Chapter Thirty-Five: the Devastation.
Ozaki felt like he was in some kind of nightmare. His father's limp body fell to the ground 10 feet from him. Instantly, the urge to fight was gone. The need to get up and fight to the death had vanished. Ozaki collapsed on the ground on all fours like a beast. He was gasping for air, his breath cut short by this sudden blow. Ozaki's head was spiraling. His vision was cloudy and his breath was fading fast. Anna stood over Ozaki, looking at him with disgust. Her high heel connected with the side of Ozaki's head. He fell to the side, his vision fading faster and faster. As Marcus headed for the exit, Anna leaned down near Ozaki's ear and whispered,
"…See you soon…"
With that, everything faded to black and Ozaki passed out.
The door slammed open minutes later, X and Kendra standing in the doorway.
"DAD! I GOT YOUR S.O.S.! WHAT'S HAP-"
X stopped abruptly when he caught sight of the room. A massive hole was evident in the apartment wall. Ozaki was unconscious and Sam…
X saw his father's body, lying lifelessly on the ground in a pool of blood. X could barely think. The ability to process this was seemingly not possible. There was a moment of utter silence, then X let out a howl of anguish. He collapsed to his knees in the wrecked room, sobbing uncontrollably. Kendra broke down shortly after. She hugged X from behind, leaning on his back as she cried. Zan had just caught up and saw the sight that caused them this breakdown. He fought back tears relentlessly and approached Ozaki.
"He's alive!" Zan exclaimed. Nobody seemed to hear him. "Ozaki? What happened?"
Ozaki, still attempting to regain consciousness, pointed toward Sam's desk. The microphone that he'd been recording his findings with had been active the entire time. Zan rushed to the desk and shut off the mic. He backtracked the recording and stopped it when he heard a voice that he didn't recognize. It was Anna's.
"You know what they say about revenge. It's a bitch, Sam."
The sound of a gunshot resonated. Zan, awestruck, shut the recording off. He now made no attempt at holding back tears. Angrily, he slammed his fist on the tabletop, muttered unspeakable words to himself. From a building opposite theirs, Grover sank into a chair, covering his face with his hands.
Some time after, Kendra, X, and Zan took Sam's body to the mountains where he bred the banshees. There, he'd been growing a makeshift Tree of Souls to resonate with the spirits of the ikran. As X carried Sam's body up the mountain, the banshees whimpered and lowered their heads. To them as well, this was like losing a father. X laid Sam down in front of the Tree at the top of the mountain. The roots of the tree began rising from the ground and wrapping around Sam's body. The Tree glowed brightly with Sam's spirit.
"This will keep his body from rotting," Kendra explained.
X didn't respond. Kendra went up to him and embraced him lovingly. He didn't return the gesture. Just then, a flash of light gleamed behind them. Milo had teleported up the mountain.
"X! Emergency!" he shouted. "Last night, the V's attacked the hatchery! Your eggs…"
X didn't wait for Milo to finish. He teleported from the mountaintop to the transportation chamber to the hatchery on Planet X. He rebooted the transporter and hurried inside. When the transportation was complete, he saw a sight that only crushed his already broken spirit even more. The hatchery was in ruins. Clearly the work of remote detonated bombs. The place was a wreck, with greenish slime splattered all over the walls. It took X a minute to figure out what that slime was. It was all that remained of his eggs. X's fists clenched so hard it looked like his veins would burst. He threw his head back and screamed a feral scream of both anger and pain. He dropped to his knees and began hitting the ground with his fist over and over, repeating the word "No". Kendra entered the room and let out a short scream of shock. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears began running down her cheeks. X continued hitting the ground angrily.
"MY EGGS! MY CHILDREN! NO!"
Kendra knelt beside him, wrapping her arms around him. X's sobs began dying down. He stared at the ground for several seconds, then, all of sudden, grief turned to fiery rage. Something in his mind just snapped like a twig. He got up and walked back into the transporter. He re-appeared back on Earth and headed out of the chamber. Kendra was close behind.
"Where are you going!"
X whirled around viciously. His eyes were a blazing shade of red.
"I'M GOING TO KILL ANNA!"