Gabriel's Mistake

***

"Hand me that vial over there would you, Mr. Allen?"

"Here you are, Dr. Stevenson."

"There. It is done," Stevenson said, examining the concoction. Looking around the laboratory, reassuring himself that they were the only ones present, he took in a breath as he prepared to speak to his two assistants. They were identical twins so he had to trust the right one answered when he called them by their first names. Though, they were not the prank playing types. They were very straight-laced. One couldn't ask for better assistants. He had worried about their being so straight-laced. Still, their agreement on tonight only proved their dedication.

"We have thoroughly tested the formula. We know it works. We know it to have shown no ill side effects. However, the world will think us mad if we present it to them without proof. After tonight, the three of us will be able to present it to the world with full confidence and with full proof of its safety. We can then use it in prisons, institutions, and other places where evil is. Just think, we have in our possession a formula that eradicates and immunizes a human being from evil. This is the dawn of a new age, a golden age of mankind."

One of the two brothers had brought out a cake. The doctor was reassured that their celebration wouldn't be so dry as a man like him would have had it be. He smiled briefly as he brought the vial to his lips. Then he paused, was he really doing this for science and mankind or was it to quell his own demons? Before he could have second thoughts, he downed the concoction and set the vial down.

While wondering what this would feel like it, it suddenly felt as if he'd been kicked by a mule. Stevenson could feel himself falling backwards and hitting the floor. Something inside him was ripping itself apart.

"Doctor!" He heard the two brothers shout his name as they grabbed him by the shoulders. He then heard them scream. The forces inside him were leaving or being pulled out of his body, in two directions. The agony was excruciating yet brief. Then, he lay there, feeling empty inside.

He heard a door burst open. "Gabriel! Gabriel!" A woman calling his voice. His wife? She was calling a doctor now, though not him. Had he been doing something good here? Had it been right?

*

There was a beeping sound in the hospital. "Gabriel Stevenson, age 28. Minor concussion. Mrs. Stevenson, your husband will be fine. There's nothing else wrong."

"But, the way he's been acting!"

"People with a concussion are often calmer, ma'am. Don't worry. He'll be fine."

No shit, Sherlock. Gabriel thought, keeping his eyes closed - not wanting them to know he was awake. Had he been acting strangely? This woman, did he care for her?

The doctor then read from some of the other charts to his wife, Marianne. "I believe you were also interested in their condition. Edgar Domino, age 18. Allen Domino, age 18. They appear to merely have suffered some shock, probably from seeing their mentor collapse . . ."

*

Six months later . . .

*

"Gabriel, what has happened to you? All you do anymore is go to your lab. I think you're more married to your assistants than you are to me! You've hardly paid me any attention since your accident. I love you, but if you don't get some help, I don't know that we're going to keep working out. You need to show some feeling. It's like you've forgotten how."

Gabriel looked up as the Domino brothers entered. They had a long night ahead of them at the lab. He'd only returned home for dinner. It seemed… something he should do. She was right. He no longer knew what he felt.

That was when he saw Allen holding the kitchen knife. Allen thrust the knife into Marianne's back. As she screamed, he yanked it out and prepared to stab again. "Do you feel anything yet, Dr. Stevenson?" Allen asked, laughing maniacally.

Gabriel wanted to do something, but he wasn't sure he wanted to do something. He should do something, shouldn't he? Allen stabbed her again, and this time she collapsed. Edgar charged him, screaming something. Allen waved the knife at Edgar, and they both appeared to wince. Suddenly, Gabriel felt something.

Rushing Allen, Gabriel knocked him to the ground. Taking the knife from him, Gabriel began pounding Allen. Allen lost consciousness, then all aggression left Gabriel.

Edgar was shouting something. "Dr. Stevenson, stop! I think if you keep hitting him, I might die too!" Edgar yelled. Both brothers appeared to have an identical knife mark on their arms. However, Gabriel's only real concern now was his wife.

"Marianne! Marianne!" Gabriel shouted at her, but she didn't wake up. He tried to staunch the flow of blood, but it was already slowing down. He was no medical doctor, but one of the stabs appeared to have pierced her heart. She was dead.

*

Edgar had a wet compress on Allen's head. Gabriel was still holding his wife crying. It seemed liked hours passed, then Allen's eyes slowly opened, and Gabriel began to calm down. He lowered Marianne and approached the twins.

"We all know some things happened tonight that taught us much of our condition," Gabriel said, not showing any sign of being grief stricken as he had been seconds ago.

Edgar nodded, and Allen grinned meekly.

"It seems to me that regular science is not going to be of much help to us. Not only that, but if we're going to stay together to find this cure, we need to leave this country and go on the run. Marianne has been murdered. I suppose blaming you, Allen, would be the same as blaming a part of myself."

"So where," Edgar began.

"Are we going?" Allen finished.

"We go in search of spirituality. I have a friend with a private plane. We'll borrow it and take Marianne with us. It'll be harder to charge for murder if they have no body."

"You are aware," Allen spoke softly, still mostly incapacitated, "that the only reason I'm here is that the internship with you actually paid minimum wage."

*

As the plane crossed the ocean, Gabriel looked out into the night and thought to himself, "I wanted to remember how to love her. Why couldn't I even feel enough rage to avenge her? I will feel again, even if only to mourn."

*

Eight years later . . .

*

Gabriel Stevenson had studied Taoist sorcerers in China. He had trained with Tibetan monks. He had visited darker places of the occult and more holy places of prayer. He had learned their kung fu and learned their magic; however, a resolution to his condition had not been found. In Egypt, he had found an Amulet of Ra, for the joining of souls. While some joining had occurred, it had only further complicated the condition.

Still, he was functioning far better than he had at first, as were Edgar and Allen. He had even found the necessary balance for which to experience normal emotions. However, that balance could be treacherous in every sense of the word.

One night in Thailand as he investigated a lead in the shadowy backstreets, he was approached by an imposing man. Word of his queries must have gotten around. While it was jut the two of them standing there, he was not afraid. It had been eight years since he'd last truly been alone.

"Gabriel Stevenson?"

"Yes?"

"I have heard you are a seeker of things. I could use a man such as you. If you prove valuable to me, I can give you backing to find the things that you also desire. I can give you libraries, laboratories, staff, and funding. I can also give you a certain degree of immunity. I'm certain that, to a man such as yourself, the law is sometimes secondary to the quest for knowledge. We share that in common, don't we?"

Gabriel felt he might be about to sign a deal with the devil. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Of course, they were ready to argue it for him.

Enough! Gabriel shouted in his mind.

"Tell me more," Gabriel said, having chosen somewhere between caution and lust for power.

"Good, good," the man laughed. "My name is M. Bison. I think we'll be good friends."