Back in the present:
"After that, I called Foaly to tell him my plan. He proceeded to tell me I was crazy and then went along with it. Then, Opal, came your call. I already knew everything, thanks to Butler, but I needed you to believe that you were the one in control. And it worked, because now, here we are."
"You could be bluffing" Opal said, the grip she had on her gun tightening. "We're in a room, and you are trapped. Words will not destroy me!"
"No" Artemis replied. "But I will. Our battles have gone too far, too many have been hurt because of us. One of us has to go, and it's not going to be me. This was the part I didn't like about the plan, the finale. Most people think I don't have any emotions, but I'm just good at keeping them in check, unlike you. Only myself, Butler, Foaly and Colonel Scar knew about the plan because I needed it to be real." He looked at Holly again. "I needed Holly to hold the hatred she had of you and use it, because otherwise I know you would have known something was wrong." Artemis took a long pause. "Now it's my turn. Anything to say?"
But Opal just stood there. Her defiant look was crumbling. She eyed the gun one last time, then brought her head up to face Artemis.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you" Artemis said. "I really am. You said once that we would have been perfect together, and we would have. We would have been a psychopathic killing machine and nobody would have been able to stop us. I like to think that's not the person I am now, but then I think of what I'm doing, and maybe I still am? I see how my plan has worked, how I have manipulated everyone into being in this position. Now I am God to everyone here because I control the battlefield. This is my life and these are my choices, choices that decide who lives and who dies purely by my hand. So yes, we still would have been perfect for each other."
"In another life" Opal said. Then she did something Holly didn't expect. "Thank You."
Artemis nodded calmly. Opal dropped her gun to the floor, opened her arms out wide. Her breathing increased rapidly, but she remained still.
Then there was a gunshot. Just the one. It tore straight through Opal's back, puncturing her heart and exiting through the front of her chest. She dropped where she stood, killed instantly. The containment field broke, and all Holly could think of doing was running up to Artemis and pulling him into a great embrace. She almost couldn't hold back the tears.
"It was the right thing to do" Holly said, eventually.
"I know" Artemis replied quietly, then echoed her words. "It was the right thing to do."
When two masterminds go head to head, only one was ever going to come out of it alive. This was the penultimate chapter to the story, which means we have just the one left. I've had a lot of time to look over the final chapter, and I'm still convinced half of you will hate me for it. But it is there and it will stay. Oh the intrigue...
I have almost finished writing Story number 4, titled "Hunt for the Obelisk". If you thought the first 3 stories were explosive, just wait until you see this one, it's off the charts. There are plenty of new characters, and a new antagonist just to shake things up. But that's for later.