Alright, that’s enough, Adam thought. After crossing the traffic light, he cleared his throat and glanced at Juzo.

  “It’s not the first time my nose has bled, y’know? It’s never been something to make a big deal about.”

  “Today is different,” Juzo replied. “Repeated nosebleeds are an immune response to Tau radiation exposure.”

  Adam’s eyes widened with terror as he looked at his brother.

  “Radiation? What-what radiation?” He lost focus on his driving and ran a red light; a honking horn snapped him back to reality. “How… When did I…?”

  With a grumpy expression, Juzo motioned for him to calm down.

  “Tau radiation just makes people act a little erratic, that’s all,” he said.

  “Erratic? What does that even…?”

  “Calm down!” Juzo interrupted. “It’s complicated to explain how it works, but trust me, for your body it just means a nosebleed.”

  “Just a nosebleed? Radiation and bleeding don’t exactly make for ‘just something.’”

  “Well, here it does. You’re not going to get sick.”

  Adam pressed his nose, still skeptical. “If it’s so minor, then why all the fuss?”

  “Because it means the enemy has already made contact with you.”

  “Enemy?!” Each revelation alarmed Adam more than the last.

  “Tau radiation is a form of energy that some people from the Edda Peninsula can emit—the Tau-coded Eddanians,” Juzo explained. “We have reason to believe one of these Eddanians is looking for us. Based on your nosebleed and the description you gave of the woman at the club, I’m sure it’s her.”

  “An Eddanian?” Suddenly, Adam’s fear faded as he thought of a tall, handsome guy with pale skin he’d once modeled with for an underwear shoot. “Wait a second. The Edda Peninsula… I know a guy, a model—with hair, alright—I remember him telling us once that his grandparents were from there. That’s on the continental island, Pannotia.” He looked at his brother, connecting the dots. “You’re from there too, aren’t you?”

  “From the territory next to the Edda Peninsula,” Juzo admitted. “Markabia.”

  Adam pressed his lips together and nodded. “The Markabian Empire’s capital,” he said.

  Of course—the accent, the arrogant attitude… now it all made sense.

  He looked at the sorry state of Juzo’s uniform, the mud stains on his boots—the same as the girl had on hers. Everything fit.

  “You and your girlfriend are fugitives from the regime, right? That’s why you stole those jet packs and other stuff. We’re not just running from an Eddanian; we’re running from your Empire, aren’t we?”

  Juzo showed a section of his jacket pocket, near his heart; the fabric was torn as if something had been ripped out. From the same pocket, he pulled out a scarlet, rhomboid-shaped medal featuring the image of a white Pegasus standing atop a laurel wreath—the Markabian Empire’s emblem, the missing piece to confirm Adam’s assumption.

  “Damn it! Please don’t tell me you and your girlfriend made up the whole project thing to win my sympathy and help you escape.”

  “Vicky’s not my girlfriend; she’s my partner,” Juzo clarified. “And the project is real. We escaped from Pannotia to tell you about it because I thought you had as much right as I do to know what they did to us.”

  Adam clenched his teeth.

  “Oh, man… Having a fugitive in my car is one thing. Having a fugitive with a face identical to mine… You’re making me an accomplice to a crime. Do you realize the international mess this could throw at me?”

  “Relax, that won’t happen.” Juzo opened the window and tossed the Markabian medal out onto the street. “The Empire’s military has no idea Vicky and I are here.”

  Adam didn’t look very convinced.

  “Come on! Then who are we running from? A bald, magical Eddanian who just happened to be sampling the delights of the free world at a nightclub tonight? I don’t buy it. If she’s the enemy like you say, then why let us walk out of there? Was she giving us a head start before the hunt? Or is this erratic behavior from that radiation gonna make me crash into a wall so she can pick up the pieces?”

  “I don’t know. I told you, Tau radiation’s effect is hard to pin down.”

  Adam clicked his tongue. “Yeah, like almost everything else you’ve told me so far. Look, I get that you’re not the type to share info easily, but you’re lugging around a backpack full of files, and honestly, it’d help if you could share some of what’s in them. You know, it’d help us understand each other better.”

  “You’ve seen them; they’re incomplete.”

  “I’ve seen the photos and the blacked-out bars; I didn’t get a chance to read what little was left. Do they mention any companies? I mean, whoever developed this project would’ve had to buy supplies, right? And the company I work for makes products, and our clients…”

  Juzo held up a hand, asking him to be quiet. It was evident he felt pressured to speak, and he didn’t like it, but it was also evident he understood Adam’s right to demand clarity in the situation.

  “Fine,” he said. “Just know that a lot of what I’m about to tell you might…”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Be guesses?” Adam cut in.

  Juzo shot him a look. ‘I thought I asked you to be quiet,’ his eyes seemed to say.

  “They might not be the full story,” he clarified. “The Binary Project began a little over three decades ago. A group of scientists studying the genetic lineage of a population in Pannotia discovered mutant proteins in identical twins. They called them Binary Proteins because each one could combine with its counterpart and trigger a chemical reaction that released massive amounts of energy. They performed tests by mixing the twins’ blood, fusing their genetic codes, but…”

  Adam clenched his jaw. “None of them survived, did they? Those were the other babies that girl, Vicky, was talking about.”

  Juzo didn’t need to confirm it.

  “They all ended up… consumed by pure energy—reduced to fire and ashes,” he said, staring straight ahead. “Until you and I came along. We survived the early stages of the project. Physical maturity turned out to be essential to endure the protein bonding, so the people behind the experiment decided to postpone it—and separated us to keep us from making contact too soon.”

  “I guess that’s how I ended up on this side of the world,” Adam concluded.

  Juzo nodded. “They planned to reunite us when we turned twenty-five. It all would’ve ended then, five years ago, if it hadn’t been for a setback that forced them to shut everything down.”

  Adam whistled. “That must have been some setback!”

  “According to the files,” Juzo said, “they lost a crucial supply needed to finish the Project.”

  “I see. And do you know what kind of supply it was?”

  Juzo shook his head.

  “Bet you anything it wasn’t just gauze and bandages,” Adam said, then let out a long sigh. “Well, thanks for… sharing.” He sighed again and stayed quiet for a while, taking in everything he’d just heard. “So, I’m from Pannotia, huh? Who would’ve thought! The first real clue I have about my origins, and it’s already overshadowed by a huge chunk of madness.”

  Leaving his neighborhood, Urie, in the Yellow District, Adam drove into the next neighborhood, Cole, in the Red District, a bustling part of the city.

  The streets turned into avenues, and cars arrived by the dozens from various intersections. Here, there were no human traffic officers on motorcycles. In this high-traffic area, only robotic traffic officers could be seen—androids similar to Cyclops, but with a single wheel instead of legs, designed to navigate narrow spaces.

  Traffic lights and vehicle taillights glowed alongside the gleaming skyscrapers and massive holographic billboards.

  To his right was the Las Estrellas Mall, and across from it, the massive sign for Bunny’s store, featuring the cartoon of a pretty girl in lingerie blowing a kiss to no one in particular. Higher up was an ad with an athlete raising his gold medal, claiming that J.M. was the best health insurance company, and just below that, one of the many elevated parks that ran above the avenues. A little farther back was the cone-shaped tower housing Morris & Co., the competitor of Homam Enterprises, whose main building was just two blocks to the right.

  Adam walked around here every day. No building in this district was unfamiliar to him, and now, more than ever, he needed that familiarity to help him feel safe; he needed the city’s movements and the people around him as a substitute for security.

  Two robot traffic officers moved between the cars nearby. Maybe there had been an accident or a traffic jam up ahead. Better to steer clear. He swerved around a line of buses and moved into the fast lane.

  Meanwhile, Juzo stayed in complete silence. Complete and uncomfortable silence.

  “About those mutant proteins…” Adam began, clearing his throat. It took effort to pull his mind from that cloud of emotions and gather his thoughts. “Well, I never felt anything out of place… I mean, if there was something strange in my blood, I’d have felt… I don’t know. Something would’ve shown up in a medical test, right? What about you?”

  “Those proteins are in our blood,” Juzo replied. “I wouldn’t have risked crossing imperial territory on the island if I wasn’t sure. My proteins are type R and act like a reactor, while yours are type C.”

  “Type C? Mine act like some kind of catalyst or something?”

  Juzo nodded again.

  “And theoretically, how would those proteins have come into contact?”

  Juzo looked at him with a dark expression. “By removing them from one of our hearts and pouring them into the other’s.”

  Adam swallowed hard. “Well, that sounds awful.”

  Juzo reached for his jacket pocket. “An igniting spark, and the proteins would release their power,” he added.

  Adam glanced at him. His brother was hiding something there; the igniting spark, maybe? He didn’t have the courage to ask.

  “And if that… if that actually happened, then what? Are we gonna explode in a burst of lights or something like the other twins before us?”

  “I’m in no hurry to find out,” Juzo said. “That’s why we’re running.”

  Adam’s stomach twisted in fear. “Running? From the Eddanian? Oh, freaking hell! Wanna tell me once and for all what’s going on?!”

  “When Vicky and I left Pannotia, someone managed to follow us,” Juzo said, his expression grim. “Someone who wants… to complete the project.”

  “Complete as in…?”

  “Complete as in finish what was left undone.”

  “Shit!” Adam cursed. “They found the damn lost supply, didn’t they? It showed up after five years. Did the Eddanian find it? Is that why we’re running from her?”

  “No,” Juzo replied. “She’s coming with the one who seeks to complete the project.”

  “Who?”

  Juzo bit his lip and remained silent.

  “Ah, c’mon, man!” Adam raged, catching sight of his brother’s hand going back into his jacket pocket out of the corner of his eye. ‘What are you hiding there?’ he was about to ask, but his nose started bleeding again.

  Juzo noticed what was happening. “Of course!” he exclaimed. “Your nosebleed isn’t just a side effect of the radiation; it is the effect! They’re tracking us!”

  “What are you talking about?!”

  “I’ll explain later, but stop the car now! Quick!”

  Terrified, holding back the blood with one hand and steering with the other, Adam searched for a way to avoid the traffic and pull off the avenue. He was surrounded by cars and trucks, and it was impossible to make a ninety-degree turn without hitting one. He slowed down and, reaching a stoplight, moved into the right-hand lane.

  “Faster!” Juzo insisted.

  “Can’t you see I’m doing what I can?!” Adam shouted. He stopped pinching his nose and used both hands to steer. Blood dripped down his chin and onto his chest.

  Turning on his signal lights, he maneuvered into place, cutting off a sedan that honked angrily. He shrugged in apology to the driver and, repeating the process, changed lanes until he pulled off the busy avenue and onto a quieter street that would take them toward the suburbs.

  Horns honked all around them, and Adam thought he might have heard a siren from one of the robot traffic officers.

  “That woman must be using your nosebleed as a tracking beacon,” Juzo muttered, slamming his fist against the dashboard in frustration. How hadn’t he seen it coming?

  Adam pulled over to the curb, but with no open parking space, he slowed down, checked to make sure no one was behind him, and double-parked. Angry drivers sped past, honking as they went.

  “So, now my nosebleed is a tracking beacon? Whatever happened to ‘erratic behavior’?” Adam snapped. He grabbed a tissue from the glove box to wipe the blood from his nose and off his bare chest. But when he looked back up, he froze.

  Suspended in midair on the avenue in front of them was a figure. A man in a purple trench coat had descended from the sky, stopping just below the streetlights, several feet above the asphalt.

  Two motorcyclists riding past were so startled they nearly lost control of their bikes. More car horns blared.

  “It’s him,” Juzo said. “He’s the one coming to complete the project.”

  Adam gripped the steering wheel with one hand, clutched the gearshift with the other, and planted his foot on the gas, ready to make a run for it. But through the windshield, he saw the glint of that chrome-plated head—and a single, massive eye in the center lit up red.

  “Oh, no… Tell me this is some kind of sick joke.”

  The figure in the trench coat—who might well be their executioner—wasn’t a man. It was a Cyclops android.