Episode 50

The hall was warm and silent; a complete difference from the chaos outside. Yuki's fingers were still tingling from the cold in the courtyard. He stopped walking.

Bishop was there. He knew it instinctively. There was a bond through the curse put on their blood.

"Here I am." he said, calmly. Yuki waited for his voice to echo back, and then he added, "H24."

Bishop walked out from behind a grey drape. They faced off.

"Looking for the Janus?" Yuki asked, sighing.

Bishop smiled. "No. This is purely personal."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Yuki was aware of the air in the room, slowly ventilating trough four air-conditioning units above him. He was aware that the hall was roughly rectangular, with more grey drapes that could conceal other Nobu. Most of all, he was now aware that whatever feelings and fear he had was now suppressed through focus, mind power and genetics. He knew killing would come easily, overriding the conscience he had developed and hindering him back when he was about to fire the vaporizer. He was ready.

Bishop regarded him with disgust anhd hate. For the first time, Yuki felt something similar emerge in the pit of his stomach.

"Why did you kill them?"

"Who?" Bishop asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"The family in Bulrish I stayed with." Yuki spoke softly, calmly, "They did not do you any harm."

Bishop smiled. "You really have changed, serial number F46. Back then you didn't give a bliddy damn about A and P."

A pause. And then -

"My name is Yuki." he replied. Looking deep into Bishop's eyes: "And I cared. It hurt me deep inside.."

"But only after that family gave you a conscience. I talked to them you know," said Bishop, "Before I killed them. Very nice people. Oh - as an afterthought, my name's -"

"Bishop." Yuki replied. "I have checked."

The Nobu operative raised his eyebrows. "You've been doing your homework! What a good boy Yuki has been."

He started pacing up and down. Yuki watched him warily.

"I prefer you the way you were before you met the family." Bishop said. "You were this horrible, unfeeling beast - a freak of nature. And then you had to be found by such nice people, who took you in and had no idea they housed a killing machine.

"I did them a great favour. Had they lived, they would've come into contact with you again." Bishop paused in his pacing, eyeing Yuki up and down. "You would've changed into a human, and I wouldn't be able to get my revenge. Besides, the Department of Defense themselves would've tortured them if they found out. I have them a quick and silent death."

"That is not what I -"

Bishop laughed. It was so different from the jolly one Yuki knew and loved years ago, back in the facility. "Yes," Bishop said, "That's true. I lied. Pulled out their fingers and cut off their toes."

Despite Yuki's modified genetics his hands curled into fists. Any other normal man would've exploded with anger by then. But his psyche still managed to keep it all in check, in some locked-up corner of his brain. "You -" he started, voice slightly shaking. "You have turned into the beast you speak of."

"No." Bishop said, stopping completely in his pacing this timel a look of sudden fury showing itself in his face. "You have turned me into the beast I speak of. I cannot rest until I have avenged them. You know what I dream of at night? The two of them, dying together, asking me why I haven't acted." he stopped. Bishop's anger subsided a little. "The four of us were family."

They stared at each other, Yuki with controlled breathing and Bishop with heaving breaths. Both were at the brink of an explosion.

"Very well," said Yuki, taking out a silver dagger.

The first blast took him completely by surprise. It was only sheer luck that he spun and managed to dodge in time. The second cracked the floor, creating a palm-shaped hole filled with blood. Bishop yelled; the third missed a diving Yuki by an inch and completely obliberated the far wall, creating a hand-shaped opening that dripped crimson.

Yuki and Bishop faced each other again. With deliberation, Yuki slit both his wrists, letting the blood streak down and cover his entire arm.

The far door burst open, and Alec, Chong Fen, Jean, Sabriye and Ross tumbled forward.

"Your friends, Yuki?" Bishop said, lazily raising an arm.

An image of Alec flashed before Yuki's eyes as the blast errupted from Bishop's outstretched palm. He screamed and swung his arms forward; his wrists gushed blood that soared in a red arc - it curved and formed a liquid barrier in time to receive the palm print that rippled over its surface.

"Sabriye! Ross! Defend the school walls!" Alec called out. "We'll handle this one."

The blood wall collapsed into tiny droplets, splattering onto the floor as Yuki released his control over his blood. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Sabriye and Ross running through another exit.

"Whatever you do," he yelled out, "Don't touch the blood!"

He faced Bishop for the second time.

Alec's blog extract
The moment I entered the hall and saw the blood I knew. Yuki - my Yuki - was an Oragi. How? Why didn't he tell me? Selfish first thoughts in a life and death situation. Now I realize: I don't know much about him.