after Drake. Jack was able to get his head back into the game but it was too late to save him.”

“What happen to Jack then?”, Sparky asked.

“Did this other guy do anything to him?”, Lance wondered out loud. “Maybe World Inc. created something that would affect his systems momentarily.”

“Friedman would have heard something about that,” Melissa said. She could feel Rachel uneasiness over the whole thing.

“Should we get Dusty here or something?”, she finally said. “”If Jack knows what happened to him maybe Dusty could come up with a way to block it.”

“Whatever happened Jack isn’t talking about it,” She informed her. “He seemed perfectly fine physically. But the way they described it he’s been sitting in the back of the van fuming for the past ten minutes.”

“I’ll get him to talk about it,” she said. “I mean he’s got to tell somebody.”

“If anybody can get that guy to open up it’s her,” Sparky said patting her on the shoulder.

Melissa nodded and they waited for them to get back. Rachel thought it was best if she gave him some more time before asking about it so she stayed there in the war room with the rest of them. It wasn’t a long wait before they got word they arrived. A few minutes later was when she felt it, anger and lots of it. The feeling was strong and it was getting closer. Melissa stared at the door and after a moment Jack came busting in. Her and a couple of others gasp at the rage in his face. He quickly looked around the room until he looked in their direction. Rachel’s direction to be exact, “You lying little…”, she heard him mutter.

“Jack what happened?”, Rachel asked. He stormed over to her pushing past a couple of people. Rachel found herself backing up and hit the wall behind her. Sparky and Lance actually had to hold him back.

“Jack what’s going on?”, Melissa demanded. He ignored her.

“You told me he was dead!”, he shouted at Rachel who was as confused as the rest of them. “You looked me right in the eyes and told me he was dead!”

“Who are you talking about?” Then Rachel emotions changed slightly. She whispered, “No way, it can’t be.”

“This have anything to do with that other Fusion operative?”, Melissa asked trying to get some control back. Again Jack ignored her.

“It was Richie!”, he yelled. Rachel looked stunned as she slid to the floor. “Why did you tell me he was dead?!”, he started to struggle harder to get away from Lance and Sparky.

“Jack,” Melissa said with authority, “I think you better go somewhere and cool off.” He ignored her again. “Now Davidson,” she ordered. Jack finally looked at her seething. He shrugged away from them and walked out of the room, hitting a filing cabinet along the way. Melissa leaned against table and tried to close the window in her head that left her open to the emotions of others. All of that just gave her a monster headache. Sparky and Lance just looked confused while Rachel sat there in her still stunned state.

“That was a level of pissed,” Sparky said after a bit, “I thought was only reserved for Jason.”

“No kidding,” Lance agreed. “Of course the big question is who’s Richie?”

Rachel finally found her voice as she answered him, “His best friend.”

***

Jack passed several people who quickly got out of his way when they saw him. He was not on the mood for them right now. Not caring where he was going he found himself in a storage hut. Then he finally let it go. Grabbing a small crate he yelled as he hurled it across the room, not really caring what was in it. Then he looked for something else, Richie was alive and nobody told him. Everybody kept him believing he was dead this entire time. The entire freakin’ time! They kept him in one of those blasted tubes and turned him into another freak.

He didn’t know how long he was tearing up the room, a minute, and hour and he pretty much didn’t care. He stood there in the middle of the mess and he still wanted to hit something. “Jack,” he heard Rachel say. He looked back as she wisely stood by the door. He did not want to be around her right now. He turned away from her. “I didn’t know they had Richie in the system.”

“Go away,” he said slowly.

“Jack you have believe me, I thought he was dead too. His file had a death certificate in it when I looked at it.” He heard her walk up to him, but stay a few feet away from him. “I would have told you if I knew he was alive.”

“You would have told me?”, he snapped at her as he turned around. His anger got the better of him. “You would have told me? It seems there are a lot of things you would have told me since I’ve meet you. Like you would have told me you had them looking for my mom. Like you would have told me there’s a bug in my head that’ll let the track me wherever I go. Like you would have told me you’re a lying little bitch!”

He saw her stiffen slightly and then he saw the hurt radiating in her eyes. That same moment he regretted saying that. “Rachel I’m…”, he started to reach for her but she backed away.

“What… whatever Jack,” she stammered as she hurried out of the room. “Just… just leave me alone.”

“Rachel wait,” he went after her. He followed her into the hallway. “Rachel I’m sorry.” She didn’t turn around but various French words caught his ear. He stopped and closed his eyes. Letting the frustration over take him he punched the wall beside him, “Damn it!”

***

Richie sat in his room in the medical wing, head hanging low. He didn’t bother to turn on the lights when he came in, the only illumination coming from the hallway as he didn’t close the door. Right now it seemed like the darkness was his only friend at that moment. That confrontation with Jack had to have been the hardest thing he had ever done. It still didn’t seem real, but he wasn’t fighting a ghost or a figment of his imagination. No, the blows they traded were real. He heard a knock and looked up, Anderson stood there waiting to be let in. Richie lowered his head again and said, “You were right. He attacked your guys just like you said he would.”

“Believe me Richard, I take no pleasure in that,” he said as he entered. Taking a chair from the corner he placed it next to him and sat down. “Every time I hear one of our assault teams encountered Davidson I hope that perhaps he might have come to his senses.”

Richie played the whole thing over in his head, “He seemed surprised that I was still around.”

“There is a reason for that I’m afraid.” Anderson took a moment to look him in the eyes before continuing, “You weren’t exactly a planned project. We only learned of your existence fairly recently. A former VP of mine, a man named Allen, stashed you away.”

“Was he one of the rebels too?”

“While he was a Drakan, he wasn’t one of the rebels. No, he was a person who for the longest time played both sides against each other for his own personal gain. I found out about his nature until after he gave us some faulty information.” He looked unsure if he should continue or not, “He purposely had us send Mr. Davidson after what turned out to be a group of children.”

“Wait a damn moment,” Richie cut him off. “Now I know Jack couldn’t have killed a bunch of kids.”

“And he didn’t,’ Anderson assured him. “Although for the longest time he let us think he did. I do believe this is about the time his slide started because he thought we would have sent a team after the children if we knew they were still alive.”

“Is that an idea she put in his head?”

“Perhaps, I can’t be for certain,” he admitted.

“You’re guys,” Richie said as he thought about it some more,” they had some kind of weapon…”

“Yes, after Davidson went rouge we had to come up with some kind of defensive weapon to help them protect themselves.” Anderson started rubbing his hands together lightly, “So far it has proven somewhat ineffective, but I have my people working on improving it.” As if he was reading his mind Anderson added, “Not to hurt Mr. Davidson of course, just subdue him long enough to bring him in.”

“And then what?” Richie wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

“Well… for everyone protection he would have to be incarcerated.” Richie head went a little lower. “Here of course,” he added, “I doubt a normal cell could hold him if he activated the system.”

“I have to know, has he attacked anybody else? Anybody not part of… whatever the hell this is.”

“Not that I’m currently aware of.” Richie sighed in relief, Jack didn’t totally go off the deep end yet. “I’ll let you get some sleep now,” Anderson said getting up. “We’ll try to limit our need of you in the field for now so you can get accustomed to things. But it might be wise to stay on alert just in case.”

“Yeah, sure thanks,” he replied as Anderson left. Richie was alone in the darkness again. Again he went over the confrontation again in his mind. What the hell happened to his friend?

***

There was a knock on her door, Rachel didn’t even get up from the bed to see who it was. There was a good chance it might be Jack and she was in no mood to talk to him right now. All this time and he still thought she was hiding things from him. How big of an idiot can he be? The person knocked again but added, “I assure you child, I am not Jack.” Realizing it was Emily she got up and unlocked the door. “Thank you child,” she said as Rachel sat back down. Although she gave a kick to Jack’s cot as she passed it.

“I guess you heard already?”, she said hoping this was going to be quick.

“A couple of the other overheard what a happened. As always word spread rather quickly down here. I know Melissa wanted to be down here to talk to you but she’s currently reading Jack the riot act.”

“It would serve him right if she tore him a new one,” she said bitterly. Emily sat next to her and gently patted her knee.

“I realizing you’re hurting child, but I know Jack didn’t mean to hurt you.” Rachel barked out a short, bitter ha. “As hard as it is to believe right now, Jack didn’t want to hurt you. His anger was directed at Anderson and World Inc. Unfortunately you were the closest thing that represents World Inc. that we have around here. I am quite certain if Dr. Friedman was here his outrage would have been directed at him.”

“So what?”, she asked. “Am I supposed to just forgive him then?”

“Now I never said that. Make him beg for it a bit before deciding if you’re going to or not.” Rachel laughed a bit despite her mood. “I may not have Melissa gift but I do know Jack is genuinely sorry about what he said.”

Rachel didn’t say anything for few minutes. Finally she said, “You knew what was going to happen didn’t you? That’s why you didn’t want me to go along this time.”

“I didn’t know who or what it was going to be child,” she corrected her, “the things I see are rarely that exact. All I knew was something big was about to happen that was going to affect Jack. It was up to him to decide how he was going to react to it.” Now what the hell was that suppose to mean? If she didn’t know what was going to happen why couldn’t she go then? “Let me put it this way child, what if he decided to get angry about the situation and nobody else was around to stop to hold him back?”

“No,” she said suddenly, “Jack would never…”

“No he wouldn’t, the Jack we both know would do anything unless he thought he was provoked. But a Jack who just had his world turned upside down, even I didn’t know how he would have reacted.”

“So now what, Do I give Jack some space to do this on his own?”

“For now perhaps, but he is going to need help to get through this. He’s going to need our support when he decides on how to handle this. More importantly he’s going to need your support child.”

“Let me guess, I’m the one that has to help him keep his head on straight,” Rachel said. Emily nodded in response. “Business as usual then.”

Emily chuckled, “Perhaps, but everybody knows he will turn toward you before he goes to anybody else.” Emily started to get up, Rachel stood to help her. “Thank you child. Right now, you need to give each other a little space, both of you will need to think straight.” She walked Emily to the door. “Think about what I’ve said child. This situation is going to be hard on everyone, not just Jack. Word of a second Drakan Killer will get out. More than likely it’s already started to spread.”

“And level heads need to prevail and all of that,” Rachel said. Emily nodded again. “I’ll try but Jack can be so impossible at times.”

“You would know that better than I would child.” Emily left her alone again. Rachel did think about what she said, but she wasn’t sure if she was willing to forgive Jack just yet.

***

Jack waited in the war room for the meeting to start. Everybody who entered gave him a weird look. Either a look of contempt or one of sympathy. Nobody was trying to talk to him either. Usually that would get on his nerves or he’d force himself to ignore it. But this time he was still so numb he didn’t care. But he kept looking when somebody entered hoping it was going to be Rachel. His heart sank every time it wasn’t. He really screwed up this time.

When she finally entered she looked around saw him and walked to another part of the room. Yeah he really screwed up big time alright. He got up and made his way over. She saw him but didn’t say anything. Jack sat next to her, she turned away slightly. But she wasn’t getting up and leaving either. After a few moments of nothing he asked, ”You all right?”

“Would you be all right?”, she shot back.

“Look I’m sorry I called you a …”

She cut him off, “Don’t repeat it. It’s bad enough you said it the first time.”

“Right,” he sighed. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Where was one of those “ghost” when you needed one. “I don’t know why I said it,” he told her. “I just wasn’t thinking.”

“No you weren’t,” she told him.

“I talked to Sparky, he said he could stand having a roommate for a couple of days. I can be by to pick up my cot later.”

“You don’t have to leave the room,” she said. He looked at her feeling confused. Finally she looked at him. Jack could still see the hurt in her eyes. “Just stop looking my way and accusing me every time Anderson throws us a curveball. I told you everything I knew.”

“I know you did. It was just… Richie… I…”, he trialed off. Jack put his hands on top of his head as he looked at the ground. He felt her hand on his shoulder and felt a bit better, but it was still going to be an up hill battle. “I’m the biggest idiot on the planet.”

“Yes you are,” she agreed. There was a small hint of a smile and he knew they were going to be ok. He was never going to live that down but they were going to be ok.

Melissa came in and everybody got quiet. She cast a look in their direction and looked satisfied as she headed for the front of the room. Maybe he didn’t have her gift but he could see how tired this was making her. “Thank you all for coming,” she began. “I just got done with several heated conversation with the other cell leaders. They found out about the second mark one, just like we thought they would. Needless to say they’ve been panicking about the idea of another Drakan Killer out there.”

“Where did Anderson stash this one?”, somebody asked. “We didn’t find anything in that warehouse.”

“Friedman did some snooping on his own,” Melissa answered. “According to him, they found this one a few months ago, after Jack and Rachel left the company.” She glanced over in his direction as she said that. He lowered his head, like he didn’t have enough reason to beat himself over the head. “He didn’t find out much but apparently Allen had this one started.”

“Allen?”, Rachel said in disbelief.

“Guess he was a little ticked Dad lost the company,” Jack commented not feeling the humor.

“That’s what we’re speculating,” Melissa said. “Of course the question the other cell leaders are asking is what are we going to do about him?”

Jack felt himself stiffen a little, afraid of what the answer was going to be. “Well Jack knows the guy,” Sparky said. “I’d bet Jack could talk him into joining our side.

“Just what we need,” Jason said at the far end of the room, “another one of him walking around down here.”

Rachel looked at him as he stared a hole through the blond hair man. Any other time and he be more than willing to make him shut the hell up. The old man standing next to Jason, Nathan, spoke up, “Despite how you or the others feel about him, Jack has been useful. A second one couldn’t hurt.”

“Fall right into Anderson hands why don’t you,” Jason said as he left the room. Melissa looked a little dismayed a couple of the others in the room nodded in agreement.

“I doubt Anderson can think this far ahead,” Melissa said. “If Friedman is right he didn’t even know this one was around. I talked to Lance about the possibility of trying to get this one to join us too. He was a bit cautious about the ideas but he thought it was a good idea too. He even volunteered to house this one if he needed to.

“But we can’t pin our hopes on that,” she continued. “We have to consider the possibility he wouldn’t listen. In that case he becomes a threat to us.” Jack felt several eyes look right at him, and he felt really uncomfortable. “If that’s the case we’re going to have to eliminate him.”

Jack closed his eyes and tried to pretend he didn’t hear that. That queasy feeling his gut that been there since he found out Richie was alive started getting worse. He almost gave in to the impulse to hurl right there and then.

“Jack,” he heard Melissa say. He looked up at her, eyes begging her not to ask him. She looked sympathetic but she asked it anyway. “Do you think you can take him out?”

“I…,” he barely heard himself speak, “I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”, Nathan cried out. “You’re the only one here capable of taking him out.” Jack looked down at the floor again.

“Hey, go easy on him,” Sparky spoke up in his defense.

“There’s another Drakan Killer out there,” Nathan countered, “we don’t have time to take it easy. We have to know if he can do it or not.”

Jack had more than he could take and left he room as fast as he could. He didn’t get far as he leaned against the wall and tried to get himself under control. He felt somebody come up to him a few moments later. “I told them I come out here and talk to you,” Rachel said.

“Don’t,” he begged, “don’t ask me to do it. I can’t do it. I can’t kill Richie.”

“I not going to,” she assured him.

“Thank you,” he told her.

“They’re not going to like but this goes beyond them.” Rachel looked back at the door and said, “But I hate to say it but Richie might not want to switch sides. I don’t know what Anderson is telling him, but he can be very convincing.”

“I know,” he said hoarsely. As much as he hated to admit but they were right. Richie could end up believing what ever Anderson was feeding him. But Richie was smarter than that, he be able to see through whatever they were telling him. Richie saw through his Uncle’s con all the time, there was no way he could believe Anderson for long. He just had to find away to talk to him and help him see what was happening.

***

“Are you sure about this?”, Anderson asked Taylor as he went over the report. This went totally against Davidson previous pattern of behavior.

“I’ve had this doubled checked sir,” He replied. “Davidson tracking signal has been picked up by the stationary scanners through out the city for the past couple of days. Nobody is sure what to make of it. It’s almost like he’s trying to get caught for some reason.”

Anderson thought it over for a second, “Or he’s trying to draw somebody out.”

“Kingstone,” Taylor said in understanding.

“They are friends after all Mr. Taylor. It is only natural he would try to contact him in some way.”

“Are we going to send Kingstone with the team when the scanners get another hit?”

“I don’t think we will be sending a team out Mr. Taylor. Not just yet at any point. Kingstone doesn’t know about the trackers built into the system. I feel it would be better to keep him in the dark for now.”

“What about Davidson?”

“Keep tracking his appearances. If anything he could lead us to the rebel base if he’s careless enough.”

“According to read outs that might not be possible in this case. He appears to be entering the main part of the city from a different direction each time, and doing the same when he leaves. Picking out a pattern is going to be difficult to say the least.”

“Analyze it anyway, perhaps seeing where he’s not going will tell us something as well.” Taylor said he would get people on it and left. This was an interesting turn of events. While he was still skeptical of Kingstone, but if this was the reaction they were getting out of Davidson there were a few pluses in the situation. All they needed was one big mistake and Davidson would be in their custody once again, or eliminated. Which one didn’t really matter at this point.

***

Jack pulled into the underground garage and cut the engine. Pulling off his helmet in disgust he sat there for a while. Any other time Anderson would be sending out every man, woman and child to get him. Now he couldn’t even get a cop to look in his direction. Rachel and Melissa came up to him, with the latter not looking all that happy. “Are you trying to get yourself caught?”, Melissa demanded.

“You told her?”, Jack asked Rachel.

“She figured it out on her own when she couldn’t find you a few times,” Rachel told him.

“Seriously, are you nuts?”, Melissa started again. “Anderson has this city set up to locate you. Now you’re just trying to let him find you.”

Jack pulled back the hood of his jacket. “I’m making sure they don’t know where you’re at.”

“That’s not the point,” she said. “You get caught and we get put in danger. I’m not going to let you risk everything we got here, not while you’re living here.”

“Fine,” he shot back, “I’ll be packed and out of here in under an hour.” Jack walked past them.

“Don’t make me detain you Jack,” Melissa warned him.

Jack brought his left hand up to his chest and wiggled his fingers slightly, “You wanna try it?”

“Wait one damn minute,” Rachel said getting between them. “This isn’t helping anything.”

“I have to watch out for these people,” Melissa said. “As much as I owe Jack I can’t let him be this reckless with their fate.”

“And I can’t exactly walk up to the World Inc. front desk and go ‘I like to see Richard Kingstone please’,” Jack countered. “This is the only way I can think of.”

“Look Melissa,” Rachel said, “I see where you coming from. But we have to at least try to get Richie on our side. Or at least get him to start understanding our point of view.”

“I understand that Rachel,” she told her. “But he’s still being reckless. I can’t allow this to keep going on. This stop now.” She walked away. Before Rachel could stop him Jack went after her.

“And what if you found out they brought your brother back? What the hell would you do?”, he demanded. Those around the garage looked at them as Melissa stopped and turned around. With a furious look on her face she slapped him, her Drakan strength flooring him. Jack laid there holding his jaw as she walked off again. Rachel knelt next to him, but she wasn’t exactly checking on him. “Guess I deserved that one.”

“Yes you did,” she agreed.

“You could have thought about it for a second or two,” Jack said as he got up.

“Just be glad she held back,” she told him.

“That was holding back?”, Jack asked as he dusted himself off

“You’re jaw isn’t broke.” Reluctantly he agreed. “Although the peace and quiet would have been a nice change for while,” she joked.

“Very funny,” he said. Rachel reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. “Do you expect me to write my will before I go out again?”

“No,” she said. “I was able to talk to Friedman. He thinks he can sneak a note to Richie without anybody seeing him.” Jack took the paper and stared at it. “He’ll be here tomorrow, he’s going to be checking on the children and a few of the other that are sick with Dusty.”

“Does Melissa know about this?”, he asked.

“I was going to tell her before you two had you little spat. But I’ll think I’ll wait a few hours until she cools off a bit before I do.” Jack sat on the crate and tried to think. “You don’t have to get it done by tomorrow, Friedman said he’ll try to swing this way when he can. You have plenty of time to figure out what to say.”

“I think I know what I want to say,” he said. “I just need to figure out a place for us to meet up that World Inc. can’t zero in on.”

“To bad you can’t go back to your old neighborhood. Then again, thanks to me, that be the first place they look. Although it might have done you some good,” she patted his knee as she stood up. “Going back to the beginning when the two of you first met. You know, get a fresh perspective on things.”

“Yeah, but what can you do?”, he asked. She shrugged and left. Too bad he’d been back to the old neighborhood, when he was still part of World Inc. The dump didn’t change at all. But the more he thought about it, there was more than one beginning he could choose from. Maybe he could go back to where this crap started. It was far enough out of the way that World Inc. couldn’t have set up anything. It was the only thing he could think of that could work. Now all he had to do was write it in such a way that Richie could figure it out and nobody else could if the note was found.

***

Richie parked the bike they gave him by the side of the road. Reaching into the pocket of his black leather coat and pulled out the note to read it again. “You won the bet,” it said. “Meet me in two days at eight.” The note wasn’t signed but he knew who it was from. Now if he could just figure out how it got in his room to begin with. Placing his helmet on the handlebar he set up the path and looked up at the mountain before him. He knew it‘s been a couple of years since it happened, but it still seemed like yesterday when it happened. Richie wondered what would have happened to them if he didn’t insist they go hiking that day. Well no point in wondering about it now.

His mind retraced the steps they took back then. Actually he was amazed at how much the rock slide changed things. But not enough that he needed the flashlight he brought with him. When he got to the spot Richie saw it happen again in his mind’s eye and shivered slightly. Not seeing anything he continued walking the path until he came into a heavily wooded area. Richie was wondering if he read the note wrong when he heard something behind him, “I can’t believe you were stupid enough to come.”

Richie turned around and saw a guy wearing a denim jacket with a hood pulled over his head come out of the trees. But there was no mistaking that voice, he grew up hearing it. “Well you’re the idiot that invited me,” he shot back. The walked toward each other, both of them looking serious. Richie found his eyes flickering around trying to see if he could see a trap or anything amiss.

When they got within a foot of each other Jack broke out into a huge grin and pulled him into a hug. “They told me you were dead dude.” He pulled back still grinning like an idiot, but his eye. Now that they were up close he could definitely see that something was different about them. They seemed almost… well dead.

“Well who ever told you that was wrong obviously,” Richie tried to smile.

“Tell that to the person who slipped the death certificates into our files.“ Jack walked a few feet away, “Everybody we know thinks we’re dead, did they tell you that?”

“I heard about it, they said it was a mistake.”

“A mistake,” Jack laughed and crossed his arms. Richie recognized that posed, He knew he was right about something and wasn’t going to change his mind about it. “And such a great ‘mistake’ too, giving them the chance to put us into a program nobody knew was even sure would work.” He walked a little further away. He ended up changing the subject, “Took your damn time getting up here. I was starting to think I made the note too vague.”

“Well you should have been a little more specific,” Richie told him with a hint of a smile, “I mean you lost so many over the years.”

“Hey you lost more than you won. And you still cheated on that last one.”

“You got no proof I cheated at anything.”

“You’re family owns a casino, you’re telling me you didn’t learn any of their trick while you worked there over the summers?”

“My family doesn’t own a crooked casino.” Richie stopped when he saw Jack grin again. Damn it he fell into it again. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Because you keep taking the bait,’ he replied plainly before laughing a bit.

“I guess some things haven’t changed.” He was glad of that actually. It was another sign his friend wasn’t totally gone yet. Jack started looking around the area. “Were you expecting anybody else?”

“No, just wondering when the troops are going to show up,” he answered. “This place is pretty remote but chances are you lead them here without knowing it,” he was quiet before adding, “I hope you didn’t know it at any point.”

“I didn’t tell anybody were I was going,” he assured him. “And if they did track me it’s because of the bike they gave me. That’s why I parked it by the road. I figured that way it gave you a few extra minutes in case they did show up.”

“It’s not in the bike,” Jack said looking at him. “Another surprised they left out. There’s a bug in our head that lets them know exactly were we are.”

“And who told you that bunch of bull, that woman they teamed you up with?”

Jack pulled back the side of the hoof to reveal some of the foil inside, “And do you think I’m wearing this as a fashion statement? And yes Rachel was the one who told me.”

Now Richie crossed his arms, “Figures as much.” He was surprised when Jack started looking annoyed, a look he recognized all too well. Was there something going on between him and that woman?

“She was in the dark as much as I was,” he said. “Although I didn’t exactly believe her at the time. But she didn’t know Anderson was a Drakan either.”

“They said she convinced you of that.”

“I saw him change right before my eye Richie, nobody talked me into anything.”

“Ok, say he is a Drakan, why is he at war with his own kind then?”

“Because he a green who’s really afraid of change. Didn’t they tell you they live in a class system? Blue are the peasants, red are the knights and the greens are the kings.”

“They told me about the class system, but that still doesn’t explain why Anderson would be at war with his own people.”

“I told you, he’s a green,” Jack put a hand on his head trying to find the words. “Do you know why he calls them rebels? Because they want to live outside the class system, that’s it. And Anderson finds that so offensive he’s willing to hunt down his own people.”

“But that makes no sense,” Richie said. “How big a fuss did these people make?”

“As far as I know they didn’t make a fuss. Richie I live with them, all they want of to be left alone. Anderson won’t even give them that.”

“So these rebels are the good guys then.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jack said. “There are a few guys there I wouldn’t exactly call ‘good guys’. After some of the things I’ve done I’m not sure you could call me one either.”

“Then who are the good guys then?”

“This is war Richie!”, he exploded. “There’s no such thing as a good guy or a bad guy. Just two sides who think they’re right and the other side wrong.”

Richie stared at him, still trying to figure out where his heads at. “So why did you switch sides then?”

“Because after a while you notice one side is more right than the other,” he said softly. A sad look crossed his face, almost like he was remembering something. “I’ve done some bad thing to the wrong people Richie. I’m never gonna make it up to them, no matter what I do or how hard I try.”

“So what are you doing now?”, Richie asked. “Do bad things to the right people now.”

“It’s not that simple,” he said.

“How much simpler can it be, You’re robbing warehouses, you’re attacking people. Dude you’re hurting people.”

“It’s not that black and white.”

“And I’ve seen video of you and you’re so called “friends” on tape robbing a warehouse. What am I suppose to think?”

“There was more to it than that. They needed supplies and they don’t have a lot of resources. They do what they gotta do to survive.”

“And what are you doing? Hell man, you would have gone postal if anybody asked you to do anything like that. You’re wanted by the government for crying out loud!”

“Thanks to Anderson.”

“You’re the one who changed sides.”

“God!”, Jack walked away. “You can’t be this dumb.” He pointed a finger at him, “You were suppose to be the smart one. I saw through the crap they put in front of me, I’m trying to help you from making the same mistakes I did.”

“Is that why you brought me out here?” Richie asked in disbelief, “To try to convince me to the way you see things. You’re a wanted criminal and you don’t seem to care. Dude, I knew you’re uncle helped raised you but damn man…”. Jack face suddenly lost any expression it had.

“So it comes down to that huh?”, he said, voice also void of any emotion. “We grew up together, we know each other better than anybody else and you’re that willing to believe what they say about me. This was a mistake,” Jack turned to leave. Richie went after him and put a hand around his arm to stop him. Jack turned around and shot him a look that could kill.

Richie had to ask, “What happened to you?”

Jack pulled back a sleeve on his coat, revealing scars similar to his, “This happened to me. And it happened to you too.” Richie let him go. Jacked started walking away again saying, “It was good seeing you again Richie, and I really hope I don’t see you again. Because if we do I’m going to have to do something I don’t want to do.”

“I can’t let you go Jack. I have to bring you in for your own good.”

Jack stopped but didn’t look at him, “So we’re playing your cops to my robbers now.”

“I’m serious Jack, you can’t keep running like this. Let me help you out of what ever mess you got yourself in,” he silently prayed his friend would start seeing things straight again.

“If help means going back to World Inc. than no thanks,” he started walking again.

“Don’t make me drag you back Jack.” Rain started to fall between the leaves of the trees above them. Jack slowly turned around and faced him. “Please,” he begged, “come with me and we’ll sort this out.”

“I can’t do that Richie,” Jack said as the rain started falling harder.

“Then you’re giving me no other choice.”

“You’re the one who’s always telling me we always have a choice, no matter what.” They stood in silence for a long time. “Let’s do it then.” He raised his left arm across his chest. A belt with a red faceplate appeared around his waist. He swung his arm to the side and brought his right arm up to his face. “Henshin,” he said as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt.

Richie brought his arms up and crossed them in front of his chest. A belt with a green faceplate formed around his waist. Holding his arms out to the sides, a little over shoulder high he said, “Henshin!”, and brought both hands down on top of the belt.

Both of them were scanned until they were wearing a black body suit and the blue armor of the Fusion system. Richie’s green eyes continued to stare at Jack’s red as the rain drops splashed against their armor. Neither of them wanted to make the first move, neither wanted to throw the punch that could end their friendship one way or the other. Both knowing it was coming anyway no matter what they did. They ran at each other and both threw a punch that connected to the other’s jaw. Taking a step back after his head stopped ringing Richie spun around and kicked Jack in the side of the head with his heel.

Jack spun around but didn’t fall down. Richie threw other kick at him but surprisingly his friend backed flipped out of the way. He threw a punch that Richie caught, Richie tried to throw one of his own but Jack caught it. They stood there locked for a moment. Richie ended up saying, “Did you actually say ‘Henshin’?” He didn’t know why he asked it. Perhaps something to get his mind off the fact he was fighting his best friend.

“After forcing me to watch all of that, you’re actually surprised?”, he shot back and pushed him away. Jack started throwing jabs at his head, some missed but the last couple connected. That stunned him long enough for Jack to step up his attack. Richie’s head whipped around from a right cross and he felt him grab him from behind. Thinking fast he put his foot on a nearby tree and pushed off. Jack was caught off guard as they fell to the ground. He freed himself and quickly turned around and pounded away on Jack’s head.

Jack got his hands up in order to block and Richie tried to anticipate his next move. He seen Jack fight enough times that he had a good idea what he was going to do. That’s why it surprised him when he grabbed a tree limb that was lying on the ground and smashed it against his shoulder. Then a quick palm strike to his chest forced him away long enough for Jack to force him off. Richie swung with a backhand when they got to his feet. He ducked it and got under him and flipped Richie over his shoulder. Jack turned and stomped a foot into his chest. Richie grabbed his foot and tripped him the ground. Not wasting a second he slammed his knee into Jack’s head as he got to his feet. Richie picked him up and threw him into a tree. Jack slowly got back his feet.

Jack held his back for a moment as he waved him on. Yup he was just as stubborn as ever too. Richie ran in then somersaulted to the side at the last moment, he learned a few new tricks too. Catching Jack off guard he planted his shin into his lower back. Jack gave a short cry of pain as he fell to a knee, Richie forced himself to ignore it. He got to his feet again and Richie flatted him with a spin kick to the back of the head. Jack laid there for a moment before shooting up with an uppercut that he didn’t see coming until it was too late. He watched Jack who was still a little wobbly. Not that the stars he was seeing was going away anytime soon.

Richie kicked up to his feet and punched him away. He jumped and flipped over him punching Jack in the back of the head. He tried a backhand but Richie ducked then flipped backwards, the tip of his boot catching Jack under the chin. He followed up with a jumping spin kick that whipped Jack around. He started crawling away to get some distance between them. Richie watched him and the meter in his vision started flashing. Knowing Jack wasn’t going to give up he prayed this didn’t harm him too much. He twisted the pod up. A charge from the belt ran up his side and down his arm. Jack used a tree to help him up to his feet. Richie jumped up and with his fist drawn back he yelled “Rider Punch!”

Jack sidestepped and all he got was tree. Jack stood there and watched him breathing hard. While Richie wondered what he was planning to do next the tree behind him exploded. Despite the fact he knew the armor was protecting him he ducked foreword on instinct. Doing so he walked right into a right cross by Jack. He planned that, Richie just knew it. Before his head could clear Jack grabbed him by the back of the head and started throwing knees into his face. Jack gripped him around the neck while he was bent over and half threw half flipped him over his head. Richie heard a click as Jack straddled him and raised his right fist into the air. Too stunned to do anything he just watched as Jack yelled and brought his fist down. He closed his eyes and heard the fist land by the side of his head. Next thing he knew Jack grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him away as the ground exploded slightly.

Jack stood up and deactivated his system. Richie started at him in disbelief. After several long moments Jack said, “If I was as bad as they said I was, you’d be dead right now.” He started walking away but stopped before he went too far. “One more thing. Once you kill a Drakan you smell like Drakan blood. It doesn’t go away and some of them are better at ignoring it than others. So if somebody turns into a monster and start attacking you for no reason, go easy on them will ya.” With that he walked away leaving Richie sitting there totally confused.