I had so many fond memories of my Dad. In fact, I could hardly ever recall any sad ones at all, other than the time when he passed away. The memory of seeing his casket, the dark wood that was polished to a gleaming sheen, an almost all-too fitting metaphor for my father’s passing.  It was too painful for me to have to look into it, and so I didn’t. I preferred to remember Dad as he was in life. That was probably one of the few I could recall, a lone memory; something that I had almost forgotten, that suddenly came bubbling to the surface.

I forced myself to recall the strange day my father took me out to sea again, remembering the lashing storm, my father’s recklessness, and all the while asking why he had chosen to take his daughter out to sea in the manner in which he had done. I was nine, and frightened of course, but what nine year old doesn’t trust their own father implicitly? I knew my dad would never let me come to harm.

“That day,” I continued as Robert Mayer’s eyes bored into mine. “Were you trying to get us both killed?” I asked, as I met his glare with one of my own. “Were you trying to draw out the Van Dyke secrets by killing your own daughter then and there?”

A smile broke from Robert Mayer’ face. His shoulders started shaking. I realized he was laughing hysterically.

“You are my daughter after all, Vanessa,” he began. “Tell, me how did you figure it out?”

“There were a number of things that bothered me about the whole thing. First, why call Death and tip him off about the board meeting? I mean, Robert Mayer wasn’t exactly fond of Richard Grim. And Richard wasn’t a big investor in Hunter Robotics, so there really was no reason for Death to be present at these proceedings. Only someone who knew more than an ordinary human would about Richard could possibly want anything to do with him.” I clenched my fists. I was angry just then. I wanted to make him tell me why it was that he did all the bad things that he did. More importantly, why he made my mother suffer so much.  I wanted an explanation for the mockery he made of the fond memories I had. “So tell me, Dad, what exactly did you want with Death?”

Donovan Hunter smiled at me. I should have seen it coming: everything about how he acted, the strength in which he exercised his power over the board, the way he leaned on the table in exactly the same way he did at every meeting I was present at. If I hadn’t seen him in the boardroom today, I might still be in the dark about my father’s whereabouts. “I’ll show you a little something Vanessa,” he said simply.

Robert’s Mayer’s face moved a little. It was hard to discern at first, it looked like a tiny portion of his chin was moving, then it was an odd movement on his forehead. I soon realized what was going on. 

“The nanomachines,”  I said, as my blood chilled. 

As if in response, I saw my father’s face move and contort. It looked like Robert Mayer’s face was overrun with a swarm of tiny black ants, except I knew these weren’t ants. They were literally thousands, perhaps millions of sub-microscopic nanomachines whose collective movements could be seen but that were individually impossible to discern with the naked eye. The machines moved strategically at great speed, in a highly synchronized manner. 

That the machines were highly intelligent was clear: such tactical coordination would not have been possible otherwise. 

My mother was right. 

My father’s science had progressed to a level beyond anything possible in the current time. Our fourteen-nanometer machines had barely begun to to walk, let alone coordinate with one another. All our machines could do was gather data at a blindingly fast rate and communicate that data across the world. Hunter Robotics’ cutting edge technology was an utter and complete dinosaur in comparison to the highly advanced, high functioning ants that crawled around my father’s face.

“You’ve integrated yourself with the nanomachines,” I said. “You’ve assimilated them into your bloodstream, made them part and parcel of who you are. That’s how you achieved immortality.”

My father’s face was now completely overrun with the ants, the machines continued to move at rapid rate. They filled me with a strange revulsion.  The ants marched in a highly coordinated pattern, moving across my father’s bone structure. Then I noticed the ants slowing down, the frenzy of their marching slowed, as the machines began to put the finishing touches on their coordinate change. When they were finished, I found myself staring at Donovan Hunter’s perfectly reconstructed face.

“You needed a way to achieve immortality while releasing yourself from your responsibilities. You needed to be unfettered from the mortal coil,” I continued. “So you killed your best friend, faked your death and took his place. To think, that I loved you dearly not so long ago,” I said, tears coming to my eyes. “To think that just a few weeks ago, I would have wanted nothing more than for us to be reunited like this,” I whispered softly.

“I did not raise you to be so weak, Vanessa. I raised you to be a powerful woman, someone who was capable of everything and anything, a person who could take on my legacy as an active partner,” said Donovan.

“Was that why you killed me?” I asked. “How exactly did you go about killing me?”

“Do the details really matter Vanessa? Aren’t you more interested in the ‘why’?” Donovan paced the room, his hands behind him. I noticed he had grown taller, too, and that even his suit grew to accommodate his larger frame. It was as if every single molecule in my father’s body was a nanomachine, from his skin to the clothes he wore on his body. 

“Well, allow me to humor you,” he said, with a smile. “Just shortly after you and Daniel had your petty little squabble at the party, I found my opportunity. Daniel had just left the room to clear his head, and you were staring out the open window. All I had to do was come back into the party, using my nanomachines to disguise myself as Daniel, and give you a little push.”

“You son of a bitch,” I said angrily. “You pushed me out as Daniel? Were you trying to get him to take the fall?”

“Fortunately for Daniel, no one noticed, but it still made him the prime suspect. Understand this, it had to be Daniel, Vanessa. For my plan to work, I had to destroy both Ashcroft Pharmaceutical and Hunter Robotics. That alliance was too powerful. I had built it that way, after all. It would not be a simple matter to dissolve such a carefully planned bond between the two companies. That alliance was going to be able to endure any attack I could mount from within unless the bond I created was significantly weakened.”   

“But why destroy both companies? To what end?”

“The alliance was a matter of convenience. I took what I needed from Ashcroft, no more, no less. Donald Ashcroft had far too much of a conscience, and Daniel, even more so. Neither of them would have understood”

I’m not sure I do, Dad,” I said sadly.

“I’m not really sure you would understand Vanessa. I thought you would have figured out by now why I faked my own death.”

I looked at him puzzled.

“It was all for you Vanessa. Everything was about you from the beginning.” Donovan pointed at me, his tall imposing frame was impressive. He was a powerful man who looked every bit the part. “When I figured out that Astrid had transferred her power to you. I thought she had won completely and that I would never get the chance to learn more about the hidden secrets she had spoken of so much. It was by sheer luck that Astrid herself handed you over to me.”

 I clenched my fists in anger. “And you took such good care of me,” I said.

Donovan chuckled at that. “Of course, I did, Vanessa. You were after all, my only daughter.”

“Did you love me at all?” I asked, as the hot tears came running down my cheeks and I stifled a sob, forcing myself to swallow the lumps in my throat that kept coming unbidden.

“Love is such a weak human emotion,” responded Donovan. “Not befitting the ultimate human being.” Donovan raised a hand to his face and clenched it into a fist. “I prefer strength. The power of not having any weaknesses.”

“So it all went according to plan then,” I said.

“No, not quite Vanessa.” said Donovan. “I miscalculated. I did not anticipate Death himself to step in. I became aware that Death was a real being only after he had stepped in to make you an offer; an offer which you surprisingly accepted. The bond between Daniel and yourself; love was a powerful thing that bound you to this earth. I hadn’t expected you to turn weakness into strength Vanessa.”

“If I hadn’t accepted what would have happened?” I asked.

“I would have found a way to gain access to your soul and bind it for my purposes. I needed the secrets of the Grimoire, Vanessa. And your mother refused to share it with me. I had to find another way you see. It wasn’t that I disliked you as a daughter. The time we shared was memorable for me. But my science came first.”

“So now, what? I accepted Death’s offer and there’s nothing you can do to change that. I looked around me, noticing that the board had begun to come back in. But not a single person entered the boardroom. They all stood outside, transfixed, in perhaps horror and amazement, as they had all noticed that Robert Mayer was no longer in the room. I could only imagine what was going through their minds when they found themselves staring at a ghost they long believed to be dead.

“That’s simple,” said Donovan. “My powers are absolute. Nothing in this world or the next can defeat my science. I killed you once, Vanessa, I can do it again, and no being, not even Death himself can tamper with my plans.”

It was enough for me, then and there to make a decision. I realized was running out of time. My father had already confirmed what my mother and aunt had told me about him. It was a difficult decision to make to be sure, but I had been in this situation one too many times for me not to understand. There are always casualties. In business, in love, and in war. When making a choice between who lives and dies one much choose the path the saves the most and hurts the least. It has always been the principle that has guide my actions.

I clenched both my fists. I was sad, and angry at the same time. But there was an even bigger concern now. I knew that the world was in grave danger. That everyone I knew could be hurt by the monster that stood before me, if I didn’t do anything.

It was clear that Donovan would stop at nothing in his quest for power. That things like love, and concern for other human beings was not something that was in him anymore. It may have been once, if my memories weren’t all fake, but it was certainly all gone now. 

I knew what it was that I had to do. There was no other choice than to fight Donovan Hunter, and defeat him before time ran out for the entire human race.

“Activate,” I said, as I unleashed my scythe. I didn’t have time to be coy. I turned to my Dad with all the ferocity I could muster. “It ends here, Dad. I have come to take you down.”

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