Chapter 2: Rampage

William flew his skycar over the city to the first point he was to be at. He landed his black vehicle on the sidewalk where he saw the objective. Another vehicle was straight across from him with largely tinted windows. Reaching to his other seat, he grabbed his remote control and turned on the other vehicle. He smiled behind his helmet as he saw his target. The Metropolis Police Department had most of the cops on standby, and it was obvious they were working around the clock to find him. William needed for the revolution to begin with a bang just as much as he needed it to end with a bang.

"It's showtime." William smiled behind his helmet. He activated the other car and begin to steer it to the station. Once he had a direct course, he set it on auto-pilot and it headed for the doors. That's when he restarted his vehicle and left the area before the fireworks started.

Within the police department, the man at the front desk was busy looking at reports. His partner was probably looking at nude photos from Fornax, the galactic magazine that made the Playboy girls look like a bunch of nuns. It was just his luck that he would be stuck with the only cop who liked to stare at naked women; human and alien alike.

"Geez, Bernie. Can you please get your paperwork done?" He turned his chair around to look at Bernie, but he wasn't looking at any magazines at all. Instead, he was looking out the window of the front of the building as a car traveled straight for them. Reacting on instinct, he pushed himself away from his desk, screaming as the skycar crashed straight into their little space at the front desk.

"Simmons?" Another officer came towards him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Not so sure about Bernie. Who's the asshole who crashed straight into our building?" He got out of his chair and removed his carnifax, slowly walking around to the door of the car. On the floor under it he could see Bernie's arm and a puddle of blood. That was a sure indicator that Bernie didn't move.

He tapped on the tinted window of the car, expecting the occupant to open it. When that didn't happen, he pulled out his omni-tool and manually bypassed the door. He stepped around as it flung open, but was surprised to see no occupant inside the vehicle.

"Who is it?" The officer asked.

"No one." There was a box on the seat in front of him, and it had a screen that read two words in big bold font:

GAME OVER

"What the-" The man began before the box exploded and destroyed the station, incinerating everyone within the police station before they could stop the calamity.

Hotel Penthouse Floor, 09:07 am

Christian set his plate down and sighed, contemplating on the events that had passed within the last half-hour. Eric was diving into his mountain of pancakes, and Michelle was twirling her hair around her finger. Christian liked the way she did that, but right now wasn't the time to admire the view.

"So, what do we know? A group of people come planning to kill me, and they mentioned something about a William Thatcher. Any idea how that fits?"

"Maybe there's something on the TV that could tell us." Michelle suggested. "Who knows. Somewhere else could've been attacked for all we know."

"Might as well take a look." Christian turned on his TV to see a news reel on how the police station had gone up in flames. "What's going on here?"

"Sounds like the police station was attacked." Michelle said calmly. She turned up the volume to hear the news report.

"No more than ten minutes ago, the Metropolis Police department had been destroyed by a car armed with a bomb. It is unclear on whether or not an occupant was within the vehicle at the time of detonation, but it is clear that no one within the building survived, as the explosion not only caught the police station, but the three buildings on the side of it as well. Sources claim that this may have been the work of twenty-five-year-old William Thatcher, who was a citizen of the lower part of the city that was arrested for the conspiracy of an attempted murder on turian representative Trius Knakvar in 2172."

"So, we have a man fresh out of prison that wants me dead, and he blows up an entire police station. Why?"

"We now have reports that a large mob is gathering near the border of the Statesman Hotel. Nearly three thousand people appear to be armed and dangerous. We're recommending you stay indoors and let the Alliance handle the riot."

Eric coughed up his food at the announcement. "Did she just say the Statesman Hotel?"

Christian turned to face him. "Yeah. Why?"

"We're at the Statesman Hotel."

Christian ran to the window and looked to see the same crowd mentioned on TV gathering around the entrance of the building. Nearly three-thousand people had gathered there, and it sent a chill down Christian's spine.

"What are we going to do?" Michelle asked. "There's a huge crowd of people out there who probably want nothing more than to kill every rich guy from here to the power plant of this city. The cops are all dead, and the Alliance is mobilizing too slowly."

"We could fly away." Eric stated. "Our cars are still here."

"And leave innocents to die? No way."

"But do you expect us to fight our way through a crowd of thousands? We'd be torn to shreds!"

"We have combat experience and suits that can deflect minimal gunfire. I think fighting to protect the city would be much better than leaving innocents to die."

"Have you ever considered we could die from that, too?!"

"I'd rather fight for my life than die like a coward."

Christian was about to say something before his terminal went off. He found that the front desk was calling and he answered it. "This is Tyson."

"There is someone on the line for you. I think you should answer it."

"Put them on, then." Christian shook his head as the line switched to the caller.

"Hello, Christian."

Everyone seemed to freeze in place as the voice on the speaker said those two words.

"I'm sorry. You have me at a disadvantage, Mister..."

"Thatcher. William Thatcher, at your service."

Explains that feeling of dread I immediately got. Christian thought. "So you're the one who sent those thugs after me."

"I sent them to capture you. The one you let run back to me told me of how you single-handedly took down his men. Impressive. Most impressive."

"Uh-huh. So do you mind explaining why you want to kill me?"

"Kill you? I don't wanna kill you! At least I don't want you to die like a coward. I want you to die like the knight in shining armor you parade yourselves as on the EUCC."

"Normally petty criminals would just kill their marks without giving them a chance to fight back. What's your angle?"

"You know, a friend of mine once said that he held more honor than a common thief in this city. I had replied with the words 'There's no such thing as honor in Metropolis anymore, Lance.' But now we have Christian Tyson; the poster boy of the Edmonton Blood Dragons. You're an honorable kind of guy. You did spare the men who attacked you after all."

"So that's it? You want me to die with honor?"

"I'm forcing you into a confrontation with everything you are. There are eight million people in this city who will tear each other apart for the sole reason of greed. I am willing to lead them in that fight, but I don't seek greed. One person, however, wants me to kill you. So I'll make you a deal. Find me and defeat me with or without your honor intact and the war in the streets will end. But if I kill you, then the contract on your head will be fulfilled. Either option makes me a happy man because you and I will either die heroes or live long enough to see ourselves become the villians of this galaxy."

"And what if I survive as a hero? Would that make you happy or angry?"

"Honestly, if you are as incorruptable as you appear, I won't give a fuck if you live forever as a hero. But like I said, you have to find me before the war ends."

"How will it end?"

"Come on, Tyson. You know you can't spoil a good story before it gets good. You have about ten minutes before the mob outside the Statesman Hotel breaks down the doors and starts killing people. I'll be waiting for you to catch up."

Christian attempted to talk again, but Thatcher hung up on him before he could utter another word.

"That guy is seriously fucked up." Eric said in a serious tone. "He sends thugs to kill you but he says he wants you to die with honor. What good would that do for either of you guys?!"

Christian shook his head. "Beyond the point. All I know is that this guy has challenged me for some reason, and if I can capture him before millions die, I can stop this before it becomes too late to stop a massacre."

Michelle stood completely straight. "You're actually going to chase after him? That's insane! This city is large and there are eight million inhabitants to shield him!"

"Weren't you the one saying that we should help fight the people threatening us?"

"That was before a madman called you and said he wanted you to find him. He's gotta be leading you into a trap. How do we know he'll even be true to his word and tell the people to stop fighting if you capture him?"

"I don't know if he'll be true to his word. But I do know one thing: he's started a revolution at our doorstep and he wants me to find him."

Michelle took a few steps towards him. "If you go out there and face him, he will kill you."

Christian brought himself closer to her face, speaking as calm and assuring as he could. "If I don't find him, he'll probably kill everyone. At least facing him with vigilance will prove him that I am exactly who he thinks I am"

Michelle could see how close their lips were to each other, but she didn't want that moment now. She had admitted to herself ages ago that she felt something for Christian, but she could feel it in her heart that right now wasn't a good moment to just jump on top of him and let their lips lock together. "If you're seriously going to pull something off like this, I'm going to help you. And you can't stop me from coming."

"I won't." Christian teased, backing away so she may leave the room. He looked at Eric, who still held a serious face. "What?"

"You're crazy on two accounts. One, you keep teasing her but never go in to taste her lips. Two, you're actually going to follow this guy into hell just to prove a point. Now, you're pretty much forcing me to come with you just because Thatcher had all of his pets converge on our hotel."

"I'm not forcing you to do anything, Eric." Christian scoffed. "If you want to leave, the door's right there."

"Yeah, but the front desk is holding onto my keys. My baby's locked up. So now I'm going to get my armor and suit up. And there's no way you're going to stop me."

"Trust me. You're the last person I'd stop from going on a suicide mission."

"That's goo- heeeeyyy!" Eric squealed as he noticed what that sentence meant. Rather than retaliate, Eric instead walked out of Christian's room. Once that was all said and done, Christian zipped up his jacket and opened his suitcase again. The silver armor could easily be slipped onto his body by himself if done in the right order. He started by slipping on the bottom part first, hooking the armor pieces together and slipping his boot plates onto his normal boots. He then slipped the top part on, adjusting the straps tight so his armor didn't fall apart. Christian grabbed his helmet and slipped it on, activating the programs to start up his shields and targeting computer on his visor. Lastly, he reached for his multi-tool.

Pressing one button on it, he turned it into the hockey stick he used for matches. While it wasn't ideal for him to use this in combat, it may actually come in handy. His hand pressed another button near the bottom of the hockey stick, and it switched to his spear. The small omni-blade tip glowed vibrant orange, and he normally used it when he felt like keeping his distance from competitors. One more button press, and it became his sword; a longsword with both edges being formed by omni-blades. When Rogers built the device, he warned Christian not to turn a certain red gear built on (and around) the device as it could switch the omni-blade's setting from the stun setting EUCC weapons were meant to possess to a literal kill option, where the omni-blade could cut through three-foot thick carbon steel.

"Thanks to the man who designs special tools with salarians at Los Angelos's Calypso facility." Christian joked to himself. "Really hope I don't have to kill anyone with it." He folded it up with one more push of a button right before Michelle stepped in.

Michelle's armor was similar to his with the difference of how it fit onto her smaller figure. It was also a bit less armored, giving Michelle more flexibility than Christian or any other member of the group. She had a silver bow in her hands that was designed by Ama-Lur Equipment specifically for the EUCC. Apparently, her father payed good money for that bow.

"What?" She asked as she caught his eyes staring.

"Oh, nothing." Christian joked. "Just admiring the view." He then saw Eric enter the room behind her. "And now it's over."

Eric shrugged. "What?"

"Again with the black armor."

Eric looked at his black suit, which stood out from the rest of the team. "Black's my favorite color."

"You're just trying to stand out. It's already easy to stand out with your Jersey accent."

"You're from California, Christian."

"And Michelle is from Minnesota. But at least the French can understand us."

"Hey, my accent isn't that bad."

"Your voice cracks up at times."

"Why you-" Eric stepped forward but was stopped by Michelle.

"Boys, we could argue about this or we can fight our way through the city to stop a madman. All right?"

"Right. Let's move. The hotel is going to be overrun any second now." Christian placed his multi-tool on his back and lead his group outside. "We need to get past the mob outside. Any ideas?"

"Smoke bombs." Michelle commented. "My father is over-protective of me. I have enough to make the crowd disperse."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I never used them for the games, but they could be used here."

"Good idea." Christian opened the elevator. "That should give us a chance, at least." The elevator closed behind them, giving Michelle a second to grab the grenades off of her belt.

"All five of these should do the trick. A few thousand people aren't going to stop us."

"Yeah, just one madman." Eric scolded. "I wonder what he's doing now."

William exited his skycar and looked around at the streets of the boardwalk. Thousands of people are walking back from work due to his message. A shame, however, that they were all heading in the direction he was in. But he wasn't ready to jump the gun just yet. He had thirty seconds before the gates of the Metropolis Federal Prison were released. Jarvis was working on hacking through the security of the prison firewalls. A strange task for a V.I., but it was bordering on true A.I. status. If it did become sentient, he had failsafes planted that would be used only if Jarvis planned on betraying him.

"I have successfully broke through the firewalls of the prison. All prisoners are starting a riot."

"Good. Send the group with the weapons cache coordinates towards them. We need absolute chaos to distract the entire city."

"And Christian Tyson? He may try to stop you."

"Even if he doesn't, I'm not going to really fulfill the contract on him. The one who hired me doesn't have enough credits or hatred to let me try and kill him. He can rot in this city with the rest of them."

"I assume you are not planning on telling him that?"

"I'll never tell him that." William stated. "He's a fool. A fool should never rule over men." He pulled his guns off of his back and began to walk towards the crowds of people. A few took notice at the black-armored man approaching with two assault rifles in his hands, but the rest of the people never payed heed of it until he started to fire his guns.

The first bullets tore through the five people standing in front of him within two seconds. The rest of the people began to panic on the third second before he continued to shoot everything in site. Firing every few seconds, many people fell on the tarmac with blood pouring out of their bodies. William just continued walking through the dead without a second thought. Sounds were being blocked out as he kept killing people.

And the fire begins... William thought. But it'll be even bigger before noon. Much bigger.

Metropolis Police Station Ruins, 10:48 am

Nearly an hour before detonation

The fires from the police station had already been put out from the fire crews that passed by, but Christian could still feel the heat. This was the first place Thatcher himself had truly struck. The skycar that had crashed into the station still had a portion of itself easy to make out despite being burned to hell.

How many cops were in there? Christian thought to himself.

"So," Eric began to speak while panting, "we fought our way through a crowd of three-thousand angry citizens with smoke grenades and our non-lethal omni-weapons just to run all the way to a burned-out building?"

"Not just any burned-out building." Christian answered. "The first place Thatcher struck. He took out the police department to avoid getting shot down by the police. Maybe it could give us a clue."

"It's been burned to hell." Michelle noted. "How are we going to get evidence from that?"

"Search what remains of the vehicle for any hint towards his plans. If it could tell us anything about where he is, we need to know."

Michelle looked around as Christian rummaged through the debris of the car, intent on finding anything he could use. It was only after a few seconds that she spotted a man walking towards them. She pulled at the imaginary string of her bow, emmiting an arrow of energy that resembled a stun gun. As the man got closer, she realized it was the man leading the group that tried to kidnap Christian.

"Stop right there." Michelle warned. "I still remember how you held me hostage back at the hotel."

"Calm down, senorita." The man spoke generously. "I am not here for trouble. I came here with a warning."

Christian hopped out of the rubble and walked towards him. "And why would you warn us of anything?"

"Favor for a favor. You let me walk away, so now I'm giving you a chance to walk away. Thatcher is planning to send the nuclear reactor critical. He's going to destroy the city."

"Wait, what?" Eric squealed, falling off of the rubble he was leaning on.

"Yeah, apparently he sees this place as hell. The only way to get rid of hell on earth is a cleansing fire. He is letting the poor folk fight to take what the rich held away from them, but he has no plans on letting anyone reap the benefits."

"Holy shit." Eric said nervously.

"That means we really need to stop him now." Christian said. "If that lunatic destroys the city, millions of people are going to die."

"You don't honestly think you can stop him, do you?" The man asked.

"I think I have a shot."

"A man with guns does not intimidate you?"

"Guns can be disabled." Christian pulled out his sword and turned the red control ring on his weapon. The blade seemed to hum more and glow brighter, and he swung it through a surviving part of the structure, splitting it in half.

"It is your decision, then." The man spoke, beginning to turn away. "You want my advice, though? Leave the city. It's the only option where your survival is guaranteed. If you still plan on following Thatcher, just follow the bodies. He'll lead you straight to the Calypso base."

"Thank you." Christian readjusted the settings to his weapon and reconnected it to his belt. "I now know what I must do."

Michelle turned towards him. "Are you sure about this?"

"We've already come too far to turn back now. I mean, we fought through a tough crowd, and we may have to fight through eight million people. Perhaps less now that Thatcher has already started killing people."

"We need to warn the Alliance of this, though. They need to start evacuating everyone before Thatcher actually succeeds in blowing this place up, which I hope to God he doesn't."

"Then you should get to the Alliance and warn them of Thatcher's plan. Eric and I will move as fast as we can to stop him."

Eric looked at him. "Us?" His voice didn't hold fear, but rather seriousness and confusion.

"Trust me, I would rather work with Michelle than with you. But she is the fastest of the three of us, and she can avoid the larger crowds of poor people going after her. Besides, Thatcher could use a hammer to the face."

"That's the first good thing you've ever said about me."

"Don't get used to it." Christian turned towards Michelle. "Get to the Alliance and assist with evacuations. We'll keep in touch over our omni-tools in case something comes up. And if we can't stop him in time, get out of the city and survive."

"And what about you guys?"

"We'll think of something. Calypso has the aliens in their pocket. They might have some prototype aircraft that could be accessed to fly us out of the city. But we won't die on you, Michelle. I promise."

Michelle had seemed to have been shaking when he suggested she run to the Alliance, but hearing him assure her he was going to win really brought her close to the edge. How he could hold such confidence to face a madman was unbelievable, like God was granting him much strength beyond measure both physically and psychologically. Deciding to just get it over with, she hugged him fiercely against her chest; her heart pounding through her chest rapidly from what could only be adrenaline mixed with emotional distress.

"If we don't make it..."

"We'll make it, Michelle. Don't worry."

"I always wanted to be with you."

Christian smiled behind his helmet. "Same here. And once this is all over, I'm going to take you on a date far away from crazy people with guns and plans to destroy entire cities."

"Sounds like any girl's dream." Michelle released her hold on Christian. "Come back to me."

"I will. Once this is all done, I'm going to make you smile."

"I'm counting on it. I'll be in touch, guys." Michelle began to walk away, but Christian pulled her back, lifting her helmet up until her lips were visible. Taking off his own helmet, Christian allowed his lips to lock with her own for a few seconds. She was smiling after they broke the kiss.

"For luck?" She asked.

"Totally." Christian laughed.

"Tease." Michelle laughed back as she slipped her helmet back on. She darted away before they could stop each other again.

"Smooth, Christian." Eric spoke plainly. "Very smooth."

"I don't see you pulling your charm on any women, Mr. Sparrow." Christian joked as he slipped his helmet back on. "Let's go. Shouldn't keep the madman waiting for us."

Eric simply nodded and followed Christian towards the gunfire. And as they found the trail of bodies William Thatcher left in his quest for destruction Christian could only reflect on how he had given Michelle that kiss not for luck but for a different reason all together.

It was something for her to remember him by should he fail.