As the two outsiders in Mikkel's group without close relations to the others, Elizaveta and Ivan ended up getting to know each other pretty well. He had even once told her, one drunken night, that unfortunate circumstances were keeping him away from his sweetheart, but that they were working on a way to be together. Elizaveta had admired his loyalty and faithfulness, and hoped he would get to see that happiness someday.
Now, as she watched Ivan weep over Mathilda's body, Elizaveta knew two things to be true. First, Ivan was telling the truth about finding a way to be with his love. Second, all his hopes had been for naught.
"Give him a moment to grieve," Gilbert instructed the group, "It might be the only chance he gets."
Elizaveta nodded as she relaxed her arms completely, pointing her gun at the ground in front of her rather than the sobbing Russian ahead of her.
She glanced away from the heartbreaking scene for a moment, noticing that Gilbert had turned to watch Ivan again while Kiku nudged Ludwig backwards and encouraged him to sit on the desk behind them. She then observed Natalya and Lovino, who appeared just as befuddled as her. Elizaveta couldn't help but wonder if their minds were filled more with relief or regret, with satisfaction or pity.
Elizaveta looked forward again as Ivan finally placed Mathilda on the ground and rose to his feet. She noted that he seemed to be intentionally keeping his right hand out of sight, close to his body and inside his coat. After a few moments of standing still, Ivan suddenly spun and stretched out his right arm, pointing a gun at Ludwig.
"No!" Gilbert screamed, as he moved to protect his brother.
BANG BANG BANG
Three bullets swiftly hit Ludwig in the head and chest, immediately incapacitating him and making him collapse to the ground. Gilbert fell to his knees as he tried to catch his brother's fallen body, and Kiku quickly knelt beside the brothers as well to check on Ludwig. Lovino and Natalya immediately aimed their guns at Ivan, prompting Elizaveta to do the same.
The Russian paid them no attention, flipping the safety on his gun instead. He fiddled with it to open the bullet case, before turning it upside down and letting the remaining bullets drop out of the chamber onto the floor. Once the gun was emptied, Ivan then chucked it away, letting it land on the floor in front of Elizaveta.
"It is not my intention to harm the rest of you," Ivan declared, "It was only Ludwig who earned my wrath, for what he's done to Mathilda."
Elizaveta nodded in understanding, and lowered the aim of her gun.
"Liz, what are you doing?" Lovino hissed.
"He's telling the truth," Elizaveta whispered back.
The supercomputer suddenly pinged, interrupting the tense silence in the air. Ivan morosely turned back, and hit a few keys on the keyboard. As he did this, Elizaveta glanced over to see that Gilbert was now weeping over Ludwig's lifeless body, with Kiku consoling him.
Elizaveta looked back at the supercomputer as all the screens started turning black. Once all the other screens had gone dark, the one directly in front of Ivan displayed a time in large red font.
10:00.
"This is it, the final trigger," Ivan described, backing away from the keyboard, "The next keystroke will start the chain reaction of database corruption and nuclear missile launching. When this ten-minute timer hits zero, a missile will hit this building and destroy everything inside of it."
"Ten minutes?" Lovino noticed, "Just enough time to escape with your lives, isn't it?"
"That was the plan, yes," Ivan elaborated, "Antonio was going to help Mathilda sneak out of her executive meeting while I set off the chain reaction. Everyone would believe we died in the blaze, and the three of us would get to run away and start new lives. Mathilda and I would finally be together. It was my own doubts that ruined everything."
"What doubts?" Elizaveta pried.
"I doubted whether we would successfully hack the nuclear missile database," Ivan clarified, "The week before the executive meeting, I insisted we do a test run, to make sure that everything would work when it was time to go. The test run went beautifully, but it left us exposed. The government caught the nuclear missile database hacking, and traced it straight back to me."
"And then you fled," Natalya concluded.
"I know you and Katerina will never forgive me," Ivan professed, "I assure you, Natalya, I never intended for you to get dragged into this. I truly am sorry for all the pain you two have endured because of my mistakes. Tell me, did Ludwig give you the USB from the jailbreak, the one Antonio promised?"
"He did, Katya has it," Natalya confirmed, "Why does that matter?"
"As soon as I set off this chain reaction, the ID program will no longer work," Ivan disclosed, "However, you will find a text file on it, which has the exact address of the Bear Cave. There is a hidden alcove in the wall by the staircase, behind the polar bear painting. Everything there is being left to you and Katya."
Ivan turned away and pressed the space bar on the keyboard, starting the chain reaction and the countdown.
"This building will be consumed in flames in less than 10 minutes," Ivan warned, staring at the screen, "I suggest you all get out while you can."
The group stared at each other in astonishment. Elizaveta noted that Gilbert appeared particularly shell-shocked, looking away from Ludwig momentarily to notice what had been allowed to happen. He was also the first to snap into action, trying to lift Ludwig's body off the ground.
"Kiku, help me lift him," Gilbert urged, attempting to pull Ludwig across his shoulders.
"Leave the body, you don't have time," Ivan instructed, turning away from the screen to observe, "Let him burn in the flames, like the rest of us who suffered in this tragedy."
"Gilbert, let's go," Kiku pleaded, reaching down to pull Gilbert away from Ludwig's body, "We can't delay."
"For fuck's sake, Gilbert, get on your feet," Lovino ordered, reaching down to grab Gilbert's arm, "Kiku, get his other side."
The two boys pulled Gilbert to his feet, prompting Gilbert to wail in resistance as he tried to reach back for Ludwig. They then reached across Gilbert's torso to force him backwards, and led him out of the room. Elizaveta moved to follow, only to stop as she realized Natalya was frozen in place, eyes focused on her brother.
"Go, Nata," Ivan assured, "Live your life to the fullest, and do not weep for me."
"Natalya, we need to go," Elizaveta implored, her hand on Natalya's arm.
"Бывай, брат," Natalya softly spoke.
"До свидания, сестра," Ivan gently replied as Natalya finally turned away and let Elizaveta lead her out of the room.
As they reached the hallway, Elizaveta dared to glance back once more through the glass walls. Ivan was standing there watching the girls leave, several bodies at his feet, as the ticker behind him hit the 9:00 mark.
Once she passed the edge of the glass walls and could no longer see Ivan, Elizaveta looked forward and switched into flight mode. She picked up her speed as she led Natalya towards the stairs, where Lovino and Kiku were pushing Gilbert through the door onto the staircase. Elizaveta arrived at the door in time to keep it from closing shut on her, and pushed it back open.
The boys were struggling at the top of the stairs, trying to get Gilbert to head down first. Lovino nearly lost his balance as he grabbed the bloody railing with his right hand, while using his left to nudge Gilbert down the steps. Kiku got a firm grip at Gilbert's left side and dragged him down the flight, Lovino close behind to keep Gilbert from fleeing back up the stairs.
Elizaveta and Natalya followed the boys down the steps, hot on their tails as Gilbert was still trying to resist. With each flight, his desperation and resolve seemed to fade, and his resistance faltered. As they reached the last flight of stairs, Gilbert was letting Kiku and Lovino lead him, having dropped into a despair too deep to resist anymore.
At the first floor landing, Kiku pulled the door wide open and ushered Gilbert through with Lovino's help. Elizaveta grabbed the door behind Kiku, allowing him and Natalya to also go through before she entered the public reception lobby last. She turned right to follow the group, and picked up her speed to reach Kiku's left side.
"Kiku, give me the keys to the van," Elizaveta requested, "I can drive while you take care of Gilbert."
Without missing a step or losing his grip on Gilbert, Kiku silently reached to his belt, removed the key and handed it to Elizaveta. She immediately grabbed it from him, rushed past the boys, and led the group through the main entrance of the building. Once outside, she turned right towards the van, and circled around the back to get to the driver's side. She pulled open the door and climbed inside, pulling her seatbelt on with her right hand while shutting the door with her left.
She put the key in the ignition and turned on the engine, just as the passenger side doors opened up. She glanced over to see that Lovino had been first to climb into the back seats, and was about to be followed in by Gilbert and Kiku. Natalya crawled into the front passenger seat and shut her door. Elizaveta turned back to focus on the controls, hearing the back door slide shut just as she put the van in reverse. She swiftly backed up the vehicle to allow enough space to turn, before shifting the gears into drive and turning the vehicle to the exit.
"How long do we have?" Natalya asked as they sped out of the parking lot, "About five minutes to get clear?"
"About that, yes," Elizaveta assessed as the front gate came into view.
Elizaveta decelerated as she turned the vehicle right onto the street, and headed straight for the highway connection ahead. Traffic was fairly clear on the side road, and Elizaveta was easily able to speed through before having to stop at the intersection for the left turn.
"What the hell is happening here?" Elizaveta muttered, observing how traffic was backed up in the direction they wanted to turn, leading to the exit onto the highway.
"Look in the distance," Natalya pointed out ahead of them, "Smoke in the skies downtown already."
Several spirals of smoke had already lifted into the sky above what would be several key buildings downtown, clearly having been struck by missiles. The smoke was repeatedly cut through by other missiles headed for their destinations.
"Screw the highway," Elizaveta decided, doing a quick shoulder check before leaving the left turn lane and turning the vehicle right instead, heading away from the highway connector. After a couple blocks, she turned the vehicle onto a side street that ran parallel to the highway towards downtown. The residential street was wide and clear, so they sped along with ease for a few minutes before they heard a loud whoosh in the sky above them.
"That was a missile, I saw it," Natalya insisted, "It was heading towards JCI!"
Elizaveta lessened the vehicle's speed and took note of their surroundings. They were about halfway between JCI and downtown, and were about to drive by an elementary school. There was no need or option to get much further from the catastrophe than they had already reached, so she slowed the vehicle right down and turned it right into the school parking lot. She veered to the right side, towards the small hill and the playing field beyond, and parked the van alongside the cement barrier. Elizaveta turned off the vehicle and looked out Natalya's window just in time to see it.
A cloud of thick black smoke was rising in the sky, above where JCI headquarters stood only moments before.
Hearing the back door of the van slide open, Elizaveta followed suit by removing her seatbelt and opening her door. She climbed out of the vehicle, and circled around the front to get a better look at what was happening. Gilbert had already climbed over the barrier and onto the grass, watching the smoke fill the sky. He immediately collapsed to his knees and screamed in frustration and despair.
Kiku and Natalya immediately followed Gilbert over the barrier. Kiku rushed straight to Gilbert's side to comfort him, and also looked out at what lay on the horizon. Natalya took her time walking out onto the grass, collapsing on her own knees a few feet away from Gilbert. Elizaveta reached the barrier, climbed over, and approached Natalya to check on her. Once she saw the girl's dazed face, Elizaveta could tell that Natalya had succumbed more to shock and exhaustion than to despair for now.
Elizaveta withdrew and sat down on the barrier, watching the smoke cloud fill the western sky. She almost didn't notice Lovino climb over the barrier until he was sitting just beside her. He wrapped his left arm around her, and took her right hand in his. She turned to look at him, and saw in his eyes that he was just as exhausted and mystified as she was. There were no words to be said, and Elizaveta chose to lean her head against his shoulder instead, seeking the physical comfort as she watched the smoke cover up the late afternoon sun.
For better or for worse, Mathilda succeeded in destroying JCI, and they could now only watch as the world burned.
Author's Notes
"Бывай, брат" is Belarusian for "Goodbye, brother" and is spoken as "Byvaj, brat".
"До свидания сестра" is Russian for "Goodbye, sister" and is spoken as "Do svidaniya sestra"