‘They’re just people, like you or me. I have this dream, where I’m supposed to be some kind of protector. But I always fail to protect the prey from the predator. I think it had something to do with a past life.’ She giggled. ‘Not that I believe in that. So, anyway, the only way you could ever rise above the predator is to become the predator. Learn to think as he thinks and you’ll know his move ten moves before he makes it. Just like in chess. Not that you’d know anything about chess, the way you and Mike are always wrapped up in that bloody video game. I swear by all that’s holy, someday I’ll take a baseball bat to that machine-’
And the answer came to him. It was cliché, but: it takes one to know one. He had to become that which he hated most: Genblade. And to his own surprise, he actually found himself thinking, if I were a savage, disgusting, born and bred killer, where would I be? The answer dawned upon him like the sun dawns upon the earth each morning. I’d be behind me.
Xander jabbed his sword under his arm without even looking. His eyes bulged with delight as it connected, producing that same subtle tug that Spider’s flesh had.
He retracted it and turned around to face Genblade. “You killed the woman I loved.”
Genblade glared down at him, removing his double blade from its straps. “And you killed the woman I loved.”
They circled each other for a moment. The tension hung in the air as each combatant weighed what the other had said. Xander shuddered at the thought that he and Genblade might as well have been opposite sides of the same coin. He raised his sword, which was now tarnished with the blood of both Spider and Genblade. The new Adam and Eve. Sweat bubbled from each opponent, each waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, Genblade struck. He lashed out at Xander, cutting him across the chest. The sword dug deep, clawing at the bone. Within seconds, blood had soaked through the entire chest of his shirt. Shoots of pain ran up and down Xander every few seconds, but it wasn’t constant, making it impossible to tune out.
He turned to retaliate, but found that he was already on top of him. Genblade’s blade came across Xander’s jaw like quicksilver, slicing at the mouth and causing him to bleed violently. It hurt to breathe. All the while he struggled to remember the words that Cathy had said. To beat him, I have to become him. Genblade put his arm around Xander’s neck, embracing him in a headlock. He drew back his sword, preparing to plunge it through his trunk. To beat him, you must become him. Was he a killer like Genblade? He’d killed, now not only as Black Womb, but also as Xander Drew. Did that make him any better? Or worse?
No! his mind screamed. Twisting in Genblade’s grip, he brought his knee to his side. Genblade doubled over, winded from the unexpected attack. Xander drew back his own sword and in one swift motion he sliced him across the shoulder. Genblade pulled back his own sword, then dropped it from pain. The shoulder wound would not allow him to lift his own weapon in defense. Xander sliced him across the chest, making a deep incision. Blood ran freely from the wound. Xander was about to make a shot to the jaw when Genblade tackled him, using what was obviously his last iota of energy. They both flew into the concrete wall and Xander bumped his head on it. He could hear his skull crack under the pressure as Genblade lay into him with a series of stabs with his dagger. He punched three holes into Xander’s torso before Xander finally kicked him off, sending him flying into the other wall.
Genblade was unconscious. Helpless.
Xander picked up his sword and pressed it against his enemy’s neck.
“You killed the woman I love. But I did the same to you. Does that make me the same as you, Genblade?” He paused for a second, twirling his blade. For a brief moment, he thought he saw Sara reaching out to him.
“No,” he said, throwing the sword aside. “Nothing can bring Sara back. There’s been enough blood spilled this day.”
Then he gazed up the corridor that Genblade had come from.
“Almost.”
The room marked REACTOR was impossibly large and circular, like the inside of some giant dome. It was bordered by metal catwalks and stairways, some of which dropped off to nowhere or led back onto themselves, like something out of a M.C. Escher painting. In the centre of it all was a giant sphere made of metal plates of varying colours and qualities, some rusted beyond belief and others new and shimmering. One arm of the catwalk lead to it, and where they met there was a large control panel made up of gaggles of wires and turning parts. What had once been new and sophisticated was now crumbling and falling apart, patched up with stolen parts... much like the man who had done the patching. There were three car batteries wired into its side and long spirals of clear blue cable connecting one side of the terminal to the other. Dimmer switches and gearshifts had replaced buttons, and near the centre there was a CD player held tight to it with Bondo.
The centre of the sphere glowed nuclear green, so bright that it could barely be looked at.
Alpha stood in front of it and laughed quietly to himself.
“You’re insane,” Xander said from the doorway. “It’s over. Your perfect world can’t
