Ch. 65:…Corrupts Absolutely (P2)

A.N.:

Hey everyone!

Sorry about the wait. After my finals, it took much longer than I had anticipated to get my BioShock story updated.

Anyway,

As promised, the big reveal is in this chapter. I hope it is an interesting final twist. I've been hinting at it all along so some of you might have already figured it out.

Well, I hope it was worth the wait ^_^

Read and review if you want :)

I rolled upon landing and continued towards the nearby spire. When I reached it, I placed my gloved left hand against its smooth obsidian outer casing. While I waited for the control panel to become accessible, I reflected upon what laid ahead. A foe that was so formidable that it made even Alma hesitate was rapidly approaching. It would easily be the most dangerous threat that humanity had ever faced. I had no idea who or what "The Overseer" was but I did know that what bode ill for Alma Wade bode ill for us all.

The being could be anything and take any form as far as I knew. For once, I had absolutely no idea as to who or what was waiting for its moment to reveal itself. I had always been able to prepare myself for an approaching threat by being able to read the writing on the proverbial wall to anticipate the nature and identity of my enemy and then plan my course of action accordingly. However, this time, I would have to face my foe head-on without any plans or preparations in place. It went against every rule that I lived my life by but I had no choice but to press on.

As I reflected upon this, I suddenly realized that I was afraid. It had been a long time since I had a reason to doubt myself but, this time, I had to admit that this was beyond anything that I was prepared to deal with. No matter what happened though, I could not allow any doubt to hinder my resolve.

When the rusted control panel was revealed, I reached forward and pulled on the lever with my gloved left hand. However, suddenly, alarm bells went off in my mind and I quickly jumped to my right as far as my tired leg muscles could still manage. I hard barely managed to make it out of the way just before the abomination sent one of its massive tentacles smashing into the center of the spire in an attempt to prevent its impending demise by cutting off the supply of psionic energy directly at its source. The attack succeeded in not only demolishing the control panel but it also caused the entire spire to begin to collapse.

As the towering structure began to fall towards the ground, I initially tried running diagonally from where it was but soon realized that the shadow of the spire was following me even when I changed direction. It seemed that even the spires were hell bent on killing me as well. I was forced to throw my assault rifle away as I ran as fast as I could despite the rapidly degrading terrain and attacking tentacles. I was only vaguely aware of the feeding tube being ripped out of the exponentially growing monstrosity in the center of the battleground as the tower plunged towards me. When I had ran far enough from the collapsing base, I turned and then began to sprint perpendicular to the falling structure.

With my stamina at an alarmingly low level and with my body on the verge of giving out, I managed to dodge the falling spire by inches. However, even still, the thunderous impact of the massive structure sent me flying several feet forward through the air. I landed hard and flashes of red filled my vision as the right side of my forehead took the brunt of the initial landing before I tumbled a few times until I finally come to a halt on my back.

I felt warm liquid overtaking the fabric of my skull ski mask as I fought to rally my screaming frame. Soon, the overpowering stench of iron filled my pounding head as the fresh nasty gash on my forehead continued to soak my mask with my own blood. Nausea erupted inside me but for a completely different reason than the stench of my own blood. I only felt this particular type of nausea when my Enhanced Reflexes were completely depleted to the point that it would be some time before I would be able to them again.

Letting out a loud groan as my entire body was flooded by a fresh wave of agony, I somehow managed to get to my feet. I could hear the thundering echo of my own laboring heart as it stubbornly continued its steady beat to keep my aching frame from the clutches of the dark abyss in my ears as I looked around to get my bearings. The sight of a dramatic reversal of fortune greeted me as I took in my surroundings. The abomination's tentacles were all on the ground and the abomination itself was slumped forward as it was clearly trying to rally its overburdened frame but it was in vain due to the almost inconceivable size that it had achieved.

As I stood before my would-be killer, I reached up with my gloved hands and then removed my mask. The bleeding, battered, and horribly scarred face of the human man that I had once been was revealed as I removed my blood-soaked true face. I knew what I was; what I had become. I was no longer a human being pretending to be a monster. I was now a monster pretending to be a human being.

As I used the contents of my remaining Medkit to heal the bleeding gash to my forehead, I could not help but question how much further I was willing to go if it meant being strong enough to protect my family. As I squeezed my mask to ring out the blood, I decided that what I was did not matter as long as I remained who I had always been: a soldier that protected the people that relied upon me by any means necessary.

After most of the blood had been removed from my face, I placed it back over my human façade and then drew my stainless steel Ruger Super Redhawk .44 Magnum from its holster. Holding the highly customized deadly powerhouse down by my right side, I began to advance on the struggling abomination. It was not until I was within approximately thirty yards of it that I properly held my sidearm at the ready with both of my hands cupping its thick black rubber grip.

As I took in the sight of the massive creature before me with my glowing eyes, I slowly advanced on my once formidable adversary. Despite not being able to completely drown the monstrosity in power, my tactic had seemingly worked, but I still remained vigilant in case it was merely trying to trick me. I soon became aware of an additional source of thunderous heart beats and, upon closer examination of the exterior of the abomination, I located a spot that was rhythmically bulging and then receding as if a heart the size of a full grown man was beneath that area of its huge colonial body.

However, the spot was at least ten stories above me. Undeterred, I holstered my .44 Magnum and then began to free climb up the rough surface of its laboring body. My physical being begged me to quit but I steeled myself and forced my also laboring body to continue. The Law of Nature decreed that only one of us could survive this confrontation and I was going to ensure that I was the one that walked away. Pain, both physical and mental, was a small price to pay when the alternative was death.

The exterior of the abomination was just barely knotted and rough enough for me to ascend up towards the weak point. Several times, I nearly lost my grip and plummeted to the unforgiving ground stories below me but I persevered and continued my ascent. The monstrosity was not ignorant of my location or of its predicament. It attempted to impede my progress by moving the living mass of tentacles that made up its frame individually to try to dislodge me while it tried desperately to rally its outlying arms.

When I had made it approximately halfway to the creature's heart, whatever or whoever my ultimate foe was became aware of the fact that its creation was in peril and, soon, a torrential downpour including fierce wind and accompanying lightning and thunder overtook the battlefield. My ascent went from difficult to nearly impossible due to the heavy rain and wind but I was not about to yield to parlor tricks.

I unsheathed my personal back-up survival knife, a KA-BAR Mark 2 Fighting Knife, from where it was strapped just above my left combat boot. I had modified the already legendary combat knife by giving it a serrated saw blade on the otherwise blunt side opposite its seven inch razor sharp blade in addition to giving the entire blade an additional spray painted matte black protective coating. I had also wrapped the wooden grip with a thin layer of black duct tape that had been lightly rubbed by fine grain sandpaper. I continued my ascent as I held the lethal piece of flat black spray painted alloy steel in my left hand and used it as an anchor as I found additional footing to continue despite the punishing elements. Just as my mentor had taught me, a well-prepared soldier never only carried one knife into combat. A protective level of redundancy in his or her supporting/utility equipment was an operator's saving grace in certain situations.

The pitch black abyss that had overtaken the entire area due to the powerful storm forced me to use the flashes of lightning in order to see what I was doing but I continued my ascent. Finally, despite my adversity-filled climb, I reached the spot. My trek had not been fruitless because the deep heart beat was undeniable now as it was loud enough to drown out the claps of thunder. Keeping my grip on my imbedded knife, I reached down with my right hand and then drew my Super Redhawk .44 Magnum from its holster. I had no sooner drawn my sidearm before I felt the monstrosity finally recover and manage to begin bringing in its outlying tentacles to finish me.

With no time left, I placed the muzzle of my revolver against the surface of the now rapidly pulsating protective hide of tentacles and then discharged a round. Whatever substance made up the abomination was no match for the incredible power of the .44 Magnum as the hand cannon punched through and inflicted devastating amounts of damage to the creature's vital organ. A brief stab of pain shot through my right arm due to the recoil of the magnum and the awkward angle that I was having to fire the revolver one-handed but I forced myself to ignore it.

Naturally, the creature reacted violently to try to dislodge me while it also emitted a strange guttural roar that temporarily overpowered the thunder of the storm and the sound of the beating of its heart. For a brief, stressful moment, I almost lost my grip on my knife to freefall to my death. However, the rough pad of the palm of my worn combat glove and the knife's modified grip were just enough to allow me to remain where I was as I emptied my Super Redhawk's entire six-shot cylinder point blank into the abomination. By the forth shot, the damage had become significant as indicated by the greatly reduced and increasingly jerky movement of the massive hydra-like creature, the notably increasing heat beat as the heavily damaged organ desperately fought on to continue supporting its host, and the increasing volume of the blowback spray of black sludge from the wound. The six shot was clearly the requiem bell for the monster because the tentacles began to fall to the ground in a disorganized manner while the abomination let out a final mournful bellow.

As the dead creature's body began to fall apart, the remaining three feeding spires followed along with it as they plunged towards the ground. I had little choice but to ride the tentacle that I was still anchored to because of my knife as it plunged towards the ground more than ten stories below. Luckily, my fall was greatly buffered by the mass of tentacles that my own collided against during its descent and then landed on top of when it finally reached the surface of nearly unrecognizable battlefield.

The impact was still violent enough to cause me to lose my grip on my knife as I was thrown from my dissolving host. I flew a few feet in the air before finally landing hard on my right side on what remained of the central path through the cemetery. A sharp stabbing pain erupted through my spent body but I did not feel any telltale signs of any serious internal injuries.

With my foe neutralized, I allotted myself a moment of rest after I rolled over onto my back. My Super Redhawk had hit the cobblestone path with significant force, enough to leave deep marks on its polished frame, but the legendary revolver's heavy duty construction rendered it nearly indestructible. As I continued to lie under the dark sky and found relief from letting the cool rain wash my beaten frame, I lifted my right arm up and then placed my sidearm on the center of my armored chest. A puddle formed around me while I continued to rest on the waterlogged ground. However, as much as I wanted to continue resting, I still had to find Akira before it was too late.

I hauled myself to my feet and examined my surroundings. I was standing near the center of what was the surviving remnants of the cemetery. All around me, I saw utter devastation with the toppled spires, entire sections of the battlefield literally gone as if the Earth beneath our feet had swallowed them up, and with the remains of the abomination having dissolved into essentially piles of sludge. The path to the gate that I was standing on was the only remaining means of navigating the area and my instincts told me that the gate was open even though I could not see it with my own eyes.

Looking back at what remained of my defeated adversary, I saw my modified KA-BAR where it was lying on its left side just inches away from the main sludge mound. I reloaded my revolver and then made my way over to my wayward knife. When I reached it, I bent down and began to pick it up. Suddenly, something burst out of the mound and grabbed the upper left and right corners of the front of my combat vest. I repressed my panic as I recognized the badly damaged pieces of combat armor that still encased the otherwise unrecognizable humanoid figure.

Whatever madness had taken hold of Chen was gone and I took hold of my fallen comrade with my gloved left hand. Then, before I could stop him, the F.E.A.R. Operative used the last gasp of his life force to inform me with a horribly twisted voice, "Becket…doc…tor...it was…damn…beak…doctor."

My eyes shot wide open as my entire body turned ice cold upon hearing the revelation. Chen finished, "He…it was all him…played us all. I…couldn't…I..."

The dying operative clearly could not continue so I replied, "Copy that, Chen. Thank you…my friend."

Seconds later, he died in my arms and I slowly lowered his body down onto the ground. The veteran F.E.A.R. Operative had given his all to reveal the identity of humanity's greatest foe. The Plague Doctor had tricked us all, save for Alma and Amara, until our darkest hour. I understood why Alma had kept it a secret from me. She had been patiently waiting, protecting all of us behind our backs no matter the personal cost to her, until the right moment to reveal it.

How long had she been playing this cat and mouse game with the prehistoric god? I felt sick to my stomach as I realized that she had likely been fighting him since she was strong enough. She might have even been fighting him since she was a child. The toll of both the fight against him and also against Armacham cruel science experiments on her both mentally and physically must have been unimaginable. Any lesser being, human or otherwise, would have easily been destroyed by such a struggle but Alma had survived the seemingly impossible many times over.

"Is something troubling you, young Achilles?"

I was torn from my thoughts and turned to find the beaked doctor standing in the middle of the path approximately ten yards away from me. The ancient being was idly looking at me from beneath the glass spectacles of his white bird-like mask while he casually balanced himself with his stick as he held it in front of him with both waxed leather glove-encased hands resting on top of the curved handle. Rain water dripped down off the being's wide-brimmed leather hat onto his long leather ankle-length gown as he continued to casually stand before me as if he was testing me to see if I would act upon the information that I had just received from Chen.

The lightning and thunder had subsided but it was still raining heavily as I quickly stood and then faced the being that was bent on killing the last bastion of humanity. I aimed my superficially damaged Super Redhawk .44 Mangum at the beak doctor. However, my actions only resulted in the ancient god giving off a brief laugh that seemed to echo throughout the entire cemetery. The tone of the laugh was disturbingly cold even for coming from something completely inhuman.

Then, holding his stick close to his chest with his gloved right hand and outstretching his left hand towards me, he stated with a calm tone while rainwater continued to drip from the front rim of his leather hat, "My, so much hostility, young warrior. Perhaps I can be of service? Tell me, child…tell the doctor what ails you today."

I replied with my voice full of rage, "You know damn well what ails me, you rat bastard! It has been you all along! You used Akira…used her anger to manipulate her into destroying all the other universes and now you plan to cast her aside as if she is mere garbage while you annihilate what is left of humanity!"

Lowering his left hand down to his side and moving his stick down to his right side so that he could lean against it, the Plague Doctor asked, "Ah, so I am some black and white villain then, am I child? Do you believe that I am doing this without a heavy heart? That I am doing this because I just enjoy watching countless worlds burn? Do you think that if I had any alternative I would be doing this?"

With my glowing orange eyes alight with fury and with my face soaked with water and blood, I countered, "I don't give a shit about your motivations! You are just another asshole!"

Still leaning against his stick, the doctor replied with a tone that sounded genuinely sympathetic and compassionate, "Very well, child. If that viewpoint is what allows you to have a clear conscience in this matter, then I will let you die believing it."

Having lost my patience, I fired my revolver at the being. The powerful round hit its mark in the center of the Plague Doctor's head but the bullet wound was quickly erased as the mask itself healed almost instantly before my eyes. The ancient god laughed once again before, with his left hand outstretched towards me once again, he said, "Just look at yourself, Becket. Do you really think that you can stop me? You are just a broken soldier."

I growled darkly and then, with my entire body once again enveloped by a dark red aura, I roared with my demonic voice, "No, I am the broken soldier that is going to stop you!"

Before he could react, I charged my next shot with the raw edge of my anger and then fired my .44 Magnum. My psionic-charged shot hit home in the center of his chest and, letting out a surprised grunt, the doctor staggered backwards a few steps. When he turned back to face me, I saw that the charred spot in the center of his chest already healing but, before it did, I saw something very important.

I sneered quickly before I commented, "So…you do bleed."

The Plague Doctor leaned against his stick once again as he commented, "Not bad, young Achilles. I see that she has done well turning you into her trump card."

Before I could reply, suddenly, I heard an all too familiar voice inform the ancient being with her enchanting voice twisted by rage, "You are wrong!"

I looked to my right to find Alma standing next to me in her child form. The look in her glowing orange eyes was one of chilling inhuman rage as she bore into the beaked doctor while an impossibly black aura surrounded her child-like frame.

The god before us seemed just as confused as I was when he asked with what sounded like genuine curiosity, "How did you…?"

However, the demoness interrupted him after flashing a terrifying smile, "Foolish old man, I have never been one to follow rules. Someone as old and powerful as you should have expected this. I fell in love with a human, refused to die, and then married aforementioned human after giving birth to his child, after all. A little paperwork and a weak psionic barrier will not stop me from doing what I please when the one I love needs me."

Still leaning on his stick, the doctor laughed before he remarked, "You are indeed the splitting image of your mother." Then, confirming my realization moments prior, he said, "However, this has gone far enough, wayward child. Stop clinging to your foolish fantasy and take your mother's place as my partner."

Alma narrowed her eyes before she replied with a cold and firm tone, "Never."

The ancient being let out a sigh before he said, "Surely you, of all the beings in existence, know what they do to themselves. It is more merciful for them to be destroy…"

The raven-haired goddess interrupted the god before her by declaring with a defiant tone, "Never!"

Alma had no sooner finished before she sent a massive blast of psionic energy into the doctor. The raw power behind her attack was enough to completely disintegrate everything, including about a foot of the ground, about five feet to either side of where the god had been standing all the way to the gate. The beaked doctor rematerialized moments later and simply moved from leaning on his stick to properly standing upright before us.

After audibly cracking his neck by moving it to the left and then to the right, the Plague Doctor casually said, "Very well, we truly are at an impasse. Pity, I expected you to be wiser than this. Your mother made the mistake of getting too attached but I expected their cruelty to show you that they are too unstable to be allowed to continue to exist. At least this way, they die quickly with minimal suffering instead of selfishly killing themselves slowly."

The demoness standing next to me replied, "Happy to disappoint you, old man."

The ancient being laughed once more before saying seconds before he vanished, "The splitting image of your mother until the end…"

Once he was gone, my wife turned to face me and then said with a much more emotional tone than what I was accustomed to, "He is wrong! You are not my trump card…you never have been. I promise!"

Her tone was uncharacteristically desperate and it was almost as if she was afraid that I would not believe her. Alma was indeed many things but she was certainly not the type of individual that used people in that kind of manner. There was also the fact that, when we first met, I was far from what someone would call a prodigy. If she had been looking for a "trump card", she would have easily been able to find a better candidate. While she had pushed me to become stronger, she did so because of her nurturing personality.

I smiled slightly and then assured my other half, "I know I'm not."

Then, without thinking it through, I added, "Besides, I can't be a trump card because I am just your hopeless idiot."

Alma looked at me silently for a moment. Then, she began to laugh happily while she hugged my exhausted and rain-soaked frame. With my revolver still in my right hand, I bent down and gently wrapped my arms around the raven-haired goddess. When she finally stopped laughing and withdrew from me, she said, "That was so bad! You really are a hopeless idiot. I try and I try but apparently there is no cure."

I stood back up and then remarked, "I love you too."

My wife winked before she examined what remained of the battlefield. For a brief moment, I saw a trace of sorrow in her enchanting glowing eyes as she saw Lieutenant Chen's remains. However, it vanished almost as soon as it appeared and she turned back to look at me before she informed me, "The old man is even more delusional than I thought…"

Sensing my confusion, Alma explained, "I was hoping that it would not come to this…but the old fool just doesn't know when to quit anymore. He is so blinded by his own beliefs that he has corrupted himself. For a positive psionic to resort to doing something like this is almost unheard of."

She paused and then continued, "He and my mother were two of the psionics that coexisted alongside humans but they had a falling out when my mother began to take issue with how he believed that their kind should treat humans. He wanted psionics to remain separate from humanity while my mother wanted psionics and humans to live together. After a while, he began to believe that human beings were too unstable and self-destructive to be allowed to continue to exist. My mother and a few other psionics stood against him but he was still stronger than them. He truly believed that killing humanity was far more merciful than to allow it to live in a perpetual hell of its own making. After my mother died, I guess that he had hoped that I would think differently because of what Armacham did to me. When he realized that was not the case, he went and found another psionic that was willing to help him."

I said with a knowing tone, "Akira..."

Alma nodded her head in response before she said, "Correct. Now that Akira has become too sick to control her army, he will take matters into his own hands and control it himself."

After thinking briefly, I replied, "For now, that cannot be helped. We will just have to keep going until we can find a way to either sever his control over them or find a way to neutralize him directly. Akira is still around here somewhere. Let's go find her."

The raven-haired girl nodded in agreement and I turned to make my way to the exit. However, she stopped me by calling out my name. I turned back to see her holding my combat knife towards me while she had a slightly smug expression. As I moved to take it from her, the mischievous goddess remarked, "Little boy, stop leaving your toys lying around. Your mother is not your maid…she just dressed up like one for you."

As I took my knife from her, I replied, "Well, you do look great in black."

My eternal partner winked while her red dress was briefly replaced by a black with white lace maid outfit. I sighed as I placed my knife back in its sheath. As much as I hated to admit it, Alma knew me better than I knew myself. My sigh elicited both a soft giggle and the familiar telltale predatory glint in her eyes from her.

Exhausted and feeling as if I had been run over by a freight train, I remarked with an irritated tone, "You made me this way you crazy girl."

Alma retorted, "Dirty little boy, you know you love it."

I scowled before I replied, "Shut up rapist."

My wife countered, "Submissive pet."

I growled and then replied as I began to make my way to the gate, "Child molester."

Walking beside me, she countered, "Freudian disaster."

As we continued our childish name-calling session, I thought about what I had just learned. I had believed that I had been prepared but our situation was now far worse than I could have imagined. The ancient god was an incredibly powerful being that was all but immortal. Sparta and our allies could handle the hellsoldiers but, unless we could find a means to neutralize their new master, our destruction was inevitable even with the assistance of the mighty IJN Yamato and the ancient dragon Perses.

I mentally cringed as a realization hit me. The only human beings that had ever had any success with containing a psionic were the ones that I hated with every fiber of my being. Armacham Technology Corporation, our most hated enemy, was now possibly the only hope that we had to stop the end of the world. Once we located Akira and returned to the real world, I would have to pay a visit to my long lost family member in Antarctica.

When we arrived at the end of the path, we found that the gate was indeed open. A bright flash of white light temporarily overwhelmed my vision when I crossed the threshold and I was transported back to the hospital. All the players had finally shown their cards. The only thing that was left now was to see who was left standing when the dust settled. Humanity would either claw its way back from the edge of the abyss or it would be consumed by the fires of the Apocalypse.