The Price Of Hatred

Chapter 20 - The Other side of James

​Before the final word could fully leave her mouth, James exploded forward. He launched his massive frame into the air, crossing the distance in a fraction of a second, his heavy leather-gloved fist raised to deliver a crushing blow directly to her face.

​Tidder didn't even flinch. With absolute, terrifying calmness, she raised a single finger on her left hand and flicked it sharply to the side.

​BOOM.

​An invisible wall of kinetic energy slammed into James mid-air. The concussive force redirected his momentum instantly, hurling his massive body ten feet to the left. He crashed brutally into a row of parked cars, smashing through a windshield as shattered safety glass rained down on his armor.

​While James was airborne, 202 acted. He thrust his gloved hand into his trench coat, fiercely slamming the red button on the duplicate dampener device concealed in his lining.

​Tidder turned her gaze toward 202, raising her right hand to lift him into the air and crush his windpipe from afar. She strained her fingers, but the violet light around her hand sputtered and died. The invisible field around 202 remained completely solid, neutralizing her kinetic distortions entirely.

​“Haaa… fuck,” Tidder murmured, her jaw tightening as she realized her advantage was gone.

​“Your witchcraft doesn't work on me,” 202 said, his voice deadly calm as he stepped over the debris.

​Tidder spat onto the wet pavement, her hands curling into tight combat fists. “A magnetic crystal resistance dampener. God, I fucking hate that device.”

​“What makes you hate it is exactly what makes it useful to us,” 202 replied, his boots crunching on the glass.

​Tidder took a deep, aggressive breath, her posture shifting into a lethal martial arts stance. “Then give me your best shot, operative.”

​“You truly believed you were the best shadow the Pitch ever created,” 202 said, closing the distance.

​“I am always the best,” Tidder hissed.

​Instantly, she moved forward, fueled by pure, unadulterated emotion. With explosive, supernatural speed, she launched her body into the air, lifting her leg in a fierce, high-spinning wheel kick aimed directly at 202’s neck. The wind howled through the street from the sheer, terrifying force of her movement.

​But 202 was a veteran of the seat. He ducked his head at the exact millisecond, the heavy sole of her platform boot missing his throat by a mere inch, cutting through the empty air above him.

​The moment her foot hit the ground, Tidder didn’t waste a single millisecond. She pivoted on her heel instantly and began fighting him with her bare hands, throwing a blinding, lightning-fast flurry of close-quarters punches. 202 was forced entirely onto the defensive. He raised his heavy, armored forearms to block the onslaught, the sound of their limbs colliding echoing through the silent street like cracks of thunder. Tidder threw a sharp left hook, which 202 deflected upward with his wrist, but she immediately followed through with a brutal, driving right jab straight to his ribs.

​The punch connected with a heavy, sickening thud against his armor, the sheer force sending 202 stumbling backward two steps.

​Seeing her opening, Tidder pressed the attack aggressively, throwing a rapid succession of straight jabs aimed directly at his jaw. 202 ducked his head, weaving through the violent air, parrying her wrists with clinical precision as he desperately tried to find his timing against her relentless, aggressive rhythm.

​Finally, 202 found his gap. As her right hand extended, he caught her incoming wrist with his gloved fingers, twisted his torso with immense leverage, and used her own forward momentum to hurl her across the brick walkway. Tidder crashed heavily against the concrete wall of the apartment building, the impact knocking loose a shower of dust, but she rolled out of the collision instantly, bouncing back to her feet with a feral snarl, though she was now breathing heavily.

​Now, 202 took the upper hand. He closed the distance instantly, his long black trench coat billowing behind him. He lunged forward with a powerful, driving front kick that struck Tidder squarely in the chest. The immense force of the blow knocked the air completely out of her lungs, sending her body skidding backward across the wet asphalt of the street.

​Before she could recover her balance, 202 was already upon her like a shadow. He delivered a swift, crushing combination—a hard, disabling strike to her left shoulder, followed immediately by a heavy, sweeping backfist that caught her right across the jaw.

​Tidder stumbled, her vision spinning as blood welled in the corner of her mouth. 202 began to completely beat her down, showing no mercy. He threw a powerful knee strike directly into her midsection, forcing her to double over in agonizing pain, and followed it with a brutal, downward elbow strike to her upper back that sent her crashing flat onto the hard ground.

​202 stood over her heaving form, his chest rising and falling slightly, confident that the battle was won. But Tidder, fueled by sheer desperation and a raw survival instinct, refused to stay down.

​As 202 stepped closer to deliver the finishing strike, Tidder suddenly whipped her leg around in a vicious leg-sweep, catching his ankles out from under him. 202 fell backward with a loud, heavy crash against the pavement. Before he could roll away to recover, Tidder threw her entire body weight onto him, pinning him flat against the floorboards of the street.

​202 thrashed violently underneath her, trying to throw her off, but Tidder held him down aggressively, locking his arms tightly beneath her knees. With her hands free for a critical split second, she reached quickly toward the hidden pocket on his collar line where the dampener was housed.

​With a sharp, violent tug, she ripped away the small, blinking electronic device and threw it into the gutter.

​The moment the device left his body, a sudden, massive surge of raw energy rippled through the air, shattering the windows of the surrounding cars. The invisible barrier that had been suppressing her abilities instantly shattered, and her true power began to hum violently back to life, glowing in her eyes. Instantly, she reached down with one hand, lifting 202’s entire body off the ground by his throat, squeezing his neck until his face turned purple.

​But before she could slam him into the asphalt, a dark, heavy voice echoed from the shadows behind her.

​“Tidder… I’m still here.”

​Tidder gasped, turning her head back toward the sound. In that split second of distraction, James materialized from the wreckage of the cars. He didn't throw a punch. Instead, his massive hand reached down, his fingers wrapping around the silver chain at her throat, and with a single, violent wrench, he snapped the cord, removing the crystal chain along with the key template from her neck.

​Instantly, the violet aura vanished. Deprived of the stone’s stabilizing conduit, Tidder’s knees buckled, and she collapsed heavily onto the concrete, her body shaking as her strength evaporated.

​James stood over her, holding the glowing violet crystal and the intricate key in his hand. He looked down at his sister, his face a mask of grief and resolve. “You should have just given it up gently, Tidder.”

​Tidder lay on her side, her chest heaving as she stared up at him through the rain. “What… what are you going to do with it?” she whispered hoarsely.

​“I’m going to do what is right with it,” James said flatly.

​On the ground nearby, 202 was barely able to speak, his gloved hand clutching his bruised neck where Tidder had nearly crushed his larynx. “James… you must… retrieve it. Hand it over to Father.”

​James turned his head slowly, looking down at the operative. A dark, complicated expression crossed his face. “Yeah… I’m going to deliver it to Father. And I’m sorry for what is about to happen to you.”

​202 coughed, his voice raspy. “You don't need to be sorry… I am fine.”

​“I’m not talking about the fight,” James said, his voice dropping into a chilling, absolute register. “I’m talking about what is about to happen to you right now.”

​202’s eyes widened. “What—?”

​Before the operative could finish the word, James raised his hand and sharply snapped his fingers.

​The moment the sound echoed, an invisible frequency from the crystal in James's hand cut through the air. 202’s eyes instantly rolled back, his consciousness switching off completely as his body went entirely limp against the wet asphalt, though his chest continued to rise and fall with steady breathing.

​Tidder scrambled backward on her elbows, her face twisted in absolute shock. “What the fuck… what the hell did you just do to him? How the hell do you know how to do that?”

​James looked down at the glowing violet artifact in his palm, a bitter, knowing smile appearing on his face. “Oh, did you honestly think I didn't know about the power of these goddamn five stones this entire time, Tidder? This was the real reason I got involved in the first place. It’s why I had to track you down in Spain… from that oil station until this exact moment.”

​Tidder let out a ragged, desperate breath, a tear cutting through the dirt on her cheek. “Haaa… you are a fool, James. A blind, arrogant fool. What are you going to do with that power now?”

​“I told you, I’m going to use it to do what’s right,” James shouted over the storm. “I’m going to use it to get Todd back!”

​“You fuccccccking asshole!” Tidder screamed, her voice cracking with raw, terrified emotion. “We are all going to die if that key gets into Roman’s hands! If he passes it to Gage, it’s over! We are clearly as good as dead!” She dragged herself up onto her knees, her eyes burning with a wild desperation. “If I had just two seconds with that stone back in my hands… I wouldn't hesitate for a moment before I busted your head open!”

​James let out a long, heavy breath, the exhaustion finally showing on his face. “Enough. And you know what, Tidder? Fuck you.” He took a step closer, his shadow engulfing her. “And I’ll let you in on a little secret… I was never planning to hand this stone over to Roman. Because instead of the stone, I will be handing you over to him. I’m going to give you to Roman, so Gage can have the chance to do whatever the fuck he wants with you.”

​Tidder let out a sharp, gasping breath, her face turning pale. A flood of bitter tears began to slide down her cheeks, her voice shaking with a lifetime of buried resentment.

​“You really want to know why I hate you so much, James?” Tidder wept, her small frame trembling against the rain. “I hate you because you turned me into this monster! I hate you because you fucking left me! After Dad died that night, I was only six years old! We had absolutely nobody left in this world, and you just walked away! You left me behind to suffer… to die in the gutters!”

​The words struck James like physical blades, tearing down his defenses. The emotion exploded from his chest, his voice roaring with his own deeply buried pain. “I was fucking lost, Tidder! I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me! I couldn't control the power, I couldn't take the pressure of everything that was happening to us! I was completely filled with fear!”

​“And what about now?” Tidder screamed back, her teeth bared through her tears. “What are you filled with right now, James?”

​“I’m fucking getting better!” James roared back, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, unstable ambition. “And I will be completely whole after I have everything!”

​Tidder stared at him, her expression hardening into one of profound, tragic finality. As the tears streamed down her face, she shook her head slowly. “No… you’re a monster, James. You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself. And that is exactly why nobody in this world will ever love you.”

​James’s jaw tightened, his voice dropping into a lethal whisper. “And how could you possibly know that?”

​“Because the stone showed me everything before you took it,” Tidder whispered, her voice hollow and dead. “It showed me how this all ends for us.”

​James stepped directly over her. “And where do you end up, sister?”

​“Exactly where I was meant to end up… just so you can finally realize who you truly are,” Tidder said, looking up at him with a cold, piercing stare. “The absolute monster you are. And I have one final question for you to ask yourself, James. Tell me… where do you think Todd is going to see you in the last moment before he dies?”

​James’s chest heaved. “He won't die. You’re wrong. He is going to live for eternity because of what I'm doing.”

​Tidder’s lips curved into a sad, ominous whisper. “The time will come.”

​“And we shall see,” James spat.

​“No… there is no we,” Tidder said.

​James paused for a fraction of a second, his face completely devoid of mercy. He raised his hand over her head and sharply snapped his fingers one last time.

​The frequency discharged instantly. Tidder’s eyes closed, her head falling back as she fainted, her body going completely limp on the wet ground.

​James stood alone in the center of the flooded street, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of his sister and his partner. The silence of the neighborhood pressed inward on him until the pressure in his chest became unbearable.

​With a raw, animalistic scream of pure agony and rage, James threw his head back. “FUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCK!”

​He thrust his two leather-gloved hands out toward the building in front of him. Having donned the crystal key and fully tapped into the power of Everything, a massive, blinding torrent of cosmic violet energy erupted from his palms. The concussive blast struck the apartment building squarely, tearing the bricks apart, shattering the foundation, and completely demolishing the structure where he and Tidder had grown up—erasing their childhood home from the face of the earth.

                                                   Kelly Ex Author 

                       The Illusion of Absolute Control

​The tragedy of James's journey teaches us that chasing absolute power to cure personal pain is a trap. James believes that by acquiring the power of Everything, he can finally protect those he cares about, erase his vulnerabilities, and force the world to stop hurting him. However, the moment he snaps his fingers to silence his own sister and levels the home of his youth, he doesn't find peace—he only finds a deeper, more suffocating isolation.

​True safety and healing cannot be stolen, forced, or bought through domination. When we tear down our past and treat the people around us as tools or obstacles, the "control" we gain is nothing but a hollow kingdom. Power can alter your circumstances, but it can never cure a broken heart or force someone to love a monster.

                                       ​The Quote

​"He stood in the ruins of his own beginning, draped in black armor and clutching the power to reshape the universe in his palm. The crystal hummed against his chest, blinding and absolute, capable of bending kings to their knees. Yet, as the cold rain washed the ashes of his childhood down the gutter, James realized the bitterest truth of the seat: he held the power of Everything, but within the hollow echo of his own chest, he still had absolutely nothing."

“Be careful of what you're chasing & What it's turning you into”.