This is the last normal chapter, actually. This is the second major work that I have finished on and again the feeling at the end is a bit strange. As before, I find that I have relatively little to say. I hope thatthis is enjoyable and provides resolution.
I would describe TA0 as obsessed, not a lunatic. An argument could be made that obsession is lunacy, of course. Meanwhile, I apologize for using the wrong "ensure."
Chapter 28: Epic Level
Finally the shuttle opened at the proper spot. It was broadcasting an annoying message about the door needing repair, but Samus ignored it. Stepping calmly from the shuttle, she moved forward. The corridors here were quiet and clean, as if nothing of the battles elsewhere on the station had touched them.
Could it really be this easy? Samus calmly moved down the hallways, toward her goal. Could all of this really come down to just a final corridor? It would be terribly ironic if that was all it took. After everything that had happened, now it would end quietly like this.
Not that she minded. There was enough action in her life regardless, and she had the feeling it would continue even after this issue was finally closed. No need for any more battles to take place.
"Stop right there!"
Sighing, Samus turned slowly to face the speaker. In the large rectangular room behind her there stood quite a number of exoskeleton clad creatures. Most of them seemed to be lurking about restlessly, but two stood completely still, watching her. It was to them that her eyes immediately were pulled.
"TA models, then?" Samus asked calmly.
"The same," one snapped, in a female voice.
"Now get your hands in the air," the other ordered, male this time. "Don't try anything funny."
"Certainly," Samus told them pleasantly. She slowly and unthreateningly raised her arms... then brought them down and fired solid plasma into the group. Both the TA exoskeletons managed to weave out of the way of the attacks, but a few of the failed experiments were smashed backward.
Shifting the alignment of her jet packs, Samus put on a brief boost of speed that sent her sailing sideways. As she landed on the wall, she let loose two missiles that exploded in the center of the room, perhaps destroying some of the more lowly exoskeletons; it was difficult to be certain about it.
Something slashed at her from her right, and Samus intercepted the bladed hand as it moved toward her head. Not a TA, she realized as she grabbed the arm and hurled its owner into another attacking alien. Turning off her boots' electromagnets, Samus dropped to the ground just before concentrated nega photons destroyed the wall behind her.
By this point the smoke had cleared in the room, giving all of them an opportunity to size up the situation. There were three failed experiments remaining. One of the TA models was in the center of the room, having attacked. The other was by a computer terminal, tapping several keys. The doors on either side of the room closed completely. So they were pretty confident about their victory then... with just five to one odds?
Leaping to the side to avoid several spikes thrown in her direction, Samus launched a spike grappling hook. It embedded itself through one of the lesser exoskeletons. When she retracted the chain it was jerked lifelessly forward, but she was also propelled across the room. She used the movement to smash a kick into the male TA.
Landing, Samus swept the legs out from under the nearest exoskeleton. The third leapt upon her back almost immediately, and she struggled to remove it for an instant. Then she realized the female TA was rushing toward her, aiming to attack at close range. Her hand was actually not covered in a claw, which made Samus extremely suspicious...
Jerking her head to the right, the bounty hunter narrowly avoided the hand touching the front of her helmet. Instead it gripped the head of the partial alien on her back. There was a momentary pause, and then pressure fell from her back as it dropped lifelessly. Whatever she could do with her hands, it seemed pretty dangerous.
Not that it mattered while Samus' elbow smashed into her stomach. As she doubled over, Samus smashed the gun end of her arm into the TA model's face. Even as one opponent fell back through the air, Samus fired point blank into the other alien that was leaping toward her back. Both of them crashed on opposite sides of the room.
Turning to the lesser TA, which was just leaping off the floor, Samus fired on it with a partially charged laser. It was enough to break the creature's weak exoskeleton and destroy its heart instantly. Then there were only the two of them remaining.
Claws slashed across her back the next instant, making Samus drop forward painfully. Immediately she switched to ball mode and rolled, getting away from the female TA. They were pretty tough and fast, actually. Unrolling, Samus fired several shots after her-
The other former human caught her from the side, propelling her to the ground and smashing her into the steel floor. Immediately he leapt away, avoiding Samus' reactive shot. Attempting to move, Samus discovered she was fairly stuck in the floor. She could get out... but not before the female TA got to her, claws retracted and hand burning dangerously with nega photons. In that case, isolate the suit's functions, create a shell, prepare a power surge and wait.
Her opponent's hand clamped down on her helmet. The instant it did so electricity burst out over Samus' suit, crackling across the metal and electrocuting the TA before she could move much further. It blasted her back, where she lay smoking on the ground and shaking slightly as her nerve endings fired.
Breaking out of the ground, Samus back flipped to evade the almost immediate slash from the other TA. Instead of fighting she broke backward, getting out of his range. She had taken a moderate amount of damage, Samus calculated, and her jet packs were offline. Best to finish this quickly.
Running along one wall of the room, Samus glanced over her shoulder slightly. It had been a long time since she'd had an opportunity to use this weapon. There simply weren't many extremely cold planets with caverns any more. But this room was closed enough and air conditioned enough that it would do.
Gritting his teeth, the TA sped up, starting to gain ground on the fleeing bounty hunter. One of her arms seemed to hang by her side, he noticed, steam issuing from it. The other, unfortunately, was firing at him. Evading the shots, he continued following as best he could.
His partner was getting to her feet near the center of the room, and then she joined in the chase. Reaching a wall, Samus briefly ran along it, then moved beside the next wall. But it was only a matter of time. Their death trap was steadily closing in; the female TA was moving toward Samus from the opposite direction.
Just before they converged upon her, Samus broke to the side. They narrowly avoided colliding with each other and continued to pursue her as she ran across the room. Now, however, both of them were firing upon her, and though Samus fired back, she couldn't match their combined firepower. She was being slowly herded into one corner of the room, however slippery she tried to be about it. With only one arm, she didn't stand a chance.
Eventually one of his shots connected, not strong enough to deal much damage but with enough force to send her tumbling into one of the walls. As she crashed into the wall one of her hands moved, and three small devices were hurled. His partner caught him and jerked him back just before two of the devices exploded in a fiery wall in front of Samus.
The bombs dealt minor damage to both TA models, but not enough to stop them from eliminating their target. One device remained on the floor, and it exploded a second later, sending a shower of white through the area. It felt like no more than mist, so he assumed that the last bomb had been a dud... or an attempt to escape!
Looking for her scent instead of her body, he discovered her darting away from the corner. Moving with full speed, he managed to trip her up as she tried to pass. Though she managed to catch herself, she still struck the opposite wall and was merely pinned in another corner by both of them.
"There is no way we'll let you leave this room," he hissed triumphantly.
"You can't escape," his partner agreed, retracting her claws.
"On the contrary," Samus answered them, slowly getting to her feet. Abruptly her eyes flashed dangerously. "You can't escape!"
Both gaped, and in that instant Samus raised her guns. The edges glowed with a strange blue light, and the next instant discharged another chemical. In midair a vicious reaction occurred, violently changing something. Sensing danger, the female TA jerked away immediately, but her arm was still caught in the reaction.
Landing on the opposite side of the room, the female TA immediately cried out in pain. Glancing down at her arm, she discovered it was encased in a massive block of ice. So then, that meant that the bounty hunter had been...
Samus was already moving. The male TA had one of his legs encased in ice, which kept him firmly rooted to the ground. Ducking underneath his awkward kick, Samus fired another ice beam up, freezing the rest of him. From behind, her other opponent was attacking; Samus smacked her aside and then fired a fully charged plasma shot into the large block of ice, shattering the male TA completely.
Whirling, Samus watched her remaining opponent. The former human was up against a wall, shuddering slightly. Seeing Samus turn, she let out a roar and attacked. Massive claws ripped from her as she charged, aiming to sever Samus limb from limb.
Unloading from both barrels, Samus froze her completely, leaving one corner of the room a massive block of ice. After, there was a long, frosty silence as Samus stood alone on the battlefield. The air around her was filled with icy crystals, and there was ice coating much of the walls. But there was no time for contemplation now.
Breaking into a run, ignoring the damage she had taken, Samus blew away the door and moved into the next hallway. Time to end this.
Ducking beneath a claw swipe, Tal immediately darted a claw forward toward his opponent's knee. Jerking his leg out of the way, TA0 swung it back the next second, aiming to smash Tal in the head. Weaving to the left of the attack, Tal used the momentum to bring his other leg up to smash into TA0's side.
Catching the leg before it could strike him, the other exoskeleton brought a claw down at Tal's leg, aiming to break it. Jerking away, Tal twirled back through the air and then landed. They faced off for some time, both watching for the other's attack.
With a slick motion TA0 pulled several spikes to his hand and hurled them. Before they were midway across the distance between them, however, Tal retaliated with a bolt of nega photons. His energy consumed the spikes immediately and struck TA0 in the shoulder. The red armored warrior stumbled back, then growled angrily.
Exploding off the ground, TA0 retreated to a nearby wall. There he paused a moment before blowing and unleashing a blazing column of fire. Let Tal try to overpower that! Eventually he cut off the stream, not wanting to waste any more of his nega photons than were necessary.
Only briefly did he see Tal before him, emerging from the shadows, apparently unharmed. Then his opponent spat and dropped back away. A clear liquid struck TA0's arm before he could begin to react. The next instant the acid began to eat away at his arm and TA0 gasped in pain. With a loud cry he sent the acid bursting away from his arm.
Folding his wings, TA0 plummeted down toward Tal, who stood calmly watching him from above. Striking with his full might, TA0 forced his claws down. Tal's claws rose abruptly, blocking his attack. The two forced their strengths against each other for a moment, then TA0 flew back with a flap of his wings. Airborne, he began firing short bursts down at Tal. Narrowing his eyes, Tal flapped his own wings and rose to meet him.
They arced and curved, slashing at one another in a deadly but graceful dance. Barrel-rolls, loops and maneuvers impossible with only wings were executed, neither able to gain an advantage over the other. Eventually, however, TA0 managed to just barely touch one of Tal's wings, and it pushed him off balance.
Instantly TA0 struck, claw slashing and deflecting off the black exoskeleton. The blow sent Tal down, and TA0 swooped after him. In midair he gripped both of Tal's forearms, then sent him bashing all the way into the ground. Embedded some distance into the steel, Tal hissed slightly in pain.
TA0 propelled himself over Tal, aiming to smash his legs into his opponent's face. Before he could do so, Tal's wing clapped together around TA0, throwing him off balance. In that instant Tal broke free from his grip and burst away down the tunnel. Angrily landing, TA0 watched his opponent on the opposite side of the tracks intently. He did not see the glowing lights of the shuttle behind him.
Mere fractions of a second before the metallic craft hit him, TA0 whirled, grabbing the front of the shuttle with both hands while digging his claws into the metal at his feet. Instead of smashing into him, the shuttle flipped over him. Moving with it, TA0 brought it smashing down toward Tal.
Catching the shuttle with one hand, Tal noted that it was unoccupied. How fortunate, he thought, his other hand moving toward his mouth...
A raging inferno ripped through the shuttle and encompassed a shocked TA0. He fell backward, flaming slightly, and crashed heavily onto the tracks. For a moment he lay silently, then he burst to his feet, roaring in anger and sending melted metal and flames flying away from him. Seething, he locked eyes with Tal.
"I believe you were talking about a massive superiority earlier," Tal commented easily. "I trust you're just playing around with me then or something?"
"Shut up!" TA0 roared. "I'll prove my superiority with this!" The next instant he launched himself forward, metal-like blades exploding from his fingers. Tal retracted his claws as well and brought out shimmering blades.
They clashed between them, sparks flying from the biological metal grating on biological metal. Immediately both struck again, blades flying between them dangerously. Both formed shimmering arcs around themselves as they struck at each other, battering at the other's shield of slashes. Blows passed between them like lightning, raining down on the other. It seemed as if it could go on forever, and then it came to a sudden halt.
"It... it can't be," TA0 rasped painfully. Unbelieving, he glanced down at the claw that was now passing through his right lung. Horrified he glanced at Tal, unable to come to grips with the fact that he had been bested. The next instant his eyes narrowed and he let out an inhuman roar. Jerking off the blade, he slashed down at Tal, aiming to lop his head off his shoulders in a single swipe-
Emerging swiftly from Tal's back, a long spike broke through TA0's wrist moments before his hand struck Tal's neck. Gaping in pain, TA0 instead swept a kick at his opponent's side. Bending a knee, Tal intercepted the blow with a spike that emerged from his exoskeleton and speared TA0's leg. Shaking, too filled with rage to feel pain, TA0 did begin to understand fear as he realized that he was effectively pinned in place and that Tal could just as easily stop any other attempts he made.
"I think I know what your problem is," Tal commented, face expressionless behind his exoskeleton. "You tried to use the genetics of others to make yourself powerful. But that cannot match developing your own abilities. Instead of searching for power outside yourself, look to what you have already been given."
His cupped hands swung up to nearly touch TA0's face, nega-photons so concentrated within them that they seemed to glow with blue flame. There was a blinding flash that transcended anything so lowly as pain, and then TA0 knew no more.
Leaning heavily against the wall, Samus waited patiently for the doors to open. They did so with the slight hiss of hydraulics. Tal was already there, waiting for her calmly. His exoskeleton looked a bit battered, and he was bleeding and slightly scorched in several places, but to her he had never looked better.
"Is it finished?" he asked. She flashed him a weary but triumphant smile.
"It's over. I made sure that our names will never be mentioned in all of this, so we should have actual peace."
They both began moving back to the ship, supporting each other though they could both have truly walked on their own. But sometimes, Samus reflected, that wasn't really what mattered. There were other things.
"The most exciting part of this might be over," she commented, "but the important part is just beginning."
Tal smiled slightly. "I hear that. Let's go."
Angrily Mr. Divel crushed his crystal cup in one hand, not caring that water was spilling to the floor and that some glass dust was in his hand. So his last remaining minions had failed. Details were scarce, but he felt certain it was Samus and that blasted rebel TA model. It was probably the only one left, now. If he wanted to reach the next phase of his plan, he would need to capture that creature somehow. How annoying that it was being wasted in the presence of a bounty hunter.
But for now that was none of his concern. There were more important things to do. Reaching into a desk, Mr. Divel pulled out a large black gun. Reloaded it for good measure, he slipped it inside his suit coat and began walking. Best to take care of this himself.
Dead bodies were beginning to be found. Destroyed shuttles were beginning to be noticed. Reports were being checked. The Assembly was beginning to ask questions that his constituents could not stop. Another senator was beginning to speak seriously about a vote of no confidence, and they would soon discover that most of the Galactic Council was dead.
Almost... he intended to ensure that all of it was finished. Mr. Stevenson was helpful to have around as a scapegoat, but now he would only be a liability. But dead men could tell no tales, even the unthreatening ones that Mr. Stevenson had to tell.
Plans were running through Mr. Divel' head like a macabre stream. Some shadowy para-governmental organization would have to be responsible for all this. Conspiracy buffs would embrace it immediately. Mr. Stevenson would be involved in some unknown manner, which is why they would discover him shot to death. The alien that had been brought to the station had not been done so in his name... perhaps that organization could be framed.
He was obviously extremely close to the situation, and people would notice. Best to write a broken and tearful speech in which he tried to remain calm and leader-like but broke down and revealed his inner feelings. If he shot himself in a nonfatal place few would dare question him.
Then he could make his best effort to truly erase corruption from the Assembly. Nearly all of his constituents there could be sacrificed and arrested. It would be little trouble to replace them with a new wave of corruption. He would, of course, refuse the promotion to the Galactic Council. That would buy him a few more years.
For now, that would be enough. Nothing would be able to touch him, and he would come off as a public hero. Once people had that image of him in their minds, he could get away with nearly anything. It was too late for Samus or anyone else to stop him. Later there would be time to plan how he could continue the Darklight Project, but for now he had to focus on his objective at the moment.
Mr. Stevenson's quarters were directly ahead. Reaching the door, Mr. Divel overrode the lock and entered quietly. He discovered himself in a dimly lit, softly designed room. It was an office, but appeared more like a home. That was Mr. Stevenson's image, after all. Speaking about this councilman's death would have to particularly choke him up.
He could see the man himself sitting in a high backed black chair. Currently he was mostly turned away, staring off into a chemically controlled fire crackling in a replica of a traditional fireplace. His body was slightly slumped, and it spoke of his immense weariness. Even as Mr. Divel watched, the man let out a soul rending sigh.
"Hello, Mr. Divel," Mr. Stevenson said sadly, without turning.
"You know why I am here," Mr. Divel told him coldly. "Turn around and make this look proper."
"Why should I listen to you any more?" Mr. Stevenson asked, his voice dull.
"I can make your life more miserable than you can understand," Mr. Divel hissed. "If you play into my plan you'll die almost instantly. You should be honored to be one of the components of my final escape plan."
"I'm tired," Mr. Stevenson answered him. "I've seen far too much in this life."
"That's right," Mr. Divel agreed soothingly. "Why not let it all go? Just let it end now, and drift into history as a wise but unfortunately slain leader."
Abruptly the chair spun around, and Mr. Divel saw Mr. Stevenson moving before he heard the shot. For a long moment he was stunned, unable to move and barely to breath. Slowly he absorbed the reality of what had happened. Mr. Stevenson still had his hands raised around his gun, his eyes hard. Briefly Mr. Divel put a hand to the bloody hole in his chest before he collapsed to the ground.
"H-h... how?" he gasped, forcing back blood. He had to know how his plan had failed, how he had been undone. Mr. Stevenson slowly got up from his desk like a very old man and stood over him. His eyes, however, were filled with life.
"You thrived for a very long time on a corrupt, sickened galaxy," Mr. Stevenson began slowly, glancing down at the dying man on the floor sadly. "But not all of the galaxy is corrupted. Not everyone is evil. And those things finally caught up with you.
"I had always wanted to believe there were still good people left in the galaxy, but I had always thought I was simply an old fool. But I was proved wrong." Mr. Stevenson reached into a pocket and pulled out a black rectangle that Mr. Divel realized with horror was a disk. "Someone came here and explained everything, explained all that had happened, explained what you were going to do.
"And in that moment I knew I couldn't give up on the galaxy. So you were beaten, Evans. Beaten by a tired old man." Those words echoed in Mr. Divel' mind as it faded away, as he lost his grip on the life remaining in him. Beaten by a tired old man...
Heavily Mr. Stevenson sat down at his chair. He dropped his gun to the floor and buried his head in his hands. This next part was going to be the most painful, but also the most necessary for healing. Hopefully all that had been destroyed could somehow be restored. All he could do was hope, and work.
"Put me on," he said softly, tapping a key on his desk. There was an answer he barely heard and then his room began to hum. Lights shifted and changed to the perfect lighting, a camera focusing on him began to warm up. Straightening, Mr. Stevenson put aside his weariness and straightened his tie. He waited motionless until a small green light appeared, signaling he was being broadcast as planned.
"Citizens of the galaxy," he said slowly. "Today, I have an extremely important announcement to make. I have to tell you the truth..."
There is also an epilogue, which I will post immediately, instead of making all of you wait another week. You can review both if you like...
