Von Tiechler’s wife could no longer hold her pain, weeping she called out, “Friedrich, stop him!” She fell to her knees, with pleading outstretched hands. Then, with an agony in her voice that can only come from a mother who has lost all hope and who has tragically failed to protect her dear innocent children, she cried to her husband in a mournful whimper, “Friedrich, please don’t let him hurt our baby.”
Her husband dug his nails into the wooden chair. Now confronted with the impending horror about to befall his daughter, his mind and spirit were in conflict over their steadfast pursuit of the greater good. The need to protect humanity substantially diminished in comparison to the need to protect his own tender children.
Von Tiechler screamed his helplessness and frustration into the heavens.
The whole house echoed with his pain and despair.
After letting the echo fade from his ears, Gemini coolly turned to von Tiechler’s wife. He commented softly and sarcastically, “Oh, dear woman, you do protest with such feigned vigor. It is quite a shame. But do not worry. I will not scar your beautiful child. I am not that cruel.”
Gemini tightened his grip on the little girl’s arm. Suddenly, he lifted the blade high into the air. Its silver gleamed, as it reflected the brilliant light from the chandelier above.
With dispassionate eyes and a dispassionate voice, he whispered, “…I am this cruel.”
The blade swiftly fell.
The little girl’s mother screamed with all her might, “NO!”
* * * * * * *
“Who are you?” the longhaired man questions in a stern voice. Over the bay, the vortex’s powerful spin continues to drive rain directly into his face, but it doesn’t faze him. He focuses solely on the golden-haired man in front of him.
Gemini responds with words just loud enough to be heard, “Oh, I’m disappointed. You of all people, you should know. That is of course, unless your guide dog hasn’t told you.”
“Don’t belittle him. He’s my friend and a good, selfless man.” His eyes glare back at Gemini, and he says, “And the only name you can call him by is Omar.”
“Omar. Yes. I can’t call him by what you call him. Smiley?” Gemini folds his arms over his chest. “Anyway, I believe I remember long ago you used to call them by the more favorable Akkadian word, bar-atri. I know you’d prefer that, right?” Gemini waits for a response but receive none. Then, he asks, “What is it about the lower creatures that you wish to be close to them?” Unfolding his arms, he tilts his head back in a dismissive gesture and says, “Oh…right. You have the peculiar ability to feel for them. I remember.”
“Apparently that’s something you don’t have.”
“Our Father saw it fit not to give me that. And I’m all the better for it.”
The goateed man calls out above the din of the tempest, losing patience, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. And I don’t even want to know. So, just answer my question. Who are you?”
Gemini floats forward, bridging their distance in half. With a very slight wave of his hand, he raises a large shield of dense air behind him to deflect the wind and rain from the both of them. He speaks calmly, “Brother, I’ve missed you. And I’m glad you’re back. However, I certainly haven’t missed the irreverent tone you seem to put on now and again.” He pauses and stares directly in his brother’s eyes.
Undaunted, his brother merely glares back with fiery eyes and rebuts, “Why don’t we talk about all the lives you’ve irreverently killed lately?”
For a long moment Gemini says nothing more. However, his approach closer remains slow and steady. A sudden gust whips his hair into his face, and then quickly disperses. Finally, in a much softer voice, Gemini answers the question, revealing his identity, “Gemini, my brother. I am Gemini…” Still coming closer and now at an arm’s length away, he finishes, “…brother.” His approach stops.
Uncomfortable with the distance, the goateed man pulls back. Their resemblance is unquestionable, and their abilities, at the moment, seem equal. Nevertheless, the goateed man does not want to believe what the one in front of him is saying. However, deep within he feels it is true. He demands, “Where’s Paige?”
Gemini tilts his head down toward the waterspout, where it plunges into the bay. He assures, “Don’t worry. She’s safe. Safe at the bottom of it.”
Gemini controls the spinning vortex of winds, clouds, water, and rain, having created them out of the existing storm and turbulence above the city. His mind keeps the wide base of the spout fixed in its position. The rapidly spinning waters of the bay expand to allow the vortex to reach down completely to the floor below. There, Gemini contains Paige in relative safety.
There, she stands in amazement. Paige sees the waters swirling around her and tries to reach out into it. But something blocks her hand from encroaching outside her area of containment. Lifting her head, she gazes up in awe, from bottom of the eye of the vortex.
The goateed man cannot sense Paige; somehow Gemini’s thoughts prevent him. Then, his mind attempts to push Gemini far away, and his face reveals the slight exertion of effort. But nothing happens.
Gemini notices. “Trying something, brother? You don’t know that we cannot use our abilities directly on each other? It’s a shame our dear friend Omar really hasn’t had the chance to tell you much more.”
Deflecting the comment, the goateed man says, “Well, I’ve stopped your five fireworks and your plans. I’ve played your game. So, let her go.”
“Have you really? Are you sure you’ve really stopped my designs? Or is this what I’ve wanted to happen all along?”
In the back of his mind, the goateed man believes that there is a remote chance Gemini could have been manipulating him and directing his steps. But he has a greater concern, and now his thoughts go to a fear he has had since he learned of the five missiles. There are two things leading him to that fear: The first is when he saved Gul from Jalel. Gul said that the nuclear strikes “…may not be their end goal. It might be a step to something else, a diversion maybe or a way to a larger catastrophe.”
The second comes from one of his peculiar dreams, in which he was a hapless football running back, and there were six cannons lined up behind the end zone. At the end of the game, five exploded and the sixth remained in waiting. His fear is that the remaining sixth and final one - still to be revealed - will be even more devastating, even more catastrophic. He asks, “What’s the sixth explosion?”
The question mildly surprises Gemini, and his expression shows it. “Hmm. So, somehow you know of this. Very good. Well done.” Then, casually, he says, “Unfortunately, brother, I cannot tell you.” Gemini’s eyes show a sparkle, as he adds, “But it will be a wondrous event.”
“Is Paige part of it?”
A grin almost appears on Gemini’s face. “No.”
“So, why are you doing this?”
“Because I need you to answer a question.”
He waits for Gemini to explain.
“But it’s not a question that can be answered with words, but instead, with raw spirit and raw action.” While he speaks, Gemini begins to move himself backward, intentionally distancing himself. “By the way, I enjoyed listening to your music up there. Good choice of songs, brother. But your taste is a bit on the old school side. That’s what you called it once, I believe.”
The goateed man realizes that it was Gemini who collided into him in the sky, while chasing the missiles. He states, “So, it was you messin’ with me up there and setting off those warheads.”
Not wishing to respond to the obvious, Gemini continues with his statements, while still moving backwards, “I like these peculiarities and idiosyncrasies you pick up over the centuries each time you return. This one with music I truly enjoy. In fact, it may be my favorite yet.” Gemini pauses, and then adds, “Because certain songs can be truly inspiring.”
Moving high above his brother, Gemini stretches out his arms, with his palms raised to the sky. Water begins to c
ollect just above each of his open palms, and as they increase in size, they start to spin. Gemini asks, “How about we listen to this one? It’s not quite today, but it’s contemporary enough. And since the woman beneath us is so perilously enclosed in volumes and volumes of turbulent water, I believe the band’s name, Drowning Pool, is apt. Don’t you?”
Gemini, quite content with his own words, continues to build up the large masses of water above his palms.
With a whispering chant, the song Bodies begins. Gemini hears it softly in his ears, sounding as if it mischievously suggests to him to begin unbridled mayhem.
Immediately after the whispered words, a loud shocking scream comes from the vocalist, surrounding and engulfing the two men, with the blaring deafening sound.
Exhilarated by the power in the scream, Gemini causes the wind to whip more vigorously and the rain to fall even harder. Then, at his brother, he hurls, one after the other, the massive spheres of water that have become twice his size.
Although caught off guard, his brother is able to create a shield for himself, just in time to deflect the first object. The heavy liquid pushes him backward, as it splashes in all directions around him, completely wrapping and enveloping him. As the second watery object nears him, he disperses it into a gigantic mist, and the wind carries it away. Keeping his distance, he is not sure what Gemini is doing or what the question is that he needs to answer.
The scream from the song ends, and then a mind-altering, speed-metal guitar begins to blare all around them. As the intro plays, Gemini spreads his arms out wide and slowly lifts himself higher up into the air. His mind calls down from the black sky shafts of lightning to celebrate his rise up to the heavens.
Gemini appears as a powerful god, in terrifying ascent. The thick, black sprawling cloud above is his crown. The subjects at his bidding are the turbulent and writhing vortex, the lightning and peals of thunder, and the speeding rain and whipping winds.
The rapid rhythmic beats of energetic drums merge with the electrified guitar.
Completely taken by the power of the sounds around him, Gemini looks up to the sky. Finding it difficult to contain the passion and excitement overflowing from within, he calls out to his brother, “As I said! Gloriously inspiring!”
Now deciding to rise to Gemini’s height, the dark haired brother lifts himself higher above the waters.
The song continues, flattering Gemini and telling him of the perfection of his astoundingly potent will.
Gemini, tilting his palms forward, gathers the swirling rain, and they coalesce as floating mounds of water, in front of each hand. He then transforms them into large bright-blue and violet masses of fiery plasma. Gemini twists his body around, and then uncoils, hurling the large burning plasma at his brother.
For now, Gemini is merely pestering his brother, antagonizing him, as he waits for the opportune moment to create the circumstances in which his brother will unequivocally answer his question. He is masterful in creating such circumstances: he is a master of manipulation.
The goateed man can feel the heat on his face and his eyes, as the flaming masses rapidly approach and vaporize the rain in their path. But his mind deflects them, just before they reach him.
Gemini flings more firepower his brother’s way.
But the darker haired brother becomes annoyed. He is no closer to saving Paige, and he is no longer wishing to endure any more of Gemini’s theatrics. Noticing that Gemini is only attacking him by using the weapons he creates, he thinks, Maybe when used directly at each other, our powers negate. Finally, deciding to do something quite different, he uses his own body as a projectile and immediately launches himself through the air. With tremendous speed, he propels himself into Gemini’s torso.
Gemini is taken by surprise, unable to shield himself or raise a barrier.
The collision is unavoidable.
Gemini feels his chest and gut collapse, as his brother’s shoulder crashes into him. While his brother’s arms quickly wrap around him, air violently expels from Gemini’s lungs, making him groan in excruciating pain.
Instantaneously, a mysterious translucent golden sphere appears around them, encapsulating them. Ignited from their initial point of contact, it sparks and hums electric. It is the same sphere that surrounded them, when Gemini clutched his brother, while chasing the missiles.
As the goateed man keeps one arm wrapped around Gemini, his fist pounds into Gemini’s ribs. Seeing the golden glow from the corner of his eye, he strangely and unexpectedly feels his powers and abilities quickly drain from his body.
Similarly, Gemini notices that his powers also fade, making him a mere mortal. His control of the elements around him departs. The forceful winds slow and wane. The drops of rain ease their strikes and begin to fall in a more vertical trajectory. Then, the vortex dissipates, disconnecting itself from the surface of the bay, and disappearing into a mist. Lastly, the high-energy music goes silent.
Down below the brothers, the protective containment that Paige found herself within also vanishes. Quickly, the waters rush in over her and push her to the bottom of the bay. As the waves churn and close her in, the little light from the dark sky is quickly obscured. Now deep under the water, she swims in a panic, as quickly as possible, to the surface. Her legs kick rapidly and her arms stretch and struggle to lift her body higher. The surprise of the water closing in on her has given her little time to gulp in sufficient air. After a short distance, her lungs begin to seize in pain, and the veins in her neck and face enlarge and throb in despair.
The brothers start to curve a path down into the calmed waters. With nothing to counteract the pull of gravity, their plunge downward accelerates with each passing instant.
Gemini grabs his brother’s long hair and attempts to yank him away.
But his tenacious brother is unyielding and continues pounding his fists into Gemini’s gut and ribs.
Gemini loses his breath. As he hears the sound of rain striking the ocean waters become closer and louder, he realizes his back is soon to collide with the fast approaching surface. Struggling to breathe, he knows he has only one way to free himself. Coughing, he gasps, “Paige. Paige is drowning.”
Paige’s will to survive can no longer overcome the intense retching pain in her lungs, and she expels the exhausted air. She gulps in the salty liquid around her, filling her lungs with cold thick water. Quickly, her muscles are deprived of oxygen, and she feels her arms and legs weaken and begin to lose their motion. A moment later, she can do nothing more, as her limbs helplessly stop and merely float. Her sorrowful eyes reveal the anguish of the acceptance of her fate.
The goateed man, struck by the truth in Gemini’s statement and seeing the changing surroundings, stops swinging his fists. He loosens his hold and frees Gemini.
The translucent golden sphere surrounding them fades and vanishes with evaporating, arching electricity.
With their bodies separated, the brothers’ powers return. Immediately, both of them glide, just above the water’s surface, and escape the impact.
As Gemini rises, he reconstructs his tempestuous scene. The vortex returns, and the wind and rain again drive hard.
Paige, contained once again at the bottom of the eye of the spinning, energetic waterspout, is on her hands and knees, coughing and spewing away water from her lungs. The liquid cage she is in makes her feel powerless and hopeless, as she can only succumb to its seemingly impulsive actions.
Gemini loses no time. He flies swiftly up high into the sky and enters the top of the waterspout. Having felt his brother’s anger, he knows his efforts to antagonize has been precisely calculated. Now, his strategy comes to a finer point.
From below, the goateed man watches Gemini speedily descend through the funnel, winding and turning through each dancing curve of the vortex. He cannot sense Gemini, but he can see the unique energy radiating from Gemini’s body.
Paige looks up. She sees Gemini’s form as a dark object, fast approaching through the wat
erspout.
Gemini quickly closes the distance between him and his brother, using the energy radiating from his brother’s own body to gauge their separation. He swiftly spirals in his flight down the waterspout. Just before reaching his brother, Gemini flies in a circular motion, at the edge of the vortex. He speeds around the vortex once, then twice. Then suddenly, he catapults himself out, launching his body through the air.
With great force, Gemini collides into his brother, and then ricochets away.
Upon contact, the electrified golden sphere again reveals itself to enclose them, and just as quickly as Gemini’s body rebounds off of his brother, the sphere disappears.
The collision delivers a debilitating and painful blow to the darker haired brother, making him careen uncontrollably away into the bay and crash down through its surface.
Gemini glides down, just above the churning waters, and stops a short distance from the base of the waterspout. He eyes his weakened foe, as the body floats up to the water’s surface.
But quickly, the goateed man gains back his strength. Inside, his emotions further stir. Intensity sparks in his eyes. With a motion from his hands, he pulls down bolts of lightning from the clouds. Their trillions of searing hot electrons ignite and burn the air, vaporizing rain, as they arc their path across the sky’s expanse and down to their mark.
Sensing the danger, Gemini protects himself with a powerful magnetic field, deflects the raging lightning bolts, and then disperses them. The deflected fingers of electricity spark through the spinning waterspout and disappear into the dark waters of the bay.
The goateed man seeks another course of action to rescue Paige. Attempting to quell Gemini’s raging storm, he raises himself from the water and flies directly into the vortex. There, he steadies and suspends himself, concentrating on the clouds, winds, and rain. Raising his arms, his whole body starts to spin in the opposite direction of the vortex. Faster and faster he twirls. Soon, a massive countering wind forms around him. It grows stronger and more powerful. So tremendous does it become that it begins to halt the spinning gigantic black cloud that blankets the sky above.
RB 01 Through Flesh & Bone Page 59