Helix

“Raven… Raven.”

Agent Viper flicked his lighter incessantly, letting its white flame ignite over and over again only to snuff it out like always.

“Raven. You listening?”

The leather jacket-wearing erand boy sounded so annoyed. It was infuriating just to listen to. But with his back up against the brick wall, there wasn’t much else the accused soldier could do but give the man his unwilling silence.

“Jacob Adkins. A.K.A. “Raven.” But better known as the pain up my ass.” With the agent grilling him, Raven did nothing but stare coldly back, not flinching or showing the slightest hint of an answer to any of his words. “Let’s get this straight- you broke the one rule and went insane on the head honch of another agency- then proceeded to resist arrest. And that’s not even mentioning my favorite part… can you guess, Raven? Yeah, that’s right- how you nearly killed one of our own.”

Raven did raise his eyes a little for that one, but it really only served to antagonize the interrogator even further.

“You want my assessment? Erratic. Dangerous. And let’s be honest here- a threat to this agency. Would you say that’s pretty accurate?”

Raven’s face was as still as the wall behind him. This clown wasn’t worth taking seriously, he decided.

“Maybe.” He replied, in a low growl.

Viper didn’t respond.

“Now- Fox has refused to answer this. So here’s your one chance to make things right. After the fight… you two had a conversation that made you guys walk in here like nothing ever happened.”

He flicked his lighter again. 

“What was said?”

On the backdrop of the waning sun, the brothers just sat there together, tired and wounded.

Fox held his shattered arm tightly.

“…I couldn’t do it.”

Staring at the water, Raven shook his head.

“…I didn’t wanna do it.”

“…Christ Jake, just look at us… Why’d it have to come to this…? …It shouldn’t have come to this.”

After the chase… the fight… reflecting on it all, both of them could only think of one thing.

“You’re right.”

With the Sarcophagus beside them on the grass, the boys both watched them together- the water, the sun, and the sun’s reflection, carried by the water.

“Raven… Take a good look out there…” The boy longed under the green light of the woods, directing his sole partner’s attention to something beyond them. “Who do you think is watching us?”

At long last, they were both catching on- this time, back on the same page.

“The Director.” Raven finally spoke with clarity, watching the sunset with his friend.

“All a setup… The Sarcophagus…. Cypher… The Director, he just tried to make us kill each other.”

With Raven not having a word to say in reply, Fox could only ask.

“Doesn’t that make you upset?”

The blood and water on his face was already a memory.

“…Sure does.”

In the red of the his office, he realized something, too.

“Q… start recording. Let me review it one more time. From the start.”

On the Director’s monitors, he watched as the two boys fought tooth-and-nail on the forest shore.

“In this most recent experiment I’ve found Raven is willing to do whatever it takes to execute his mission. Even if that means hurting those close to him.”

The child onscreen battled so viciously. The deranged look in his eyes, directed right at the cameras in Fox’s own pupils, was something more than just familiar.

“Of course… of course that’s how it went. The only way it ever could have.”

Such a nostalgic image. Wrapping his gloves fingers together, he stared into the depths of his mind and came back with the same things he always did.

“I should’ve seen it coming. No agent… comes without an origin point. Mine… especially. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that the apple wouldn’t fall far from the tree.”

It was simple to see how even now those traits carried over… but the more the director thought, the more his mind stirred.

“Do what you will… little Raven. Send your army, if you will. In that case, it won’t be… a fight, you find in return. Just an old man… tired… alone… lost in a memory.”

He prepared to close his monitor.

“Signing off, the Director of Project Spiral…”

“…Doctor Jacob Adkins.”

SPIRAL

NOVEL ADAPTATION BY VFOREST

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