Chapter 10: Down Goes Another One
Ember ran from Upa's hide out as fast as she could and started running to deck 8 to finish what she'd set out to do. Neither Caleb nor Cybele would be safe until Upa was gone. Although the situation was now extra dangerous, Ember couldn't think about anything else but stopping Upa.
As soon as she arrived on deck 8, Ember slowed down and kept her footsteps as silent as she could so Upa couldn't hear her coming. She didn't know what she was going to do once she had found Upa, seeing he had a blaster and she was weaponless, but she figured that she'd just have to make up a plan as she went along. Even before Ember heard the footsteps behind her, she knew that Upa had somehow snuck up behind her and she span around to find that Upa was indeed standing behind her and he already had the blaster aimed at her.
"Where is Cybele?" Upa demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ember replied. "Did you really think I'd betray a friend, just like that?"
"Fine, I'll just turn the boy's cybernetics off again." Upa said.
"With what computer?" Ember smirked. "Maybe next time you should lock your base. You see, it was very easy for me to go back after you lost my trail and slip a virus into your computers. By now the entire system should be fried."
"You impudent, snot nosed little girl." Upa practically growled. "You will pay for this."
"No, you will pay." Ember replied. "For everyone's death you caused and for what you did to Caleb."
"What were you going to do?" Upa laughed. "Stab me again?"
"Trust me; your death is going to be a lot more painful than a simple stab wound." Ember smirked dangerously feeling hatred boiling in her blood.
"You won't kill me." Upa said smugly. "You lack the courage to kill someone."
"We'll see about that." Ember replied, still smirking at Upa.
"You will die first." Upa said.
Ember watched as his finger tightened around the trigger of his blaster, but before he could fire it, Ember grabbed hold of a switch that was close to her and pulled it.
Before Upa had been able to sneak up on Ember, she had found out that she was standing closer to a vent system that released hot steam when you pulled a lever. Seeing as Upa was standing right underneath the vent, Ember figured that it was the best way to buy herself a little time to be able to lead Upa up to the outer deck.
Ember ducked when the blaster did fire a round while Upa started to scream in pain.
"Still think you're so clever?" Ember yelled. "Come and get me, you Alien bastard!"
Ember waited until she was sure that Upa was going to follow her before she started to run away from him as fast as she could to lead him out onto the decks.
As soon as Ember reached the decks, she grabbed a metal bar that she had put down close to the door and stood back, waiting for Upa to appear. As soon as she heard footsteps coming closer, Ember raised the bar. When she saw Upa's arm that held the blaster, Ember swung it down as hard as she could. As the bar hit the arm, Upa dropped the blaster and Ember swung it again, this time hitting the Alien in the face and making him stumble back. Ember dropped the bar, she snatched the blaster up from the ground and ran over to the edge of the deck before tossing the blaster as far as she could into the water as she knew that it wouldn't work against Upa anyway. She watched the blaster drop into the water for a few moments before turning back to face Upa, who was looking beyond pissed off.
"You have disturbed my plans long enough, Ember Tennant." Upa said.
"I'm just getting started." Ember smirked.
"See, I think you're wrong about that." Upa smirked back at her. "Because I've got one more card up my sleeve."
"Oh yeah?" Ember challenged. "Well? Bring it bastard."
Ember watched as Upa smirked before stepping aside from the door as he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small device. Ember watched as she could see something moving in the shadow just inside the door and when the person stepped into the light, Ember gasped when she saw that it was Caleb.
"Oh no..." Ember whispered.
"You forget that I have control of the boy." Upa said smugly as Caleb stopped beside him. "I can make him do anything I want, including kill you."
"You bastard!" Ember yelled as Upa put his hand on Caleb's shoulder. "Leave Caleb out of this!"
"No." Upa smiled evilly. "Boy, kill her."
Ember watched as Caleb silently looked over at Upa before nodding at him. He then turned to look at Ember and she couldn't help but shudder when she saw the pure hatred in Caleb's eyes as he looked at her.
"Caleb, you don't want to do this." Ember said, stepping back as Caleb walked over to her. "It's me, Ember."
"He can't hear you." Upa laughed. "He only listens to me."
"Caleb, listen to me." Ember tried again. "It's me, Ember, I'm your friend, remember? I helped you defeat Neuros and Arkon."
Ember had to duck when Caleb tried to hit her with his cybernetic arm. She wanted to avoid being hit with that at all costs. She didn't know what to do at all at that moment. She didn't want to hurt Caleb if she could help it, and even if she didn't have a choice but to do so, she didn't know if she could bring herself to do it.
"Caleb, stop it!" Ember yelled as she started back away from Caleb. "Please, you know me."
"Doesn't look like it." Upa laughed.
"You can shut up!" Ember yelled at him as she ducked out of the way again.
It didn't matter where Ember went to be able to get away from Caleb, he just followed her everywhere she went and each time he got close he tried to hit her with his cybernetic arm.
After a while of trying to get away from Caleb and dodging every punch he threw, Ember could feel herself getting tired and she knew that if she was going to win this thing that she'd have to take out Caleb first. She knew that she was going to regret this, but there was no choice in the matter.
"I'm really sorry about this..." Ember said as she picked up a metal pole. "I wish I didn't have to do this..."
Caleb of course didn't respond to this, and Ember shuddered a little at the glare he was giving her. Somewhere in the background, Ember could hear Upa starting to laugh with amusement as she gripped the pole in both hands, ready to attack Caleb. She didn't know how she was going to take Caleb out without hurting him though.
In the end, Ember decided that the best course of action was not to think about it that much and just do what she'd have to do to survive. As Caleb came at her again, Ember gripped the bar tightly in two hands and swung it as hard as she could. Instead of the bar hitting Caleb, Caleb grabbed hold of it and Ember watched as he started to squeeze, ending up in the pole being bent.
"Oh my god..." Ember whispered as Caleb yanked the bar from her hands.
She watched as Caleb tossed it aside before he turned to face her again. It was clear to see that because of Upa's control, he was intent on hurting her or even killing her. Ember stared at Caleb for a few more moments before deciding that she'd just have to fight back.
"Come on then!" Ember yelled. "Bring it on!"
Ember didn't know whether Caleb was actually listening to her or not, but he did start coming towards her again.
"Come on." Ember said to herself. "Let's do this."
The last thing she wanted to do was fight her friend, but there was just no other choice but to fight him. Ember ducked past another punch from Caleb again before getting an idea. She glanced up at his skull implant for a moment. If it was hooked up to his brain, maybe she could use that to her advantage. Although, if she did damage the implant, there was no telling what could happen.
"I'm so sorry..." Ember whispered.
Ember ducked past another punch from Caleb's cybernetic arm and picked up a wooden board from the ground. Without even thinking about it, as she knew she was going to talk herself out of it, Ember swung it as hard as she could at Caleb's head. The board hit Caleb's skull implant and she watched as Caleb put a hand to his skull implant for a few moments before he simply collapsed to the ground, as if some kind of switch had been flipped which had shut down Caleb's body completely. Ember gasped a little as she grabbed hold of Caleb just before his head managed to hit the deck.
"Caleb?" Ember asked. "Oh my god... Caleb!"
Ember panicked for just a split second before her first aid training kicked in. She ignored Upa's laughter as she pressed to fingers against Caleb's neck and she almost let out a sob of relief when she felt that there was a pulse.
"Thank god..." Ember whispered.
She couldn't even possibly imagine what she'd do if she had accidently killed Caleb. She just hoped now that the damage to Caleb's skull implant wouldn't be so bad that it couldn't be reversed anymore. She looked up when she heard Upa's laughter a lot closer than before, Upa was coming closer to her and Ember couldn't help the flash of fury that rushed through her veins. She carefully lowered Caleb's head to the ground before getting to her feet and picking up the board again.
"I am going to end you." Ember said.
She felt a little surprised at her own voice for a few moments. She was sounding calm, a lot calmer than she felt with all the hatred and anger that were rushing through her body.
"Come now Ember." Upa laughed. "You can't kill me."
"I can." Ember replied, her voice still sounding calm. "And I will. You've made the biggest mistake in your pitiful life!"
Ember swung the board as hard as she could and she felt a rush of satisfaction running through her body when the board made contact with Upa's arm. She got a short flashback back to Caleb's fight with Arkon when a shower of sparks erupted from Upa's arm. She was a little surprised when Upa cried out with pain, but then she realized that the cybernetics he had must've had pain sensors installed.
"Hurts doesn't it?" Ember yelled, feeling her anger taking over any other thought. "Serves you right for all the death you've caused!
She swung the bar again and this time she caught Upa in the face.
"For everything you did to Caleb!" she screamed the last part.
She watched as his head snapped to the side for a few moments before he turned to look at her again. The metal on the side of his face had been knocked loose and she didn't spare it a glance as it dropped to the ground. She was too busy staring at Upa's face. For a few moments Ember was reminded of some lame kids show that had a werewolf in it she'd once seen when she was little. She didn't remember what it was about exactly, but she did remember that there was some kind of creep with a half mask that had been knocked loose, revealing that he had terrible scarring on the covered side of his face.
This was exactly what had happened now. The cybernetics had been concealing horrendous scarring on the side of Upa's face, but he was also missing an eye, although tissue had grown back to cover his empty eye socket.
"Dude, you fugly." Ember quoted a line from a TV show without even thinking about it.
Although this line clearly got Upa angry as he lunged at her. Ember ducked aside and turned to watch Upa skid to a stop before turning to face her again.
"This will be the end for you, little girl." Upa said.
"Likewise." Ember stated, glaring at the Alien.
Ember watched as Upa tensed up to lunge at her again. What he hadn't noticed was that she'd positioned herself in front of the edge of the deck where a piece of the railing was missing. Knowing that she'd have to time it just right, she tensed her muscles to jump out of the way at the last second when Upa charged at her. What she hadn't expected was the brief distraction that came in the form of Caleb groaning as he started to wake up. In the second that Ember glanced over to look at him, Upa had reached her and tackled her. The tackle send both Upa and Ember over the edge of the deck and Ember wasn't even aware of the fact that she was falling until she felt her back hitting the water, sending pain flooding through it.
So that was it for chapters 9 and 10. Hope you enjoyed them, sorry about the cliffhanger. I'll update as soon as I can, but real life is really getting in the way of me going behind my laptop. But yeah, I'll do my best to update regulairly from now on.