A/N:
Here it is! The final chapter of the first part of the story! Hope that you all enjoy!
Special thanks once again to Orthros for proof reading this chapter in advance, allowing for the work that you all read to the best possible quality.
If you like this story, please consider checking out my Explorers of Sky fic, Into Darkness.
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"…" - Spoken dialogue
Italics - Michael's thoughts
'Italics' - Telepathic dialogue
/\/\/\ - Lemon Scene
"There is no wrong time to do the right thing."
-Charles M. Blow
Chapter 31 - The End of the Beginning
The door opened for the last time. Raptor entered the cell, dragging the lifeless guard behind her. "Hurry - take his shit and let's go!" She flung him forward, and Michael immediately went about undressing the dead enemy, being careful to get as little blood on the suit as possible. This will just have to do, he thought. The vest did a good job of hiding most of it, at least.
He finished up by holstering the P226 9mm onto his side, then slinging the Galil over his shoulder. Neither were weapons that he had seen any action with, but it all that mattered was that he was armed and had something to protect him from the bullets that they would hopefully avoid. The bullet-resistant vests that the enemies here wore were certainly heavy, and they could possibly even stop the 5.56 rounds that these guns shot. He would just have to aim for the head.
As for Raptor, her armor should do the trick. And this time there was a high probability that she would actually get to make use of it. To be honest, he wasn't so sure about the effectiveness of this plan. It would require them to do everything very quickly and effectively, and relied on the fact that most people were asleep at this time. But with one day away from an inevitable death, and with no other means of escape, this was the only option.
With the body stashed in Michael's cell, they quickly cleaned the evidence of Raptor's blade from the hallway before quietly heading around. Fortunately Douglas kept no cameras within the facility - those could be hacked and would give away everything. All they needed to worry about was people. "There are always two guys outside this door," Raptor said. "We're just gonna walk past them. Probably too dark for them to see your face, so it should be fine. Just act casual." He didn't like such close contact with the enemy, but there was no choice. He didn't know the layout of the facility other than the same couple of routes that he'd been taken along.
She pushed the door open, and he followed her outside. As she had said, two enemies stood with their backs against the wall. But they looked to be fighting off sleep, and certainly didn't pay the two of them much attention. Raptor was a common sight around the base, and Michael blended well enough as one of them. That still didn't keep him from holding his breath as they continued into the darkness of the morning. "This way," she whispered when they were out of hearing range from the guards. The sceptile began to lead them towards a massive, but seemingly run-down building. Large holes were scattered among the rusting rooftop, further selling the image of abandonment. "Here we are. There's always a lot more people around here, so we need to be careful."
"Alright. Where to?"
"Our best bet is to head around to the side entrance," Raptor said as they continued walking. "It leads right to the lab, and we'll probably need to take out only one or two at most." The two of them kept away from the main centers of activity, taking note of where the majority of the enemies were. There was no way around it; they would have to take care of them on their way out. About two hundred meters from the side of the building, he could see the missile silos. They reached the mentioned entrance, and Raptor swiped her card, unlocking the door. But before she opened it, she spoke once again. "If we want to lead him to the launch control panel, then we'll need to clear out the inside first."
"How many should we expect?" Michael asked.
"Probably four or five. Again, act casual and let me take them by surprise. You just focus on hiding their bodies." With that being said, they entered into the dimly lit lab, where the atmosphere changed to pristine white floors and expensive machinery. Beside a set of heavy protective lab suits, an isolated vault was in the corner of the room, where Michael could only guess the nuclear material was stored. No one guarded it, and they likely didn't need to. Not with how many passwords or time-specific key entries were needed to gain access to such a storage unit.
Michael crept forward, his rifle over his shoulder. They couldn't raise alarm yet - not when there was still silent work to be done. Hopefully Raptor could handle whoever was around. Then again, given their previous fights, he had no doubt that she could.
Their first opportunity came as they left the main lab and made their way through the hallway. One guard was walking towards their direction, his rifle similarly on his back. He clearly wasn't expecting anything to happen. Michael didn't know how they would go about this, but he trusted Raptor to take the lead. They just kept walking forward, and eventually, Raptor passed by him, much to Michael's surprise. What he wasn't expecting was for her to rapidly turn around, ejecting the blade from her suit, and sticking it through the enemy's head. He just stood there as the guard went limp immediately, having never known what hit him. Michael quickly looked around, and, seeing no other open rooms, decided that the best place to hide him would be back in the main lab. Taking the body, he quietly lifted him over his shoulder and began retracing his steps. The armored sceptile stayed in the hallway, keeping a lookout for any other nearby enemies while he went about disposing of the body. Once he got inside the main lab, he scanned the room and found a lone door in the corner to the right from the doorway. From its position in the building, it had to be a small room. Looks like as good a place as any. He experimentally twisted the doorknob and entered… only to find a guard that was napping on the floor, using his vest as a makeshift pillow. Fuck…
The noise from the unexpected visitor managed to wake the enemy, and he slowly opened his eyes to see the sight of a dead ally. "What the fuck?!" he yelled, quickly making a move for the rifle to his side. Michael flung the dead body on top of the weapon before he could grab it, then dove for the enemy. He quickly struck him in the face, then unholstered the pistol and threw it behind him, only to receive a quick punch to the gut as the insurgent viciously began to try to work his way out of the situation. The Reaper made no hesitation in his next move, though, and put all of his strength into a precisely aimed blow to the enemy's throat. He felt the trachea give way, crushing as a result of the brutal impact and causing his foe to instinctively stop fighting, clutching his neck as though it would do any good. But he couldn't be too safe in a matter such as this.
Michael searched around for something until he found a suitable-enough object: among a bunch of scattered reports on the countertop was a single ballpoint pen. He grabbed it and got on the enemy's level once again, then moved his hand aside as he began sputtering blood from his mouth. He swiftly sunk the pen into the terrorist's neck over again, repeatedly stabbing the very artery that Raptor nearly had severed within himself the other day. It was only a moment before the formerly-sleeping guard was put down for good.
He caught his breath quickly, then got back on his feet. Hopefully nobody else would decide to enter this room, as there was no way he could clean up the mess before him. Michael left the room, shutting the door for the time being behind him before joining Raptor once again in the hall. "What took you so long?"
"There was a fucking guard in the room. Not anymore, though."
"Alright. I walked around the facility, and there were only two more. But they're right by each other, about a couple of meters apart, so we're gonna need to do this carefully. Think you could hold one still while I get the other?"
"Yeah… just gotta keep him from pulling that trigger."
"You just take care of that. I'll handle the rest." He continued to follow her through the building, mentally preparing himself for their next course of action. He personally knew Raptor to be a threatening force - that he had learned for sure over their several encounters with one another. He didn't doubt her skill in the slightest, but he disliked the idea of subduing an enemy with only his bare hands, when all it would take to ruin everything was a single shot. They couldn't afford to wake up the complex. That would be happening soon enough, but every minute was precious.
Another few turns through the large building revealed the two individuals Raptor had mentioned. These two seemed to actually be taking their jobs seriously; both held their rifles in their hands, ready to shoot at a moment's notice. They would need to be fast to pull this off. The sceptile was maintaining a casual pace, though, as if they weren't about to risk everything here. He needed to remain calm, or else there was no chance in hell he'd be able to do what he needed to do. A lot of people are counting on us, he thought as they drew near to the guards, and they don't even know it.
The distance between them and the two enemies closed, and everyone was well aware of each other's presence. Raptor did as she had before by continuing to walk ahead, acting like there was nothing amiss. That was, until one of the enemies spoke. "Shit, is that blood on your suit?" he asked Michael. The Reaper hadn't been able to hide all of the evidence of Raptor's first kill of the morning, nor could he keep from getting sprayed when he stabbed that other guy in the neck. "The hell have you been doing?" He looked at Michael, then suddenly stared at his face, connecting the dots a lot faster than they had hoped.
Before a word was said, Raptor shot out both blades, slicing through the other guard's rifle and following up with a deep stab through his chest. Michael struck the gun as hard as he could, effectively throwing it to the ground as he shoved the insurgent into the wall. The enemy hurriedly made a grab for the holstered pistol, but Michael was on him once again, catching his arm and pinning it to the wall as he received a sharp blow to his ribs. "Need help here!" the enemy called out to dead companions as he put all his strength into pushing Michael off. He made one final motion for the weapon, but never got that far as the thick blade penetrated his throat and the wall behind it.
Raptor and Michael each grabbed one of the two bodies and brought them back to where the others were, with Michael snagging as many magazines as he could comfortably carry. "Alright, now that that's done, let's go get the lab rat. That asshole might have woken him up."
"Let's not waste any time then." The sceptile searched around the several rooms throughout the building, using her card to gain access to each one before checking them out. Most of them were just computer or storage rooms. But eventually, towards the end of the hallway and beside the main entrance was the only bedroom within the nuclear complex. Good - he was still asleep. "Well, guess this is it…" Raptor nodded, then headed over to the sleeping form.
"Wake the hell up!" she ordered, giving him a sharp jab to the side. The nuclear engineer woke with a start, looking with fear towards the heavily armed shadowy forms. But the black-haired man in his forties was immediately overcome with confusion upon recognizing one of them.
"R…Raptor? What the hell are you doing?"
"Get up now," she commanded.
"What's gotten into you?"
"Did you hear what I said?" she growled. Not wanting to further anger the sceptile, the engineer got out of the bed and headed over to his dresser, likely to actually get some sort of clothing aside from only a set of pajama pants. "No time for that - this way." He relented, but did as he was told. Michael stood behind the man as Raptor led the way, making sure that he didn't get any ideas by trying to flee. Not that he would escape Raptor anyways, but he could potentially cause enough commotion to alert the nearby enemies.
Eventually they arrived back at the area where they had killed the two enemies, and the blood stood there as a testament to what had gone down. "W-what? Oh fuck… What did you do?!" She remained silent as they entered the sizable room. A large screen was on the wall, and it was already on, showing a globular display of the entire world. Computers were lined throughout the area, one of which had a larger screen in the center of the room. Two smaller ones were on each side of it.
"Hey," Raptor asked Michael, "you can bleed out through your leg, right?" Michael nodded, already knowing where she was going with this.
"As long as you avoid the inner side of the leg, there shouldn't be any concern."
"Great," she replied, before returning her attention to the engineer. She pulled out a chair and shoved him into it, and Michael came closer. "Now before you decide that you aren't willing to help…" She quickly extended the blade on her right and positioned it over his leg. Michael immediately put his hand over the engineer's mouth, holding it tightly to prevent the scream as she slowly sunk it into him. His wails were muffled by Michael, and the Reaper made a mental note to never piss her off.
She pulled the blade out of his leg, showing the blood-covered metal to the gasping engineer as the tears fell down his face. "That was just to let you know I'm not screwing around. I'm going to tell you what to do, and if you step out of line once, or if you so much as breathe too loud, then your balls are next. Understand?" He quickly nodded his head. Michael removed his hand; there was no chance the engineer would risk such a thing. "Good. Now let's begin." She dragged the chair behind her, positioning him in front of the main computer. "Log on," she commanded. He did as he was told, quickly typing on the keyboard until the login screen was bypassed. As soon as he had done this, the two computers beside him whirred to life. The engineer was instinctively grabbing his leg in pain, and Michael couldn't really blame him.
"Alright. Now what is the blast radius of the smallest nuke that you have on hand?"
"Y-you can't be seriously—."
"I asked you a question," she stated.
"It's… about eight kilometers. A prototype of a new hydrogen bomb we developed. Enough to level a small city…" Good, so then it shouldn't spread radioactivity… Raptor turned her attention to Michael.
"Cutting it kinda close… but we should be fine underground. Not like we have much of a choice at this point anyways." Once again, she addressed the hostage. "So I want you to select that one and launch it."
"I c-can't… He'll kill me…"
"And you think I won't? The only difference is that I'll make you beg for death. Now do what I fucking said!" He reluctantly typed in a few lines of code as they stood over his shoulder. Michael skimmed over everything that he was typing into the command interpreter. Eventually he typed in the command of interest: check-status [N3]. The computer responded with a confirmation; it was armed and ready to go. "Almost there. Now put in the coordinates of this spot right here." The hostage went wide-eyed in horror.
"You're out of your mind! What happened to you? You're going to wipe out everyone he—." She placed the blade under his chin and began to press upward, causing him to lift his head in response.
"That's the idea. Now am I going to need to ask again?" He shook his head, and she pulled away. The engineer slowly typed a few more commands. The screen read:
select-destination
ENTER COORDINATES (LT, LN):
(30.484201, 140.308797)
On the large screen above, the global map quickly zoomed in to their location, showing a large red circle, with the center directly on them. "Give us about ten minutes," Raptor said.
"It won't… it won't take that long…"
"Well make it. Have it circle the damn island for all I care!" He flinched from her, but went back to typing. Adjusting the line of flight to a more inefficient path, the specified red line went northwest, then gradually began to curve back to where it had started. "That's better. Now it's go time. Launch it."
"You've lost… your mind…"
"Launch it!"
"You gotta put in the passwords first," he said in response.
"Well then do it!" He stumbled onto his feet, almost falling down in the process, using the counter to bear the weight that his left leg no longer could as he made his way to the left computer. "Th-they need to be put in at the same time…" Michael headed over to the other one. Five brackets were on the screen, with the cursor automatically on the first one. Only five digits.
"What's the code for this one?" Michael asked. The engineer stayed silent for a moment, but eventually caved in.
"It's… alpha, indigo, zeta, romeo, and… echo…" He typed in his line, and the hostage typed in his. Both screens went black immediately, and one lone line appeared on the main computer.
LAUNCH (Y/N)
Raptor's claw hovered over the keyboard, as if she was second guessing this whole thing. "You ready for this?" she asked Michael.
"Not at all…"
"Yeah… me neither…" She pressed the 'y' key, then hit enter. Immediately the sirens started blaring, and now stealth mode had gone out the window. Now it's go time… Raptor stabbed the engineer in the chest, leaving him to die on the ground as they ran towards the back entrance. Michael's heart pounded as he attempted to ready himself for what would undoubtedly be the most dangerous mission he had ever undertaken. Now there would be a strict time limit for all of their actions. They neared the set of doors and Raptor stopped in front of them. "This is where you come in," she said. He held the Galil up, ready to pull the trigger upon sight of the first enemy. "Keep us covered until we get to the vehicle. Now let's go!" He kicked the doors open, finding the guards from before to be running away from the opening missile silo. He targeted the one in the back of the line, pulling the trigger and dropping him in two or three shots. As he mowed through the rest of them, the entire base was alerted of the presence of an enemy within.
Raptor ran forward, and Michael followed as he quickly ejected the empty magazine and replaced it with a new one. The shrill sound of the siren filled the morning air, and the hornet's nest had now been stirred. They would only have a few moments before everyone was out and ready to kill them. But he looked like them initially. That could buy him the few precious seconds needed to pull the trigger at a still oblivious enemy. But if they saw Raptor cleaving their allies in half… not to mention if Douglas saw them… then they would be swarmed.
They sprinted towards the storage lot for the various vehicles there. Helicopters, tanks, and dozens of types of modified automobiles. "This one!" Michael shouted as he headed to a lightly-armored Humvee. "I'll drive, you shoot!" Raptor yanked open the door, climbing in and standing up so that she was level with the mounted M240. Michael followed her in, closing the door. Michael could see in the side mirror the missile already climbing into the air. There was no stopping it.
"Keys are always in the glove compartment," she said. He tossed his rifle into the passenger seat, grabbing the keys and cranking up the vehicle. He put in in reverse, carefully pulled out of the lot, and mashed the gas. He turned the corner of the building sharply, coming up to a pair of enemy guards that were clearly still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He hit them full speed, sending their bodies overhead. "Watch it!" Raptor yelled.
"Sorry!" He steered them towards the front entrance of the base, readying one of the several pistols he had gathered in his right hand for the expected contact. The second the front gate came into view, the weapon over his head began to fire. There was no doubt about who the troublemakers were now. Michael drove the Humvee right up to the front gate, seeing the ten or so guards around get mowed down as they tried in vain to shoot the two aggressors. The top right portion of the windshield had cracked, but they were unscathed. Michael quickly parked it, grabbed the rifle, and jumped outside. "I've got the gate! You cover me!" She nodded, then threw down her card key to him. Seconds later she was burst firing the M240 once again. Michael ran over to the card reader, quickly swiping the card and causing for the massive steel gates to creak to life. As he waited the few moments necessary for the entrance to open, he took aim at the approaching enemies from the main building. The second they opened the door, he was ready for them, spraying down several as soon as they dared to step foot outside. It didn't take long for them to get the message and start seeking other methods of getting outside.
Michael had blown through two full mags, mostly in laying down cover fire, before the gate had fully opened enough for them to leave. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of the helicopters starting up despite the sharp ringing in his ears. He wasted no time in swiping the card once again and running around to the other side of the truck. Before he hit the gas, he rolled down the window and shot the card reader. Let's see how they like being trapped for a change. With about eight minutes or so left to spare, he stepped on the gas, taking the Humvee to its top speed as the door closed behind them. Raptor hopped down into the seat next to him, sliding the guns off to the side.
"Well that was something," Raptor stated. She had already taken countless lives of her recent comrades in these past few minutes, and that was a fact that she was likely still trying to process.
"You did great out there," Michael said, taking them towards the town on the other side of the island. "Are you hurt at all?"
"Nope. They shot at me, but none of them hit."
"Good. We should be there in five or so minutes. We'll have time to spare when the nuke hits."
"Okay." She looked out the window at the lightly forested hills as they sped through the grasslands. Thankfully all living things, aside from those that had anything to do with the situation at hand, had long since abandoned this island. Neither of them wanted to be responsible for the deaths of countless innocent pokémon. The sceptile remained silent for a moment, clearly thinking about the events at hand.
"Hey… everything good?"
"Yeah," she said, "I just… I can't believe any of this is happening right now. That I just helped destroy all of it… and that I'm about to hand over all of his information to the authorities. But… I'm also scared. What will everyone think of me? There will be calls for my head… Is it selfish for me to want to be rid of the whole thing?"
"No… I won't allow there to be consequences. It's not fair for them to let the leader of a gang go free because of his actions against Stone while not giving you the same treatment."
"I just hope that that's the case. That they might find it in themselves to forgive me for what I've done…" The town was about three kilometers away, and they had a little over five minutes remaining until the detonation. But aside from the sound of the engine was another one altogether. A glance at the side mirror confirmed his suspicions.
"Fuck… It looks like we've got company." A daunting stream of helicopters was headed their way, quickly closing the distance between. A quick flash from the underside of the lead aircraft, and a missile was launched in their direction. "Hang on!" He swerved the vehicle over into the woods, narrowly missing a large tree. The explosion behind them reverted sizable trees into mere splinters, shaking the ground and hurling dirt everywhere as the ringing in his ears intensified. Everything had seemingly gone so well, and now there was the possibility of Douglas making it off of the island…
"We gotta hold them back!" Raptor shouted.
"How the hell are we gonna do that?!" He had to slow down, or else the helicopters would be the least of their concern.
"We… we just have to keep fighting!" She climbed up once again into the shielded portion of the armored vehicle, gripping the M240 in preparation. More explosion were sounding around them; the enemies were ready to wipe these woods out to get to the two of them. "We don't have a choice anyways! We stop, we die! Now let's go!" He shook his head, but turned the vehicle back to the left. Not like they had the time to waste anyways. They would have to keep going.
The Humvee made a sharp turn back onto the road, and the sound of the rotors could be heard coming closer and closer. Michael swiftly turned the vehicle back onto the main road as Raptor pointed the mounted gun towards the incoming enemies. One of the aircraft was directly to their right, the side door opened and a minigun aimed towards them. A lethal line of bullets cut the road in half, spraying into the vehicle and blowing the windows out. Raptor quickly aimed and fired at the enemy behind the weapon, taking half of his head with a series of well-placed shots. He fell forward and out of the vehicle, slamming into the road as the sceptile brought the helicopter down with several shots to the rotor.
The town was within a kilometer, and if he was keeping track correctly, they only had a little more than a minute. Raptor was doing her best to keep the other enemies at bay, but it was evident with her three-round bursts that she was running out of ammunition. A quick glance in the mirror showed that she had managed to take down another by killing the pilot. As it spun out of control, Michael hooked a sharp left. The explosion shook the vehicle, and shrapnel shredded the tires on the right side. Sparks flew from the side as Raptor's firing came to a halt. She hurriedly tried to lower herself into the vehicle as another deadly barrage of bullets cut through it. But throughout the chaos, and the sheer noise of the situation, one sound stood out to him, clearly distinguishable despite everything around them. Her scream.
Raptor fell violently into the passenger seat, clutching her left side in pain. Despite the armor, a single round had managed to penetrate through, lodging itself within the sceptile. Arceus… no… "Raptor!"
"S-shit…" she gasped. He couldn't do anything here, regardless of how much he wanted to. He needed to tend to her quickly, but if they stopped, then they wouldn't even survive until the blast.
"Hang on! We're almost there!" He ran through the fence into the town, and swerved into a thin ally between some crumbling brick buildings. Michael immediately grabbed the rifle and jumped out of the Humvee before running back out onto the sidewalk. Two helicopters still in the air, one of which was dangerously close, hovering over the destroyed fence. The Reaper took aim into the open aircraft, shooting the gunner before ducking back behind the wall. "We've gotta run NOW!" He tossed the rifle into the driver's seat, running around the side to where she was and helping her out. "Can you walk?!"
"I th…think so…" She stumbled onto her feet, clutching the side of the vehicle for support. He cautiously checked back on the road to see the other helicopter about a mile away, trying to make its way out to sea. They wouldn't make it.
"Coast is clear!" He ran over to the corner of the sidewalk, where a manhole led down to a storm sewer. Michael lifted the heavy metal lid up, revealing the ladder into the darkness. "Come on!" Raptor lowered herself into the depths. In the distance, the missile could be seen descending back towards the island quickly. Shit… here we go… He hurried inside of the sewer, pulling the lid back over them as he climbed downwards as fast as he could. Both he and Raptor made it to the concrete floor, and he covered his ears in preparation for what was to come.
The shock wave could be felt across the entire island, and the roll of thunder seemed to echo throughout the world. Michael and Raptor could only remain still as the wrath of Arceus himself rained down upon the island, decimating everything overhead and reducing the town into nothingness as it passed out into the sea. Surely neighboring islands would notice an explosion like that, and before long, help would be on the way.
There was no telling how long they spent down there. If Michael had to guess, he'd say about ten minutes. Surely everything above had reached its conclusion. One thing was for certain, though: he needed to tend to Raptor now. She had a thick, dark stream of blood trailing down her side, originating from a nasty wound cavity. She wouldn't look forward to this part, but it needed to be done. He helped her climb back up the ladder in her weakened state, and eventually managed to lift the heavy manhole cover once again, pushing it to the side and revealing the hell that they had created. Holy shit…
Despite the darkness of the morning, the flames illuminated everything throughout Chrono Island. The majority of the houses had been leveled, and the island and everything on it lay in complete waste. Over it all, the mushroom cloud stood, a testament for all the world to see of what had just occurred. Among the shallow waters of the ocean was the remnants of the crashed helicopter, broken and reduced to nothing more than scrap metal, the final flickers of light escaping the aircraft. Raptor quietly growled in pain as Michael helped lift her out of the sewer, and helped move her over to the side of what remained of a two story building: a single story, and one that was still in the process of falling apart at that. "Easy now," he said as he gently lowered her onto the ground. "Let's have a look at that wound. I'm gonna need to remove this part of your armor." She nodded, then slowly hit the latches on her right side. Michael took note of the suit's design, and went about undoing the latches on the left side, using as much care as possible to avoid hurting the sceptile.
With that being done, he carefully removed the main torso segment of her armor, setting it to the side. The suit had a large dent around the site of the wound, where it was evident that several of the 7.62x51 bullets had struck her. One was close enough to another to where it punched through, lodging itself within her chest. But closer inspection revealed that the small remnants of the shattered bullet lay within her rib. Not a good place to be shot, but certainly not a threat to her life, especially given the fact that most of the bullet fragmented off outside of her suit. "Well… it's not fatal," Michael said, "but I don't like how much it's bleeding. I think it may have hit one of your intercostal arteries. We can dig the bullet out later, and they'll put you down for that, but this needs to be taken care of now. It would be safest to go ahead and cauterize it…"
"A-alright…" He could tell by the sound in her voice that she was aware of how much this part would hurt. Michael went back to where the Humvee was, but found it to be buried underneath a pile of broken concrete. Well there goes the fucking guns… Eventually he found something suitable enough for what he had in mind: a protruding copper wire from a nearby shattered utility pole. He pulled it out, then headed back towards Raptor. Michael ripped off the sleeve of the uniform, wrapping it around the wire before setting it ablaze, kneeling beside her.
"This isn't gonna feel good…"
"Just do it," she grunted. Michael tried to be as gentle as he could, using his left thumb to spread the wound open in order to grant him better access, followed by carefully prodding the wire into her. The response was immediate; she growled harshly in pain and tried to avoid trembling as he held the flame inside. What lasted but a few seconds had likely felt like an eternity for her, but it was over now. He tossed the wire to the side and took a seat next to her.
"Well," he sighed, "we did it…"
"Yeah," she laughed, despite her situation, "we did…"
"I almost can't believe it," Michael continued. "What I set out to do all those years ago… my very reason for joining the Reapers… and just like that, it's been accomplished…"
"Well… not completely," Raptor admitted. "He still has his hired militants scattered around. Not to mention a few of his idealists here and there, or all those politicians. But after I bring my bargaining chip to the table, that should be taken care of as well."
"Bargaining chip?"
"This," she said, pulling out a small flash drive out of one of the few compartments on her suit. "He did have a few computers here and there. Like I said, it was almost all for document storage. He kept impeccable records, and it just so happens that I knew the password to his personal computer."
"Seems to me like Douglas couldn't have shot himself in the foot any more than he did…" Michael replied.
"Yeah, he didn't exactly help himself," Raptor responded. But then, her tone of voice dropped. "I… I still remember him as that fun, loving kid all those years ago… Not this. This wasn't him." She took one other object out of the compartment: something Michael had already seen in the photo. "The day he got me this… it was a birthday gift. He gave it to me when I was still a treecko, and told me that I would do great things in life… Well… this is the only thing I've done that was worth doing…"
"Raptor… you're a hero to more people than you could count. You made all of this possible."
"Yet if I had stopped him sooner… then there wouldn't have been all this suffering. I should have stepped in long before this…" she said.
"Well you can't change the past. But you made the right choice now. That's all that matters." He helped her up, deciding that it would be best to wait near the shoreline, where it would be easier for incoming aircraft to see them. No doubt the island would soon be flooded with them, likely coming from Floe Island. As they walked through the aftermath of the nuclear explosion, the sun was preparing to rise above the horizon, painting the waters and sky a vibrant orange and matching the environment on Chrono Island. A fitting end to such a horrid group of people, he thought as the new dawn started. A new dawn for the world, no doubt - a world that had seemingly come to the very brink of destruction.
"So," Raptor trailed off, "looks like that's it then… He's really dead…"
"Did he still mean anything to you?" Michael asked.
"No, I… I don't know. I wanted to believe that part of him was still worth saving. That he would go back to being the person that I knew all those years ago. Maybe… maybe had he gotten help, he could've turned back…"
"I doubt he would have been willing to do that, though," Michael said.
"I guess we'll never know," she said sadly.
"Hey… are you okay?"
"I will be over time. I hate that it had to come to this…"
"Yeah… me too." The two of them looked out into the distance, seeing nothing as of yet. Floe Island, despite its small population, did have hospitals and a few active cities. Michael's mind went blank though as he stared at the beautiful sight before them, nothing like what they were about to leave. To think that such beauty could be present in such close proximity to something as horrid as what they had unleashed. Maybe had they been more focused, they would have heard the figure approaching them from between the crumbling buildings.
"To think that you would have brought this whole thing down on me," he said, stepping out in front of them. Michael and Raptor froze up, their worst fears coming to life before them. How? How did he survive?! He was drenched, apparently having survived the crash into the ocean. "I see your loyalty to the cause was swayed."
"I..I—."
"I don't want to hear a word from you," Stone said, devoid of all emotion. "You are worse than him, to have switched to the other side in but a matter of days. All because of what? The fact that I said one thing that you didn't like? You are pathetic, and you are a traitor. You can take that to your grave." In his right hand, Michael's revolver was readied. The gun that had done him well over these past years… now was about to be the end of them.
"Look around Douglas," Raptor said. "It's over. There's nothing you can do now…"
"It's not over until I say it's over!" he snapped. "Twenty years of planning down the drain… but I will come back! It's in my nature. They can't stop me, and neither can you!"
"It doesn't have to be like this!" Raptor said. "You don't have to do any of this! I know you hate the pain and the suffering we've caused. I've watched you beat yourself up over the years, but still continue to inflict such torment on the lives of others. But you don't have to do it anymore! This isn't the greater good! It's just revenge against people that did nothing to deserve it…"
"They did everything to deserve it. They earned their deaths, just like you both have earned yours." Douglas looked at Michael, then shook his head. "I gave you every chance. I wanted you to be a part of all this - making the world a better place forevermore. But this is what I get in return. I'm going to ship your fucking head to your pets and let them think about that for a bit. I wanted all of you in on this, but now… I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill them all." Douglas cocked the revolver, before pointing it at Michael.
Raptor lunged forward, and in a flash, Douglas reacted. Her blade had missed its initial mark, but managed to cleave the weapon in half. But not before it had gone off. He watched in horror as the sceptile fell forward, impacting the ground with a violent thud. No… He turned towards Stone, enraged, and closed the distance between himself and the terrorist as quickly as he could. Douglas responded with an uppercut in the stomach, followed by a swift hook to the side of his head. The Reaper fell onto his back, right beside the downed sceptile. Stone pulled his Kabar out of its sheath as Michael stumbled back onto his feet.
"You've ruined everything!" Douglas yelled. "You got into her head and turned her against me!"
"You did that part on your own." Michael balled up his fists, getting in his fighting stance. The enemy had no resemblance of humanity left within him. No, that had ceased to exist long before this moment. Stone reached down and gripped his shirt at the waistline, tearing it upward and flinging the shredded article behind him. A wicked black gyarados wrapped around his body, the tattoo trailing from his sides all the way to his upper chest. He was cut, more so than anyone Michael had ever seen before. He silently prayed as the aggressor closed in. This was it.
Douglas made a quick slice for Michael's throat, barely being stopped by the Reaper's arm, clutching onto his hand and stopping the blade inches away from his neck. Michael struck him in the face, watching as the terrorist barely budged from the blow. He didn't have time to think it over before he received a sharp punch to his face once again, this time sending his helmet flying. Douglas dropped the knife, catching it in his other hand and stabbing forth, narrowly missing Michael's chest as the Reaper dodged to the side. Stone responded in kind with something unexpected: he swiftly spun around, his foot connecting with Michael's face. He stumbled back, doing his best not to hit the ground as the terrorist closed in once again.
Michael once again grabbed caught Douglas' hand before he could sink the knife into the Reaper's flesh. Not wasting any time, he struck the terrorist as hard as he could in the abdomen, intending to knock the wind out of him. His attempt had failed, though; Douglas swiftly spun around, and before Michael could react, the knife had drawn a clean line through the protective vest. The light one of blood could have been far worse; had he not been wearing the vest, Douglas would have spilled his entrails. He quickly backed away to avoid a fast swipe at his thigh. If he didn't start going on the offense more in this fight, he would lose it. And he sure as hell wasn't about to let that happen.
He used the one advantage he had over the terrorist: his sheer strength. Michael charged into Douglas, forcing him back into the crumbling brick wall. Securing the knife away from his body, he gripped the enemy's throat, intending to crush his windpipe. What he wasn't expecting was the swift knee to the groin, almost making him hurl in pain. And the second he stumbled, he felt the sting of the knife pressing into his vest, and trying to force its way into his abdomen. Barely remaining on his feet, Michael punched Stone in the inside of his elbow, causing him to drop the knife. Without the fear of being stabbed, he was free to go all out.
A harsh headbutt sent Stone back into the wall, and Michael followed it up with a brutal hook to the jaw. Douglas tried to push him off - to end the assault that he was losing, but Michael wouldn't let up. The year of rage - the very pent up desire for revenge for all that the man had done - was fueling every hate-filled punch. As he struck Stone over and over again, he savored the sight of the ability to fight draining away as the enemy was forced to go on the defense.
But a single, light jab to the neck was enough to make him freeze up in shock. The pain seared through his neck as he instinctively clutched his throat. While Michael was dazed, Douglas grabbed the shoulder-pieces of the vest and shoved the Reaper face-forward into the wall. He fell onto his back as Douglas stumbled off to the side, picking up the knife once again, before positioning himself on top of the fallen soldier. Michael only barely managed to clasp Douglas' forearm before the knife could sink in to his head.
Over and over Douglas struck him in the face with his other hand, sending his blood all over the place and causing his vision to fade. "I wanted to cooperate!" yelled Stone as he continued to beat him. "I wanted you all in! But you had to go and ruin the whole fucking thing! Johto is going to take advantage of this moment of weakness, and they're gonna fight! So now I've got to kill all of them, just like I'm going to kill you!" He hauled back, jerking his hand free from Michael's grasp, and swiftly thrust the knife downward. In that split second, Michael couldn't think - all he could do was act. He reached up to stop the knife, causing it to sink all the way through his hand.
The Reaper yelled out in pain as the blade stopped about a foot away from him, dripping with his blood as Douglas pressed it down. As the knife closed in towards his face, Michael struck Stone with whatever force he could muster, trying to delay what was coming to no avail. Douglas simply pushed both his hands down, speeding up the knife's descent towards its target. The terror was flooding through him; out of the corner of his eye, he searched for something - anything - that he could use. All that remained around was remnants of the house, scattered about and mostly out of reach. One thing: a broken brick. He reached for it, apparently being unnoticed by Douglas, who was dedicating all of his focus into forcing the tip of the Kabar into Michael's forehead. His fingers brushed over the brick, and he swiped it closer, managing to firmly grasp it in his right hand. He swung with all his might.
The corner of the brick impacted Stone's head, sending him to the ground as though he'd been shot. The terrorist rolled over, trying to get up and recover from the dazing blow. This was the only chance he would get to end this; he wouldn't let it go to waste. Michael ripped the knife out of his hand, barely remaining conscious as the blood poured out. He crawled over to Douglas, striking him onto his back before getting on top of him, just the reverse of their previous situation.
"Go to hell!" Michael yelled, thrusting the knife downward. The point aimed at the enemy's chest, only being stopped short by his arm. The look of fear was impossible to miss. Douglas was able to hold Michael off using both hands, but the soldier refused to give up. He took his injured left hand, and hit the handle of the Kabar, shooting the worst pain imaginable through him. The harsh impact proved too much, and the blade sunk in lightly to the insurgent's chest. Michael quickly repeated the action as Stone attempted to push back, but this time, he was too late. The seven inch blade had sunk in to the very hilt.
Douglas looked down at the handle, embedded into the middle of his chest, then back at Michael. His hands dropped to his side, and he knew that the fight was over. "Look… what y-you've done…" he said in short, sputtering breaths. "Raptor… she didn't know… shit… and neither do you." Michael staggered over to the wall, barely managing to prop himself against it as he looked back to the enemy. "The people th-that you just saved… they're going to hate you for what you are. For what you stand for…"
"Then that's on them," Michael replied quietly.
"Mark my words," Douglas said, before coughing up blood, "…they will unite. They will come for you all. And now… there won't be anyone to stop them…"
"We will," Michael said. "If they do come… we will be there to take them out. But your methods… your ideals… they're going to die right here with you." Douglas began another fit of coughing, dark blood seeping from his mouth once again.
"M…maybe not. I didn't think I'd lose it all. Not th-this close to everything. But here we are…" His voice was beginning to fall more quiet, and as the fires around started to die out, he looked at the Reaper. "You… one day you'll have to decide. One day you will be g…given the decision to make. Then you'll see… why I made the choices I did…"
"I will never make the same choices as you…"
"You say that now…" Douglas gasped, "but… deep down… I don't think we're so different… No… we're the same, you… and I…" The air left his lungs, and the expression on his face froze, staring right through the Reaper. Michael remained still for a moment, but eventually managed to divert his focus, leaving the still body behind him. There was a much more important matter at hand.
He made his way back to her as quickly as he could, finally able to look over the new bullet wound. The exit wound was large, and she had already lost an unnerving amount of blood. Michael knelt down beside her - she was still breathing. But she wouldn't be for long if they didn't get her out of here soon. Over the horizon, helicopters could be seen approaching the island. "Help me… move over," she said weakly. He slid his arms under her side, making sure to avoid the wound as he rolled her over. Now he was able to see where the bullet had entered. It was far worse. No words came to mind as he looked at the hole within her - right through the liver. The sceptile slowly moved her arms over to her helmet, reaching around the side. Michael helped her remove the piece, tossing it away.
"Raptor…" She shook her head.
"You know as well… as I do…" she said.
"No," he said, motioning towards the incoming aircraft, "look - they're right here! They can save you…" He tried to pry his gaze away from the blood streaming down her side. No matter how much he wanted it to - no matter how much he prayed - it simply wouldn't stop.
"Nothing can. And it's… probably for the best. It is what I deserve for all that I've done…"
"Raptor, don't you do this. You're not going anywhere - you're gonna be alright!" He didn't care to stop the tears from flowing. How could she be so willing to accept this? "You've gotta fight this!"
"No… my fight is done," she replied. "But promise me… promise me that you'll finish it." Her arm trembling, she reached into the compartment and grabbed the two objects within.
"I… we will. We will…" He took the hard drive and the bracelet from her, slipping them into his pockets. "But please… I don't want you to go…"
"I d-don't want to either… but I deserve to. I only pray… that Arceus may forgive me for what I have done."
"Pl-please," he begged, starting to, despite what he had just done, cry like a child. "Don't do this…"
"Your pokémon… they are lucky to… have you. Maybe if things had been different… I could have been among them… But now… all is as it should be…"
"No… no it isn't," Michael said. "You can't—."
"Michael… you h-have to… tell everyone what… happened here. Don't let the world make… the same mistakes…"
"I won't," he sniffed.
"Good…" Michael gently wrapped his arms around her, and she, in response, tenderly returned his embrace with a single clawed hand. The helicopters could be heard overhead, descending to their location.
As the sun welcomed the start of a new day, the sceptile's arm fell to the ground.
. . . . .
END OF PART ONE
. . . . .
