"Peter?"

Everything went still after he uttered that word. It was like he was in an alternate reality and was slowly being dragged back to the very one he didn't want to belong in. His eyelids became heavy as he watched the sight before him, his brain working like a clock to search for the words to describe the torture he was going through.

He looked again at the sight before him and had to pinch himself to make certain that he was not dreaming - hell, not even his wildest dreams could have cooked up something this gruesome and staggering. Perhaps, he was in a delirium of horror and was conjuring an effigy of his best friend, because he was suddenly feeling weak at the knees and his sight was blurry.

He soon realized that it was tears that were blurring his sight.

"Hello friend slash brother clash cousin, how are you doing today?"

The effigy speaks! How was he gonna reply? What was he gonna say? Was he having a nightmare? No, this was real, as real as a cinder block. Maybe Peter was joking, who else could have brought Pamela to this site if not him?

But, Peter wasn't supposed to know where this place was located. After he had asked Bruce for the address, Devlin remembered telling peter to leave the cell, that he didn't want him to know the address because of security reasons and because he wanted to protect him. How then was he here? Also, why was Peter looking at him with a look that dreaded him?

There was only one explanation his instincts were proffering. One he was finding grueling to gobble up.

"Stupid title, I must say," Peter said, snapping him back into focus. "Friend slash brother slash cousin." He barked a burst of short, cynical laughter, then indicated at Devlin's men, how poised for the attack they were with their guns aimed and waved them off. "Oh please, spare me the theatrics. You're surrounded. You walked right into a trap."

One by one, armed men came out of their hiding places with their guns aimed at Devlin's men. They were truthfully outnumbered.

"No." Devlin shook his head, still in denial. "No. Not you, Peter." It was a struggle to speak and so his voice came out as a strangled whisper.

"It's Bull to you, mister and yes it's me. Woo-hoo!" he clapped and laughed. "Tell your men - excuse me, boys - to stand down."

Devlin looked like all the willpower to survive had left him. What was happening? His whole life, his whole existence was crumbling right in front of him. "Peter please, we don't have to do this. We're brothers, remember? Please let's call all these off and settle things like brothers do."

"Uh," Peter looked up at the sky like he was considering what Devlin had said. "No can do." He snickered.

Devlin shook his head from side to side, not wanting to accept the gruesome truth that was standing right in front of him. He turned halfway to his men. "Stand down."

Cody took a step forward. "But sir -"

"I said stand down!" he yelled, angry and exasperated at the same time. "It's an order." He added, when they stubbornly stood, still poised for attack.

"You should listen to your boss." Peter sang cheerfully. "Or my men could just, you know, click. And you all will be dead. Your choice."

Devlin looked up at Peter as his men lowered their guns. "Why? Peter, why?"

His eyes smarted with tears. He could not believe this! Was this some sort of prank? No, Peter knew how much he'd been preparing for this battle so he wouldn't want to make a double entendre of it. No, he knew better than that.

Yet again, his instincts told him to open his eyes, and once again, he told his instincts to shove it. He had known Peter since he was twelve dammits! He had shared tears and laughter, pain and joy with him. Peter had been everything. He'd been his family. With Peter, he'd learned that blood doesn't necessarily make one family; love does. So how could this happen?

But what if - his heart skipped at this likelihood - what if Peter was under duress? What if the real Bull captured Peter and forced him to do this? What if he was pretending? What if he was protecting them by going through the motions of being the bad guy?

Peter's shoulders slumped and Devlin became more certain of the possibility that Peter was being forced to do what he was doing. He was tremendously relieved, but not downright. They were still in danger.

"Why?" Peter asked, his voice breaking.

Devlin frowned, then remembered he'd asked Peter a question. His mind started racing, his brain and eyes working to find a way to help them escape. Should he communicate with Peter and tell him he knew what was going on?

Peter bowed his head and started to sob and Devlin and Pamela exchanged curious glances.

"I don't know, brother. I don't know why I'm doing this." He looked up at Devlin, his eyes red and mournful. "Save me, brother," he whispered, looking poignant. "They'll kill me, please save me!" He went towards Devlin and knelt and held his legs. "Save me, please. You know I can't do any of these to you." He looked at Pamela who had a stunned expression on her face. "You know I love you! I would die for you both! I could never do anything to hurt the only family I've got!"

Devlin sighed in relief, thankful that he'd been right, but his relief was short-lived when about a dozen armed men marched forward with a shout. It all happened in the blink of an eye. They grabbed peter and started shooting at him.

"Nooooo!" Devlin hollered, each eruption of gunshot tearing chunks of his heart away. Peter's shouts were like torture to his ears. He sank to his knees and wept as the bullets tore his brother's arteries, making blood splash. Pamela knelt beside him and rubbed his back in sympathy, her expression filled with sorrow.

The next instant, the armed men all gathered around Peter and Devlin watched powerlessly. He knew if he did anything they would kill him - hell, he was fine with his death, but that of his wife? Never! Now Devlin knew what it felt like to be between the hammer and the anvil. He was witnessing firsthand torture. He wept harder, then stood and drew Pamela up with him, his jaw set in determination. He wiped his tears and swallowed down his sobs. He had lost his brother but he was going to fight for his wife.

Peter's groaning became louder and louder, then started to sound like a whimper, and all of a sudden, the armed men that surrounded Peter separated and Peter stood, walking forward, laughing and clapping.

The whimper had been the laughter.

"Oh my dear brother," He laughed and brushed off the fake bullet wounds on his body. "hope you enjoyed the show?"

Devlin became decrepit and almost buckled under shock, but when he felt Pamela buckling, he knew he had to be strong for her so he squeezed her hands, giving her the strength that he was bereft of.

Peter's laughter mocked him again. "Oh the expression on your faces!" he barked another loud and long laughter. "Everything I said, is that what you wanted to hear? Aww so heartbreaking. Sorry to add sand to your sugar but this isn't fiction. This, " He spread his hands out. "Is real-life ladies and gentlemen, and oh, Mrs. Gusev, remember you watched me die in the car? Well, here you have what happened. It was all for show."

Peter smiled and paced the floor. Devlin, in his shock, looked up at the sky to pray for strength and noticed that the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Even the sun could sense their gloom and defeat.

"While you all thought you were ahead of me," he indicated at Devlin's army. "While you all thought you were two steps smart, I was ten light-years smarter. Hope you know the meaning of light-years? Like the-speed-of-light-times-10 smart." His smile waned. "And to answer your question, dear brother, I am Bull because of you."

His quick shift in mood surprised Devlin. Peter used to be more jovial and rarely full of rage, but as he had started to understand, Peter was not who he was. He looked at Devlin with a murderous glare that made him shiver. How unbelievable.

"I'm Bull because I hate you. You made me like this!" Spittle flew out of his mouth as he yelled, his eyes holding incense and hostility.

"What?" Devlin asked incredulously.

"You had everything! Starting from her father." He pointed at Pamela then added quietly, "He loved you more than he loved me."

Devlin shook his head from side to side in negation. "That is not true."

"Shut up! He took you as a son. He cared for you, making me look like an outcast. At the end of it all, who did he train to take over the drug business? You! He left me out and said I was too weak to handle the pressure of it all. He turned me into an underdog, giving you all the glory."

"You think I liked running a drug business?" Devlin yelled. "I hated it."

Peter scoffed. "But the money. You would do anything to make a quick buck, won't you?"

"Peter, if these are your reasons then it's not enough -"

"Shut up I said! You have everything I always wanted. A family, love from a father, even Florence the stupid old hag prefers you to me! She treats me so formally like I'm an unwelcome guest, but when you're around, she warms up to you like a fucking prostitute. I was never enough. I was never loved and accepted like you were. You took everything from me!"

Just then, Devlin saw it. How had he missed it? Peter was mad; as mad as a hatter. He was mentally insane. He looked so much like he'd lost touch with reality like he was no longer in his right mind. That was the only way he could explain what was happening. If Peter had truly felt left out of everything, bottling it up would have sent him on a spiral of insanity and rage, one he wouldn't have been able to discuss with anybody. This wasn't his fault, he just needed someone to love him, and Devlin had failed at that. He felt ashamed of himself.

"No, brother. You're everything to me." Devlin let go of Pamela's hands and took a step forward. "I have always loved you, and I always will."

"Not one more step from you, or I will shoot." He said through gritted teeth. "You hypocrite. You're saying what you are because you know how to do everything to perfection. You even got the body I always wanted. Hell, you know how to woo a woman with just raising a brow, something I can't do."

"But you have Alex. No one is perfect - "

"Spare me the love speech. Just so you know, there was never an Alex. I used the story to get information on how close you were to finding my place."

Devlin dared to take another step. "Nevertheless, Peter, have you forgotten the times we used to be genuinely happy? When we would sit together at night and watch the sky, drinking beer and grilled chicken?" He scoffed and raised his arms. "Look, we even have bracelets that have initials. Remember when we got them? Also, do you remember when you lost your virginity? We laughed so hard when you were telling me the story."

"Thanks for reminding me of yet another failure of mine, one which you accomplished not just successfully but smoothly."

Devlin gave an exasperated sigh. "All I want is to fly back to those times when we had not a care in the world. When we were genuinely happy and loved each other."

"Well, all those times I abhorred you because Rob's favoritism for you was as clear as a fucking bell."

"No. He was hard on you because he wanted to train you well. That was how he was with me too." He took another step.

As if recovering, Peter yelled, "I said, not a step!" He raised his gun and fired.

"No!" Tears rolled down Devlin's eyes as he watched one of his men go down with a shout. The gunshot caused a hullaballoo because his men started to scramble for cover. They raised their shields and hid behind them. Devlin didn't know who was shot because of their covered faces but it tore at his heart nonetheless. When he looked up again, ready to tear Peter limb from limb, Peter was holding Pamela, his gun pressed to the back of her neck.

"Pamela!"

"Ah, ah," He said, "Not one more step, old friend. If you do, I will blow your wife's brains out, and I am not joking."

"Devlin, it's okay," Pamela said.

No, it wasn't. It was obvious as hell that Bull wasn't bluffing so he was not ready to risk his wife's life by testing the waters. She was and always would be his Achilles heel, so he was going to do whatever Peter wanted.

"The most stupid thing you ever did was to come here. The same goes for you, Pam Pam. Why do you think I came to meet you for help? I knew Devlin never does anything without a backup plan so I wanted to make sure I was ahead." he laughed scornfully. "That reminds me. How sweet was it when the backup letter turned up blank?"

Pamela looked at Devlin as if remembering. "You bastard. You deceived me!"

"No, Pamela, I didn't."

"That's it, my lady." He let go of her and forced her to face him, using his index finger and his thumb to squeeze her face, making her lips jut out painfully. "Join me, and together we can win this fight. Devlin is a selfish bastard. He deserves nothing from you."

"Let ghow ohf mhe."

"What?" He asked innocently then released her face. "What did you say?"

"Give me a good reason to support you."

"Are you hard of hearing or what? Devlin is evil. He's the bad guy here and so he does not deserve you. My point is, if you help me finish him off, I will let you go. Not like I can't finish him off and you alongside, it's just that a swift death is too good a punishment for him. I want him to suffer betrayal. That makes the pot of soup spicier, what 'cha think?"

Pamela turned around, as if unsure of what she wanted to do then she walked up to Devlin and slapped him. "You deceived me, lied to me that you trusted me and that you cared for me! You made my hopes sour that you had handed something huge to me when in fact it was a lie!"

"Pamela no, please don't listen to him, he's manipulating you."

She slapped him again. "Shut up! Peter's ways aren't exactly orthodox but he's right on this one. You're one selfish manipulative bastard who doesn't give a fudge about other people's feelings."

"Fuck, you mean?" Peter interrupted jocosely. "Don't spare the dickhead the dirty words. If you don't mind, I could help you out with some. I have an encyclopedia full of 'em." Peter winked at her and Devlin longed to strangle him till the world was freed of a disappointment like him.

He faced his wife. "Pamela please -"

"I regret marrying you. Was that why you married me? For my fortune?"

Devlin shut his eyes and counted to ten. Who had been feeding her with lies? Was she serious right now? Did she not decode the backup letter? His heart was breaking, and he wished he had cleared the air about her fortune before now. He also wished he hadn't been too secretive about the backup letter. He decided to try again and ask for her forgiveness, and when he looked into her eyes he saw something there;

She was acting. Why? Obviously to buy him time. But what was the use? Weren't they doomed already?

Then it hit him like a ton of stumbling bricks. She was buying time until the cops arrive. Which meant she did decode the letter. He almost laughed but had to put on his expressionless mask for her. All for her.

"Pamela, please. Don't do this to me. Yes, I agree, I deceived you, but that was because I didn't want you to worry about me. I wanted you to feel better, even if for a little while."

"How heroic." Peter chipped in.

"Please, don't listen to him." He tried to take her hand but she removed it from his reach. "You can't be serious to want to join him."

"Oh, she's not. How stupid do you think I am?" Peter said laughing and coming back to drag Pamela with a gun pointed at her head. "I know you're trying to buy time, which is stupid because you're going to die anyway."

"Boss!" A man in a suit called walking forward, a woman who was stained with blood beside him.

"Dwight?" Devlin said his name in disbelief when he recognized Fener.

He looked up at Devlin, a cold look bordering his features. "What?"

"You're with him? How? Why? You were close with Rob. You both were almost best friends."

"Well turns out I hated his guts. It was a shot from my gun that killed him, you see."

Devlin saw Pamela tense where she was and his heart went out to her. If he could telepath, he would send fortitude her way. He faced the traitor. "He cared for you, he supported your foundation."

"You mean the cover for my other business? Oh, sure he did."

Devlin frowned. "Other - " his mouth fell open when he registered what he meant by 'other business'.

"Oh don't be such a hypocrite. It's the same business you run." Said the young woman who was standing beside Fener. Devlin recognized her.

"Fatimah. I met you at the gala."

"She's my daughter. And you're wasting my time. I have something important to say here."

Devlin scoffed and faced Fener. "Well, since we are all showing our true colors, won't it be nice for your 'daughter' to know that you murdered her mother?" Devlin was proud of himself when the smug look on the girl's face crumpled. "You came to Rob for help to cover your tracks, remember?"

"Ohh! Bad boy Devlin." Peter intoned with a grin.

Fatimah took in a loud, shaky breath.

Fener looked straight at Devlin, not even flinching. "We discussed this honey, it was for the best."

"You didn't have to kill her." She said quietly.

He directed an impatient and irritated look at her. "She cheated on me." he moved towards her and raised her face so that she would be looking at him. "Besides, she never supported our mission. She had to go."

Fatimah started to sob quietly. "No, she didn't." She whispered as if she was scared to talk too loud or sob too hard. "I miss her." She sniffed as her nose started to run. "You shouldn't have killed her!" She screamed. It was the scream of a soul dying. "Never." She turned away from them and began to sob aloud. "Mommy, I miss you, I'm so sorry mommy."

Fener blew a displeased and peevish sigh and picked up his gun, aimed it at his daughter, and fired twice.

The sound startled everyone except Fener - no surprises there. Even Peter was surprised, except his surprise was more like an I-didn't-know-you-were-capable-of-that-and-I'm-proud-of-you kind of surprise than a horrifying surprise that everyone had. Fener didn't even move a muscle of emotion. His face was still cold and bored, like what he did was nothing serious and he would do it over on a whim.

Peter gave him a bow. "You're the boss."

Fener gave a slight bow in return. "I came here to tell you, before the slight interruption, that the soldiers stationed outside noticed movements around the perimeter."

"Strange. Like how many?"

"A few men. Possibly cops."

For the first time since Devlin had seen his true self, Peter looked truly bothered.

"How the fuck did they get this location?"

"I have only one idea." He gave Devlin a pointed look.

Peter turned to look at Devin, rage in his eyes. "You didn't call the cops did you?"

"Oh, no he didn't. I did." Pamela said.

Peter looked at Pamela like she had gone around the bend. "Excuse me?"

"There was something written on that blank sheet of paper. How ironic that someone 'ten light years' ahead couldn't have decided that simple fact."

He gave her a murderous glare and aimed his gun at her. "You called the cops? No problem then. Seems like we're gonna have a bath. In blood." He started firing at Devlin's men.

They all dropped to the ground with shouts as a whistle of bullets flew over their heads.

"Noo! No! Wait please! Stop." Devlin hollered.

Peter stopped. "You know the saying all roads lead to Rome? You're Rome. The reason I'm this person is you, likewise, the reason all these people will die today is you. Everything will be your fault." he shot again.

Devlin watched helplessly how his men tried to protect themselves with their shields but didn't shoot back because they knew Peter could shoot Pamela as easily as he had shot the others. Their unwavering loyalty chocked him and made him weep.

"Take me! It's me you want. Take me, but please, leave them alone."

Peter lowered his gun. "Oh, now you remember that this fight is between us both? You dragged them here didn't you?"

"You hate me. I am the cause of everything that has ever gone wrong in your life, so please, let's face-off man to man. Leave them alone, please."

Peter laughed scornfully and pushed Pamela away with so much force that she landed hard on the floor, groaning in pain. That infuriated him. He dropped his gun with a clatter, Peter did too and they moved towards each other with predatory moves.

"You all stand down," Peter announced to his men, his bloodthirsty look fixed on Devlin. "This is my fight. There must be no interruptions! We will fight till one of us is dead!"

Devlin was ready to die. But he made a pact that comes what may, Bull will die with him. That was the only way Pamela could live a life without fear. He glanced at her and saw the torn look on her face and his heart wrenched.

Change of plans.

He wouldn't just kill Bull, he would make sure he annihilated him from existence while he would survive and take care of his wife himself. His eyes locked with hers as he made her that promise.

With that conviction, he set his focus on Bull and with a shout, lunged towards him.

~

We're reaching the end!

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