Chapter 22- Last Stand- Part Two.
"You're going to die Neutron." The General smirked, and tightened his grip on the genius's throat.
"Jimmy," Cindy whispered, he had almost given his life for her only an hour before. Now she would do the same.
"Put him down!" She screamed, and she unleashed her full fury through the generators.
The General stared as a full energy blast smashed into him, and he let go of Jimmy immediately. The General couldn't believe it as he began to regenerate; Cindy had really damaged his internal systems.
Jimmy lay on the floor breathing heavily, another few seconds and he would have been dead. He was lucky, and the genius knew it. There was also another thing Jimmy realised, The General had almost killed him; the machine was a real threat. Suddenly it hit Jimmy; most of his other enemies had not tried to kill him. These people meant business; they were quite prepared to finish him off.
The General finished healing himself, and then turned to face Cindy.
"How dare you attack me girl." The General stepped forward, and moved to strike the girl.
"Oh no you don't!" Jimmy shouted and blasted The General away. The machine stumbled into a wall, and tripped straight through it. The wall crumbled away, and Jimmy and the others followed the path of destruction back to The General.
"Wait, where are we?" Nick asked as screaming people ran around.
"We're in the Retroville mall." Cindy whispered quietly as recognition filled her eyes.
"In a loud public place, we're in The General's playground now." Jimmy said, his voice full of worry.
"Then let the games begin." Nick commented, and he looked around. The General could be around any corner.
The General smiled as he watched the group search for him; they would never find him before he could strike. This was the perfect place for an attack; hundreds of innocent civilians were in this building. If Jimmy tried to stop him, then he could just take one of the civilian's hostage.
Carl and Libby stared as Eustace approached them slowly, he was smiling horribly.
"Goodbye you pathetic children." He laughed, and prepared to kill them both.
"Get away from them you freak!" Eustace turned, and saw one last soldier standing with a machine gun. Eustace's eyes opened wide with fear, as at least twenty bullets headed towards him. Dust scattered everywhere, and Eustace was no longer visible as he disappeared in a storm of gunfire.
"Kids run now." The soldier told them, he knew that the monster was not finished.
Libby looked worried, Carl was still injured.
"Can you run Carl?" She asked the boy sensitively, and he nodded.
"I can just about sprint, but let's go." Carl and Libby began to escape, and left their unknown saviour to face the rage of Eustace Strych.
The soldier, whose name was Robert Shadow, watched and waited for Eustace to emerge. Robert had a family, but he knew those kids were the future. He was ready to die, if it meant that Retroville could be rescued from a horrendous fate.
Eustace came out of the carnage caused by Shadow, and scowled at the last man standing. He had tried to protect Libby and Carl, Eustace admired his heroism, but he would still die.
"Give me the children." The lord of shadows snarled, but Robert stood defiant.
"You'll have to go through me first." Robert told the former billionaire, and a horrifying ghost of a smile passed over Eustace's face. The master of darkness began to run as fast as he could straight at Shadow, and he passed straight through him.
"I went through you, now I can take of the brats." The smile flickered from Eustace's face, replaced by a serious and ominous look. Endgame was coming…
Cindy, Nick and Jimmy were still searching for The General. The shopping mall had not been affected by The General's first attacks, and many civilians were still unaware of the new threat to their lives. This meant that people were out in the open, rather than hiding like other parts of town. It was as if the mall had been designed to suit The General in every way.
"Where is he?" Nick asked exasperated, and he heard a dark sinister chuckle from behind the group. Nick and the others turned around, and came face to face with The General again.
"I'm right here." The android told Nick, and he began to attack the boy.
"It's over Wayne! We'll capture Sheen, without him you won't stand that greater chance." The General screamed in fury, and pulled out an automatic machine gun. He fired everywhere, and people began to scream.
"Don't call me Wayne! I am The General! I will kill you!" Jimmy looked scared as The General finished screaming, and began to run towards some stairs.
"You're not getting away this time." Nick ran after the metal monster, and Jimmy shouted after him.
"Wait! You can't take him down alone! You need our help!" Nick considered it for a moment, and then shouted back.
"Take the lift; I'll meet you up there." Before Jimmy could reply Nick disappeared, the teenager had followed The General.
Jimmy and Cindy sprinted towards the lift, and pressed the up button. People were screaming and shouting as they ran riot around the mall, some were trying to escape; others hiding in stores. Everybody was panicking, and it even made the two heroes standing in a lift feel uneasy.
"If we get out of this then we'll be the luckiest people ever to live." Cindy said as the lift took them upwards, and Jimmy smiled at her.
"We'll get out of this; I promise you that I will get you out of this alive. I will make sure you don't die." Cindy looked disturbed.
"And what about you?" Jimmy didn't reply, and instead an awkward silence filled the lift.
Nick and The General continued their battle as they walked up the staircase, which was leading to the third floor, as Jimmy and Cindy made their way to the same destination via the lift.
At the top of the mall the manager sat in a leather chair, his eyes tired and distraught, as he tracked the chaos in the mall by camera.
"What can we do?" He asked a worker, who was just as nervous as his employer.
"We have to get the customers in a safe area." He said, as he watched the battle unfold.
"Good idea, do we still have the armoured room?" The man pulled up records of the refurbishment the years before, and quickly trawled through them.
"We still have the room; we can send the customers there if needed." The worker replied, and he turned back to the screens.
"We will only use such drastic measures as a last resort." The manager muttered nervously, and although he had never been a religious man; at that moment in time he began to pray that everything would be alright.
"Sir, they're coming towards the third floor; what should we do?" The manager considered it for a moment, and then instructed the workers.
"Retract the staircase."
Swords clashed together as Nick and The General walked up the stairs duelling each other.
"You can't defeat me you pathetic child." Wayne struggled as Nick attempted to defeat him, but he forced the teenager back. Suddenly the staircase moved backwards, it was disappearing before the warriors' eyes. The General leapt upwards, and stood on top of the ledge above the third floor. The staircase was moving like an escalator, except it would now simply vanish; and leave Nick in the air to fall.
Nick had to think fast, or die. He grabbed onto the stairs, and allowed himself to be dragged upwards. Nick only had a few seconds left, it was time to think. He looked all around him, and saw a staircase beneath him. Nick looked at him, and braced himself. It was death by the current staircase, or death by being crushed by another staircase. He had to take a chance; the boy let himself fall towards his only chance of escape.
Nick plummeted downwards at an amazing speed, he would die if he hit the ground at his current pace. He took out his laser sword and stabbed it into the wall, he stopped moving and began to breathe. He looked won, he was not that far from the staircase now, he could easily drop the new distance and survive. He fell down, and began to run upwards towards the roof. The General would soon discover what he had done, and he had to be prepared.
Jimmy and Cindy looked out for Nick and The General but could see nothing, their lift had stopped and they were not aware of what was going on.
"I'll see if I can fix this thing." Jimmy told his girlfriend, and he started to work on it. Cindy just sat down, and waited. She couldn't believe the way the events had turned, a week ago she had been enjoying herself with Jimmy; and now she was protecting the planet. How could this happen? Why couldn't everyone just leave them alone? Why did it have to be them? A tear dropped from Cindy's eye as she contemplated everything that had happened, and Jimmy instantly turned around and looked at her. He sat down beside her, and tried to reassure her; but he knew it was useless.
"Cindy everything is going to be okay, we'll make it through this. We'll win the war." Cindy shook her head.
"Why does there have to be any war at all? Why do we have to fight Jimmy?" Jimmy understood what she said, and took hold of her hand.
"Because we're the ones who Eustace wants. He wants us dead, this is all because of us. I understand if you want the fighting to stop, so I'll give you a choice Cindy. You can leave right now, Eustace wants me more than you. You can run away and disappear, or you can stay and fight to the end. Its your choice Cindy, but there's no backing away from either decision." Cindy considered it for a moment, and then made her choice.
"To the end." She told Jimmy, and he smiled.
Suddenly Jimmy's phone began to ring, and slowly the genius answered.
Libby and Carl continued to hide in the city centre as Eustace hunted them down, and both were seriously worried.
"We can't stay out here much longer Carl." Libby whispered, and Carl agreed. They both suddenly made a run for it, and Eustace saw them. He moved like lightning, and was in front of them in seconds. The lord of darkness grinned evilly.
"And where are you two going then?" He asked nastily, and he punched Carl in the stomach. The teenager groaned and fell to the floor, he was in absolute agony. Libby blasted Eustace with her generators, but he simply stopped the attack as if nothing had happened.
"Nice try Libby, but its time to die." Libby thought for a second, and then realised something. She still had one talent left, her voice. She hit a high note, and everything smashed in half. Eustace covered his ears, and Libby took her chance. She fired a blast at him, and the monster was forced back by the power of it. Libby picked up Carl using her generators power, and then sprinted away from the battle scene as fast as humanly possible.
Eustace stood up disorientated, the girl had got the better of him. Not that it mattered, he could hunt down the pests another day. All that mattered was Neutron, the others could perish with the Earth.
Jimmy answered the phone call, it was Nick.
"Jimmy where are you?" Nick asked the genius.
"I'm in the lift, but its broken down. I'm trying to repair it now, why what's the matter?"
"The General's hunting me down, I don't have much longer. I need help now!" Jimmy nodded, and looked at Cindy and pointed towards the lift controls. She took his tools, which he kept on him in his pocket, and began work on fixing the lift.
"Okay Nick, which floor are you on?"
"The fifth floor, about six floors away from the roof."
"Okay, stay there and we'll catch up. We're two floors beneath you, it shouldn't take long." Nick hung up, and left Jimmy and Cindy to work on the lift.
Nick hid in the shadows as The General approached, he had to stay on the fifth floor. He had to stay around or Jimmy would never find him, and who knew what might happen then...
The General looked around for the boy, when his mobile began to ring. It was unusual for a killer robot to carry a mobile phone, but the master had insisted. He answered the call, and was greeted with Captain D's voice.
"Enjoying your little game General?" The voice seemed amused, and The General did not like it.
"I am as a matter of fact, and how are you coping in your task?" The tone was still amused, as if the war was nothing more than a game to the Captain.
"Just remember to play your part, and soon Lord Eustace will rule Earth." The General told the Captain, and now the voice became lower and darker. It was no longer treating this as a game.
"I know my part General, I would be more worried about remembering your own part. And I advise you to forget me at the end of your act, or it could damage my performance in this play." The voice had returned to its normal sound, but The General was still unhappy.
"I don't like your attitude, I don't why the master ever asked you for help."
"Because he has known me a lot longer than he has known you, and I am more useful at this point. You are almost finished General, and I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. And for the last time, goodbye." The Captain hung up, and he left The General feeling worried. An emotion he was not normally associated with, unless he was causing the worry. But the true plan had to go on, and his final action could ensure that.
Jimmy and Cindy fixed the lift, and pressed the button for the fifth floor. The lift began to rise upwards, Jimmy only hoped they were not too late...
Nick and The General were once again locked in life or death combat, and Nick could not hold out for much longer. He was tiring, but The General apperaed to have an infinite supply of energy. The teenager could not last for much longer against such a powerful opponent, he was doomed.
Jimmy and Cindy found themselves on the fifth floor, and they quickly found Nick and The General. They joined the battle, and the three warriors managed to beat the android back for a moment. Jimmy continued to fire at the cyborg, and The General could not block the attack. Nick began to breathe heavily as soon as Cindy stepped in for the final attack, and when she turned The General took advantage of it. He knocked Cindy back, and leapt upwards.
"Lets finish this battle on a high shall we?" He sneered, and he began to jump up and up. He was heading for the roof, and Jimmy flew after him; taking Nick and Cindy with him for the long awaited final confrontation.
Jimmy and the others came to the roof, and found The General waiting for them.
"This is it Neutron! We duel to the end, no more running." Jimmy nodded, and the battle began.
Jimmy and the others quickly gained the upper hand, they had more power and more people. The General turned as fast as he could, but every attack came from a different direction. The teenagers had him beaten, so he decided to adopt a new stratergy to complete his task. He took his laser sword, and pointed it straight at Jimmy.
"You win Neutron." The General then gazed directly at Nick, and the teenager gazed directly back.
"You fight well, you should have joined us." The General plunged the sword into himself, and then stumbled back to the edge of the roof. He dropped against it, and lay there staring blankly. Nick cautiously approached the body, and prodded it with the handle of his sword.
"I think he's dead." The boy said gently, when suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed him by the throat. The General was up and standing, and he hung Nick over the edge of the building laughing. Jimmy started towards the monster, but The General's cold voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Come any closer and he will die." The android stated, and Jimmy backed away.
"You're going to die General, that wound you inflicted on yourself must have caused pain." Cindy shouted, and The General nodded.
"It did, in fact I'll be dead in two minutes. My machine half is failing, and my human side has taken too much damage to survive. I'm dead, but so is your friend." The robot turned to face Nick, who looked right at him; and then at Jimmy and Cindy.
"Tell Libby I'm sorry." He told them, and then he turned back to The General one last time.
"Do it." He commanded the cyborg, and The General complied with his order. Nick Dean plunged down eleven floors to his death, and he left The General with Jimmy and Cindy; both of whom were in shock.
The General coughed, and fell to the floor. It was a hero's death, one that he didn't deserve. He had once tried to make the world a better place, and now look what he had become. He had finished himself off for his master, and it was only now he had his doubts. Now it was the end, The General closed his eyes. And never again would they open, he had made his last stand...
Jimmy and Cindy could only stare in shock, Nick was dead; The General had taken his own life. Now they could not extract any information from the cyborg, Eustace had outsmarted them once again...
