Augustus walked through the large wave of his A.A.H.W. soldiers marching into Nevada. The plan was perfect; completely flawless, in fact. Three years he waited for this, and nobody on this planet will stop him from getting what he wants. He had fooled everyone in Nevada into thinking that he was just some average alcoholic, and dusted away Hank J. Wimbleton as if he was nothing.

Augustus looked down at his right hand again. The yellow blood his heart had been pumping begun turning into a darker shade, and skin continued to melt off. He smirked.

Good. It was working.

He looked back up, and was even more satisfied to see the collateral damage from the bombs that had been set secretly in Nevada. The other previous waves of A.A.H.W. soldiers before him had begun their attack and everyone was in utter chaos. Policemen were scattered, fighting off the soldiers, but were significantly decreasing in number as corpses from both sides littered the ground like trash.

Augustus made it to the front of the march. He watches as blood splattered the pavement, Nevadans running amuck in total fear and confusion, screaming in terror. He climbed up a fire ladder to the top of a building to assess his work from up high.

Augustus laughed and raised his arms into the air.

"The Circus has come to town! Take your seats, and enjoy the show, because it'll be your last!"

Chapter 25: Blackmail and the Reality of War

Sanford and Deimos helped Hank up to his feet. When Hank stood up and regained control of his body, he clenched his fists in anger.

There was no way Hank could've been taken down so easy, and he knew it himself. Hank did notice though, that his body seemed to have been altered as he fought Augustus. Something wasn't right here. But what?

"I gave him the shot. It should be rushing through his veins by now."

Yes, he remembers now. Whatever was inside that "shot" Cathy had given him must've affected his fighting skills. Still, what exactly was in there?

He had to find her.

Hank brushed off some dust that had formed onto his clothes. He saw Deimos on top of the dead ATP soldier.

Deimos pulled off the mask covering the face. He saw the visibly crushed head underneath.

"Damn," Deimos said, "Hank's right about one thing: Augustus isn't human. I've never seen anybody smash a skull like this before. It's as if a tank rolled over his head."

Sanford shook his head. "The Higher Powers have A LOT of explaining to do when we see them."

Hank rolled his head around his neck. "That is, if we get to see them alive."

Deimos stood up from his crouching position. Suddenly, the three of them heard wheezing.

"H-help me..."

Hank turned and saw Langstone. He thought the old man was dead, but apparently, Langstone still had some juice in him all this time.

Hank walked over to him and picked him up a few centimeters off the floor.

"How long did you know about this?" Sanford questioned.

Langstone was shaking. It would be only a matter of time until he'd leave them. If they had something to ask, they had to do it now.

"Only for a few months before you first showed up...Augustus just barged into my bar one day with some men of his...told me that I would be a dead man if I said a word to anyone..."

"But why?" Hank continued for Sanford.

"I honestly...wanted to know why too...but he told me to just follow orders...At first, I thought that he just did it to make a rest-stop for...for his men...but it was more than that...my bar had became a meeting place for him and the others..."

Langstone coughed up blood.

Deimos quickly devised a question. "Did you hear anything while you served them? Like plans or such?"

Langstone nodded slowly. "Now that you mention it...they were talking about you three a lot...they must've planned this whole disaster out from the beginning..."

Sanford looked at Langstone carefully. "Why the hell are there so many of them out there? There are more A.A.H.W. soldiers outside, than how much Deimos, Hank, and I, killed altogether!

Langstone glanced at Sanford.

"A cloning machine...they made a cloning machine...some of them look like twins of each other because they were all cloned...Also, they were using some kind of special device of some sort...a...what do you call it? An Impossibility Drive?"

They stared at him in shock. A cloning machine? Not to mention an Improbability Drive!?

Langstone closed his eyes.

"The three of you aren't the first to learn of the A.A.H.W.'s secret...Do you remember when Augustus told you all about the time...where two customers were murdered here?"

They nodded.

"It was all a lie..."

(Flashback)

Two men sat in their seats at Langstone Bar. They watched as Hank, Sanford, and Deimos exited after talking to Augustus. Most of the other customers didn't notice the trio do so, but they knew all too well that they were here for some serious business.

"Yo, Derek," one of them started.

"Yeah Mars?" Derek replied.

"You saw what just happened?"

Derek nodded. "Those three just made a deal with that guy back there."

"Looks like Boss was right; we have a rat dealing some information to the three of them." Mars continued.

Derek put his hand in his pocket, feeling his cell-phone at his hand.

"You want to call Boss 'bout this?" Derek asked.

Mars shook his head.

"Nah man. I say, we bring that bastard's head back to the Greys, and make some story about how we took down a gang and some shit for the cash."

Derek smirked. "What're we waitin' for then?"

Mars and Derek stood up. They walked towards Augustus who was gazing downwards with a beer in his left hand.

"Hey asshole, I see you've been blabber-mouthing to them." Mars confidently shot at Augustus's face.

Augustus looked up.

"Were you two fine gentlemen talking to me?" Augustus said, pretending to not notice them come up to him.

Derek grabbed the beer bottle from Augustus and smashed it on the pool table.

"Yeah man. We have to make some business of ourselves with you, if you get what I mean."

Some of the customers saw the ruckus of the two. They stood up and left as they knew that Dead Nevada never had any arguments that ended clean. The other customers froze in their places, listening to every word that was passed.

Augustus sighed.

"Sorry boys, but I'm not selling anything of any use to either of you. Go along now, before you get yourselves hurt."

Mars and Derek turned their heads to each other, but then laughed.

"What? You think you can take us both down?" Mars taunted.

"Yeah. You got some balls to say crap like that to the two of us, you little shit." Derek said.

Mars grabbed Augustus by the collar. He was even more annoyed by how calm Augustus was during the whole event.

"I'm getting pissed now. Time to take out the trash." Mars glared.

Augustus chuckled.

"Indeed. It is."

Augustus grabbed one of Mars's hands and squeezed hard. Mars went down on his knees as he felt his wrist getting crushed. Derek stared in shock, knowing that Mars wasn't a weakling.

Derek gritted his teeth. But before he could raise his fist to punch Augustus's face, Augustus flipped the pool table over, separating the three of them. Then, Augustus kicked the table towards them, making space for himself.

Mars stood back up, rubbing his wrist turning black and blue. Not wanting to lose the last laugh to a drunk, he balled his right hand into a fist and sent it towards Augustus. Augustus merely turned to the side, grabbed Mars's arm and flipped him over, hitting his body onto the side of the pool table. Mars hollered in pain.

Derek threw out a roundhouse kick at Augustus, but Augustus grabbed his leg and yanked, throwing Derek behind him. Mars slowly got up only to get hit by Derek flying into him. The two of them hit the wall.

Augustus turned around and crossed his arms. "Is that all? Weren't you going to send my head to your boss?"

Derek and Mars looked at Augustus wide-eyed. Augustus had heard them over the noise in the bar.

Augustus snapped his fingers. The rest of the men who had stayed stood up, putting on their ATP masks and their blue glasses.

"This is tiring." Augustus said.

Derek and Mars gaped as they saw the A.A.H.W. soldiers stand up.

Mars pointed shakily at them. "Y-you're A.A.H.W. agents!? That's n-not possible! Hank J. Wimbleton killed all of you!"

Augustus grinned shaking his head.

"Nope. Not all of us."

Derek knew where this was going.

"He-hey listen bro! We were just kidding around ya know! We won't tell anyone 'bout this, k-kay? Just don't kill us!" Derek begged, stuttering. Normally, Mars would scold his partner for saying something like this, but in their case, he agreed with him.

Augustus laughed.

"Sorry. I'd love to, but I'm just not in the mood for leaving survivors today."

Augustus turned his head and cocked it to one of his agents. Derek and Mars laid there on their backs, shaking in fear.

"Don't worry. I'll send the message to the rest of your buddies back at the Order of the Grey Blood. I'm sure they'll just love the visit me and my boys here will make to them later on."

Derek gulped. They couldn't pull out their guns or call for help. It was too late. The rest of the customers that weren't A.A.H.W. members had left before the fight began, not knowing the massacre that was about to take place.

Langstone, standing behind his counter during the whole incident, closed his eyes and turned his head. But that didn't block out the gunfire and the death-screams from the two.

Langstone opened his eyes slowly. He saw Augustus staring at him from the distance.

"Make sure you clean this up old man." Augustus ordered.

Langstone nodded rapidly, running as fast as he could to his closet, pulling out a mop and a bucket. He filled the bucket with water and brought both cleaning tools near the bloody mess. Langstone tried to look away from the corpses that were left behind, but he had no choice. He had to clean away the evidence that could've freed him from the horrible trap set against his will.

Augustus put the pool table back in place and sat down at his chair with his legs on top of it.

"And remember," Augustus told Langstone with a finger on his lips, "No tattling."

Langstone fought back tears as he knew that he was at the mercy of the men.

Langstone gritted his blood-stained teeth as he coughed up more blood after he finished the story.

Deimos punched the wall. His knuckles turned red.

"We fucked up man...we really did...didn't we? All this time, I thought we were saving lives and making Nevada a better place. But instead, we were just clearing up this mess for the A.A.H.W. to make more bases..." he told his two partners.

Hank and Sanford said nothing as they knew Deimos was right.

Langstone glanced at the three of them. "Do a dying old bartender a favor and give him a glass of his own beer?"

Sanford nodded and slowly picked up a glass from the shelves lined behind the counter where Langstone would serve his customers. He filled it up with the alcoholic liquid and placed it near Langstone's lips. Langstone drank it silently, gulp by gulp, and pulled away, grinning satisfactorily.

"It's good to know that my last beer tasted as good as my first..." he said.

Langstone's grin melted away and Hank felt him go limp underneath his arms. Hank pulled down Langstone's eyes gently; a sign of respect for the dead.

Hank stood up. He turned to Sanford and Deimos.

"Time to kick some ass."

The trio walked out of the bar and saw Nevada. Smoke billowed from the buildings. Hank, Sanford, and Deimos began running.

Harley hid behind a car as he felt bullets whiz over his head. This was turning into a war-zone.

He placed his hand over his shoulder and cringed in pain. Harley had been shot, and the pain was excruciating.

Then, he pulled out his Glock's magazine. 5 bullets.

Damn.

Harley had managed to kill 3 men with one clip, but more and more began appearing out of nowhere.

He glanced at one of his officers next to him, firing from cover. The man ducked and saw Harley's bullet wound.

"Sir! Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Harley raised a hand. "Worry about yourself right now, not me. We're fighting to the death here, even if the only thing we have left are water guns."

The officer nodded, took a deep breath, and went back up. He shot his pistol twice, until Harley suddenly heard him make a horrific choking noise. Harley reached out a hand in a futile attempt to help his fellow co-worker, still firing wildly in front of him, but saw his head explode from another shot.

Harley held his gun tightly as he heard the lifeless body fall backwards with a thud, blood splattering all over him. The man had been blasted in the throat and yet continued to fight for his people, knowing that death was inescapable at this point. The A.A.H.W. soldier that had killed him did it on purpose to watch him suffer before dying.

A thought came up in Harley's head as he sat there with the corpse near him. Was death really that easy to meet? This officer had lived for about 30 years on this planet, and in one day, all of that had just vanished in a flash.

All because of some greedy bastard trying to take over the world.

If only people knew that every person they killed, he or she had a family behind him or her; a family that they couldn't go back to.

Harley continued to stare at the dead man. He knew him well as one of his best crime-fighters; a father with a beautiful wife and daughter, waiting for him to come home.

Harley felt tears roll down his cheeks and heard himself sob. He wiped them away with his arm and controlled the sobbing.

'No. I can't lose hope. This man died for his family, not at the hands of a terrible fate. I have to keep fighting, until the rest of the people here can run to safety.' Harley thought to himself.

But what about him? What about his family? Who will tell his wife that her husband had died and his children that their father was no more?

Harley shook his head. Was this how war felt like? Having to become a man who can suck up the fact that his friends were dying near him without the power to do anything?

Harley gripped his pistol even tighter.

No. He had power. He was the leader of what he believes is the finest group of men assembled at his disposal. No matter what happens, no matter how things go down,

He will lead Nevada to victory.

Harley turned around and went over his line of cover.

God, was he proud.

So damn proud that he would die as the leader of his men.

Harley began pulling the trigger repeatedly.

"BURN TO HELL YOU FUCKERS!"

Hank, Sanford, and Deimos continued to dash off to Nevada. Suddenly, Deimos yelled.

"Wait!"

Hank and Sanford stopped in their tracks.

"What Deimos?" Sanford asked.

"Where the hell are we going?" Deimos questioned.

Hank and Sanford realized that Deimos was right. Where were they going? Even if they would join the battle back at the city, it's not like it would make any difference.

Sanford scratched his head. "Err...I was following Hank."

Hank looked at the both of them staring at him. "What the fuck are you two looking at me for? It's not like I know where the hell the A.A.H.W. puts their shit together!"

The three of them found themselves at a standstill. Normally, the Agency would provide them the information they needed to locate and destroy their enemies, or Augustus telling them where the gangs were hiding. But not this time. They had to find their way through this mess all alone.

Suddenly, Sanford snapped his fingers.

"I got it."

Deimos and Hank turned to look at him for his idea.

"What's in that head of yours San?" Deimos questioned.

Sanford turned to him. "Remember how you tracked down Hank using your cell, Deimos?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, track down Cathy. She can tell us what we need to know." Sanford explained.

Deimos grinned. "Not bad Sanford. For once in that thick skull of yours, you've got a good idea."

Sanford nodded. "Thanks asshole."

"No prob buddy."

Deimos began hacking his cell again. Sanford saw Hank glancing upwards with his hands in his pockets.

Sanford placed a hand to comfort him. "Hank..."

"Don't say anything Sanford. Just don't." Hank said, turning away from him.

Sanford watched Hank solemnly as he adjusted his cracked goggles.

Deimos clicked one last key.

"Okay. I know where she is."

A/N: Chapter 25 is done. Did you enjoy it? God I hope so, but I still think Chapter 24 kicks more ass than this one. I'm doing my best here, and there are just so many ideas floating around in my head. This will be a long fight, I'd say about 6 chapters' worth. So if you notice things getting longer and longer here, don't say I didn't warn you.

Anyways, Reviewer's Credit:

Xenophobic, thanks for your comments. I appreciate them greatly and I hope you will continue to enjoy this story. The information you gave me before had helped me out with the development of Chapter 24. So, thanks dude!

InvaderAsh, I'm glad you enjoyed Chapter 24's surprises. As I said before, there are a lot of shockers coming in soon, so keep checking it out. There weren't many in this chapter in particular, but it's just beginning.

Sackrum, I'm also happy that you liked this plot development so far. You made some good points that I was trying to convey, and I have read the stories you have sent me. You have talent my good friend, and I hope you decide to upload them. Sackrum is my schoolmate, so when I crossed paths with him at this site, I realized that we could begin a great bond together.

By the way, you guys are nuts. Like, crazy nuts. On Thursday, I just had 86 views and 18 visitors to this story (like seriously? WTF?). Do I appreciate it? Fuck yeah I do! We're at the 700's mark now, so that is extremely encouraging to me. Please, continue to show your appreciation and in return, I will not forget to mention you in my story.

Read and review you guys. I've made some edits to particular chapters after they were uploaded to get rid of grammar and spelling errors as well as awkwardly worded sentences. So you'll notice most major errors that are distracting to the reader have been eliminated and edited.

I will be working on Chapter 26 A.S.A.P. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Final Salvation.

~Spirit9871