We've arrived at the closing stages. As I said before, there isn't much left to go from here. For a while, I've been giving the ending of this story some thought. I hesitated at one point, too, but in hindsight, I decided to continue as planned. Please enjoy the read!

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Final Battle – Part II

Left to right – ducking between fists like knives. Two impossible blurs of light crashed, imploded and backed away amidst a moonlight midnight sky. Every moment brought the ghostly echo of pain across the fullness of the human body, pushing Markus Kane closer and closer to the edge. The creature inside him howled for blood, yearned for its release into the conscious mind. However, he held no intent of giving in, not so long as his control remained.

"Surrender yourself, human. Your body is on the verge of complete and total collapse. If you continue to fight your internal organs will cannibalize in order to sustain the symbiont."

A warning he'd never heed from his blue-skinned nemesis. Shrugging off her words with a violent growl, Markus skidded to a stop in the sand, pulling out one of the handguns from the belt at his waist. In his gratuitously heightened state, everything moved as though it were at half speed – like an old VHS tape in slow play.

"Try as you might, harlot," he snarled, blue eyes poisoned a vicious red, "You will not stop me. Tonight I will bring an end to your reign of terror."

Taking aim, he let the bullets loose, one after another in an almost poetically beautiful lightshow of muzzle flashes. Why was he enjoying this? Why did the thrill of battle feel so good? For a reason beyond comprehension, the thought of beating Celeste into unholy oblivion brought glee.

He watched with overpowered precision as Miss Luvendass twirled, dodged and danced around his shots. However, much to his pleasant surprise, her showing of elegant dexterity fell painfully short.

She skidded back, slipping toward the ground as if quicksand pulled her down. There she remained, gasping for breath with long fingers of blue clutched around her side. That same bluish liquid he'd seen before trickled between the gaps in her digits, staining the ground.

"Shen-tei," she spat words in her whimsical alien tongue, painfully standing again, legs wobbling as she went. "Kai estus shi yosey endo vay. How is this possible? You were able to…hit me."

"Let this be a lesson to you, alien."

Markus ejected the empty clip from his forty-five, slapping in another with haste. Bringing his weapon back up, he flicked on the laser sight, taking solid aim at Celeste's chest. "You have neglected to wear sufficient body armor during our every encounter. No matter how attuned your reflexes… everybody has limitations. Such confidence will ultimately be your undoing."

The satisfaction of his otherworldly foe frowning in discomfort was almost palpable. Intent on finishing this before she could pull any further tricks from her sleeve, Mark moved to close the gap. "I hope you have last words. I will cherish them before making you scream in anguish."

Everything throbbed; his vision stained a violent ruby shade. It was becoming so hard to concentrate on any coherent thought. The desire to hurt, to inflict pain and suffering, mounted with every second. Like a borderline intoxicating poison, it flooded his mind.

"I will," Celeste wheezed, a small trail of blue followed her footsteps. "I will not be bested by you. I am Celeste of Clan Luvendass. The great tentacle monsters of Tendricide have savaged me…. I have escaped the implosion of a dying world without a functional hyperdrive. I have survived the civil uprising of Novellia Prime."

She puffed out her chest, showing the poise and aloofness of a lioness. "I will walk away from this planet with my bounty, and continue onward. I refuse to be defeated by the likes of you, Markus Kane. Surrender and I may let you l-"

*BANG!*

Smoke billowed from the barrel of his gun.

The bounty hunter's eyes widened – slowly panning downward to the sight of a wide darkened patch seeping through her combat suit. At last, she was silent.

Mark basked in every gorgeous moment as the bright, majestic hue washed from her face almost instantly, overtaken by a pale, sickly shade. That same bluish substance, her lifeblood, leaked from the corners of her mouth, spilling across the fullness of her chest.

"No…. Sairen yo let ten zai tel-"

*BANG… BANG!*

Two elegant holes ruptured Celeste's stomach. There she remained, frozen on the spot as a puddle of otherworldly liquid formed beneath her feet. Like a wilting flower she shrank, collapsing onto hand and knee, her fingertips clawing through the bloodied sands.

"A word of advice." Mark arrived at her side – pressing his weapon against the temple of her horned head. "You also have an incessant habit of engaging in monologues. Let this be your second lesson, Celeste."

The prodigy cocked his weapon, preparing end all of this. "I have learned from our every encounter. There are countless times I could have killed you if I'd simply pulled the trigger instead of letting you ramble. I'll not make the same mistake today."

"While I commend your diligence, human… I am far from finished."

"Ocular phase activated."

A strange light beamed from Celeste's wrist, flashing Mark through even the protection of his glasses. "Dammit!"

He stumbled blindly – his body brought to a tumble as a feeling of sharpness punched his middle. Like a dagger, something felt as though it were jammed inside, twisting around amidst a violent, primal frenzy.

In a blaze of white, his sight finally returned. Horrified, he looked onward though his lenses. Celeste held her head low, giving a grim but satisfied upward curve of her stained lips.

"They are but an obsolete by-product of evolution for my species…. This is the first time I have used them for such a purpose."

She grunted with agonizing stiffness – ripping one of her horns from Mark's midsection. Her natural defence weapon, caked in his essence, glimmered softly against the reflection of moonlight through the high-tech barrier shell.

Mark crumpled, hacking. His breath was gone – evaporated. A wretch of desperation left his mouth, and with it, there came a mixture of bile and crimson fluid. It seeped upon the ground, mixing with the blue of Celeste to form a twisted purple shade.

The extra-terrestrial vixen closed on him – reaching out with two shuddering hands for his shoulders. Her eyes, usually so bright with surety, held a cold, bitter sadness to them. Tears welled within.

"It would seem," she sucked in desperate air, "That this is our fate. To fight until one of us dies. How fitting, and yet beautiful, that this game we play brings forth such awe and wonderment."

"No," Mark growled.

Violent and empowered, brought back from the edge of nothingness, he let his hatred surge – his heartbeat rampage, and the final chains of his restraint shatter.

His hands shot upward, wrapping around Celeste's neck as he toppled her to the ground. Through crimson orbs flashed purest, most deplorable insanity, the tips of his fingers jabbing into her throat.

"I WILL NOT LET IT END THIS WAY!"

A plethora of emotion ran rampant amongst a crashing, howling landscape of memories. The desert of his mind flaked and crumbled, and from the encroaching nothingness, there came one final howling show of humanity.

Bloodied, broken tears leaked from Mark's eyes as he struggled to throttle out Celeste's life force with everything he had left. The prodigy was gone.

"You have taken everything from me," he confessed in sharp, murderous sobs.

"The life I forged lies broken, and there is NOTHING LEFT! However, I swear this to you, Celeste Luvendass. THIS IS THE END! Even if we are both to die…."

The symbiont leered, crooked and hollow into her fading orange pools. "I AM GOING TO OUTLAST YOU! You are not an enlightened being…. You are finite just like myself. I will enjoy watching you drain from existence."

The alien wretched and flailed with transcendent beauty, her inner soul screaming out in such an enchanting display of struggle. How typical of his most hated enemy. Even in her final seconds, she still clung, still fought, and still held the audacity to try to survive.

Yet the strength fizzled like a dying flame. With every fraction of time, Mark felt his body weakening. A cold wave surged across his every nerve, his every fibre, and in one last gasp for air, his hands loosened – his whole body falling limp.

"Not when I was," he rasped, "So close."

Sprawled upon Celeste's chest, he dragged one of his hands upward, resting it upon her cheek. "I… am a Kane," he uttered with pride. "I will never give in…."

In the fleeting seconds, his body met with warmth. Through blurry vision, he made out the sight of Celeste's squirming under him. From the beeping greyish-silver communicator device upon her wrist, she yanked out a pair of tiny cylinders. They hummed with strange illumination.

With a shuddering, bloodied hand, Miss Luvendass reached upward, her lips forced into a pained, desperate smile. A needle extended from one of the cylinders she held, and in a low squeak, she stabbed it into her neck.

"Emergency overdrive stimulant administered."

Her chest heaved – a powerful gasp overtaking the silence, and from underneath Mark she sprang. Wrapping her arms around his battered, broken body, she took the second injector and stuck it into the region above his heart.

Colours the likes of which he'd never seen before swam across his vision with radiance. The heart within his chest jumped, if only for a second, bringing back the missing warmth. Try as he might to stay afloat however, such a sensory overload was far too much to comprehend.

The lights of his conscience dimming yet again, Mark collapsed against the sand. As a sheet of blackness descended, he held enough energy to make out one final, haunting sight.

Celeste smiled at him. "It is not over yet… though you have earned my respect, human."

Not a shred of strength remained. Pushed beyond breaking point, Mark closed his eyes. "Why can I not… defeat you?"

"Because," she whipped back her snowy strands with an eerie giggle, "There is still much I must do. Until my task is completed, I cannot allow myself to fall. Though I promise you, Markus Jonathan Kane – I will treat you with the utmost respect until the time of your termina-"

Not yet. He wouldn't fall yet. Mark's hand whipped upward in one final act of defiance – grabbing the bounty hunter by the face. From the sands, he crawled like a wraith, hateful, vile, and inhuman.

"Checkmate."

His body moved as if by reflex – his trail of thoughts fixated, obsessed with the fulfilment of one final objective.

'I'll kill her. I'll destroy her. I care not what it costs me. She is going to die.'

Mister Kane moved in a blur, reaching for the nearest thing he could find with his free fingers. He clutched at the hilt of a blade within his belt, lunging with all of the force he could muster.

Sated, content to have at least achieved one final blow, Mark slumped, basking in the glorious sight of the combat knife he squeezed tightly, driven headlong into the middle of Celeste's stomach. For the first time since her arrival she looked mortified, devastated beyond any reasonable doubt. It was wonderful.

"This is why… you shouldn't monologue….."

With every ounce of strength, he drove the metal in deep, twisting it around with a cold, vicious chuckle, marvelling in each precious second of anguish that tainted the alien's face.

"I have never," Celeste cried out, a frightened tear in her eye, "Seen such an intense, vicious determination to kill before. What have I-"

Blood trickled from her mouth, leaking thin streaky lines across her clothing. "By injecting the symbiont into you I have succeeded… in creating a monster…."

"Let this… be a warning. Underestimate humanity… at your own peril."

Finished, burnt out and broken, Markus Kane finally surrendered. His vision filtered out in a sea of grainy distortion, and as he drifted away, he heard ocean waves wash over the shore.

Water splashed against the sands, bringing a defeated warrior back from the brink. An orange sunrise greeted Turtle Bay in a glorious glow, awakening the senses and dissolving the harshness of battle. In a dry cough, Markus dragged his body upright, panning from left to right with strained sight.

Not a single soul frequented this place – he stood alone and isolated, taking stock of palm trees, beach huts, and empty sunbeds. Where was Celeste? What happened to the massive barrier overhead? Why was her ship missing? So many questions remained unanswered.

It was that lack of clarity, which made Markus ponder the sights. In fact, he went so far as to check himself over. What he found only brought questions of greater complexity.

"There is not a scratch upon me. Not a burn, scrape, or broken bone. What in the world is going on here? Something is amiss…. Who is toyi-"

Electricity surged throughout the core of his self – brightening the sunlight to an almost burning intensity. A growl, pained and discomforted, slid free of his mouth, and there he stood, arms and legs shuddering.

Winds kicked up in an instant, destroying the once calm landscape as a powerful typhoon kicked up in distant waters. Clouds, blackened and evil in their intent, blocked out the sun, bringing with them violently unforgiving rainfall.

The surroundings deteriorated, flaking apart.

"WHAT?! You've fucking lost it! You can't expect me to know how to work something like this. Fuck, you're asking for a miracle here. One slip and it's curtains! You can't expect me to. No, Celeste. Not a chance!"

A familiar voice echoed throughout the expanse of Mark's head, crawling with reverberation throughout his skull like a ghost. Mike. Mister Winters was inside his very thoughts!

"Human… I implore you. No, I beg of you. If you do not try then both Mister Kane and I will perish. There is little time left…. Follow my instructions and have faith. There is no other choice."

Now Celeste was there too, her words intermingled with those of his friend. Mark held fast against the growing winds, his feet anchored desperately into the ground to stay rooted.

All the while, his thoughts, already torn asunder by invading voices, flared in further alarm. He felt something, someone closing in. An animosity the likes of which he couldn't comprehend. Gazing outward toward the raging sea brought all the answers he needed.

The symbiont, his mirror image, took slow, foreboding steps through the waters, not once deterred by the ferocity of the storm.

"It is almost as if he is the one in control here…."

It was no good – try as he might, Mark could no longer keep his feet sturdy. With every mighty gust of wind, he edged backward, slowly but surely bowled over. There he lay, his body slapped and battered, his senses overtaken.

"Okay! Here goes nothing! If this ends up a shit show, I'll be blaming you, Celeste. Three… two… one…."

The return of Mike's voice brought with it a blinding light. What remained of the beach broke apart, leaving nothing in its wake. Markus sat alone in the encroaching blackness, with nowhere to go.

"Is this the end?"

Lights and wires awoke Mister Kane from his nothingness. Slowly but surely everything came back into perspective, and that was when his eyes widened into pinpricks. He was naked! Bare and stripped of decency. Walls surrounded him, tubing and bizarre unearthly contraptions rivalling pins sticking out of his veins. Looking to the left and right brought with it some faint understanding, but little in the way of hope.

"I'm trapped… inside some kind of pod?"

Disgusting pink liquid flooded into his veins. It felt thick, cold, and its presence within his body only served to isolate his already rapid heartbeat. Indeed, the sound of his own pulse rang out within his ears plainly, almost nauseatingly in its volume.

From beyond the frosted viewing window of his confines, Markus reached as far as his tubing would allow, thumping with reckless abandon. "Release me! Release me at once!"

There was no reply. Beyond the glass, Mark found the reasoning. Mike, beaten, bruised and bandaged, leaned up against a wide computer-like console in a pristine white room, while Celeste sat upright from some kind of operating table. She wore almost nothing, her shapely form wrapped in tight, stained bandages.

"You can't do this," Winters protested in a shout, reaching out and placing a hand upon the blue-skinned alien's bare shoulder. "C'mon Celeste! You said it wouldn't come to this! There has to be some way to remove the thing in his blood without-"

"No," she insisted, looking toward Mark's container with a sad smile. "There are no other methods…. At this stage, the lifeform has already accelerated beyond seventy-percent cohesion with his brain and nervous connections. None of the equipment I have aboard will remove it without the risk of fatality."

*CRACK!*

Much to Mark's surprise, his friend backhanded Miss Luvendass without a shred of remorse, standing his ground, arms folded. "Is that all we are to you? Pieces of fucking meat?! I TRUSTED YOU! For a girl that talks so much about honor and shit I thought you'd have a shred more compassion, damn!"

Celeste hopped down from the table, grabbing Mike by the shoulder and pulling him in close. "You do not understand the position I am in, human. If this Nekorian were to go unaccounted for, I would run the risk of revocation. If the council were to intervene directly then it would put Terra in severe danger."

"Then why bother helping us in the first place?"

Mike slapped her hand away, fearless and glowing a powerful, unnatural blue. For some bizarre reason, one Markus couldn't explain, he was sure he'd seen such an occurrence before.

"You could've killed me when you came after Momo. You didn't. You could've killed Mark right now. You didn't. Why are you going out of your way to help if we're just trash to throw away?"

"Such a trivial matter," Celeste stopped in her tracks, breaking eye contact, "Is none of your concern..."

Powerful, high-pitched sirens screamed to life, interrupting the exchange with a violent foray of flashing orange lights. Computerized beeping followed suit, in tow with an array of distorted mechanical voices.

"Warning! Incoming transmission. Ident number seven-three-eight-one. It is High Councilman Velore. Patching it through, Celeste."

A huge holographic screen buzzed to life in the centre of the room, so vast in its scale that Mark was easily able to see from his prison of sorts. A regal, red-skinned alien with blotches of grey upon his insectoid face frowned upon Celeste, raising a rune-etched hood to obscure his features.

"Blart Yarg kruk Yakk Kal Sooo Shoo Yey Yey Marayan? There… Interlingua transmitter online. Agent Luvendass? Why are you on Terra? The council of interstellar nations granted no such contract to you. Furthermore, it would seem that Terrans are aware of your presence. Justify yourself… now."

"Greetings... Councilman Velore," Celeste edged back nervously, holding two tightly knitted hands against her chest, "I received this mission from High Regent Larg over four Terran cycles ago. He tasked me with recovering a rogue Nekorian by the name of 'Momo' and returning her to the homeworld for liquidation. My presence here is authorized."

"No," the alien overlord boomed, leaning into the screen with a frightful glare, two of his four bug-like eyes glowing a sickening yellow. "That cannot be so. Regent Larg was found eighteen earthling days ago… murdered in his palace upon Korus 5. He now resides within a funeral chamber... skinned and drained of his plasma."

"That," Celeste took several sluggish steps back, visibly shaken and pale in her complexion, "…cannot be true. If his life signs have expired then who is responsible for giving me this task? Who sent me on such a long journey?"

"It matters not," Valore wiped a dribble of slime from the corner of his fanged mouth, honing his eyes upon a rather horrified, washed out Mike. "Terminate the humans and leave the planet's atmosphere at once. There is currently an uprising upon Raxus 3. You are required with utmost urgency to respon-"

The sirens howled yet again, a wave of powerful static sweeping across the hologram. It crackled, dancing and swirling in a loop before imploding into a glittery shower of nothingness.

In the midst of the chaos, the same robotic voice from before, sounded again:

"Miss Luvendass. We are being hacked from an unknown location. Somebody is blocking our broadcast web. My sensors indicate there is another ship within range. It is touching down right beside our own…. Secondary image compilations reveal one incoming signature. Also, be advised, in twenty minutes the barrier surrounding the craft will dissipate. Without the perception field around us the humans will detect our presence."

"SHRAK!" Celeste, shoving Mike aside, made in the direction of Mark's pod. "That leaves us with little time."

Closing the distance, the curvy alien beauty met her eyes with those of Mister Kane. Just the sight of her up close filled him with an uncontrollable rage.

"I am afraid it is time for us to part ways. In just a few moments, you will be frozen in cryogenic suspension. Farewell, Markus Kane. You have been a most wonderful adversary, but alas… all things must reach their conclusion. Worry not about your Nekorian. She will be-"

"Get away from him!"

Mike slammed into her, grappling with everything he could muster. Mark watched, thumping against the glass with a furious snarl as his friend tried to wrestle her away.

It was for naught. Overpowered in mere moments, she struck Winters to the ground with the point of her elbow, holding him in place with a foot upon the chest. He struggled, but her frightful strength held him fast.

Devoid of her usual smile, Celeste pressed an assortment of buttons upon the side panel of the cryogenic unit. Nodding quietly, she turned away. "This is for the good of your-"

She let out a sudden yelp, yanked to the ground in an eruption of powerful blue. Mike stood, pinning her to the pristine floor with the heel of his shoe – his entire body glowed with a radiant light, almost like magic.

"Cryogenic freezing in Fifteen… fourteen… thirteen… twelve… eleven-"

Empowered, the musician banged against the glass with all of his strength, fingers reaching out to scratch and claw. Time and time again, as the seconds scraped by, he tried with all of his might. Sadly, his best efforts brought little more than the tiniest cracks upon the container.

"I swear, Mark… I'll get you out! I'll crack this thing open! Whatever it takes. You've always had my back! Just hang in there! I got this!"

"Six… five…. Four…."

There was no time left. Sighing, Markus shook his head. "Don't worry. Just ensure that Momo is safe. That is all I ask. Winters…. Forgive me for dragging you into this abhorrent mess. I've failed to-"

"Zero. Cryogenic freezing complete. Vital sighs, minimal."

Ice flooded forth – bringing with it a serene stillness. A deep sleep beckoned.

"Mo-mo..."

The the last thing he heard was the frantic shouting of his comrade.

"There has to be something I can do... No! No goddamn it! Mark? MARK!"

To be continued….

So… I don't really know what to say this time around. Did things go how you expected them to? Also, I managed to get this chapter out quickly because in truth, it's been planned for a very long time. I'd really like it if you guys left me some feedback on this one. I wanted to add an interesting twist.

Thanks again for your time. It means a lot to me that people enjoy my Hunie stories. That said; keep on supporting Huniepop and Huniecam Studio. Where will things go from here? You'll find out in the next part!