After giving it some thought, I've decided that Chapter 30 is going to be the epilogue. We're pretty much at the end of the story, and dragging the final battle out through two chapters would probably be too much. Also, the epilogue is probably not going to be that long, so I'll probably do it and post it tomorrow, so that you don't have to worry about waiting for the end. So, anyway, enjoy the final battle!
"RIGBY!"
I barely heard Mordecai call out my name, since the only thing that was on my mind was the extreme amount of pain I was in.
I attempted to try and get up so that I would actually be able to see what was going on in front of me, but obviously that didn't happen.
After mentally kicking myself for not thinking to get a bulletproof vest, I could see Mordecai attempt to rush over to my side, but he was stopped in his tracks by a voice that I haven't heard in years.
"Don't move if you don't want me to shoot you right now."
Even though I couldn't see the exchange, I could tell that was the voice of chief of the entire Association. The only problem was that his name escaped me, mostly because I heard it once years ago, and I was bound to forget.
Anyway, I was roughly pulled out of my thoughts when a second figure approached me and kneeled down so that I could get a clear picture of his face. I knew that this must be the last assassin, so I attempted to grab him and do something to get him out of the way of my encounter with the chief, but I was stopped when he pointed his gun at me.
"Ah-ah-ah. Don't you try anything stupid. Do you want me to fire another one of my rubber bullets at you?"
Confused, I didn't answer, instead reaching down and feeling around my chest. While I could feel a bruise starting to form, there was no blood, which surprised me. Before I could voice my surprise, though, the assassin answered my questions for me.
"Oh yeah, these are rubber bullets in here. Now, I bet that you're asking yourself one thing. 'Why would an assassin like myself not kill you?'"
I coughed before managing to speak.
"Because of the extra payment for bringing me in alive."
"Good work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have my payment to collect."
The assassin then stood up and disappeared from my sight. As I attempted to slowly pick myself up, I saw the two of them in a serious discussion off to the side, before the chief handed the assassin a large briefcase he had stored under his desk.
However, when the assassin's back was turned, I was surprised to hear the crack of a bullet firing, followed by a hole opening up in the assassin's windpipe.
As the assassin fell to the floor and began choking to death on his own blood, I looked over and saw that it was the chief who fired the shot. There was only one thought that was going through my mind at that point.
"What the fuck just happened?"
I didn't need to actually voice it, though, as Mordecai did it instead.
"Why did you shoot him? Isn't he working for you?"
The chief paused to chuckle before replying.
"Of course he is, or should I say was, before you two came in and sent this company down the toilet by killing everyone worthwhile to me. I knew I couldn't just give the only money away that I had left to rebuild, so I just killed him. Simple as that."
"You're sick!" I spat.
"Oh please. Like you're one to talk, with the number of people you've killed. You even killed your own goddamn brother!"
My breath hitched in my throat for a moment as I indeed remembered that moment, but I immediately stamped those feelings down so that I could remained focused on the scene in front of me.
"I only killed him to save him from being used by you!"
The chief simply shook his head.
"You know what? All this talk is really getting us nowhere."
"Oh really? You don't seem like you're in a hurry to stop." I said sarcastically.
The chief chose not to reply. Instead, he walked over to the computer on his desk and typed in a command before walking back over and grabbing the suitcase. I began wondering what he typed for a moment before a voice over the loudspeaker told me what I needed to know.
"Self-destruct sequence engaged. You have 10 minutes to evacuate the premises."
"Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have a helicopter to catch. If I'm gonna rebuild this company from the ground up, I've got to start somewhere."
The chief attempted to leave, but I finally managed to pick myself up and block his path.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere, buddy. In fact, you're not leaving this room alive."
I tried my best to look angry, but I was still in quite a bit of pain from being shot, so it came out as more of a grimace, which led to the chief laughing as he looked at me.
"Cute. Now please get out of my way. They're not going to wait long for me."
I didn't move, so the chief had to resort to other measures, as he pointed his gun at me.
"Do you want to be like him?" he asked, pointing towards the now dead assassin on the floor.
"I've got no plans to." I said.
With the adrenaline taking over, I reared back and headbutted the chief in the gut. As he went to his knees, I went up and kicked the gun out of his hands, sending it as far away as I could.
However, the amount of time it took for me to do so allowed him to recover, and his arm shot out, latching around my throat.
As I desperately tried to claw at his hand so that he would release me, he stared at me, an angry look on his face.
"I should just snap your neck right now, you piece of shit. It would save me the trouble."
It looked like he was about to do just that, but before he could, a shower of glass exploded out from behind him, forcing him to let me go as he clutched at his now bleeding head.
After using the time he was busy to catch my breath, I got back to my feet and I was surprised to see Mordecai clutching the remnants of a lamp, backing away as the chief slowly made his way towards him.
"Self-destruct sequence engaged. You now have five minutes to evacuate the premises."
I now knew that I couldn't waste any more time dragging out the fight. However, the first order of business was to rescue Mordecai, so I quickly ran forward, jumping and latching myself around the chief's neck.
I desperately tried to hang on as the chief tried to pull me off. While this did allow Mordecai to escape, I unfortunately wasn't so lucky, as I was slammed on to the ground, pain once again shooting through me as I landed on the bruise.
I didn't get a chance to recover, as I was flipped on to my back and the chief began punching me. My vision swam as I tried to defend myself, but I could barely move.
It was then, though, that I noticed that we somehow managed to make our way over to where the gun was that I originally kicked away from him. Desperately, I tried reaching over to grab it, but the chief unfortunately noticed what I was doing and kicked it away.
I knew then that it was over. Even with my enhanced strength, I knew I would never be able to lift a man that was this huge. Closing my eyes, I mentally said my goodbyes to Mordecai before waiting for the end.
However, it wasn't, as I heard a gunshot, and the pressure on my chest eased, as the chief apparently fell off of me.
As I lied there, I could only really listen to what was happening around me. I assumed that it must have been Mordecai who fired that shot, and he must have not have killed him considering the apparent fighting that was still going on, but that was really all I could tell at the moment.
As my vision went in and out of focus, all I heard was the sound of punches being thrown and connecting every so often, along with a few crashes, most likely from someone being thrown into things. With being unable to move due to the pain, he had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Eventually, a struggle ensued. I began wishing that I could help, but before I could try to pick myself up, a shot rang out. My mind immediately went to the worst case scenario, but I knew that I had no time to mourn if I was correct in my assumption.
I slowly tried to pick myself up so that I would be able to defend myself if need be, but before I could stand, I was relieved to see Mordecai walk up to me, a large cut across the side of his head, but for the large part unhurt.
However, there was one thing that crossed my mind.
"How?"
Mordecai didn't answer me, however, as he chose instead to just pick me up.
"I'll tell you later. We have to get out of here."
I really wanted to try and get him to tell me, but thankfully for him, the self-destruct announcement came on to interrupt.
"Self-destruct sequence engaged. You now have three minutes to evacuate the premises."
"Shit!" Mordecai yelled, as he began running.
As Mordecai and I escaped, the building began exploding, jumping the countdown a little bit, but at least it gave us a good reason to pick up the pace.
We climbed down what felt like hundreds of stairs as the bottom floor of the building got closer to us.
"Self-destruct sequence engaged. You now have two minutes to evacuate the premises."
I began to fall behind due to the pain I was going through, forcing Mordecai to come back and pick me up and carry me on his back.
"Sorry for having to do this, but we have no time for you to lag behind."
I simply nodded, watching as Mordecai somehow managed to reach the bottom floor in record time. As the twenty second countdown began, Mordecai ran as fast as he could towards the exit, barely managing to get out of the building and out to a safe distance before the building exploded.
To be concluded…
