The White Feather- A story of infinite worlds

Final Confrontation

”I’ve been in awe of your unorthodox techniques and amazing skills.” One of the quadruplets said.

“That’s why I decided not to kill you sooner.” The second one said.

“You and I are not so different, you know. If you were born here, chances are that you would end up in my place.” The third one said.

“And yet, time has found a way to bring us here, locked in the same room.” The fourth one said.

“Let me just clear the confusion. Are you really referring the four of you as a collective body?” Thomas said in irritation.

“We ARE one. We may have different bodies, but our minds are connected. The doctors thought this was a defect. The younger ones called us freaks and the elder ones called us the children of the devil.

But as I already said, you and I are not so different. You see the better side of things, and so do we. We didn’t see this as some sort of glitch, we saw this as a rare gift. There were obviously some side effects. We shared every single pain, trauma and stress. I remember that when one of us broke his arm, we all had to wear a sling.” The second one spoke again.

“So if I were to kill one of you, you would all die?” Thomas asked.

“I doubt it. But it will be painful beyond measure, both physically and mentally.” The fourth one said.

“So that’s how you managed to kill all those people in a single night. You divided your work. But here’s the catch- which one of you had the girlfriend that died that night?” Thomas asked, getting comfortable.

“Each one of us took turns. You see, she didn’t know that there were four of me. And I didn’t tell her because I was afraid of losing her. She was so special, so delicate…..” third man said and all of them became sad.

“But she turned out just like everyone else. As soon as she found out that I had four bodies, she decided to walk out on me. I tried to make her understand, but she just wouldn’t listen. She just spoke and spoke, and I grew impatient. By the time I realized, I had already broken her neck. I just wanted her to be silent, you see. I wanted her to understand and not treat me like all the others did.” The second one said. The sorrow on their faces was genuine and a teardrop rolled out from each one of their eyes.

“So she didn’t die in an accident. You….you killed her.” Thomas said. He was undoubtedly shocked.

“Yes I did. I had no choice. She was the only good thing that ever happened to me and I only wanted to have beautiful memories of her. And if I let her go, the world would eat me alive. Every time i would pass her, she would call me a freak. The people would spit in my face and taunt me for the monster I am.” All of them roared at once.

“And now you will have to carry that burden all your life.” Thomas said and scoffed.

“Oh no, like I said, I look at the better side of things. Her death was my awakening. She was stopping me from striking back on all the people who made my life miserable. With her gone, I felt more powerful than ever. So I decided to make them pay. Every single person who ever made me look down, every single person who made me feel weak, every single person who made me feel CURSED, I killed them all. I killed the children first and made their parents watch. I made them SEE how it feels to have your life torn down by someone. I laughed while they begged for mercy, I yelled while they cried, just like I used to. That night, I climbed up all the way from being the weakest to the strongest person in this city!” the third one screamed.

“And I made every person who followed me feel powerful. I was the emperor of this island and my crown was untouched for years. There were some unfortunate incidents. But when I skinned my enemies and wiped their bloodlines from the face of this planet, everything went silent.

And then, Thomas White entered the city. Within hours of your entry, you killed my oldest companion and that too in the safest hotel in this city. After that, you killed Madhav and his whole crew in front of his own shop. I knew right then that you were no joke. I had sent Veda to assassinate you, but as soon as I saw Madhav die, I told him to help you instead.

Within two days of your arrival, you had cut out a huge chunk from me. Death would be too easy for you. So I decided to break your spirit instead. I took everything that you were proud of. I defeated you at your own game! Now that you have nothing to be proud of, I can kill you.” The fourth one said and grinned.

“How long have I been in this room?” Thomas asked. He was not worried or scared, and that chilled the quadruplets. Instead, Thomas seemed like he was just passing time and waiting for something.

“You have asked this question two times till now. Why does it matter?” the second one said and all four of them stepped closer.

“Tell me the time and you’ll know.” Thomas said with an unshaken face.

“One hour, fifty two minutes and forty seconds. Now, why does it matter?” the first one said, looking at his watch.

“Well, there’s still seven minutes left. Continue your wisdom and power bullshit, I’m listening.” Thomas said, leaning back.

“What happens in seven minutes?” all of them said at once. They stepped in so close that Thomas could smell their black suits.

“Well, let me tell you a little secret. I wanted it to be a surprise but now that you’re insisting, who am I to let you down?

The reason you couldn’t take off my watch is because it is mounted on my body. Even I couldn’t take it off if I wanted to. Now here’s the fun part- the watch runs on a mini nuclear cell. The cell dosen't power the watch alone, it powers my body too. The agents are not allowed to use it at its full capacity until and unless they’re captured and the integrity of the mission is at hand. And right now, I am in the exact situation.” Thomas said and gave his abdicators a sinister look.

The quadruplets were alarmed and stepped back in unison.

“No no, don’t worry. This room is signal free, so I can’t talk to my robotic assistant.” Thomas said and shrugged his shoulders. The men were visibly relaxed, like they had just dodged a grenade.

“No no, don’t be relaxed either. There’s a small catch.” Thomas said instantly.

He could see their eyes getting wider in agitation. I must say, it was a little weird to see four bodies execute every action in perfect symmetry. It was like watching a scene from a low-budget horror film.

“Do you hear that?” Thomas said and put his ear forward.

The men concentrated their hearing and that’s when they heard it. It was very faint, and coming from Thomas’ watch. It was a beep; then another, and so on.

“What is it?” all of them asked at once.

“It’s a little algorithm the agency designed in case the agents decided to run away and abandon the mission or were captured. The nuclear cell is designed to self destruct if no contact is made with the agency for two hours. And from my estimation, there are about three minutes left before this whole place and the surrounding three kilometer radius is wiped out.” Thomas said and smiled.

“Bullshit, you're bluffing so that we let you contact your employer. You wouldn’t just die here and be cool with it.” the third brother said.

“Why won’t I be? I have seen every single thing this world has to offer, and more. I only had one regret and that was never being loved by a woman. But thanks to your little game, I have now accomplished everything I could ever want. If I told the agency that I wanted to retire, they would simply declare me a coward and I would be forced to go on more and more missions.

You know what I have observed in my exceptionally long career? It’s that every small leader thinks he is smarter than all of the rest. You baboons are no different. You really thought you could outsmart me? I have taken out terrorist organizations that were on the verge of ruling the world and you think that I would be fooled by some punks who f**k each other and think they’re one? No my friend, Not in a thousand lifetimes.

I wasn’t assigned to this mission, I CHOSE to come here. This was supposed to be my last mission and I wanted to be sure that it was successful. I knew about your stupid little game from day one. But I decided to play along to see where it gets me. And just as I expected, it led me straight to you. I accomplished my mission without even trying.

There comes a time when you’ve lived long enough, and you just want to sleep peacefully. I don’t know about you dickheads, but for me, that time is in about one minute.” Thomas said and closed his eyes.

“Nice try, Mr. White. But that trick dosen't work these days.” First one said.

Thomas didn’t reply. Surprisingly enough, he yawned and tried to rest on the chair. It was like he was unaware of the fact that eight eyes were staring directly at him.

Meanwhile, the beeping sound grew louder and more frequent by each passing second. At the end of fifteen seconds, the sound was so threatening that the villains decided to make a plan.

“Veda! Listen to me. Open the roof for three seconds and close it instantly. We’ll make sure that he can’t press the time freeze button. No matter what happens, DO NOT open the sealed doors. If he gains access to his agency, he will destroy my empire.” All four of them screamed, looking at the window where Veda was standing.

Thomas smiled mysteriously as he heard the glass roof open and stretched his neck. The four men took immediate action and held his hands from both sides, prohibiting any possible movement. Thomas didn’t protest at all, he just waited.

The beeping went down drastically in a matter of seconds. Veda pushed the button again and the roof started closing. All of them thought they had won, and that’s when Thomas said it. The four words that sealed The Chakra's fate.

“Commence Operation Burning Feather.” He said, lifting his head high and looking at the almost closed roof.

“Commencing operatttt…….brooookkk……” Zeus responded but the signal was cut before he could finish. Thomas closed his eyes.

“Well, looks like you were too late.” The four brothers said together and started laughing right in Thomas’ ears.

But all that laughter died when Thomas opened his eyes. His pupils were red, along with the rest of the eye. His blood was flowing rapidly, hence shooting blood in his eyes. His breathing reached to its peak while the baffled men stepped away from him, before suddenly becoming normal again.

He opened his eyes, and this time they were totally green, like a natural night vision. He opened his mouth, and spoke in a voice so deep and threatening, that even a grown man would s**t his pants.

"You're in my game now, bitches. And I don't plan on keeping you alive too long...."