Gilbert knew it was a possibility that Mathilda would beat them to JCI headquarters, but seeing the remnants of her destruction first-hand was still shocking.
When they reached JCI, they drove straight by the group of security guards who had been standing at the locked front gate. Shutting down the public entrance had clearly not stopped Mathilda, as the guards were all dead and the gate was opened. The parking lots were nearly deserted, so Kiku was able to park the van just beside the main entrance. The group had got out, loaded their guns, and walked to the main entrance where they now stood in astonishment.
"The three of them did this?" Lovino asked, "Three of them against… How many did Vash say?"
"Fifty men on the main floor," Ludwig answered as they observed the public reception, "It was the three of them against fifty guards."
"She's already upstairs," Natalya estimated, "Perhaps in the executive offices, maybe already at R&D."
"Natalya's right," Gilbert acknowledged as he stepped forward, "We need to move."
He led the group through the public lobby, past the lounges and open meeting areas covered in the corpses of guards. A similar scene presented itself as they reached the reception desk, Gilbert only sparing it a brief glance before looking at the wall of elevators. Instead of summoning one, he went to the staircase door at the far left.
"No elevator?" Elizaveta checked, "Wouldn't that be quicker?"
"Vash shut them down, they can't be summoned," Gilbert explained as he opened the door, "One more obstacle for Mathilda to overcome."
He marched up the stairs two by two, the others following as quickly as they could. The first flights rushed by quickly, but Gilbert slowed his pace as they approached the third floor. Their part of Vash's contingency plan was to check the research and development labs on the way up, and make sure Mathilda hadn't already made it there. If the place was clear, it would mean that she still needed to kill Alfred on the top floor.
Gilbert halted to a complete stop at the third floor's landing, eyes wide as he inspected the scene. The railing was covered in blood, as was the floor underneath it. There were more puddles of blood on the landing towards the door, along with smaller drops on the next flight of stairs.
"What the fuck happened here?" Natalya examined, "Someone escaping with injuries?"
"There's a shoe print in that puddle, heading towards the door," Kiku pointed out, "Is that another puddle underneath the door?"
Seeing that Kiku was on to something, Gilbert understood that the answers to all their questions lay on the other side of the door. He reached over, turned the handle and pulled it open to reveal the floor's lobby. Several guards lay dead, some with bullet wounds and others as a side effect of the explosion that clearly happened here.
"They used a hand grenade," Gilbert told the others, "Mathilda is on this floor, likely already at the supercomputer."
He stepped forward through the door, and turned left to march down the hallway. Vash had taken him on the grand tour back in June, so Gilbert knew the supercomputer was in the laboratory furthest down on the right. While that visit had scientists and engineers strolling the place, now the hallways were void of life with more dead JCI guards on the ground.
"Do we have a plan of approach?" Ludwig probed as the group followed, "Sneak attack or an ambush?"
"Neither is possible," Gilbert shot down, "The front wall of the lab is glass, they can see through to the hallway surrounding the entrance."
"I also have the security cameras running," a very familiar voice announced above them, making them all jump and search for the source.
"And a PA system too, I see," Gilbert shouted back in reply, finding the PA speaker in the ceiling directly over their heads.
"One of the benefits of linking the supercomputer to the JCI security system," the woman on the intercom bragged, "Why don't you come into the lab already and see it for yourself?"
Gilbert rolled his eyes at the speaker, before turning his head back down and marching forward. As he reached the stretch of glass, Gilbert glanced inside and saw what he hoped never to see. This barely slowed his pace as he reached the doors and turned into the room, eyes fixed on the scene that awaited him.
The steel doors had retreated entirely, revealing a large wall filled completely with computer monitors. A large desk stretched the length of the wall, with various keyboards and controllers stationed across its surface. Ivan was typing furiously away at one of the keyboards, apparently unfazed by what looked like blood on the shoulder of his cream-coloured coat. Mathilda stood to the right of Ivan's chair watching the cameras on an available monitor, the sides of her white shirt also covered in blood. As Gilbert made it past the last row of desks, he finally noticed the two arms and heads laying on the ground unceremoniously. Beside the body parts lay Antonio, clearly lifeless and bloodied from bullet wounds across his chest up to his throat.
"Hello Gilbert," Mathilda greeted, turning to look at him straight in the eyes while gesturing at the supercomputer, "Isn't it beautiful?"
"What happened to Antonio?" Lovino demanded, saving Gilbert from having to answer Mathilda for the moment.
"He was shot by Alfred, while we were upstairs," Mathilda cleared up as Gilbert noted the smears on her face from where blood and mascara had been wiped away, "He barely had enough strength to help us open the doors, our plans were nearly ruined."
"And you're just leaving his body on the floor like this?" Natalya disapproved, taking the spot at Gilbert's immediate left.
"Well, it's not like this lab is designed to serve as a funeral parlour," Mathilda sassed as she stepped forward, "Now, why could you all possibly be here?"
"We're here to stop you, Mathilda," Kiku addressed from his position to the far right, with Ludwig between him and Gilbert, "We cannot let you go through with destroying everything."
"What, you won't let me destroy this corrupt institution?" Mathilda retorted, "You won't let me free us all from JCI's authoritarian capitalist control? You won't let me take down the perpetrator of everything that is wrong in our world?"
Gilbert bit his lip, doing his best to avoid the political discussion as Mathilda glanced across the group with self-righteous confidence. It was infuriating enough that she had a valid point on the matter, but did it have to be fixed like this?
"We don't give a rat's ass about JCI, for our part," Elizaveta spoke, positioned at the far left with Lovino between her and Natalya, "Some of us are here because you trampled all over us to get to this point. You manipulated us and threw us to the wolves!"
"Don't be absurd, Elizaveta, you and Lovino already had warrants on your records before I joined the scene," Mathilda deflected, "Whether or not I got involved, the police were eventually going to find the Vargas and Kohler gangs, and shut you both down. We worked as hired guns while business was still to our benefit, and cut our ties when Natalya turned it sour."
"When I turned it sour?" Natalya objected, "It's all your fault Katya and I got dragged into this bullshit!"
"I am actually surprised to see you here, Natalya," Mathilda conceded, "I thought we already made it clear that you and Katya were never meant to be involved. The only time that we directly put you girls in any risk was the bank heist. That could've been anyone getting arrested that day, and we'd still have broken you out afterwards. We were willing to do whatever it took to kill Arthur, kill Alfred and destroy JCI."
Gilbert glared at Mathilda in frustration, keeping his mouth shut as to avoid an outburst. Did this woman really put such a risk on the safety of her prospective sisters-in-law so shamelessly, all so she could kill her existing family?
"None of this excuses your actions," Ludwig dissented, "You still ruined their lives, and you ruined mine. I thought I was in love with you, for fuck's sake!"
"Are you fucking blind?" Ivan protested, finally removing his hands from the keyboard and spinning in his chair to face the group, "Did you really think, after everything Mathilda and I have gone through to be together, that she would leave me for you?"
"The sleeping serum worked just as well for Antonio to escape the Vargas base as it did for me to put you to sleep and avoid cheating on Ivan," Mathilda added on, her voice revealing irritation that wasn't there before, "We've already spared your life enough in the past week, Ludwig, you should consider yourself lucky to be alive right now."
"Lucky to be alive?" Ludwig balked, "You've destroyed my life, you ruined my career, and you broke my heart! You are to blame for everything!"
"You did this all to yourself, Ludwig," Mathilda countered, a scowl now on her face, "You chose to flirt with me, and ask me out. You chose to keep quiet when I was arrested. You chose to become a double-agent to avoid breaking up with me. You chose to help with the bank heist, and to resist arrest when you got caught. Feliks, Yao and Toris might have all survived if you hadn't been such a fucking idiot. Every single choice was yours, Ludwig, all I did was adapt our plans every time you refused to walk away."
"Why did you get Ludwig involved in the first place, then?" Kiku inquired.
"To mess with Gilbert, of course," Mathilda answered, turning her gaze from Ludwig directly to Gilbert, "He's the only one who ever made genuine progress on my case, and has been the greatest threat. If I was to achieve my plans without the police catching me, I had to figure out what Gilbert's greatest weakness was, exploit it and throw him off my trail."
"You decided that Ludwig was my weakness?" Gilbert accused, finally breaking his silence, "You used my brother against me?"
"Precisely."
Mathilda smirked, a glint in her eyes revealing the return of her self-righteous confidence. Gilbert glared at her in silence, as his blood boiled over the tipping point.
BANG BANG BANG
Gilbert snapped out of his enraged haze as three gunshots were fired from his right side. He glanced over to see Ludwig's arm stretched forward, muscles tense from having just pulled the trigger. Gilbert then followed the trajectory of the aim, and saw where the bullets ended up.
Three bloody wounds had appeared on Mathilda's chest, very close to her heart.
"Mathilda?" Ivan called as he leapt from his seat in a panic.
Mathilda's eyes rolled back as she succumbed to shock. Her body went limp and collapsed to the ground, only for Ivan to catch her in his arms before she hit the floor. He pulled her close to him as they quietly whispered to each other.
Gilbert glanced to his left, confirming that the others were closely watching Ivan's every move, before turning towards Ludwig. He approached his brother, and gently reached out to grab the tense wrist of the outstretched arm.
"It's done, Ludwig," Gilbert calmly stated, reaching for the weapon with his left hand, "You can give me the gun."
He looked at Ludwig's face, and saw the fury in his eyes. If Gilbert felt like he was losing it, he had nothing on his brother. Ludwig had completely snapped.
Ludwig's arm relaxed as the grip on the gun was released. Gilbert removed the gun from Ludwig's hand, and held it out towards Kiku. Once the gun was taken away, he released his hold, allowing Ludwig's arm to drop to his side.
"What about his other guns?" Kiku asked, "Remove them too?"
"Probably a good idea," Gilbert agreed, noting that Ludwig had yet to return from his enraged stupor, "There's more than enough on the rest of us at this point."
As Kiku removed the other guns from Ludwig's belt, Gilbert turned back to look at Ivan. The Russian was now weeping into Mathilda's shoulder, her body having gone completely limp. The shock of the gunfire had zapped away all of Gilbert's fury, and now he could only feel pity.
"Give him a moment to grieve," Gilbert instructed the others, taking one step back to give some distance, "It might be the only chance he gets."
Gilbert looked to the left, and watched as the other three lowered the aim of their guns. He was certain they were also bewildered by what had just happened, and were unsure whether this was the end of it. He heard Kiku whispering to Ludwig behind him, and spun to watch as Kiku got Ludwig to sit on the desk behind them.
Gilbert then turned to look at Ivan again. Once they were ready to move things along, the next step would be to arrest Ivan and have him locked away for all his crimes. How they could accomplish this was a mystery. Ivan had already helped Mathilda destroy police headquarters, the leading forces for the prosecution were all dead, and Gilbert had already effectively betrayed the force.
After a few more moments, Ivan finally pulled out of the embrace, and gently lowered Mathilda's body to the ground. Keeping his back turned towards Gilbert, Ivan slowly rose to his feet and stood up straight. The tension in the air was stifling as they waited for the next move.
Gilbert noticed a slight movement in Ivan's head, as if he was doing a shoulder check over his right shoulder. The Russian's body suddenly turned in that direction as well, his right arm swiftly rising in the air to point a gun at Ludwig.
"NO!" Gilbert screamed as he dove towards his brother.
BANG BANG BANG