Cnidaria's gun was up and trained on him as soon as he came in sight. He didn't seem surprised. He just kept walking forward staring at the gun as if walking blindly towards death. He only flinched, when she used it to kill two agents on top of the exit.
"Jesus… You are both good shots? What the hell did you have the time to learn all these skills?" His voice was unrecognizable; it was hoarse and broken. Like it hadn't been used much at all these past few days. Cnidaria was about to open fire on him, but I lowered her gun. He stopped his advanced and started to speak directly to us. "I thought you wanted to talk"
"We did but then we saw that you didn't. We already killed the two on the other roof. But we wanted to make sure you saw how serious we were. So, we waited for you to get close before we performed the next killings." He looked shaken but unapologetic. "What happened to you?" He raised his eyebrows at that statement and then he laughed.
"What happened to me? What happened to YOU?!" He bellowed the last part. "You think it was easy for me to find that the two people I love most in this world destroyed it?" his face was manic and his body was trembling the stress he had experienced these past few months have taken a heavy toll. He couldn't sleep, whenever he closed his eyes the images of the war that he caused replayed for him. All the death and blood stained on his hands as if he pulled the trigger himself. The quote that CniDaria repeated that night whispers in his ears constantly. The shame he felt for manipulating CniDaria sexually made him unable to keep any food down. He was a mess. Unknown to Nicholas however, that was the way Thylonius felt while looking at this world after his neighborhood was burnt to the ground in Sierra Leone all those years ago. He's learned to live with it despite the trauma he's been forced to go through. Being judged and shamed, however, by his spoiled ex-best friend tapped into that once controlled anger.
"We didn't destroy the world. WE SAVED IT! The way the world treats its people is better. WE! PEOPLE LIKE US! WE CAN INHERIT THE WORLD NOW!
"THAT'S BULLSHIT TY! YOU MANIPULATED THE WORLD TO YOUR WHIMS! YOU THREW IT INTO CHAOS SO THAT YOU!" He pointed at me. He didn't even acknowledge Cnidaria. It was like he refused to look at her. "AND ONLY YOU COULD BENEFIT! YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW YOUR PLAN IN AFRICA! YOU WANT POWER! THAT IS ALL YOU EVER WANTED! YOU TURNED YOUR SISTER INTO A CRIMINAL AND MADE YOUR FAMILY'S NAME SHIT!" I looked at him. Could this really be the man I had modeled my life after? Was it really his words that guided me?
'It's a shame, I wish the system could be changed. Brought down so that there could be more opportunity for all of us. But short of a miracle that could see most of the world leaders change. That's impossible. It'll always be the underlings being shitted on by the elite especially if you're of color.'
"What? You think I tried to manipulate power to me? I despise power. I despise what it does to people. I believe in equal opportunity. Trust me when I say this I've given away just as much money as I have acquired. And as far as the subject of power goes I did what I always do. I used my brain to better my life. To better our lives. What? Do you think I'm the main beneficiary of all that power? That money? Did you look closely at it? If you did then you would see that Nala, Zach, Ni and you are all beneficiaries along with me." I watched with satisfaction as the words had their effect. He started to shake as nervous system couldn't keep him upright much longer. I looked at Ni finally and I expected her anger to be on the verge of bursting out. However, her face was unreadable listening to the words coming out of each mouth. Her aura calm and controlled at the ready if needed. "I did this based on your words. I made a better world for us. It's strange you know." I started to adjust my position further away from him. Slowly I inched my position closer to the ledge. CniDaria followed my moments trying not to make it too obvious. "I thought we would be in for a real manhunt but its been way too easy and minimal confrontation. The news isn't blowing up with our faces. Our passports aren't flagged, for us being the worse criminals in history the rest of the world isn't really acting like it. The only opposition we've faced is UN agents." He started shaking more violently now, guilt was riddled on his face.
"I know this is my fault. I know that. I know I made it seem like I didn't love Cnidaria. I must deal with everything I have done to contribute to this but that doesn't change anything. It doesn't change what you did. What you continued to do. You killed children. You orphaned hundreds. You toppled governments. You destroyed monarchies. You killed the one person who ever believed in me." He paused and looked at me. "You can't get away with this. Please come with us. Quietly and this will be over" Cnidaria eyes and attention never left Nicholas. What started out as pity on her face looking at the man she once loved being driven to lowest of lows turned into pure hilarity at his words. He had no idea that the father of controlled chaos, the toppler of dozens of governments in the time of 'Peace'; was the same person that he held in such high regard.
"The one person who believed in you? Are you really that clueless? That guy has killed more people than WWII and WWIII combined. How delusional and ignorant can you be?" Nick looked confused but he still avoided eye contact with CniDaria. Determined not to look her full in the face. Something he said previously however made me pause.
"Us?!" I then heard a click and saw the lasers. There were two other agents whom we didn't account for. I looked around and couldn't pinpoint where they were coming from until I looked towards the water and saw a boat moving slowly towards the bank. I activated my aura and enhanced my sight. There were four agents keep steady on the boat keeping us in check. I smiled to myself I'm sure that exactly what they're thinking. We backed up to the edge roof. Just beyond the pool. "You just don't get it. Nick we're not coming in to be questioned"
"Why not? Don't you understand what you did. The lives you destroyed. DON'T YOU GET IT?! YOU'RE NOT HEROES! YOU'RE THE BAD GUYS! THE MONSTERS AT THE END OF THIS TALE!" I looked him straight in the eye.
"I'm not asking for forgiveness; I did what I thought was right. If I could go back in time I'd do it again, I can't speak for Cnidaria." She just looked at Nick with a smile and mischief in her eyes all the while like me inching closer to the edge of the roof away from the pool. "But I regret at least some things, some lives, especially that baby. I laid awake for weeks agonizing over what I did. But I was following a plan. I was following a vision. Our vision. I don't regret the results. I'm just sorry we came out on opposite sides."
"We don't have to come out on opposite sides. We can work this out…" Cnidaria cut him off.
"No we can't. I cared about you Nick. I used to think of you all the time. I would lay awake at night yearning for your touch but now I dream of your face with a gun pointed at it." Nick eyes closed at that statement and the tears flowed. "You speak of what Ty became. What I became. You call us monsters. What did you become? Huh? You don't think you did monstrous things in the pursuit of us. You didn't even make your findings known to the world. Why not let the world know who's responsible of destroying your perceived utopia? Was it to keep your role in things secret? You've sent men to their deaths just to flush us out without a good reason. You've become what you chase, in trying to root our tyranny. Maybe we became Tyrants. I own that. You need to own who you became. A liar and a manipulator. I loved you. You took part of my humanity away from me forever. That's something I'll never get back. You knew it as soon as you stepped on this roof. There was nothing you could do because of what you've done and because of what we've done. We were gone." He opened his eyes sharply. He now realized what we were about to do.
"No Ty, Ni don't please…" We looked at each other and looked at him
"Goodbye old friend. Don't drag Nala into this. She had nothing to do with it."
"We know. She and the baby are fine."
"Did she tell you his name?"
"Yes."
"His full name?" He was crying now.
"Yes, wait what are you doing?" I nodded at him and took Cnidaria's hand and we stepped off the roof. The last thing I remember is my best friend screaming "NOOOOOO!!!" As my sister and I abruptly disappeared from his sight, screaming from down below filling the air…