Insanity Chapter Thirty-Eight

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Eight

~Taking the Past Under Perspective~

Day Thirty-One

It was a dark and stormy night. Undertaker sat on his ankles as he stared outside through a glass window. He didn’t wear his hat or his grey robe, just a black sleeveless shirt and black pants. His gold eyes staring through his hair were easily seen. They were cold and heartless, far from the child he had once been. But, as most things, it was too late to turn back. As an adult now, killing people was all he knew.

He sighed as lightning crossed the sky and was followed by a booming thunder. Not even a bad storm could rattle him now. His eyes lazily shifted to a figure in the darkness.

“What do you want, Sage?” his voice sounded younger, “Another diplomat threatening to squeal that there’s an Island of Others out here?

“No,” Sage looked at him, “Are you alright?”

Undertaker shrugged, “I’m fine.”

“How do you feel?” Sage asked.

“The same,” Undertaker’s expression didn’t change.

“Nothing?”

Undertaker paused. He mentally kicked himself. Sage and him had talked a few days ago as a requirement for his line of work. For the first time, Undertaker actually told what he felt. That would be the last time he would tell Sage anything about himself.

“Nothing,” Undertaker answered after a while.

“Maybe you should sit this one out,” Sage said before turning toward the door.

Undertaker stood up, “What needs to be done? I’ll do it. It is my job after all.”

“I think you should take a break,” Sage’s eyes looked at Undertaker’s gold ones.

Undertaker sighed, “I don’t see why I should.”

Sage turned and headed for the door. A sudden emotion rushed through Undertaker. His calm complexions suddenly flared into fury. He reached for the nearest object, a snow globe, and threw it with dangerous precision. The snow globe shattered when it hit the wall just less than an inch from Sage’s face. Sage slowly turned to face Undertaker.

Undertaker scowled at Sage. There was pure hatred in his eyes. It looked as if he was saddened that he had missed. Slowly it faded into the blank stare of nothing. Undertaker breathed heavily.

Sage watched him, “I happened to like that snow globe. There’s something in you waiting to come out. I can’t sent you on another mission.”

“If you sent me on one more, I’ll take a break!” Undertaker shouted, his eyes flaring again.

Sage was silent, “Fine. But you have to promise one thing.”

Undertaker nodded.

“You retire after this last mission.”

The breath caught in Undertaker’s throat. He wasn’t expecting that. As well trained as he was he was experienced enough to expect the unexpected. But this wasn’t even in a pest of a thought in his mind.

“Do we have an understanding?” Sage asked.

“If this is about the snow globe—”

“It isn’t,” Sage stated and walked out the door, “Beta. He’s popped up on our radar. Apparently, he’s an assassin lord or something. We have reason to believe that he had something to do with the fire that killed his leader. He’s a growth threat. He’s responsible for five of our top Agent’s deaths. Kill him or die trying. Either way, we won’t be seeing each other again.”

Undertaker nodded slowly, “What will I do?”

Sage shrugged, “What you usually do. I don’t care how you kill him.”

“No,” Undertaker paused, “I meant after.”

Sage stopped and sighed, “I don’t know. Start a business or something. Do anything other than kill people for yourself.”

Undertaker nodded but it was apparent that he didn’t like what he was hearing. He faded into the shadows. That was the last time he had seed Sage.

The rains fell harder, plastering Undertaker’s hair to his face and head. He managed to narrow down Beta’s location in a matter of hours through contacts and over all snooping around. Who was the one who said that curiosity killed the cat? This specific cat lived off of being curious.

He sat on a roof top overlooking a bar. A figure with black hair walked out. Undertaker stood and followed him. He walked along the roof tops, glad only that the rain hid him from view in its torrents. When it rained, people rarely looked up. Beta reached another building. Undertaker jumped to the ground. He followed silently.

“Hey Beta!” a few voices called out.

Beta ignored them and walked into a room. He looked out a glass window. He was deep in thought when he saw a silhouette outside. It started running and he turned around. Someone pushed him through the window.

A boy looked up from his rummaging through trash.

Beta pushed his attacker off. Undertaker rolled off and took a pace back. Others who had heard the noise came out to aid their leader. His gold eyes closed as he filed through all the powers that he stole. He opened his eyes again and thrust out his hand. A large force pushed back the other assassins. A few flew into the trashcans. A small satisfied smile broke on his lips.

A boy jumped back in time.

Beta got up and ran in the other direction. Undertaker sighed. What a bother. Tracking in the rain was always harder. But at least it would be fun. Undertaker’s eyes seemed to glow with delight. He ran after his target. Beta ran into a construction site that was nearby. In hindsight that wasn’t the best of ideas. Undertaker followed and looked around. He saw a figure running up the half built building. Undertaker followed. Something in him seemed to stir, something dark but strangely enjoyable.

A boy watched from the ground.

Beta finally ran out of floors to run. He stood on the edge of one looking down the dizzying height. Something made him turn around. Undertaker stood there. His eyes were glowing fiercely now and the smile on his face was truly frightening. He extended his hand. Something inside Beta didn’t feel right.

He fell to his knees in pain. It felt like his insides were being crushed within him. He screamed in pain. Undertaker’s smile only widened. The noises seemed to bring some sort of sick pleasure to him, a pleasure he had never felt before. Once he had joined the Tower, everything he had once enjoyed was taken from him. Since then he had made himself feel nothing. But his recent missions brought forth something dark inside him and he welcomed it with open arms. At least it was something, something was always better than nothing. This was his last one, wasn’t it? Why not give himself to it completely?

Undertaker smile with pleasure as Beta screamed louder, “You might as well get used to it,” he said, “Because it will be a while before I let you die.”

Beta screamed again.

A boy heard the screams and went inside.

“Please!” Beta screamed, “Just kill me!”

Undertaker’s eyes narrowed, “Why would I do that? We’re having so much fun. Don’t you think so?”

Beta screamed in response.

Undertaker smiled, “I thought so.”

A little boy ran in-between Undertaker and Beta. His arms were stretched out to protect the screaming bleeding man from something he couldn’t yet understand.

“Stop it!” the boy yelled.

Undertaker’s smile faded, “Get out of the way boy, I’m busy here.”

“Stop it!”

Undertaker sighed, “Well, as they say, the more the merrier.”

The boy gripped his stomach in pain. Tears raced down his face as Undertaker laughed.

“I told you to get out of the way, boy!” Undertaker laughed, “You’re just getting what you deserve.”

The boy looked up at Undertaker. He stood up with great effort and turned around. The boy staggered over to the man. He knelt in front of him and placed his hands on the man’s shoulders. Beta looked at the boy for a moment. The boy smiled and extended his arms. Beta felt himself leaning back into nothing. He remembers falling and falling after that he remembered finally feeling no pain.

Undertaker saw his toy falling over the edge and was suddenly overcome with anger, “You little brat!”

 The child looked over his shoulder at the man behind him. He smiled. For some reason, that angered Undertaker even more. He shouted in anger and clenched his fists. The boy screamed in pain.

Then there was silence. Undertaker’s anger was spent and the boy sat still. Since seemed to come to Undertaker again as he realized what he had done. The boy silently slumped over. Undertaker ran toward the boy as he fell to the side. He caught the poor bloodied boy in his arms. Undertaker stared at disbelief at what he had done. He cried into the rain as the lighting danced around him.

It must have been hours, he couldn’t tell anymore, as he held the boy in his arms. His tears were long spent as he stared at the rain. He felt something this time as he stared at the lightning and listened to the thunder: sorrow and grief. He hadn’t even known the boy and he ended the child’s life.

Something stirred in his arms. Undertaker was too dazed and grief stricken to notice. Something was warm in between his arms. Again, the slight anomaly didn’t register in Undertaker’s mind. There was a sneeze.

A sneeze? Undertaker didn’t remember sneezing. Maybe he was so exhausted that his mind was skipping.

“Um,” a voice said, “Excuse me, Sir? Can we get out of the rain? It’s cold.”

Slowly, Undertaker looked down at the bundle in his arms. Large purple eyes looked up at him.

“I though…” he began but stopped.

He understood. The child had the same gene he did: the Other gene. He lifted the boy up and held him close to him, keeping the child warm.

“Let’s go,” Undertaker said.

Undertaker lifted the boy. The boy looked at Undertaker and smiled.

“I…promise to…always…stop you,” he seemed to have difficulty speaking, “from…hurting people.”

Undertaker smiled, “I’d like that. What’s your name?”

The boy tried to speak but nothing came out. He shrugged.

“Well, we’ll have to give you a name,” Undertaker thought, “How about Reighn? Because you reigned me back from something that I’ve become over the years. For that, I thank you.”

The boy buried his face into Undertaker’s clothing and shrugged with embarrassment. Undertaker helped the boy down to the ground. He looked for a moment where Beta’s body should have been but it wasn’t there. It seemed two people with the gene died and came back to life.

***

Transaction Square

Undertaker smiled with interest as he sat at the table. An idea seemed to be forming in his mind.

“Alpha, Beta and Zero,” he said out loud, “Now the real question is, why did Sage pay me a visit recently?”