Jadin closed his eyes tight, gripping onto the man's shirt for dear life as he braced for impact.
The impact came but it was gentle and they were in the air again.
Curious, Jadin opened his eyes and gasped when he saw they were hanging on the edge of another building. The man holding on with one hand and using said one hand to pull them up.
He paused, turning around to see a building in the distance crumble and fall.
It is fortunate that they were in a newly formed locality where only some buildings are occupied otherwise, the number of people dead would have increased by a lot more.
"Are you ok?" The man asked, turning around to Jadin with a sort of amused look on his face.
"No, I am not!" He fumed, getting off his back, noticing the marks on his neck from Jadin grabbing him too hard. He quickly turned away from him. "Why did you jump out a window?!"
"I told you that it is the quickest way out." The man said, still no expression on his face. "I apologise if it frightened you."
"What are you anyway?" he asked, keeping his distance from him. "You don't seem human."
"I don't seem but I would like to believe I am." He said, putting the woman down and inspecting her again. "You a good job."
"Who is she, your sister?" Jadin asked, a little teasing in his voice.
"They were lucky she is not my sister." The man said, standing back up deep blue smoke coming from his empty eye socket.
"You are terrifying." He said, staring at the ground before looking up again. "Why didn't you kill me?"
"Why did you save her?" He asked back. "Did you not know that she is the one you are after?"
"I had some idea," Jadin admitted sheepishly.
"But you weren't sure and saved her anyway?" The man looked up from a phone in his hand.
"I refuse to do things that will make me regret." He said, "My mother made sure of it."
"She sounds like a wonderful woman." The man said, pocketing the phone again, sitting on the side of the balcony with a groan.
"She is," Jadin said proudly then looked at him, cautious. "You good?"
"Tired." He admitted, taking off his shirt to reveal something almost metal like in the midst of his flesh and muscle on his chest.
"You really are not human," Jadin said, leaning to take a closer look at it. "Are you an android of some kind? No wait, I should not be asking you that."
He ran and picked up a metal left conveniently on the ground. "You killed everyone. I have to kill you. You are dangerous."
"What was that?" The man asked, looking up from a pile of candies and chocolates scattered around him. Four lollipop sticks sticking out of his mouth.
"You are not taking me seriously, are you?" Jadin asked, slightly annoyed.
"I am just low on sugar," he said, taking one unopened lollipop and handing it to him. "Have some. Help is on the way."
"Is that poisoned?" he asked, looking at the candy.
"I am eating it myself, I doubt it would be poisoned." The man said, amusement dancing in his eye.
"No thanks, I am leaving." He said, walking in the direction of the door of the balcony.
"Don't you want to know about me? And her?" The man asked, grabbing his attention immediately. "About which side you are one? The good or the bad?"
"Like you are just going to tell me." HE scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"If you ask, I will tell you." The man said, patting the space beside him. "Come on."
"I don't trust you still," Jadin said, still walking to him and sitting down.
"You don't have to trust me." The man mused. "Or even take my word for anything. I know I wouldn't."
"Then … why are you telling me-"
"Do you know why you are all after her?" He asked, interrupting the younger man. "What about her is so important that so many of you were called?"
"I don't know. I don't think the others do either. They said that they were never informed about the details." He shrugged, absentmindedly taking the lollipop from the man and began fiddling with the plastic wrapper.
"That is a problem." The man said, biting into the candy and chewing it into little pieces.
"You mean to tell me that you don't know either?"
"All I know is that a distress call came from her." He said, pointing to the woman still unconscious. "So I followed her trail all the way here. The rest is history. It would seem that everyone is after this."
The man took out a Hard Drive from the inside pocket of the uniform he wore, staring at it intently.
"What has your organization been doing?" Jadin asked, staring at the device. "It must be something so bad for them to want that."
"I don't belong to any organization." The man said nonchalantly. "Neither does she."
"Then-"
"But there is this group of people that I know that are working tirelessly to try and find out about …" He paused, frowning before he shot up to his feet. "We need to get to the first building."
"What are you talking about?" Jadin asked, standing as well. "What building?"
"Will you come with me?" He asked, not answering his question. "There might be more clues as to what is happening."
"Don't you think you are being too casual with me?" Jadin crossed his arms over his chest. "Did you forget that you killed all my teammates? On my first mission too."
"I didn't kill them." The man said, checking on the woman once more. "Tell me what you saw."
Jadin remembered how they screamed and writhe on the ground before they stopped moving. Some took guns to their heads and shot themselves or the person in front of them.
"I am sure you did something."
"They are the ones that killed themselves." He paused, thinking. "No, I think it is more like, their karma caught up to them in the end."
"What? So you pronounced judgment on them or something?" Jadin scoffed. "Didn't you say you were human?"
"And didn't you say that I wasn't?" The man retorted back, picking the woman up. "Let's go."
He did not wait for him as he began descending the stairs. Sighing in annoyance, Jadin ran after him, not sure of what else to do.
"Wait up!"
_____________
As the two climbed down the stairs, silence filled the place. An awkward kind of silence.
Jadin did not wish to say a word and the man did not say anything either, his expressionless face showed a hint of concern for the woman in his arms.
"Hey … uh …"
"Issac." The man said quickly. "I never introduced myself did I? And you are Jadin."
"Ah yeah, I introduced myself earlier." He sighed, refusing to believe something that horrible happened only a few minutes ago.
Why am I with him? He is the enemy. But … we didn't even know what we were getting into when we accepted the job.
"Do you have a question?" Issac asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Why didn't you kill me?"
"I did not kill anyone there. As I told you before." Issac explained taking one step at a time. "Let me explain it this way. Many times, memories are your worst enemy."
"I don't-"
"When everyone started falling to the ground, you saw something didn't you?" He asked, looking at him from the corner of his eye.
Jadin paused halfway down the stairs, remembering the memory that flashed across his mind.
"My mother." He said softly. "She … the reason she is in the state she is now is all because of me and … I saw that night reply in front of me once again.
"The vehicles. The sounds. The crash. Everything." As he spoke, Issac stopped walking as well, staring at the boy intently. "But there was something strange. I was the one in the driver seat, driving my mother.
"A thought came to my mind. Either we both die or one of us gets severely injured." He stared at the cuts in his hand. "I was thinking of the former when my mother's voice came to me.
"It was the same thing she always said to me. Then I snapped out of it, repeating the same scene that happened that night.
"The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and everyone around me were screaming at nothing and ... well, you know the rest."
"Do you understood what happened?" Issac asked, looking up at him.
"You ... you did that?" He asked, eyes widening. "How?"
"Don't ask me, kid. I don't know it either." He shrugged, walking again. "Also, I only knew I could do that today. A couple of minutes ago to be exact. I couldn't control it."
"Does it have something to do with ... the way you are?" Jadin asked, walking beside him as they reached the last flight of stairs before the ground floor.
"Perhaps." He said, a hint of confusion on his face. "I still have a long way to go and a lot more to learn about myself."
"I see," Jadin said as they stepped out of the building to a car parked at the doorway, a man with a bandage around his head rushed to them.
"Issac!"