Nothing Would've Ever Happened

Chapter 15

"Brian?" Elaine said in shock.

"Good, you remember." He chuckled. "At least your memory remember the important things in your life."

"But the accident... I was the only survivor..."

"Ahh." He caught her at the end of her sentence. "But they didn't mention there were two others missing. Our parents may have died, but that doesn't mean everyone else did but you."

"What are you talking about?" Elaine said confused.

"'The driver of the truck that ran into the van and a brother of the Flores family disappeared, never found at the wreckage.' is what they said on the news then." Justin answered. "They never were able to find the two missing people, until now."

"Good job, Justin." Brian sarcastically praised him. "You remember, how thoughtful."

"How were you able to survive?" Elaine asked. "There's no way..."

"Vincent was a nice man. He taught me many things and many strategies. He taught me to be independent and strict. That was the key to success..." He began.

"He hid you?" Justin asked.

"Of course." Brian laughed. "How else could anyone not find us? Now let me continue. It was strange though that his eyes were pitch black, but I was afraid to say anything..."

Vincent continued on with his story, explaining how Brian was chosen to continue his quest to get revenge on a Justin and Elaine and how his adventure to become the head of OWCA and W.A.T.T., Justin began to think about something strange. It never occurred to him until halfway through Brian's story, but it was a detail that made him suspicious: '...his eyes were pitch black...', which was such a small detail, but something about it urged him to continue pursuing. Something about the fact that Vincent's eyes were pitch black made him uneasy. It was familiar though; he's experienced a similar feeling before.

"...When Vincent passed away, it was really hard for me. I could barely keep myself together, but I had a feeling that when he died, his soul entered me. I guess it was like I became him. I learned so much and I could do almost anything. It's as if our souls became one..."

"That's because you are him." Justin intruded. "But you're not him. You're someone else."

"What are you talking about?" Elaine said, worried.

"It's Michael. The dark spirit contained in Michael found Vincent, because he was weak enough for his soul to be taken from and now, since they had a strong bond, the transfer to Brian's body was easy."

"Congratulations, Justin." Brian grinned. "You figured it out."

"Dad, what's going on?" Mavis worried.

"Well, my dear Mavis." Brian said, walking towards a computer with the word Release on the screen. "Things are going to get better..."

"FOR ME!"

He pressed the spacebar on the computer and the floors below each jail cell began to recede under them, slowly sliding into the floor away from them. Mavis and Drew screamed as they held each other, moving against the wall as the floor receded below them. Already, after a good ten seconds, half of the floor disappeared. Elaine looked down and saw a pit of darkness that seemed to have no end. It left an impression of despair and complete hopelessness.

Just when all faith seemed lost, the floor stopped midway and the lights started to flicker. The machine that whirred on to remove the floor came to a halt. All the lights in the huge room turned on, revealing the empty hall and the four cages in the center.

"Wait what?!" Brian yelled in disgust.

"What happened?" Drew said, completely relieved and trying to comfort Mavis.

Brian pulled out his gun and looked around, "Alright! This ain't funny! Show yourself or I'll put lead in your bloodstream!"

"Systems Online. Rebooting to Justin Enterprises. R.E.G.I.N.E. now back in service."

"No way!" Justin said in excitement.

"Justin?! Elaine?! Mavis!? Drew?! Are you guys alright?! Did I make it in time?!" Regine yelled from the intercom.

"Oh my god, you just made it in time!" Elaine said happily.

"Regine?!" Mavis and Drew cheered.

"Hey guys!" Her voice echoed through the hall.

"Who is this?!" Brian yelled in anger. "Show yourself!!!"

"I would, but I don't have the capacity in this facility to show myself, which doesn't have any access for me to hack myself into holographic designs." She said plainly.

Brian glared at Justin, his face returning a smirk of victory. The jail doors from all three cages opened, allowing them freedom.

"How did you get into OWCA?!" he snared. "There's no way possible!"

"I was awoken from an elevator that lead to your guy's security wall. It's not really that hard to break in, you should fix that."

Just as they opened, red lights started flashing and the speakers began to scream wildly in emergency. Brian ran towards the door and disappeared from sight.

"Regine! What's happening?!" Justin yelled as the building began to shake.

"I activated the self-destruct mode and the timer is going too fast! I'm holding the time right now, but I can't last forever! Get out of here!" Regine groaned.

"But Regine..."

"Go! I did what I could for you now! There's nothing left for me to do! Just go!"

Elaine got a hold of Mavis and Drew and started running out the door. She turned to look at Justin, blankly staring above through the nothingness, waiting for Regine. She ran and pulled Justin out of his trance, his resistance to leave finally broken after a couple seconds.

They started running down hallways that had escape routes lit up in red. Mavis and Drew held hands as they continued running down the dark and blinking red hallways. As the four of them ran down the intense lights, running left and right, Elaine noticed that no other person was around. It was a strange thought but she let it go immediately as they turned left to find a long corridor the lead to the huge exit.

"Kids! Run to the exit!!!" Elaine yelled at the top of her lungs as explosions that started echoed closer behind them. Everything around them started to become quiet, their hearts thumping immensely as the explosions entered into the main hall. Mavis and Drew jumped through the front doors, covered by Justin as the explosion reached them, pushing them farther through the night sky. The dark night gets light up from the huge mushroom cloud of the facility.

After a while, Justin slowly got up and looked down at Mavis and Drew, who slowly got up as well. They looked at their dad, seeing a gash on his arm. Not freaking out, Drew took off his jacket and started wrapping the wound.

Justin looked around to search for his wife. He looked down further and saw her limp on the ground, unconscious from the blast.

"Oh no..." Justin feared. "ELAINE!!!!"

He ran towards her, sliding on his knees and holding her in his arms. His tears began to stream down his cheeks, fearing the worst. His moment was immediately interrupted with quiet echoing of police cars.

"Drew, get a van running right now!" he quietly commanded. "Mavis, help Mommy up!"

As Drew started running towards the parking lot, a Silver honda Odyssey rolls up next to the three of them. Everyone looked up as the window lowered down to reveal the driver.

"Get it." Isabel said.