A few more rounds of fire into the heating chamber and the hells and
heavens reversed. Reeves saw the fiery spectacled death of the heating
room. Steam and hot water filled the room, leaving little room for air.
Reeves ran to he cooling chamber turned a couple of knobs and set the
building to use the backup cooling system and returned to see the after
effect of his work.
Wallace saw the molten vats and charred bodies quickly cool. Burning fluid soon returned to normal. It slowed, hardened, and eventually froze. The hellish nightmare they once ran through had now been turned into a blue ice paradise. Reeves and Wallace walked out of the temperature control systems room and into chemical storage. It was beautiful. Ice hung elegantly from the high ceiling and mutant warriors froze in place. Youngman's screaming corpse lay against the door. His chest was torn open and his whole body covered in a deep frost. It was a devastatingly sad site but they must not waste there time. The pulled off a couple feet of debris and continued down the hole. The tube lead to the short-range slipgate field. This was not the slipgates from which the beasts were coming in but it was awful close to it.
This network of pipes was much easier to navigate than the others, for it was much larger, and wasn't filled with poisonous fumes. Something hummed around the corner.
"What the hell is that?" Reeves said suspiciously, still bleeding from his wounds.
"Must be the slipgate engines. It looks like we are getting pretty close.
As they walked along the water level began to rise. They trudged through it, up to their knees, now waist, eventually they struggled to keep their chin above water. They had to move on, they were so close. The humming got louder. Reeves realized that they were traveling at a decent pace in the water but now they seemed to be going a little fast, very fast actually. They weren't just swimming they were being pulled in. Somewhere along the line they had made a wrong turn and returned to the filtration plant. Now a huge filtering machine was sucking them in. The hum was loud. The water was fast. Louder and louder. Fast and faster. They had gotten close enough to see the monstrosity that was dragging them forward. Four huge grinding turbines sat behind a thin metal grating. They grabbed to whatever little grip they could. Reeves got sucked back. His body slammed against the grating and loosened it. A burst of bubbles came out of his mouth where he would have said "Oomph!" Wallace too was feeling the pull but activated his power armor to synthesize a fake amount of weight and slow him down. Wallace slowly and unsteadily stepped toward Reeves trying to pull him in. With all the injuries and brass shells delivered to him, he didn't have the strength or the will to fight back from the powerful current. The upper right corner of grating had ripped out of the tubing. Wallace pushed forward trying to grab Reeves. Another piece tore from its holding. Wallace swung at Reeves and grabbed a strap near his chest. Reeves was now dangling from a couple pieces of metal, inches away from the spinning turbines. Wallace had a good grip on his bullet strap but the water pushed his body forward, making him loose stability. Wallace was balanced on one foot, leaning forward, Reeves in hand. He had too much weight against him. He let go of Reeves to gain stability. Reeves flew back and looked with total shock at Wallace. Reeves shot back into the turbines taking the metal grating with him. It was too much for the machine to handle. It tore Reeves up to his waste. Reeves's body, along with the metal grating, jammed the turbines. The water quickly drained and the both of them got a gasp of air. For one of them it would be there last gasp. Reeves was in so much pain. He could feel the innards of the machine still spinning fast, struggling to get the turbines running. The twisted his organs around metal rollers.
"Ughugh! AARRGGHH!" Reeves spat up a ton of blood. "Ugh…why'd ya let go? ARRGGHHH!!!"
Wallace fell back in shock, not believing Reeves's half-body was still moving. "I-I-I don't…"
"Ugh" There was a loud splat as a pool of blood poured from his mouth. The turbines turned on again for a short second. He got pulled in a little more. His face was dead white.
Wallace immediately spilled the truth "I-I'm sorry! It was my fault! You could have had some power armor to save yourself but I was too conceited and used yours instead! I killed Youngman it was my fault! I shut the door on him!"
"Huraaaggghhh" Reeves head bobbed down "I-I know. I caught you on both incidents. When I was your age, I would've...hurghghg…would've done the same thing. Just go. G-g-go on. Finish this…hwagh…huuurgh…ughagaghablurrrrgh" The turbines pulled him in more and more. A sickening mix of blood and vomit came from his mouth.
"Urghergh…urgh…arrrgh...arrrarrrrgh…" Blood came from every orifice, his eyes, his ears, and his mouth. "I-I-I can't see! I can't hear…I can't…breathe…" A final spill of blood came out right before the turbines turned on again, pulling him in up to the neck, turning off again, and then turning on, just to show Wallace the violent cinema of Reeves skull being pressed and cracked open, then being sucked in. As if the machine had some vengeance against him.
Wallace cried. He cried blood. Blood in honor of those he killed. Blood for Youngman. Blood for Reeves. The two who defended him through every gunfight while he tinkered at some computer. The two who would die at the cross for him. But Wallace wouldn't risk a chance of injury for either of them. Wallace wanted to die. He wanted to die for them. But he had one more thing to do before this was all over. He had to finish this. It was Reeves's last work. It was no one's fault but his own that his comrades were dead. But Wallace had two lives to pay for. He could only afford one. It was his own fault and he would do what Reeves and Youngman would have done. He was going to destroy those bastards. He was the demon carrying the wings of an angel. He had the hope of two angels with him.
Wallace saw the molten vats and charred bodies quickly cool. Burning fluid soon returned to normal. It slowed, hardened, and eventually froze. The hellish nightmare they once ran through had now been turned into a blue ice paradise. Reeves and Wallace walked out of the temperature control systems room and into chemical storage. It was beautiful. Ice hung elegantly from the high ceiling and mutant warriors froze in place. Youngman's screaming corpse lay against the door. His chest was torn open and his whole body covered in a deep frost. It was a devastatingly sad site but they must not waste there time. The pulled off a couple feet of debris and continued down the hole. The tube lead to the short-range slipgate field. This was not the slipgates from which the beasts were coming in but it was awful close to it.
This network of pipes was much easier to navigate than the others, for it was much larger, and wasn't filled with poisonous fumes. Something hummed around the corner.
"What the hell is that?" Reeves said suspiciously, still bleeding from his wounds.
"Must be the slipgate engines. It looks like we are getting pretty close.
As they walked along the water level began to rise. They trudged through it, up to their knees, now waist, eventually they struggled to keep their chin above water. They had to move on, they were so close. The humming got louder. Reeves realized that they were traveling at a decent pace in the water but now they seemed to be going a little fast, very fast actually. They weren't just swimming they were being pulled in. Somewhere along the line they had made a wrong turn and returned to the filtration plant. Now a huge filtering machine was sucking them in. The hum was loud. The water was fast. Louder and louder. Fast and faster. They had gotten close enough to see the monstrosity that was dragging them forward. Four huge grinding turbines sat behind a thin metal grating. They grabbed to whatever little grip they could. Reeves got sucked back. His body slammed against the grating and loosened it. A burst of bubbles came out of his mouth where he would have said "Oomph!" Wallace too was feeling the pull but activated his power armor to synthesize a fake amount of weight and slow him down. Wallace slowly and unsteadily stepped toward Reeves trying to pull him in. With all the injuries and brass shells delivered to him, he didn't have the strength or the will to fight back from the powerful current. The upper right corner of grating had ripped out of the tubing. Wallace pushed forward trying to grab Reeves. Another piece tore from its holding. Wallace swung at Reeves and grabbed a strap near his chest. Reeves was now dangling from a couple pieces of metal, inches away from the spinning turbines. Wallace had a good grip on his bullet strap but the water pushed his body forward, making him loose stability. Wallace was balanced on one foot, leaning forward, Reeves in hand. He had too much weight against him. He let go of Reeves to gain stability. Reeves flew back and looked with total shock at Wallace. Reeves shot back into the turbines taking the metal grating with him. It was too much for the machine to handle. It tore Reeves up to his waste. Reeves's body, along with the metal grating, jammed the turbines. The water quickly drained and the both of them got a gasp of air. For one of them it would be there last gasp. Reeves was in so much pain. He could feel the innards of the machine still spinning fast, struggling to get the turbines running. The twisted his organs around metal rollers.
"Ughugh! AARRGGHH!" Reeves spat up a ton of blood. "Ugh…why'd ya let go? ARRGGHHH!!!"
Wallace fell back in shock, not believing Reeves's half-body was still moving. "I-I-I don't…"
"Ugh" There was a loud splat as a pool of blood poured from his mouth. The turbines turned on again for a short second. He got pulled in a little more. His face was dead white.
Wallace immediately spilled the truth "I-I'm sorry! It was my fault! You could have had some power armor to save yourself but I was too conceited and used yours instead! I killed Youngman it was my fault! I shut the door on him!"
"Huraaaggghhh" Reeves head bobbed down "I-I know. I caught you on both incidents. When I was your age, I would've...hurghghg…would've done the same thing. Just go. G-g-go on. Finish this…hwagh…huuurgh…ughagaghablurrrrgh" The turbines pulled him in more and more. A sickening mix of blood and vomit came from his mouth.
"Urghergh…urgh…arrrgh...arrrarrrrgh…" Blood came from every orifice, his eyes, his ears, and his mouth. "I-I-I can't see! I can't hear…I can't…breathe…" A final spill of blood came out right before the turbines turned on again, pulling him in up to the neck, turning off again, and then turning on, just to show Wallace the violent cinema of Reeves skull being pressed and cracked open, then being sucked in. As if the machine had some vengeance against him.
Wallace cried. He cried blood. Blood in honor of those he killed. Blood for Youngman. Blood for Reeves. The two who defended him through every gunfight while he tinkered at some computer. The two who would die at the cross for him. But Wallace wouldn't risk a chance of injury for either of them. Wallace wanted to die. He wanted to die for them. But he had one more thing to do before this was all over. He had to finish this. It was Reeves's last work. It was no one's fault but his own that his comrades were dead. But Wallace had two lives to pay for. He could only afford one. It was his own fault and he would do what Reeves and Youngman would have done. He was going to destroy those bastards. He was the demon carrying the wings of an angel. He had the hope of two angels with him.