Tridon stood outside of Arias Headquarters downtown. People passed by him staring at him in fear. He stood outside in his full gear. Chest rig, knives on his thigh and a pistol holstered on his chest rig. Police eventually arrived to figure out what he was doing.
"Sir," one of the policemen started, "is there a problem?" The policeman reached out, but Tridon snatched his hand and sent him flying into a nearby car, denting it severly. The other policeman ran over to the one Tridon shoved and helped them up.
"Stay out of my way." Tridon proceeded to walk forward while the police officers radioed in what Tridon had done and what they think he'll be doing.
All the while Robert watched from his office at the top floor of the massive 80 story building. Epsilon stood behind him and Lola stood next to his desk.
"You know what to do Epsilon. Go."
"Yes sir." Epsilon disappeared and went off.
"As for you little cousin, I hope you won't forget the reason for our goal here." Robert turned to her and said, "If Epsilon were to ever fail, and I highly doubt he will, I need you to be the last line of defense for me. Don't fail."
"Yes cousin." Lola inhaled deeply and went off.
"Alright Pierce. This seems to be our final bout. Let's see what ya' got without those stupid girls behind you."
Tiffany drove at high speeds through the town with Voltrov and his army following them. Tiffany had her eyes locked in front of them while gripping the steering wheel fiercely.
"So Tridon is being tempted by his dark power to charge at Robert unprepared." Yuri wondered, "Or is there an ounce of him that wants this."
"You can't deny that." Monika answered, "Robert has been a thorn in all of our sides since last year. He wants to end this."
"But that idiot won't end it if he's controlled by this dark persona." Tiffany interrupted, "We have to stop him before he gets to Epsilon. If he sees Epsilon, he'll be taken advantage of by him because of his dark persona."
"Tiff," Sayori pointed in front of them were squad cars and SWAT transport vehicles were parked outside Arias Headquarters, "I think Tridon is already here and inside."
"Damn it."
"Captain," someone spoke on a radio started, "what should we do?"
"Is the parking garage blocked?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Use your FBI badges to get by. Tell them that this is a federal problem."
"But Captain-."
"Are you going against my orders?"
"N-No Captain."
"Then move in."
"Roger that Captain."
"As for all of you, you must stay with me. Voltrov and his men will enter through the west entrance in order to cover more ground. All of you will move in with me. My other team will move through the parking garage in the east wing and start higher than us. I only hope that we can catch Tridon before he fights Epsilon."
"What do we do when we see him?" Sayori asked, "What did the doctor tell you?"
"He gave me what I need to save him. Don't worry."
Meanwhile, Natsuki and Chelsea arrived to the hideout to see it practically destroyed. They looked around in shock at the destruction.
"Where's Jen?" Natsuki checked under some rubble, but couldn't find her, "Come on Jen. Where are you?"
"Over here Natsuki!" Chelsea called out as she found Jen battered and unconscious in the firing range, "Jen. Wake up. Come on."
"How's she looking."
"Definitely beaten down. Tridon really put a number on her." Chelsea looked around and said, "See if you can find smelling salts. If there's a chance you can find it."
"Alright."
"Jen?" Chelsea kept calling out to her while checking around, "This is weird. Something feels off."
"I found the smelling salts." Natsuki waved the salts underneath Jen's nose and waited a few seconds.
Her eyes shot open and she jerked her head up. She breathed in and out heavily while looking around sporadically. She looked at Natsuki and Chelsea before shaking her head.
"No. You guys shouldn't have come here."
"What?"
Jen pushed them out of the way and dropped something on the ground. A large barrier similar to Lola's appeared in front of them. It caught several bullets as Robert's soldiers ran inside firing at them.
"Robert's soldiers attacked just before Tridon escaped. Tridon did a number on me, but I was left to fight off his soldiers. I hid in here and I think they noticed I was passed out. They were waiting on someone to come back here."
"Are the weapons here loaded?"
"They should be." Jen looked at one of caches behind them and pointed at it, "Rifles and ammo should be in there. Hurry! This shield won't stay up much longer."
"Right!"
Meanwhile, Tridon threw a soldier into a wall and drilled his foot into their chest. He held it there when he grabbed a soldier who charged at him. He lifted them up and dropped them on the leg he used to hold the soldier against the wall.
The soldier limped off and Tridon let go of the soldier. He looked around to see the hallway riddled with soldiers. They were either unconscious or dead. Tridon stared at the bodies before moving along.
"Just give me back control!" Tridon shouted at his evil self in his mind, "Stop this now!"
"Isn't this what you want? You want to stop Robert once and for all, right?"
"I do, but this is not the way to do it. This goes against everything I learned. You're killing indiscriminately. Knock them out and only kill if they don't give up. Everyone we've come across have given up without a fight. You still attack them."
"You can't be so sure. You have to do what's necessary to get pass everyone."
As he said this, he looked at a group of soldiers were practically cowering in fear. They backed up as Tridon walked up to them. He smirked devilishly the closer he got.
"No! Stop it!" Tridon shouted. Even so, his body attacked the soldiers mercilessly, "This isn't how I am. I just wanted to end Robert's bs once and for all!"
"And that's what I'm doing. I'm doing this for you. You wanted results right? I'm getting you the results you and your friends desire so much."
"No!"
In front of the building after the girls finished gearing up, they made their way to the front door where it was surrounded by police officers, SWAT officers, and even marines.
"Hold up there ladies." A SWAT officer stopped them and said, "Nobody is allowed here."
"This is a federal matter." Tiffany walked past them after shoulder checking him, "So stand aside."
"We have this under control." The SWAT officer grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, "Doesn't matter if this is federal or not."
"You made a mistake for doing this boy." Tiffany grabbed the officer and threw him over her shoulder and pinned him with her knee, "The man in there is under my jurisdiction. This is my problem whether you like it or not."
"Cool it agent." A marine interrupted, "Let him go."
"Tch." Tiffany scoffed and got off of the officer, "Don't you think you should tell these law enforcement officers to know who to let in, Corporal White?"
"You know him?" Sayori interrupted.
"Yeah. I trained him a little several years back." Tiffany ushered them to follow her, "Let's go." Tiffany looked at Corporal White and said, "Some of my other men are moving through. There aren't any other law enforcement officers or soldiers in there, right?"
"There are some. They'll probably try to apprehend you."
"My crew here know the ROE." Tiffany and the girls walked as she continued saying, "Attack when provoked and kill when necessary."
"Are we really going to kill?" Yuri quickly asked, "I've never fired at anyone before. Even at Voltrov's facility. I didn't fire a single bullet."
"Remember your training. Or what you got from it. Do what's needed to protect yourselves and your teammates. Got it?"
"Yes ma'am."
Back at the hideout, Natsuki, Chelsea, and Jen were pinned by an ambush set up by Robert. Jen was still groggy and injured from Tridon's outburst and their sudden attack, so she has to rely on Natsuki and Chelsea.
"There's no way we can retaliate." Chelsea groaned, "There's probably 8 of them and only 3 of us. They have us pinned and we don't have much ammo or cover."
"Is this it?" Natsuki softly asked, "Dying like a bunch of sitting ducks."
"Nope." Jen answered as she slapped on a pair of gauntlets, "These are just prototypes and they haven't been tested yet." Jen punched them together, igniting an electric spark, "But we have no other choice."
Jen leaped from cover and at the same time, the gauntlets shot electricity out. When she landed, she punched the ground, igniting a massive, electric explosion. This sent 4 of Robert's soldiers flying into the walls of the hideout. She dodged other attacks by them and would retaliate through punches with her gauntlets.
"Those things shoot out electricity." Natsuki commented in amazement, "So cool."
"But she said they were prototypes. Who knows when those gauntlets give out."
"Then that's our queue to help her."
"Right."
Just as the gauntlets started malfunctioning, Chelsea fired at 2 soldiers moving to attack her from behind. She looked at them and gave them a thumbs up before turning to the last 2 soldiers.
"I'd run away if I were you two." Jen growled making the soldiers run away with their tails between their legs. Jen sighed in relief and tore the gauntlets off of her. She stared at her hands that were burnt and battered from using the gauntlets, "They still need more work Captain..."
"Jen?"
"Let's get these guys tied up and let's head to Arias Headquarters. I have a feeling they'll need some help. Let's go."
Tiffany fought off a group of Robert's soldiers, but felt her self get winded. She fell to a knee huffing and puffing. Sayori stepped in and dropkicked them into a wall.
"Something wrong?"
"I haven't done anything this intense in a while. All I've done are stealth missions. I might be in my 30s, but I've been through a lot in my early years."
"Then let us take the reigns." Monika commented while throwing a guard to the ground. Monika popped his neck and added, "Tridon and Jen have trained us really well. I think we can do this."
Yuri ducked under a guards attack and the guard ran into Sayori's first, "I'll get us to Tridon. You just lay back and help when you can."
"Yeah." Jen stood up and popped her back, "I need to retire soon..."
Tridon eventually stepped into a large white room with a several balconies surrounding it. There was one door at the other end where Epsilon stood guard at. Epsilon stepped forward while Tridon kept making his way towards him.
"You made it this far." Epsilon started, "I expected that."
"Those soldiers Robert has are nothing more than a bunch of civies playing dress-up." Tridon cracked his knuckles and popped his neck, "I've been waiting for this."
Tridon ran forward and attacked at inhumane speeds. He threw punch after punch and sweep kicks after sweep kicks without letting up. Despite this, Epsilon dodged each attack with ease.
"No!" Tridon shouted in his mind, "You're just attacking! This isn't how you fight!"
"Quiet you!" His evil counterpart retaliated, "I have unlimited power. Nothing will stop me from killing this man!"
"I don't have any beef with Epsilon. It's Robert that I'm after!"
"He works for him, so he must go down too."
"Is this really how I feel?" Tridon thought to himself, "Anyone who works with Robert is automatically my enemy. But is that true? Lola. Erica. Both of you never worked Robert because you were malicious. You did it because you were forced. Manipulated. Manipulated by a certain desire that was blindly promised to you for your blind loyalty. Is that me now? Blindly killing anyone that works with Roberts because it's my desire to kill him? If I kill him. What do I do then? What does anyone do at that point?"
Tridon watched his body act on its own. Attacking Epsilon however it could, but to no avail. Epsilon easily countered every hit and used his power properly. He wasn't ready to fight Epsilon. He never was. He could never fight him alone. In the end, Tridon is just a high school student that's naturally athletic.
Epsilon was transformed into a fighting machine that no normal human could surpass. Even with his own enhancements through his dark persona, Tridon couldn't do anything to actually stop Epsilon alone.
"If only I had better control of my emotions. If only..."
"You do know you and I are the same." Tridon's evil counterpart interrupted, "We are the same. I am you and you are me because you are another Tridon that you created. Born from your true desire to kill Robert Arias. I was born to help you deal with that menace. You made me because you are too weak."
"No. I didn't!"
"Just give into it now. You know what I'm saying is true. It's why you're heavily in denial. You know what I say is the truth. In the end, you're just a scared little boy who's too weak to do anything for themselves. Did you really think it was you doing all those heroic deeds? The car chase in the noire story. The spec ops scenario. Or my personal favorite, the zombie adventure? That was all me. You didn't want to feel inferior, so you created me to do these boneheaded scenarios."
"Stop! Stop!"
"In the end, you're nothing without me. Your confidence. Your charms. Your personality. It all stems from me. From the beginning, I got you this popularity with the girls. Without me, you're nothing!"
"Stop it right now!" Tridon roared.
A dark purple aura shot out from around him making Epsilon jump back. He watched on while Tridon had his meltdown.
"Stop it! Stop right now!" Tridon repeated.
The aura shot around the room, causing small explosions around the room. Tridon stood grabbing his head and screaming bloody murder.
"Robert," Epsilon started while pressing and earpiece, "we have a situation."
"I see. End it."
"What?"
"He's useless to us if he collapses the building. Kill him. We can start from scratch."
"Yes sir." Epsilon stared at Tridon and walked over to him, "This could've been different. But you're just a hot mess."
"Stop!" Sayori shouted while her, Monika, and Yuri fired at Epsilon to make him jump away from Tridon. They stood in front of Tridon while Tiffany checked on Tridon, "Whatever you're gonna do Tiff. Do it now! Save my best friend!"
"Tridon," Tiffany started, "if you can hear me," she took out a syringe and tearfully shut her eyes, "I'm sorry in advance!" Tiffany stabbed the syringe in his neck and everything went black...
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: Oooo, a cliffhanger. These are always fun It gets you readers antsy about the next chapter aka the finale towards Robert's apperance in this story. Yup. After the next chapter, it begins the final push towards graduation for the group. Spring break, dating trials, graduation, and finally, the whole reason this story began, Tridon's choice on who he'll be with! Yes! We are kinda almost there. There's still much more planned for the Tridon and the girls. Stay tuned as things get intense next chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as I sacrificed a little sleep to get this proofread. With that said, c'ya all in the next chapter!
Also, I noticed that the two most recent reviews from DarkHazen aren't showing up. I got them in my emails but they haven't shown up on the website or the app. If you guys could figure out why that happens because it's happened before. This is just the first time they never showed up at all. Usually this situation resolves itself after a day or two. Just so that you lot can see the reviews/comments left by DarkHazen, here they are copied from my email word from word.
Chapter 16's Review: Whew! That was a good chapter! The knife training scene was interesting since I didn't know that there was a sort of brain washing technique to kill without hesitation but I guess it makes sense! Kudos!
Chapter 17's Review: Evil Tridon is back! He's back! I definitely did not expect that! This chapter is just awesome! Kudos!
