AN Ok, so that took a while. I am sorry for how long it took me to write this, but in my defense I was having a lot of fun with Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Yes, that is the excuse i am going with. I honestly thought i would work on it before Cyberpunk came out but that didn't happen. But, i decided to remove distractions and work on this. and work on this i did. My hans hurt from all this damn typing.

Chapter 13

The massive machine fired it's minigun at the group and they all scattered. A massive glass panel came down and surrounded Brenner and the machines keeping him alive while his brain waves controlled the massive hulk. El tried to use her powers to cut his life support. To her surprise, she couldn't get through.

"I prepared for this eventuality my dear Eleven." Brenner cackled through the machine speakers. "This glass is bulletproof and also immune to your powers. My body is perfectly safe." He said with a wicked laugh. "As for this body, It also is immune to your powers." He said as he rushed at El. Will fired several rounds of his shotgun into the robot, making Brenner turn his attention over. "Did you think that would work?" Brenner sneered.

"No, but it did it's job." Will said with a smirk. Brenner looked over to see a piece of the floor brought up and slammed into Brenner. "I doubt your body is immune to that." El said.

Mike ran to the glass panel and began placing C4 on the panel. He worked quickly as Brenner began getting up from the ground. The metal beast roared and Mike found himself pulled away by El as Brenner fired his minigun. "We need to get away." El said. Mike nodded as he, Lucas and Will laid down suppressing fire. Brenner shrugged off the gun fire and began running at them.

As they ran out of the room, El toppled the entry and blocked Brenner inside. "We need to get out of here." El said. The group nodded and kept running. As they ran down the hallway, a loud crash came from behind them as Brenner smashed through the wall. "Going somewhere?" Brenner asked. El pulled the ceiling on top of him. Mike could still hear a distinct laugh. "Yea, I doubt that slowed him down." Mike said as he gathered the others to the surgical room where the others were waiting.

Nancy greeted them as they walked in, perked up at seeing them but soon became worried at the looks on their faces. "What the hell happened?" She asked. A loud crash answered her question. "Brenner has some kind of robot body." Will said. Nancy's eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of her head.

Jericho looked out the door and saw the massive robot. "Yea, they weren't kidding." He said calmly. "How the hell are you so calm?" Lucas demanded. Jericho merely motioned for his rifle and loaded a grenade in the under barrel grenade launcher. "Just getting used to the weird." He said as he launched the round into Brenner. The blast knocked Brenner back a few inches and made Brenner laser focus on Jericho.

"Yea, I think I pissed him off." Jericho said. Mike rolled his eyes. "We need to get out of here now." He said. "Agreed, but I think we need to take our new friend." Jonathan said indicating the unconscious Dr. Ryan. Lopez and Jonathan quickly unstrapped him from the table as Jericho fired another round at Brenner.

Quickly running out, they left the surgical room just as Brenner burst through the wall. "The Kool-Aid man does less property damage." Jericho said. Will slapped his shoulder. "This is not the time for jokes!" He said. Jericho shrugged as he began running. "We scatter, meet at the surface." Max said, cradling her sleeping child.

The group scattered away from the rampaging Brenner. Jericho, Mike and El went towards a security room. Nancy, Will, Lucas, and Max headed for where they entered the building from. Jonathan and Lopez dragged Dr. Ryan towards another surgical room. Brenner laughed as they ran. "I like playing games too." Brenner laughed.

Computer Room

"So why did you join up with a bunch of mercenaries?" Suzie asked Smiley as they entered a room filled with computers. It was used for data entry and they figured they could get some useful intel off of them.

"Jericho hired me. He is useless with computers. Hell he still types with his index fingers." Smiley said. Dustin snorted when he heard that. "Scary guy like him still does that?" He asked. Smiley nodded. "He can be an evil genius. He typed like that to annoy this asshole who hates typing like that." Smiley said.

"So, boss liked having me around. He asked if I wanted to work in a cubicle or do exciting things and see the world." Smiley said. "Lopez trained me and we have been having fun ever since." He finished.

"Well, hopefully we can help you guys out. Kinda wish we met under different circumstances. You guys seem nice." Suzie said.

"Hey asshole." Jericho's voice came through the radio. "Yea Boss?" Smiley asked. "Dr. Brenner has a robot body or some shit. Find me solutions NOW!" Jericho demanded. "Yea Boss, we got this." Smiley said.

"Robot body?" Dustin asked. "Man they have so much fun when I leave." Dustin shrugged. He went to another work station and began looking through files. Smiley did the same. As they worked, they didn't notice newcomers enter the room.

Smiley felt the hairs on the back of his neck perk up. He looked up from his work station and found several men enter the room. Their eyes were glazed over and they all had scars on their heads, indicating they were more of those zombies Saverio was controlling. "Oh shit." Smiley said, alerting Suzie and Dustin.

"Look what I found, some nerds away from their protectors." Saverio said through one of the men. Dustin nodded to Suzie and quickly flipped a table to give them cover as Smiley fired into the group. The zombies did the same and flipped a table for cover.

Suzie picked up her submachine gun, looked over her cover and fired into the table the zombies were hiding behind. The bullets clanged off, revealing the wood surface had steel underneath. Smiley moved away, walking around, cocking his shotgun and jumped them. He fired several rounds, taking the close group out. "Not so helpless nerds are we?" Smiley said.

Suzie checked her laptop and breathed a sigh of relief that it was intact. The other computers were sadly toast. "We need to find another way to get the intel on Brenner's robot thing." She said. Dustin nodded. "If we can find a server room, we might be able to get into the data directly." Dustin said. Smiley nodded. As they left, they did not notice their fallen foes had their radios set to receive and Saverio had an idea of where to intercept.

Dustin followed the signs that led to the server room. Building this size must have either multiple rooms or one large one. Dustin was hoping for the later. "Do we have a plan?" Dustin asked. Smiley shook his head. "I can try calling the boss man." He said grabbing his radio.

"Yea, Wheeler has you guys on the cameras. He says you need to watch out. That prick Saverio has got men all around. And I think he is directly controlling them." Jericho said into the radio. "I'll try to keep track but we have a few problems of out own."

El could hear the machine stalking outside. She was worried about the others, but she couldn't seem to make a dent in him. Even Jericho using grenades just slowed it for a moment. She had another idea, but she only tested it once. She wasn't sure it would work.

"Ok, I am getting some guys together. They will back up Smiley and the Hendersons. Hey that's a band name." Jericho said. "Or a shitty sitcom." Mike retorted.

"I think we need to get everyone out of here." El said. Jericho nodded. "Yea, the problem is, we go head to head with that thing and we are toast." Jericho said. "I might have a way to fight him." El said. She concentrated her powers on her fist and punched the ground. She shattered the floor slightly. Both Jericho and Mike were stunned.

"I just learned to do that. Dr. Strauss showed me how when I wasn't being monitored." El explained. The pair nodded. "Still to dangerous. We need active intel on that thing." Jericho said.

"We can't exactly wait." El said. She pointed and saw Brenner heading to where Max and the others were hiding. "God damn it." Jericho said. El didn't want a debate, she ran out of the room and headed for Brenner. Before either men could object, she slammed the door and ran.

Upstairs

Dustin could feel himself being watched. He was uneasy wondering if Saverio was plotting something. Smiley kept point, but even Dustin could tell he was nervous. They decided to take the stairs, just in case the elevator was booby trapped. Suzie found a large server room was on the fourth floor of the building.

They left the stair well, and ran into Weatherford. The group yelled as they ran into each other. "Quiet." Weatherford said. "Thermal scans show they are near where you need to be. I brought in Ford and Hopper." He explained. Dustin looked over and saw Ford and Hopper setting up an M60. "Well, that should balance things." Suzie said as she took some more ammo from Weatherford. "I need time to get through." Suzie explained.

"Do they know we are even here?" Smiley asked. Weatherford shook his head. "They expected you to use the elevator." He said. "Good thinking." Smiley said to Dustin. Hopper growled at them. "This damn gun is heavy." Hopper announced. Dustin nodded and helped him with the gun.

The horde was pointing their weapons at the elevator. There were ten men standing around waiting for the elevator. "I sent a couple of guys to send the elevator up. Just going to keep have some fun." Hopper said as they hid behind a pair of walls leading to the elevators.

The elevator came up with a familiar ding and opened up. Four men entered quickly. Weatherford smiled as the elevator exploded when the claymore mines hidden inside went off and blew them up. Ford and Smiley rushed forward and fired into the remaining men. "There are more, close to the big server room. We need to hurry." Weatherford said as he led them away.

El

El walked forward, listening for the sounds of the large machine. She got closer as she heard his voice. "I know you are in there Miss Mayfield." Brenner said. "Give me the child and Doctor Ryan. And I will make your deaths painless. You might even join my horde." Brenner laughed. "Why don't you leave them alone and face me?" El announced as she walked into the hallway. The massive robot turned and faced El, who was taking off her trench coat, leaving her in just a body suit with metal gauntlets.

"You know you can't beat me right?" Brenner said. El merely glared at him. Brenner roared with fury and charged at El as she began running at him. El focused her powers into her fists and she leapt up and punched Brenner. The blow knocked him back as El pressed her attack. She used her powers to pull rebar out of the floor and wrap around his legs. El pulled up several tiles of floor and flung them at him. Brenner tried to fire at them but the marble tiles were to fast and he began getting pelted with the tiles.

Brenner fired his minigun and forced El to put up a barrier. As he kept her back, Brenner used one of his clamps to release himself from the rebar. Brenner then used his battering ram and knocked El back. Brenner turned around and saw the door was open.

He walked towards the door and looked inside. The closet was empty. He heard a beeping noise. Brenner looked up and saw C4 mounted on top of the frame. Before he could get his head out, the bomb exploded and dropped debris on top of him. Max looked on with a smirk while holding a detonator.

"That was for taking my son." Max said as Nancy came around holding the still sleeping Harrison. "We need to get out of here." She said. Max nodded as she ran down the hallway to see El dusting herself off. "Get to the security office. Mike and Jericho are there. I still need to handle this." She said. The pair nodded and motioned for Will and Lucas to hurry up as Brenner dug himself out of the debris. The explosion gave only slight damage, but even El could tell Brenner was getting angry. "Ready for more asshole?" El smirked.

Upstairs

Suzie stuck close to her husband, keeping her laptop close by. She was considered the better hacker in the group, especially considering Hopper still had trouble operating a beeper. The group took out various horde groups as they made their way to the server room. Suzie strongly felt this was going to easy.

After dispatching two more soldiers, they finally found their way to the server room. It almost took up a whole floor, with massive servers all over the place. "He must run most of his operation from here." Suzie said. "They are all stored in the central servers. Hopefully we can find something on this weird robot." Dustin said as they headed for the center of the room. Ford looked up and pulled Suzie back as a sniper fired a shot at her.

Several snipers opened fire on them, the servers seemingly keeping them safe. The casings of the servers were made of steel. They all lowered themselves as Weatherford began firing. His hiding spot then lowered into the floor and left him momentarily exposed.

"He is toying with us" Ford declared. Hopper fired several rounds from his M60 and kills one of the snipers. More gun fire erupts as more men arrive. "Shit, we need to move." Ford said as his gun shots were blocked by raising server towers. Ford reached for his radio.

Security Room

Max and the others entered, along with Lopez and Jonathan dragging Dr. Ryan inside. They figured they would be safer away from the fight El was having with Brenner. Dr. Ryan was beginning to wake up.

"Well well well, someone is awake." Jericho said as he grabbed Ryan by his shirt. "Now I have a few questions, and if you don't fucking answer I will pull out your teeth!" Jericho roared. Lopez then pulled out a pair of plyers. Ryan was visibly shaken.

"How do I shut that fucking thing down." Jericho demanded as Mike brought the robot on the screen. Ryan shook his head. "I wasn't part of the development." He said. Lopez reached for one of Ryan's front teeth. "I SWEAR TO GOD I HAVE NO IDEA!" Ryan shouted. Jericho held him down as Lopez pulled the tooth. Ryan began screaming as blood came out of his mouth. "I believe you. I just hate your face." Jericho said. Ryan began crying as Jericho smirked.

"Boss, we got problems. We need help!" Ford said over the radio. "We are pinned down." He yelled. Jericho swore under his breath. "Wheeler, pull up the fourth-floor server room!" Jericho demanded. Mike quickly pulled it up and saw his men were pinned down with massive amounts of gun fire. The servers that protected them were lowering into the floor.

"Damnit. I need to get there." Jericho said. Lopez stood up and Jericho nodded. "I'm coming to." Nancy said. Jericho shook his head. "No, these are my men." Jericho said. Nancy glared at him. "Well, I can shoot better than most of your men and quite frankly I don't care for your machismo. Now I am coming with you and helping or I can kick your ass better than Mike did." Nancy said. Jericho thought about it for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, but I want everyone else getting ready to leave. And ask Dr. Ryan where we can shut this shit down." He said indicating the sobbing doctor.

The group headed out as Max leaned over to Dr. Ryan. "Hey, crybaby, you heard the man. How do we stop this weird shit?" Max demanded. Ryan glared at her. "Your not nearly as scary as Jericho." Ryan said. Max smirked and grabbed a small piece of C4 and shoved it into Ryan's pants. "I will blow you up from your balls if you don't tell me about this!" Max snarled. Ryan nodded his head.

"The Legion program is a prototype for one person to control multiple hosts. Dr. Brenner wanted it for a new form of military unit. I did the lobotomy's myself. Shutting it down isn't very simple since the central hub is locked from the inside and not really on the electrical network." Ryan said quickly. Max smiled at him. "See? That wasn't so hard." She said sweetly.

"It may not be on the electrical network, but I bet it's on a network interface." Mike said. He pulled the radio out. "Suzie, if you can, try and hack the servers and shut down their network connection to the legion program." Mike said. "Sure, I'll do that and dodge bullets!" Suzie yelled. "Cmon, you hacked the Pentagon, I am sure this is much easier," Mike said.

"Ok, if I can get a password." Suzie said. Mike looked to Dr. Ryan. "Eat me." He said. Will reached for the detonator. "No, the password is Eat me." Ryan explained. "Saverio came up with it." He explained. Mike shook his head. "Of course he did. Did you get that Suzie?" Mike asked. "Affirmative. Now tell get these assholes off of me." Suzie said.

Mike looked and saw he also had control of the servers. "Let's see how they like it." Mike said as he removed the hordes cover. He then gave more cover to Suzie and the others as they made their way to the central server. As he worked, Saverio came up on a monitor. He was earing a headset. "I should have known you would be responsible. Let's see if I can direct some men to you." He said. "I think they might have some trouble asshole." Mike said as he switched the monitor off.

Server room

Several servers are put into a protective barrier around them as they reached the central server. Hopper using covering fire before he gets into the protective circle. "Okay, work fast. We need to hold out till Suzie does her magic." Hopper said. Suzie rolled her eyes. "Its not magic. I am just using a program to tunnel into their system and shutting down several programs that use local intranet." Suzie said as she hooked her laptop to the server. Ford and Hopper looked at her cross eyed.

The servers were starting to lower, but Mike was working furiously to fight Saverio's attacks. One stopped half way and Hopper sat the M60 on the top and began firing into the group. Ford tossed a grenade and blew up a group behind cover, and also destroyed a few of the servers.

Suzie began working furiously. Typing in commands into her laptop to reach the program she needed. She saw she could shut down the intranet, but she discovered she could also overload the Project Legion room. With a smirk she pulled up Saverio. "The fuck you want four eyes?" Saverio snarled into the screen.

"Oh, I just need to warn you. I made a shocking discovery." Suzie said and entered the command.

LEGION ROOM

Saverio had no idea what that bitch was talking about, until he heard parts of the room explode. He pulled off his helmet and saw the monitors exploding. Sending several scientists back as the monitors exploded. The helmet Saverio was using also overloaded with electricity. He threw it to the ground and ran out as the room caught fire. Several scientists tried to escape but Saverio locked them in. Price of doing business.

"I am going to kill that little bitch." Saverio said as people banged on the doors.

Lobby

The group was ambushed by several soldiers. True to Nancy's word, she was a better shot than Jericho or Lopez. Jericho kept firing on them as they descended the stair well towards them. Within moments, the soldiers began to yell in pain as they all fell over. "Looks like they got rid of the riff raff." Lopez said.

"Yea, but I doubt Saverio is out. We need to get him before he causes more damage." Jericho said. The group made there way to the server room and found Suzie and Dustin hard at work getting information off of the servers, while Smiley and Ford were bandaging up Hopper.

"That hit bad?" Jericho asked. Hopper shook his head, he took a bullet to his leg. "Lucky shot. But I won't be running track anytime soon." Hopper said. Jericho smirked at him and picked up his M-60. "I think I shall borrow this." Jericho said.

Loud booms rocked the area. "The hell is that?" Hopper asked. Jericho grimaced. "Might be El and Brenner throwing down." Jericho said.

El

The fight got more intense as they fought through the floor. El used her supercharge to knock Brenner back, while Brenner moved quick for a lumbering robot. El delivered a massive kick to Brenner, only to get grabbed by the leg and thrown into a surgical unit. El quickly got up and threw the bed at Brenner.

Brenner grabbed the bed and tossed it aside and fired his minigun. El floated out of the way and quickly entered surgical preparation. "Give up. I can track your every move." Brenner snarled. El smirked to herself. "TRACK THIS ASSHOLE!" El screamed and flung a sink at Brenner, bashing into his face. Brenner responded with sending his battering ram at her. El jumped and landed on the ram. She then ran up the arm and supercharging her foot, she delivered a massive kick to Brenner, knocking him back.

El ran off before Brenner could get his bearings. She had lured him far from where Mike and the others were, hoping they used this time to get off this floor. El doubted Mike would leave her. El decided to use this time to get any advice from her friends. "I have him distracted. Do you guys have something?" El asked into her radio.

"No, there are way to many files and I have no idea where to start." Suzie said into the comms. Strauss came on and gave direction. "Look into the Cyber program, Project Pickman." Strauss said. A moment later a squeal came on the radio. "Dusty found it. Its some kind of weird advanced tank?" Suzie questioned.

"No, it is the first of an army of bi-pedal soldiers that Brenner will be able to control. Project Legion and Pickman were to be a start for another stage of his plan." Strauss said. "I kind of figured what his endgame is, but care to enlighten us?" Jericho asked. Strauss took a deep breath before answering. "Take over the world." Strauss said. "Of course!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Any tips to shutting him down?" El asked. "Looks like its armor still doesn't respond well to high explosives, or heavy artillery like tank shells. I found an armory that should have everything we need." Suzie said. Mike also chimed in. "Yea, Max is heading there now to secure it. Lucas is tying up Dr. Ryan and is joining her." He said.

"Be careful. Sounds like I need to resume my chat with Brenner." El said. She took a deep breath. Years of training made her more comfortable with her powers. No more nosebleeds. But she was getting exhausted. However, she still had a job to do.

Brenner was in front of an elevator, looking around for El. She smirked and supercharged her fists and took flight right at Brenner, slamming him into the elevator.

The frame of the elevator door was smashed as El floated back. Brenner slowly got up, then found cables wrapped around him. Brenner growled as he was pulled into the elevator. El concentrated and sent the elevator down the shaft. El knew the next floor own was the massive testing area. Brenner would be stuck down there for a while.

"Get those weapons quickly. We need to stop this." El said to herself.

Max

Max heard the loud crash from the elevator shaft. She was afraid she would run back into the monster. Max leaned back and felt her back into something. When she realized it was a person, she nearly screamed before a hand came to her mouth. Looking up, she saw it was Lucas. She pulled away and slapped him. "Don't fucking scare me you stalker." She said. Lucas smiled slightly. "Sorry, Mike ha me tie up that mad doctor. He felt you could use an extra hand with that armory." He said. Max glared at him. "Yea, I hope we can find that damn thing. I don't know how long El can hold out." Max said. Lucas nodded as he led her to a set of stairs. "Don't feel like dealing with that shit." Lucas explained. Max merely nodded.

"Mike said the armory is down by the testing grounds." Lucas said. "Do you hope that jackass tries to escape with Will around?" Max asked. Lucas snorted with laughter. They made there way down to a further underground facility. "I guess this is where El was made to test her powers." Lucas mused as he looked down to a massive testing arena. It was sterile white and the size of a massive football field. Max and Lucas were at the mid section area, but above was what looked like a VIP viewing area.

"What do you bet that they trat this like a regular football game?" Max mused. Lucas snorted with disgust. "Get me enough gasoline. I'll burn this place to the ground." Lucas said.

"Guess that's why they kept an armory around here. Just in case El went off the deep end." Max said as they neared a door marked ARMORY. "We're here." Lucas said opening the door. It was also a large room, filled with rocket launchers, mounted miniguns, grenade launchers, assault rifles, and various other weaponry. Lucas let out a low whistle. "Got enough firepower to take on Godzilla." Lucas said. "Or an asshole robot." Max said.

The room was very large, with several rows with racks of weapons. "Hey stalker. You ever just think what our lives would be like if we were normal?" Max asked as she picked up a shotgun and began loading it. "What I wouldn't give to just not deal with some whack job government conspiracy. Just raise my son, deal with you and Mike being dorks. Ladies nights. Stuff like that. But I guess life is a little strange huh?" Max asked. When she got no response she looked around. "Stalker?" She called out.

"Well, one kind of stalker is here." A voice growled. Max looked behind her and saw Lucas on the floor. He was not moving. Standing above him was Saverio. She remembered him when they had him prisoner back at the steel mill. His face was contorted with rage. Max readied the shotgun but before she could fire, Saverio ran down another aisle. Max ran after him, and saw him climb up to the top of the aisles. She ran after him and fired a round but he jumped away.

Max was looking around for him when suddenly the lights went out. "Shit. Can't see." Max muttered to herself. Saverio began laughing. "I was so glad to see you come down here. I never get to have any fun." He snarled. She couldn't tell where his voice was coming from. The room had an echo. She kept her shotgun trained as she walked around, knocking things over in the dark. She heard a noise close by but didn't want to fire. She needed to confirm her shot.

She kept running around, till an arm came around her neck. She dropped her gun as she lost air. "I could kill you both. But I have a better use. Live bait is much better to catch bigger fish." Saverio said as Max lost conciseness.

El

She heard the rumbling as she looked down the elevator shaft. Brenner was climbing up really fast. El flew down and tackled him back into the testing area. She used the cables from the elevator to wrap around Brenner and pulled him out of the elevator shaft. She dragged him across the floor and threw him out of a window into the massive testing arena. El followed suit. Brenner used one of his utility arms to cut the cable off an he grabbed one of the cables to use as a whip. He lashe at her, but she used her powers to deflect it. But as she use her powers on the whip, Brenner used his battering ram on her an knocked her back into a wall. Brenner began laughing. "You are an impressive specimen. Years of us breaking your will you still kept your spunk and spirit. Maybe we should have killed those useless friends of yours. Maybe letting Saverio vivisect that little boyfriend of yours would not have my plans in disarray." Brenner snarled.

"A simple doll like you could never understand what I hope to accomplish. Guiding the world out of Hell. America, no THE WORLD, needs my guidance." Brenner declared. El steppe out of the hole in the wall. She pulled the sleeve off of her suit. She was bleeding from a cut above her eye. "You always thought you were God. But in reality your just a useless man who thinks to highly of himself." El said spitting out blood onto the floor. El could feel Brenner smiling at her. Even with the faceless feature of the robot, she knew he was smiling.

El lifted a piece of debris and flung it at Brenner, who effortlessly crushed it. "Your getting weaker Eleven. As your flesh weakens, my steel becomes stronger." Brenner snarled. El hated to agree with him, but she wasn't as strong as she was earlier in the night. She was sweating more and it had been a long time since she felt this powerless. She needed a recharge, but she had no time for rest. She had few options now.

Mike

He watched on the monitors, his sleeping son on his lap. He never felt so helpless. "I need to do something." Mike growled to himself. Will watched the monitor with horror as well. "Well, hopefully Lucas and Max found the armory. We can see about adding some firepower." Will said picking up the radio. He looked over at Dr. Ryan, he stopped struggling a few minutes ago and was now just watching them. "Max, Lucas, you guys fin those guns?" Will asked.

"I found some guns all right. You should see the gains I made." A voice came over the radio. Mike recognized Saverio's voice. He grabbed the radio from Will. "You asshole, what did you do to Max and Lucas?" He demanded.

"Lucas and Max? I dunno, who they are. Hey, you two know who he is talking about?" Saverio asked. Sudenly a pair of muffled screams came over the radio. "Oh these must be Max and Lucas. My mistake." He sneered. "You let them go now." Mike demanded. Saverio laughed. "You want them? Come get them. I am in the VIP box of the training arena. Andi have a sweet view of your little girlfriend fighting the boss. I'll be waiting." Saverio said. The radio went dead after that.

"Tell me solutions" Mike said into the radio. Suzie answered. "Well, we could go down and face him?" She suggested, not sure of the answer. "I am sending men to secure the weapons. Saverio is mine." Jericho said. Mike objected. "Those are my friends. I need to help." He said. "I will get them back. You have other issues. Leave this to me." Jericho said. Mike groaned in frustration. "Fine." He said.

"I am heading back to you guys." Nancy said. "I can help with the baby." She said. Mike merely nodded as he handed Harrison over to Will. "Take care of him. I nee to help El." Mike said to his friend. Will saw on the camera that El was starting to wear down. He nodded to his friend. "Be careful." He said. As Mike walked out the door, he looked to Will. "When am I not?" He said as he closed the door.

Mike ran own to the staircase and made his way down to the testing arena. He looked down and saw El was no longer using her powers. She was now running from Brenner. Years of dealing with bullies made him realize she was being toyed with. He quickly ran till he reached the armory. Without thinking, Mike grabbed the door handle but stopped himself. "It's a trap." Mike said to himself. He looked and saw the door was indeed wired. He never needed to know how to disarm a trap. A voice came on the radio. "Mike, what the fuck are you doing?" Nancy said. Mike didn't have time for this. "El needs my help." He said.

"So you think you can take on the giant robot with your can do attitude and some bullets?" She asked, increasingly getting angry. "No, my can o attitude and some grenades." Mike said. He could hear her growl. "Ok, I can't stop you. So I'll try not to have you die. I see your at the armory. I am guessing it's booby trapped?" She asked. Mike nodded. "Okay, how does the wire look?" Nancy asked.

"It looks slack." He said. Another voice came on. "Sloppy work, cut the wire." Jericho said. "Oh and I am sending Lopez to take Dr. Ryan to the Command Center. I may have more questions for him." He said. Mike pulled out a pair of plyers and cut the wire. He then turned the handle and shoved it forward while diving away, in case there were more suprises. When no explosion happened, Mike got up and walked in. The lights were out but he quickly found the switch. Inside, Mike saw signs of a fight. Looking around, Mike found what he was looking for. It was a six round grenade launcher and also an M4 with a grenade launcher. He put three additional magazines in a holster while loading the grenade launcher. "Hang on El, I'm coming." Mike said to himself.

Mike ran down and saw El was dazed. It looked like she took a hit from the robot's fist. He looked and saw the wall was at an angle, he could slide down. Quickly opening the window, he climbed out and slid down behind Brenner.

Brenner didn't notice Mike's arrival. He could hear Brenner taunt El. "I expected more fight from you Eleven. But don't worry. You won't die today. I will make you suffer for your insurrection." Brenner said picking her up by her neck. "I can still complete my plan. My body still has time for the transfer. I will keep you around to see my new world." Brenner said. Mike heard enough. "Hey asshole." Mike announced. Brenner looked behind himself without fully turning his body. He noticed a grenade fired right at his back. Brenner dropped El and fully turned to Mike.

"Mr. Wheeler. I was wondering when you would show up. She can watch you die." Brenner said.

Jericho

He took the elevator with Nancy, Lopez and Smiley. While they got off on one floor, Jericho went another floor below. He kept the M60 at the ready. He also had his bowie knife as well. Jericho walked to the VIP area, using the signs as a guide. As he walked he could see Wheeler down in the arena. He groaned in frustration. "Kid, you really should just stop playing hero already." Jericho said, not realizing he was doing the same.

He found the large double doors to the VIP lounge. The fact this place had a VIP lounge was very perverse to Jericho. He opened one of the doors and carefully walked inside. He looked around. It was a large space with two rows of seats for people to watch the testing, like it was some sports game. The rest of the space had a full bar, a couple of card tables. And a pool table.

On top of the pool table was Max and Lucas. Both tied up back to back with tape over their mouths. Both looked like they took a couple of beatings. Jericho quickly ran to them. Both of them looked at him and began muffling at him with wide eyes. Jericho stopped, realizing the warning. As he turned, he saw Saverio jump from behind the bar. Before he could fire, Saverio closed the distance and kicked the gun out of Jericho's hand. "I wanted you last. Kill all your men and you come to be the last man standing." He said.

Jericho swung at him, but Saverio deftly dodged the punch, ducked under him, punched Jericho in his knee, dropping Jericho. Saverio then jumped up and kicked Jericho in the face. "Every last one of you bitches underestimated me. Well, once I am done with you. I'll have some fun with my new pals over there." Saverio sai, winking at both Max and Lucas.

Jericho delivered an upper cut into Saverio's jaw and knocked him back. Saverio recovered and bobbed under his guard and punched Jericho in the sides and chest. Jericho stepped back as Saverio delivered a punch to his face, then he went to the ground and kicked out Jericho's feet.

"You should have sent your best men to fight me. You are out of shape. Your wounded from fighting that dumbass kid." Saverio said, picking up Jericho by his shirt. Jericho use his arms and separated Saverio's hands off of him. He then kicked Saverio back. He ran over and jumped up and punched Saverio in the face. Saverio looked at Jericho with a fierce look.

Saverio pulled out a curved knife from his belt. He slashed at Jericho's face and cut over Jericho's eye. He then drove the blade into Jericho's leg. Jericho roared with pain as he fell back with the blade in his leg. "Not so fucking tough are you?" Saverio said as he pulled the knife out of Jericho's leg. As he pulled the blade out, Jericho grabbed Saverio's hand, pulled out his bowie knife, and sliced off Saverio's hand.

Saverio howled in pain as blood poured out of his stump. Jericho grabbed Saverio's leg and broke his leg with his knee. Saverio began crawling away. "Look man, you understand following orders. I was just listening to my boss. I can help you out man. Just help me out please." Saverio said. Jericho picked up the M60 and pointed it at him. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jericho shouted and he fired. Before long, Saverio was bloody paste on the floor.

Jericho felt exhausted. He wiped blood from his face. He walked to Max and Lucas, both were still struggling. Jericho untied them and Lucas moved to help him. "I'll be fine. Just we need to help Wheeler and El out." Jericho said.

"Yea but you need something for that leg." Lucas said. Jericho waved it off and fired at the window. "Gotta handle this." Jericho said. They all looked down and saw Mike was running under Brenner.

"Did you guys raid the armory yet?" Jericho said into the radio. Dustin answered. "Yea, we grabbed all the anti tank and a shit load of rocket launchers." He said. Jericho nodded; "Get into position." He said.

Dr. Strauss

Strauss saw Dr. Ryan being carried by Lopez and Ford. He was struggling against the bonds he had. "Is the battle still going on?" He asked. Lopez nodded. "Yea, there in the training arena. We are about to give support." Lopez said. Strauss nodded and picked up a bag. "I will go see to something in the lab. It should be safe inside," Strauss said. He then made his way down to the lab, walking with his cane and bag.

Mike and El

Mike had one round in his grenade launcher, and two magazines left. El had moved away, recovering her strength. Mike didn't know how well he could fare against a monster like Brenner. Mike fired the last round and hit Brenner's leg. Brenner fell down and he fired a rocket at Mike. Mike dodged away as he missed getting blasted by the rocket. Mike got up just in time for Brenner to grab him. "I hate bugs like you." Brenner said. He then activated an arc welder and moved it to Mike's face. Mike grabbed the arm and rammed it into his arm that held the gatling gun. The arm partially came off and Mike was dropped to the ground. Mike ran away as the beast stomped around.

Mike fired several rounds at him, but the rounds were not damaging him. "Shit, need a miracle." Mike said to himself. Brenner turned and marched to him. "HEY ASSHOLE!" Jericho shouted. Brenner and Mike looked up and saw a bloody Jericho at the VIP lounge, holding a massive gun. He fired at Brenner, rounds bouncing off of him. Mike ran off to El and the pair ran further away.

"Are you feeling better?" Mike asked. El shrugged. "We need to end this." She said. Will got on the radio. "Hey, we have a shit load of explosives. Just need a way to fire at him." Will said. El and Mike thought about it. "I have a plan. Get the stuff ready." El said as she explained on the radio.

Brenner climbed up while being fired on by Jericho. It was slow going, but soon Jericho ran out of bullets. Brenner made his way to the window and came face to face with Jericho. "I had plans to kill you in an accident Mr. Jericho. But crushing your neck would be preferable." Brenner said. "Yea, but you have a problem." Jericho said, pulling out a detonator. Brenner saw the frame of the window was several blocks of C-4. "You really need to quit falling for that one." Jericho said as he pushed the button. The explosion blasted the frame and Brenner fell down. He slid down and skidded to the center. Brenner stood up, growling about upstart mercenaries, when he looked up and saw several dozen rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and other explosive weaponry floating in a dome around him.

El was on the other side of the dome, a sly grin on her face. With a twitch of her head, a small volley of explosives fired onto Brenner from all directions. He was also fired upon from the walk way from several men firing light machine guns at him. Most of Bravo Company was there aiming weapons. Mike was also there, holding an assault rifle. "This ends now." El said and with a twitch of her head, hundreds of rockets began firing at Brenner from all directions. Several machine gun blasts also fired down upon him.

What seemed like forever, all the rounds and rockets were spent and Brenner's robot form was busted. One of his legs was broken off and his secondary arms were blasted into pulp. He fell over and howled. The face plate opened up and the screen with Brenner's face came on. "I will not be stopped." He said. El glared at him and pulled the screen out, pulling out the controlling circuitry. The robot fell over in a heap.

Brenner

Brenner found himself back in his body. He needed to escape somehow. He had a medical team, a loyal one, at his facility in the Rockies. He looked around for his wheelchair and looked on to see Dr. Strauss sitting in it. He had a small grin on his face.

"Hello Doctor." Strauss said. Brenner had a look of fear on his face. "I have waited for this day for many years. Eleven would have left you here to rot, but I think you and I have an appointment to keep." Strauss said getting up. He opened his coat and inside was several armed blocks of C-4. He smiled as Brenner tried to get out of his bed. Straus grabbed him and held him close as he pressed the detonator.

The explosion was large, destroying the room, and the superconductor that Brenner used to power his machine. The chain reaction went off and began blasting the complex apart.

Suzie noticed the explosion. "Smiley, what the hell is going on?" She demanded. "It looks like the power grid has ruptured. This place is going to blow." Smiley said. "Okay, everyone get out of here, WE ARE LEAVING!" Jericho commanded. The group began heading for the exits.

As everyone got out of the building, several massive explosions ripped the building apart. Soon the complex was engulfed in a massive explosion. The group looked on in amazement, when Nancy looked around. "Where the hell is Mike and El?" She asked. They all looked around then back to the burning husk. "Why the hell didn't they leave?" Max asked.

"No, they left" Weatherford said, looking through his rifle scope. Max grabbed the scope and looked where he was staring. Up in the sky, Mike was holding onto El, both deep into a passionate kiss in the sky.

They both lowered down slowly, The pair holding each other for dear life. "It's over." Mike declared. "Nobody is taking you ever again." He said. El looked up to him, tears in her eyes, smiling at his words.

"God damn, I can't handle this much sweetness." Hopper called from the trailer. El and Mike smiled at the old man. Max ran up to them, carrying Harrison in her arms. "You two are so stubborn." Max said. Harrison, who was now wide awake, looked at his father and giggled loudly. Mike smiled and took him from Max. El looked at the toddler curiously. He was also fascinated by the new person. "El, this is my son, Harrison. Little man, this is El." He said. The toddler looked to El and grinned at her. He then repeated the words. "El" while pointing at her. El smiled at the small one. The child reached for El who was unsure of what to do. Max and Mike smiled as they helped her hold the child, who decided to cling to his new friend.

"Hey this is all adorable and whimsical and all that shit, but I think the US Government is going to notice." Jericho said. Mike nodded and they all headed back to the vehicle. Heading back to Hawkins as the sun began to rise to a new day.

One more chapter to go. I am ready to finish this, but it might be a couple weeks. I have a relative coming next week and well, i have like 5 relatives left. i got to spend time with them. But the next chapter won't be nearly as long. Hopefully. I make no promises.