The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 75: LXXV - The Dark Pattern

Etienne tossed the front door open to his mansion and pulled the ski mask off his head. After he tossed it to the ground, he immediately spotted Gabe standing in the foyer, holding a mop. They stare at each other silently for a long time before Gabe returns to his task.

"You were gone for a while. Were you able to visit your cousin?" Gabe asked nonchalantly as he mopped the wooden floors.

Etienne sauntered into the living room and flopped onto the couch, "Yeah, we had a little talk. I think he sees my side a little better now. But that didn’t take me that long. I made a brief detour after I saw Lionel. I visited P.I and Petey. It’s been over a month since I gave him the hard drives from Uncle Elliot’s place. I was trying to get a status update."

Gabe stopped moving immediately and stared at him with wide eyes from the hallway.

"And what did he say?"

Etienne glanced at him and smiled before laying his head back and looking at the ceiling, "At first, he told me it still wasn’t ready. He went on and on about advanced encryptions on the drives or something like that. I was going to turn and leave after that, but something told me to ask him again. So I did. Except I gave him this look, one that ninjas are supposed to use if they’re interrogating a target."

Etienne stood up and closed the distance between them instantly. He got into Gabe’s face and stared at him with a frown.

"He broke down and told me the truth. He confessed that he finished breaking into the hard drives two weeks ago. He called the house phone to tell us since my phone was broken. But someone instructed him to withhold any info he found and not reveal it to anybody. Not even me."

Gabe remained silent and stared back at Etienne, his hand gripping the handle of the mop harder.

Etienne continued, "I tried to press him on who told him to do that, but he wouldn’t budge, no matter what I said. I like that. I’m convinced we can trust that family."

"You already know who it was," Gabe mumbled, his eyes never leaving Etienne’s.

Etienne glared at him for a long time before his frown transformed into a grin and he clapped Gabe on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I know who it is. I’d expect nothing less from my big brother. You’re always looking out for me, always trying to get me to do the right thing. I’ve always appreciated that, I still do."

Gabe watched dumbfounded as Etienne flopped back onto the couch and turned on the TV.

"You’re not...mad?" Gabe questioned, "I expected you to blow up on me if you found out."

Etienne glanced up at him and smile, "Why would I be mad? I’ve already long since accepted that you’re going to stand in the way of my vendetta. At first, I assumed you were trying to jeopardize what I was doing; I assumed it was malicious. But I get it now. You’re looking out for me the same way you always have."

Gabe stared at him and shook his head slowly.

Etienne narrowed his eyes at Gabe, "You know, you’ve been just staring at me a lot more since I came back from fighting Senshi Sentinel. Do I look different to you?"

Gabe stared at him for a few seconds longer, and opened his mouth slowly to respond, before Etienne cut him off.

"We can talk about that later. I shattered every weapon you got for me in the battle against Senshi Sentinel. The kusarigama, the meteor hammer...even the kusari fundo got destroyed when he tried to burn me alive. Most of the shurikens got burned up too. And of course I shattered every single Totska knife."

Gabe put the mop down and sat down on a couch near Etienne.

"It’s a shame about those knives," Gabe clasped his hands together and shook his head, "Your parents custom ordered them from a master bladesmith that used to work at the Totska company. I’ve been trying to track him down ever since you came back from your accident, but I could not find him. Should I reorder the rest of your weapons?"

"No, don’t worry about it," Etienne pursed his lips together, "I shouldn’t have gotten those weapons in the first place. Instead of wasting money on a closet full of ineffective weapons, I need to focus on the main one. I need to get the reverse-edge katana."

Gabe scratched his head, "Even after you told me not to worry about it, I kept looking to see if anybody made them. I found some images of similar concepts, but no blacksmith I contacted would even give me a price estimate on it. Can’t you just...use a regular katana?"

Etienne flipped through TV channels mindlessly, "I could. But I spent my entire time on Tashiro Island fighting with the sharp edge on the back of the sword. I based my whole fighting style around it. I’d be more effective if I had the right weapon. And right now, I need every advantage I can get."

Etienne leaned back deeper into the couch, "I just made a world of new enemies. It’s only a matter of time before they bust down our door."

Gabe crossed his arms," P.I had to pull a lot of strings and call in a lot of favors to get you that contract hero position. And now it’s gone. All because another hero had a problem with you."

Etienne glared at Gabe before picking the remote back up, "I think that’s the least of our problems, Gabe."

A blinking red chiron floated across the screen reading "Breaking!"

Ellie Moreno sat in front of a wall full of "SNN" logos. She was surprisingly alert for once. She sat up straight and tapped papers against her desk.

After a few seconds, she looked up at the camera with a concerned grimace.

"Good afternoon, this is Ellie Moreno with the SNN, your Super News Network. Following a series of concerning live streams in which they encouraged and incited violence against businesses and corporations, the streaming group ’The Dark Pattern’ is reported to be wreaking havoc at the Bend Shopping Mall in east Oregon."

The news feed cut to an overhead shot of the Bend Shopping Mall, with hundreds of people flooding out of the front door into the parking lot.

Ellie continued, "The story is still developing, but from our insiders we’re hearing that the small group, along with a few dozen of their loyal fans, are smashing windows, destroying storefronts and stealing from several jewelry and electronic stores. Our insider says the group and their followers may be responsible for stealing nearly one hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise. We will continue to update you as the story unfolds."

Etienne flips the channel and sinks back down into the couch.

Gabe frowns at him, "I suppose since you’re not a hero you’re going to ignore that?"

Etienne scoffs, "Don’t get smart with me, Gabe. I dedicated the last few months to heroism; I distracted myself from my mission in favor of protecting people. And look where that got me."

Etienne scratches his chin, "Besides, they’re all the way in Bend. They could not be any further from us. Is it really my responsibility to pounce on every criminal threat that pops up?"

"If your parents were here, if they knew what you could do, they would want you to."

Gabe’s words sucked the air out of the room. Etienne pursed his lips together and sat on the words for a long time before slamming his hand on the nearby table.

"If my parents were here...don’t make it sound like some tragic accident! Did you listen to what Petey found before you silenced him, or were you too afraid of discovering the truth? Of finding out I was right?"

Gabe bit his lip and shook his head slowly, "No, I didn’t. What did he—"

"I. Was. Right," Etienne hissed, "There were invoices with my parents’ initials on them Gabe. There were encrypted email communications planning the idea from the beginning and email communications of them sending the instructions."

He squeezed his hand so hard that blood dripped onto the carpet, "Everything was premeditated, and it was always thanks to my parents’ unending kindness. They wanted to share their every little move with their extended family. They wanted Uncle Elliot and Aunt Princessa to attend every event and press junket they went to. And they used that information to assassinate them."

Gabe exhaled loudly and shook his head beck and forth, "So you’re really going to do it, even after all that you’ve been through? You still want to...take your revenge on them?"

Etienne stood up, a solemn, stoic expression on his face, "When I was searching for the reverse edge sword, I found a lead on one blacksmith. An old fashioned guy, he won’t even meet with proxies or go betweens, he will only meet the person who’ll be using the weapon. I’ve been planning to go for a while, but I got distracted by all of that Black Company business. I think it’s time."

Etienne walked into the foyer and grabbed his ski mask off the ground.

"That doesn’t answer my question, Etienne!" Gabe shouted, "Is that really what you’re going to do? Kill what’s left of your family?"

Etienne looked down at his outfit and thought to himself, "Actually, this is way too conspicuous for me to go out in public in. I need to change."

Etienne stuffed the ski mask in his pocket and walked towards the stairs. He stopped and looked up at the giant family portrait staring down at him.

"Keep being my big brother. Keep looking out for my best interests. And I’ll do what’s necessary for our family."