Chapter 11 - Clash Of Diamonds
"Lets finish this!" - Said Matriarch launching herself against her family and younger self
"(No!)" - Kula in that moment got up, jumped in front of Matriarch and blocked her attack creating an ice shield.
Kula and Matriarch looked to each other in the eyes
"I understand what you went through... But killing your own family?" - Kula
"How could a girl like you understand it? You don't understand anything! For you, life is nothing more than a game." - Matriarch
Matriarch grabed Kula by her neck and throwed her on the ground
Whip and the rest were going to attack Matriarch to free Kula but in that moment Tessa came out of a cieling door
"Not so fast!" - Said Tessa blocking the way for the K' team
"Oh great!" - Said K' in a sarcastic way as he went into his battle stance
Meanwhile in the commands room
"(Damn! That idiot, has she forgot Mother ordered us to stay here?)" - Thought Annette seeing Tessa arrive at the room where the action was going on
Matriarch and Kula continued their fight as both started punching each other on the ground
"Arg." - Kula tried to escape as Matriarch got on top of her and started punching her
"You have no idea of how awful things can get if I let you live!" - Matriarch
Matriarch was prepared to strike Kula with her two fists as she elevated them in the air but as she was about to strike Kula.
"No!" - Kula moved her body a little as she Managed to dodge Matriarch's fists
In that moment both Kula and Matriarch heared a crack sound in the floor, they saw how cracks started to appear on the ground as this one breaked with both fighters falling out of the room they were for the surprise of Tessa and The K' Team
"AHHH!" - Kula and Matriarch fell into a big hole
"KULA!" - K' runned towards the hole but in that moment was grabed from his back by Tessa who throwed him to the other side
"Where to, pretty boy?!" - Said Tessa throwing K' with Whip and the rest
Kula and Matriarch keep falling until both hit a strange giant metal cage
"Ouch!" - Said Kula recovering from the fall
Kula looked at Matriarch who started laughing as she realized where they had fallen
"Hahahaha..." - Matriarch
"What's so funny?!" - Kula got up
"Oh, now this is a fine spot isn't it?" - Matriarch
"C'mon, don't tell me you dont know where we are?" - Matriarch
"What is this place?!" - Kula looked at her surroundings and saw how the cage was connected to a big chain and under the cage there was a large pit of acid
"This, this cage you see holded by a chain is NESTS's acid chamber." - Matriarch
"NESTS's acid chamber!" - Kula
"A cage with electrified sides, designed to kill a total of 30 people in nothing but burning acid."
"This is where NESTS's failed experiments, betrayers and people who they didn't have any use for ended up." - Matriarch
"The put all the corpses here to disappear them forever on the acid." - Matriarch
"(I...Is truth!)" - In that moment Kula remembered seeing a chamber like this in her days serving for NESTS as she remembered the screams of despair of the unfortunate beings that were placed here, this is where NESTS put all her failed experiments and victims who were not of any use for them
"Now do you remembered it!" - Said Matriarch realizing Kula had remember this places by her horror expression
"No, I see what you're trying to do and is not going to work." - Kula
"What's wrong? Dont tell me you're afraid of a little acid bath?!" - Matriarch
"... Why are you doing this?" - Kula
"Does our family mean nothing to you? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? How can you said that without feeling anything, does K', Seirah, Maxima, Diana and Foxy don't mean anything to you?" - Kula
"OF COURSE THEY DO! You think I don't care about them! I mourned them for years, living in a world without them was hell but then I saw how screwed up had the world became... And I realize that their deaths were for the better." - Matriarch
"They were in a better place, no more people trying to get advantage out of us, no more NESTS's remnants sended to capture us, no more hidding us as if we were criminals. They were freed from this awful world." - Matriarch
"I plan to free everyone of us, for the sake of humanity." - Matriarch started walking towards one of the corners of the cage
"Don't you realize what will happen if you kill me?" - Kula
"Oh I have thought about that, and that's exactly what I want!" - Matriarch grabed a pipe out of the corner of the cage
Matriarch attacked Kula with the steel pipe but Kula blocked her attacked creating a ice shield
"Admit it! Deep down you know I'm right!" - Said Matriarch as Kula keep blocking her attacks
"You damn monster! You and me can't be the same person!" - Kula disarmed Matriarch with a kick and then she backed off
"I'll never forgive you for murdering Amelia!" - Said Kula shoothing ice darts at Matriarch from her hand
"Amelia firmed her death sentence the moment she became involved with you!" - Matriarch
"If it hadn't been by me she would had died by NEO NESTS sooner of later. I did her a favor by giving her a quick and painless death." - Matriarch
"SHUT UP!" - Kula got angry and attacked Matriarch up close but Matriarch grabed her by the arm
"Stupid child!" - Matriarch slapped Kula's face
"Don't you get it! Anyone who cames in contact with us is fated to die, we are like a living curse with legs." - Matriarch
"We can't have a normal life! Your pretty little dreams of a normal life with your precious K' are nothing more than a stupid fantasy." - Said Matriarch as she started punching Kula
"We are nothing but weapons, expendable soldiers created by NESTS to do their dirty work and nothing more." - Matriarch punched Kula more harder
"We are not Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard or Athena Asamiya! We don't have right to a normal life! Even our dear K' knows that but doesn't admit it!" - Matriarch
"And that is our karma, you like to pretend you're just a normal cute little girl but we have our hands full of blood! You really think there's no consequences for our pasts deeds but news flash, there is!" - Matriarch throwed Kula to the electrified walls of the cage and saw how Kula was electrocuted
"ARRGGG!" - Kula screamed in pain by the electricity
Kula fell on the ground of the cage, her jacket was totally burned from what Matriarch did
"I know that wouldn't kill you, NESTS really put alot of effort on us... The Anti K' Project! Something that would kill any normal person doesn't work on us." - Matriarch saw how Kula was still alive, injured but alive
"And that's our curse! That's why lots of people want a piece of us." - Matriarch
"AH. AH. AH." - Kula was recovering from the ground
"(She has totally lost her mind, but I can't give up! It hurts like hell but I can let her kill us both... There's gotta be another way.)" - Kula removed her burned jacket and got up again
"I don't care about what you think! Or what happened in your world. There's no way I'm going to give up on my dream!" - Said Kula going into her battle stance again
"Ignorant brat, it seens I'll need to punish you some more!" - Matriarch and Kula launched themselves again
Meanwhile
The K' team were fighting against Tessa who was a tough match for them, Foxy and Diana had been defeated by her at this point
"This is payback for what you did to my brothers!" - Said Tessa punching Whip and Maxima
"(Damn it! She is more stronger than I thought.)" - Thought K' as he launched himself to help Whip and Maxima
Seeing K' coming to her made Tessa jump dodging his attacks. K' used his move black out to appear in front of her and using his move crow bite he managed to hit her
"ARGH!" - Tessa
"Hehe, now I see why Mother likes you so much. That "I don't give a shit about anything" Attitude of yours is really charming." - Said Tessa recovering
"Now let me teach you how we play in 2045." - Tessa
Tessa throwed small and sharp feathers out of her wings at K', managing to cut him
"K'!" - Seirah got up and using her whip grabed Tessa by her arm
"Oh no! You got me, now what is poor me going to do?" - Said Tessa in a sarcastic way
"Hehehe." - Tessa started flying and pulled out Seirah towards her. Tessa punched Seirah in her face and sended her back to the ground
Maxima in that moment jumped high enough to grab Tessa and was prepared to slam her against the floor but at the last moment Tessa freed herself out of Maxima's grab and slamed him on the ground
"ARGGH!" - Maxima
"Is that the best you can do, Tin Man?" - Said Tessa mocking Maxima
In that moment a flame was throwed towards Tessa, she simply moved her head slightier to the right and dodged it
"K' don't make me tear you apart. I would break Mother's heart." - Tessa
"Oh well, you leave me not choice." - Tessa launched herself towards K' again
Tessa and K' interchanged some hits but it seens but were equally strong as K' was able to follow Tessa's moves
"Not bad." - Tessa
"But unlike my brothers, I'm not underestimating you." - Tessa managed to hurt K' using the claws of her hands two times
"Argh!" - K' was throwed to the ground as Tessa got on top of him
"Any last words, sweetheart?" - Tessa started putting her claws on the chest of K'
As K' was struggling to free himself from Tessa, he saw Foxy's sword on the ground a few inches of where he was
"Not... Bad! I really felt that but..." - Said K' smiling to Tessa as she keep slashing his chest
"But what?! But what?!" - Tessa was surprised by K' smiling
"Argh! This... Feels good!" - Said K' for Tessa's suprise
"What the hell? Are you some kind of sadomasochist?!" - Asked Tessa
"K...Kinda!" - In that moment K' grabed Foxy's sword and managed to stab Tessa in the her heart
"What?!" - Said Tessa as she started to feel her life going away
"Didn't Kula never told you to never let your guard down?" - Said K' seeing how Tessa was spitting her blood
"You son of a bitch!" - Tessa
"Sorry, I can't hear you!" - K' pressed the sword more deep into her heart
As she was dying Tessa saw a flashback of Kula back when she found her
"(Tessa. You and me have more in common than you think, we need to stay together in this cruel world.)" - Kula
Then her flashback went to a memorie she had with Matriarch
"(Tessa. There's nothing to be afraid, after this mission I want you to take care of your brothers.)" - Said Matriarch grabing Tessa by her shoulders
"M...Mo...Mother! F...Fo...Forgive me!" - Tessa's memories started to flash to her as she saw from her first encounter with Kula to the moment where she and the rest traveled back in time
Tessa died on top of K'. K' removed her body out of him
"That was close." - Said K' as he fell unconscious
Meanwhile
Annette watched how Tessa had died
"(Tessa. You were always a show off, yet you were Mother's favorite.)" - Annette
Kula and Matriarch on the other hand
Kula and Matriarch continued their fight as they interchanged some hits
"Poor little Kula, still living in a world of dreams and fake hopes?" - Matriarch
"You're nothing but a failure, as a fighter, as a human, as a friend, as a student and even in love." - Matriarch
"Shut up!" - Kula tried to punc Matriarch but Matriarch grabed her two hands
"Let me tell you a secret. Our dear K', he thinks you're just an annoying little brat. He doesn't care about our feelings! Remember when we buyed tickets for the local fair in Kansas?" - Matriarch
"We spended one entire week asking him to come with us, he only came with us at last when Diana pressed him to do it." - Matriarch
"Then after our lovely time at the fair, we asked him to take a pic with us... After that we returned so happy from the fair only for he to say "What a waste of time, don't ever make me go to another fair again!"" - Matriarch
"Or how about the time we invited him to a concert... He just throwed the tickets right at our feet and we had to go with Foxy." - Matriarch
"Or that time we spended all night long sewing a sweater for him? Oh it was hard but the end result was amazing, we expected him to love it but some days later we saw in the trash can." - Matriarch
"See K' doesn't care about you, you could die and he wouldn't even shed a single tear for you." - Matriarch
"You don't know K' at all, deep down he loves me! In his own way." - Said Kula stillf struggling with Matriarch
"Not even you are sure about that, and I don't even blame K' for not feeling anything for us. It took me years but I understand it. After all, why would he felt anything for the girl that was created to kill him? We were created to kill him yet we both die for his affection, isn't that ironic?" - Matriarch
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" - Kula managed to throw Matriarch to the electrict walls of the cage but Matriarch managed to recover herself without touching the walls
"Nice try." - Matriarch
"So you want to play with the environment, eh?" - Matriarch puts both of her hands in the ground as the entire cage starts freezing
"It cant be!" - Kula said
"There's no way you and me are the same person... I would never, I could never hurt my family." - Said Kula still unable to believe Matriarch was her after remembering how Matriarch almost killed Maxima and Whip
"Believe what you want, at the end it doesn't matter... You know deep down I'm right." - Matriarch
"I can't believe you plan to erase yourself, does your sons know about that?" - Said Kula as she tried to strike Matriarch
"They haven't been born in this time yet. They will still live once I have erased all of us, and they will live in a good world with all the things I couldn't give to them." - Matriarch dodged Kula's punch
Kula and Matriarch punched each other in the face and after that both were throwed to the sides of the cage
"Argh! You little bitch!" - Matriarch got up with a killer look
"C'mon, I'm waiting, granny!" - Said Kula trying to make her older self angry
"Grrr..." - Matriarch launched creating two spikes of ice on her fists
"Take this!" - Kula also created two ice spikes on her hands
Both Kulas clashed their fists as their ice spikes started destroying with each hit
"Give up! Time's up for both of us." - Matriarch
"Never!" - Kula
"Accept it, your dream is nothing but a little fairy tale that will never happen!" - Matriarch was about to punch Kula but in that moment Kula grabed her hand
"Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us into something better... And until my dream of having a normal life with my family is accomplished I'll never stop fighting. Never!" - Said Kula looking at Matriarch with confidence
"..." - Matriarch just looked at Kula with an angry look realizing that this is how she was before NEO NESTS had capture her and her family
On the outside
A helicopter was flying throught alaska's skies slowy
"Are you sure this is where the signal is coming from?" - Asked a soldier in the helicopter to the driver
"I know is here, why would she activate a tracker unless she needed help." - Said The driver of the helicopter revealing herself to be Leona Heidern
"(Hang on, Seirah! We are coming!)" - Thought Leona
Inside
"Why wont you die?!" - Said Matriarch punching Kula again
"I refuse to die here!" - Kula recovering
"Stupid kid!" - Matriarch
"(Ah! I felt like passing out! But I can't die, K'. Seirah. Maxima. Diana. Foxy... They count with me. I cant let them down!)" - Thought Kula as she managed to counter attack Matriarch punching her on the chin
"ARGH!" - Matriarch fell on the ground as parts of her armor broke
"Ah.. Ah..." - Matriarch
"Now is time to finish this!" - Kula launched herself to attack Matriarch
"I couldn't agree more." - Matriarch jumped and was about to strike Kula with her two fists covered in ice
"Die, Kula!" - Matriarch try to smash Kula with her fists but Kula did a quick roll and managed to dodge her attack
When Matriarch punched the ground, the ground of the cage broke in half and she was about to fell on the acid
"AHH!" - Matriarch almost fell on the acid but her hand was grabed by Kula
"Hang on!" - Kula
"Ah. AH." - Matriarch
"What are you doing, Kula?" - Matriarch
"What do you think? I'm saving you!" - Kula
"Why?" - Matriarch
"Because even after everything you have done... I'm still think there's left some good in you!" - Kula
Matriarch was surprised to hear that as her eyes wide opened in disbelief
"You innocent fool." - Matriarch
"This doesn't have to be like this! C'mon, give me your other hand!" - Said Kula trying to push her older self up
"You can stay with us! Together we can change the awful future of your world, we can forge a new and better future!" - Kula
"Kula. You really think there's any redemption for someone like me?" - Matriarch
"You don't get it! Maybe you will do later down the line but is clear to me you don't get it!" - Matriarch
"You think is so easy?! That we can live a happy life until the next group of bastards who wants to experiment with us appears?" - Matriarch
"There's no happy endings! There's not "And they lived happily ever after." Bullshit! There's no peace for us!" - Matriarch
"We are monsters! Genetically altered abominations! Killing machines! Plain and simple, us and our family have the hands filled with blood! You think is easy to redeem our sins?!" - Matriarch
"As long as we live, there will be always someone chasing after us! We are NESTS legacy after all as much as we want to distance ourselves from them." - Matriarch
"They will just keep coming! The government. NESTS Renmants. Tons of terrorist groups. Cultist groups... And more! Tons of people want a piece of us and wont stop until they have one." - Matriarch
"And that's the karma we have to carry on until the day we die! That's our curse! NESTS's curse." - Matriarch
"..." - Kula didn't know what to answer, she really understood everything that Matriarch had said
"You're right but even if that's our karma... I wont give up on my dream!" - Kula
"Hmph! I guess you're too young to understand it." - Matriarch
"You win! Maybe one day we will see each other again... But remember there's no paradise for both of us!" - Matriarch created a sharp ice spike on her other hand and cutted the hand Kula was grabing
"Goodbye!" - Matriarch fell on the acid for Kula's horror
Kula saw how Matriarch's body disappeared in the acid as she keep holding her severed hand, Matriarch had died
In that moment Kula heared an alert in the entire base
"WARNING! The self destruction sequence has been activated! WARNING! The self destruction sequence has been activated!"
In the commands room
Annette had activated the self destruction as she started to leave the place
"(Mother. You maybe had fail but I'll make sure these monsters don't escape out of here.)" - Annette
In that moment Annette saw how a group of soldiers blowed the door of the entrance commanded by Leona Heidern
"(I guess that's my call to leave this place.)" - Annette took a small elevator to the rooftop of the base escaping out of there
Kula was still in the broken cage as this one started moving like crazy now that the autodestruction was on
"(I have to get out of here!)" - Kula
Kula used her ice powers to create a trail of ice surfing from the cage to the corridors of the place
Kula managed to grab a ledge but she was struggling to get up. In that moment feeling weak and about to fall Kula's hands were grabed by K' who had awaken and arrived to help her
"Hang on! I'm not letting you fall!" - K' managed to help Kula get up and carry her on his arms to the place where Leona and the rest were waiting
Kula was surprised to see the group of soldiers helping them, K' carry her to the helicopter where Maxima, Seirah, Diana and Foxy were.
"Seirah, how did they find us?" - Kula
"Lets just said we recieved a signal." - Said Leona driving the helicopter showing the small object Whip had left planted on the snow
"Good work, Seirah!" - Foxy
As they were flying out of the place Kula saw the place one last time and then she rested her head on the shoulder of K' feeling calm after everything they had gone through
One month later
A blonde haired scientist woman is seeing talking in her phone as she arrives to an hospital
"Yes, the president decided to cancel our project after our links with the NESTS cartel were revealed to the public." - Scientist
"Who did it? Some mercenary group leaked the information and the president wanting to avoid any attention just canceled us." - Scientist
"Our base in Texas? Well it was closed and is being investigated by the police." - Scientist
"Don't even make me talk about my partners of NESTS all of them are in jail, me? They couldn't find evidence that involved me with the project but I still have to go to trial mondays and thursdays." - Scientist
"Can you believe! I know it is awful, ok Amy. I have to go now, I'll call you later." - Scientist
In that moment the scientist arrived to her office. She pressed a button of her desk making a large projector appear with seven separate screens obscured by bright white light
"Dr. Dinah, you require an audience with the Order?" - Said the voice of one of the strange shadows of the screens
"Yes, I'm sorry to inform this but our NEO NESTS project was canceled after it was leaked to the public." - Dr. Dinah
"Ha!... The president was scared. It doesn't matter!" - Said other of the strange shadows
"What?" - Dinah
"There's nothing to worry about... Everything is going just as we planned." - Said other of the shadows
"This "NESTS's freaks" You told us must have recieve some help, leave them enjoy their victory for now. Soon they will be our slaves." - Said another shadow
"Dinah, you still managed to recover the files of these six, right?" - Said the main shadow as the pictures of the K' team appeared in one of the screen
"Of course! It was of the few things I managed to save before the police closed our lab." - Dinah shows them the files from her computer
"Good! I think is time to prepare our next move, the order shall rise through this failure." - Said the strange shadow
"Indeed!" - Said the other six shadows
Somewhere in Canada
The K' team have stablished themselves again in canada after what happened
K' came out of their new house as he found Kula planting a plant on the garden
"What are you doing?" - K'
"I'm planting a Geranium in our garden... It was the favorite flower of Amelia." - Kula
"Are you ok, you haven't eating today." - K'
"I'm fine, is just I dont feel like doing anything today." - Kula
"Kula, I'm sorry." - K' put his hand on Kula's shoulder
Kula got up and looked at K' in the eyes. Then she said
"I'm scared K'! Scared of ending like her, everything that she told me is truth in a way." - Kula
"We will never have a normal life!" - Kula
"No... She's wrong! You wont become like her, I know!" - K'
"Together we will come ahead of... Listen, Matriarch might had your face but she was a totally different person. You wont end up like her." - K'
Hearing that made Kula happy and both looked in the eyes firmly, in that moment Whip passed through both
"How cute!" - Said Whip going to the entrace with a briefcase in her hands
"Seirah." - Kula and K' went to see their sister
"Hey little princess! K'!" - Whip
"So, you're leaving today?" - K'
"Yes, you know how is commander Heidern, my three months of vacations are finished." - Whip
"But don't worry, the next year, I'll make sure to visit you and the rest." - Whip
"Thanks Seirah, for coming to my birthday!" - Kula hugged Seirah
"No problem, Kula. I was fun to see you guys again." - Whip
"Take care... And please guys dont kill ourselves while I'm out." - Said Whip leaving the house
Kula and K' watched Seirah go as the sunset was set.
"Hey, Kula, do you want to go for some ice cream?" - K'
"I would love that!" - Kula
Fin.
(What awaits in the future to our rogue NESTS's heros? Only time will tell, hopefully SNK does something good with them instead of being jobbers for the green haired guy whoever his name is and pillow boy to beat in KoF XV. Hopefully they stop being static characters and get some more development but oh well. Only time will tell.
The inspiration for this came after thinking about how the K' team have alot of wasted potencial to be some of the most interesting characters in the franchise IMO. Originally back in the early 2000s they were not my favorite characters but after replaying the Clone Wars... I mean the NESTS's saga games again they certainly have grow up on me. I hope you enjoyed this wild acid trip of a story. And I wanted to thank you for reading this. See you in the next story!)
- Mortos/Red Chariot/Croix125