Chapter 3: Betrayal
Metropolis Calypso Base, 11:04 am
Fifty-six minutes until Meltdown
Sarif worked quickly to transfer all data to the Washington D.C. Calypso base from his main terminal in his office. But he was trying to send 240 GB of data over a normal connection of a city that was ten times worse than Detroit. That was about as easy as putting shaving cream in a turian's hand and tickling his jaw to make him scratch it. If they had been able to make that breakthrough with QEC bandwiths, they could've been able to send all of the data to the main base all the way in the Argos Rho cluster. Instead, they had to try to get all of the data to the base at Arlington.
"Mr. Sarif, you have a call from Admiral Taggart coming in." Chronicler notified, keeping his holographic form hidden.
"Put him through." Sarif walked up to the screen and watched as Taggart appeared on the screen.
"Sarif, you need to get out of your building now!"
"I'm still transferring data to Washington D.C. The connection isn't the best right now."
"We just got word from a civilian that she and her friends know what Thatcher's plan is. I'm patching her through from Echo Base on the southwest part of the city. They were the ones she met up with."
The screen split and the face of a young woman barely in her twenties wearing a knight armor set from the Edmonton Blood Dragons. She was breathing hard and sweating from running in her armor.
"I know who you are. Michelle Thrask of the Edmonton Blood Dragons. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Sorry to just jump in, but my friends and I discovered that William Thatcher is planning to detonate the nuclear power plant next to your facility. He's going to eradicate the entire city!"
"Why? What would he gain by doing that?"
"A biblical cleansing of a stain on the world. His idealism is that the rich starve the poor and the poor in turn become rabid dogs that want nothing more than to inflict many horrors on the rich folk. By destroying Metropolis, he would set a cleansing fire on the world that would purify what he sees as a hell on Earth."
"Holy shit." Sarif gasped, shaking his head. "How do you know all of this?"
"One of his men found us and gave us the warning. Ironically, it was the same man that held me hostage in a hotel about two hours ago."
"Not the best way to wake up in the morning." Sarif joked, switching back to his serious mood. "So what do we do?"
"We save as many as we can." Sarif turned to his left to see The Stranger approaching him. He was wearing black all over and had a black mask on. Strands of silver hair could be seen from the sides of his head, and his eyes were the majestic blue he normally had.
"Ah! Stranger! I didn't realize you were here, sir." Sarif stuttered, caught off guard by his boss's untimely arrival.
"I apologize for the unannounced arrival, but once I heard news of the chaos Mr. Thatcher planned to unleash, I came to make sure my employees were ready to depart. I figured a madman like Thatcher would likely target the plant, so I also came with more defenses, twenty more carriers to transport any citizens we can rescue, and failsafes to shut down the core in the event Thatcher gets his hands near the controls."
Taggart seemed to consider the options. "You're such a resourceful man. Probably comes from the paranoia of hiding your identity so well you even use an I.D. disguieser to hide your identity from even the Alliance."
"Apologies, Admiral Taggart. My title is merely to protect my employees from those who would target me through them. Many people would attack me for reasons bordering from xenophobia to pure psychotic rage."
"You mean like Thatcher?"
The Stranger nodded.
"How much longer until that data is loaded up to your other servers, Sarif?"
Sarif shrugged. "About ten minutes. Nearly everything else is taken care of already."
"All right. I'll send my troops to begin evacuation procedures. How soon can your transports make it to the city?"
"Five minutes." The Stranger answered.
"Then they better get here fast."
"Trust me, Taggart. Our ships always meet their deadlines. If he says five minutes, he means five minutes."
"Wait," Michelle spoke. "there's one more thing. My friends Christian and Eric are trying to follow Thatcher. They're heading to your facility right now."
"Christian Tyson? We supplied him with some of our tech. We didn't supply him with anything dangerous, but they were tools that could be used in situations like this."
"Your defenses aren't going to hurt either of them, are they?"
The Stranger nodded. "All we need is for you to patch them into our communication feed. If they get to our facility before Thatcher does, our defenses won't harm them."
"Thank you." Michelle nodded. "That makes me feel better."
"We would never openly endanger any civilian who comes to our facility. Just get them to connect to the communications signal and we can grant them approval to enter the facility. Hopefully they will arrive before Thatcher does."
"Here's hoping." Taggart said. "We'll contact you again if anything comes up."
"We'll be listening for you." Sarif cut the communications and went to his terminal. "I'll boost the signal so Michelle's friends can get to us faster and without trouble."
"No." The Stranger replied. "I need you to make sure the Phoenix Mk II implants are loaded and ready to leave the facility. I'll take care of the signal."
"But what if the facility gets attacked any minute now? You should get out of here now. Calypso needs you alive."
"Calypso won't lose me for staying behind to help save lives and data. Besides, if Thatcher gets here first I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve."
Sarif looked around, trying to decide whether or not he should listen to his boss."All right. But first things first." He went over to his desk and grabbed his baseball and bat. "I don't plan on coming back for anything else in this office once I get the implants secured. Thank God my family photos and everything else are in my condo near the Pacific. I have no idea why I needed to fly all the way over here for work."
"I could get you transferred to a closer facility if you want to, David."
"I'll think about it, boss. For now, I'll focus on the task at hand."
The Stranger watched as his employee left the office. Once he did, the data had been completely downloaded to the other facility and a signal was sent out so that Christian Tyson could get here safely. But once he was done, his eyes turned black.
"Rapture." The Stranger spoke.
Rapture's holographic form popped up on the table. "Inquiry: You called me, Father?"
"Set the nuclear power plant to overload once Thatcher makes it to the core. This needs to be on his head."
"Confusion: May I ask quickly why you would ask me to perform a task such as this?"
"It is necessary to the future events that will take place, no matter what we may try to fix it. At the end of it all, Thatcher will always be the one to blame for this."
"Statement: As you command, Father. I shall prepare." Rapture's holographic form disappeared into the table, giving The Stranger time to finish everything else on his end.
Four miles away from the base, Christian and Eric followed the streets full of death and blood to get to William Thatcher. The sight was devastating to Christian; he had never seen so many dead people out on the streets. He saw all of the innocent civilians just laying there in pools of their own blood. How could one man stand for the genocide of an entire city? It just wasn't right.
"Eric, have you ever seen so many dead before?"
"There were gang riots back in Jersey. One of them I started by lighting a drug lord's car on fire."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. It turns out he really loved that car."
Christian shook his head and went to his helmet radio as he heard Michelle attempt to connect a signal.
"Hey guys, you alive out there?"
"Still moving. How about you?"
"I'm at an Alliance evacuation facility. We're evacuating as many civilians as we can. Calypso is trying to send you a signal so their defenses won't target you. Apparently, with the whole Thatcher situation, their turrets fire on those who don't have the signal connected to their omni-tools. The Alliance is already patched in so they can protect the facility. Just search for frequency 100.9 on your omni-tools."
"Will do. Thanks for calling."
"Anything for you." Michelle disconnected the line and Christian searched for the signal. A second after his omni-tool chimed that he had found it, and Eric's shortly followed along.
"Now we know a few turrets and mechs won't stop us." Eric smiled.
"Let's pick up the pace. We've got a lot of ground to cover." Christian began to run faster, but Eric took a little longer to try to catch up. Their muscles were burning after the first mile, but they didn't stop for anything.
That is until the they saw the convicts from the prisons marching along.
"Get back." Christian whispered. They took cover behind a dumpster as they passed along. Christian was as still and as quiet as a statue, but Eric was quietly whimpering. He knew this was never part of the plan. Just what the hell was Thatcher doing?
He knocked a can with his feet.
Two of the men in prison rags stopped, turning towards the dark alley. Christian looked at Eric, but neither of their expressions could be seen through their helmets. The two men had pistols pointed out, expecting more than just a cat. When the first man came towards them, Eric latched out and grabbed the gun arm of the first man. Christian pulled out his omni-bow, slightly coming out of cover to get a clear view of the second guy. He fired a concussive arrow into him before he could fire at Eric, knocking the wind out of his opponent. Eric then slammed his elbow into his opponent's throat, keeping him from calling out to his buddies that had long past by.
"Go down, you bastard!" Eric flipped the man onto his back, pointing his pistol at his head. He was about to pull the trigger, but Christian stopped him.
"Are you nuts?" He whispered. "Other than the fact that the shot may attract the others, this is a man's life in your hands right now. You don't need to kill him. He's defeated."
Eric stood still for a second, still pointing the gun at the man's head. But eventually his arm began to shake and he dropped it, placing his pistol on his belt. "Fine. But you better take his friend's gun. Even if you won't use it, it's better if they wake up unarmed."
"Fine." Christian agreed, picking up the other man's gun and placing it on his belt. "Let's keep moving. Thatcher could blow this place at any minute."
"I'd rather keep my skin, too. This man is out of control." Eric's tone almost seemed too revealing, but with Christian masked, he couldn't tell if he caught on. "Let's move. I think the streets should be clear now."
"That would be a good sign." Christian agreed, picking up the pace out in the war-torn streets.
Eric followed quietly, knowing he would have to resort to plan B once they reached Thatcher.
One mile away from Calypso, 11:25 am
Alliance barricade
William looked at the barricade that had been set up. Some random vehicles and metal sheets had been put up with Alliance forces shooting anyone who held a gun. He scolded at their handiwork; they had built a much better wall to seperate the rich and poor districts of the city. That wall didn't stand thanks to the explosives set around it. How would this wall fare better?
He looked at his omni-tool to see the simulation's estimated body count so far. According to the results, already 24% of the population had fallen from accidents, murders, and tramplings in the streets. William guessed that if anyone survived this day, it would only be three percent of the entire population. Whether or not he himself would be included was anyone's guess. I mean, how do you survive a nuclear explosion? By hopping into a refrigerator?
William placed his guns onto his back, reaching for the high-explosive disc grenades on his belt. As he approached, members of the Alliance saw him coming, and began to fire. While his kinetic barriers were resilient enough to deflect assault fire, he activated and threw the discs quickly, hiding behind a smoking skycar before detonating them all at once. The barricade became a smoking ruin as the vehicles set to protect the Alliance foot soldiers instead took their lives with vengeful flame. William cut through with his shotgun in his hands. A surviving soldier attempted to stop him, but instead burst into flame when William's shotgun fired at his face.
Back at Calypso HQ, Sarif was waiting patiently at the last transport for The Stranger to approach. His security advisor, Jensen, was pacing back and forth. The man wanted Sarif onboard where he would be safe, but the man was too stubborn for his own good.
"You know," Jensen spoke, "if you really want The Stranger to get his ass out of there, you could just tell me to get him."
"No, I'm going to wait for him, and then we're going to get out of here. The last of the transports are already assisting evacuation transports with helping as many other people as they can. But we can't fly this bird to Arlington without our boss."
"Sir, we could easily wait for the boss to come out before we take off, but I really think you should be inside the ship."
"No need." Sarif looked at the doorway. "He's coming now."
The Stranger approached with his cane in his hands, which Jensen knew there was a hidden blade inside of it that could be used to fight anyone who dared attempt to harm him. It was a strange thing for an old man to be in possession of, but he wouldn't be called The Stranger if he didn't hold onto 'traditional' customs.
"We can leave now, Jensen." Sarif tapped his shoulder and walked onboard the ship. Jensen just stood there until The Stranger began to board the ship.
"Have I ever said you old men are stubborn?" Jensen caught a glimpse of the man's eyes before he continued walking up.
"You have no idea how many times I've heard that." The Stranger joked behind a serious tone his creator always seemed to hold. Jensen shook his head and boarded the vessel, latching his rifle onto his back as the doors sealed themselves shut. The vessel took off thirty seconds before Thatcher reached the building and breached security to pass through the facility to the reactor core.
The core which would inevitably melt down and destroy Metropolis.
Five minutes after Thatcher entered the facility, Christian and Eric had reached the barricade that had been destroyed. Eric was out of breath, but Christian was fine. That was what performing two sports could do for you. It can make your muscles stronger and make your lungs perform better.
"Fuck... You... Christian." Eric scolded through breaths, unable to regain his steady breathing.
"Time was of the essence, Eric. If you wanted to keep up in that body armor, you should've brought your skateboard."
"It's... back in... Jersey."
"And who's fault is that?"
"Again... Fuck... You..."
"Come on. We can walk the rest of the way in." Christian walked through the charred remains of the last barricade between Thatcher and the facility, trying not to focus on dead in front of him.
"How do you do it?" Eric asked, his breathing back to normal.
"Do what?"
"How do you not cower in fear of the dead around? How do you not break?"
Christian thought on this for a moment as they continued walking. "I just remember what I still have: something worth fighting for. I focus on that instead of the dead. I still acknowledge their existence, but I don't dwell on it."
"So why are you fighting for a city you don't owe anything to?"
"It's about what's right, Eric. This man that has challenged me plans to perform an injustice. It's the right thing to try and stop him."
"And if he kills you? What then?"
"He won't kill me. He thinks I'm too much fun."
"What?"
"If you listened to the way he talked to me on the phone, he considers his challenge as a game. He won't kill me unless I break."
"And you honestly think you won't break?"
"I know I won't."
Eric became silent as they walked to the entrance of the building. The turrets that were guarding the doorway seemed to be inactive, and the wiring at the security panel next to it was ripped to shreds. The windows were broken and there was evidence of LOKI mechs being shot to hell on the ground. Eric pulled out his maul (his preferred weapon in the EUCC) and Christian pulled out his spear. They slowly walked around broken glass and dead LOKI mechs in search of Thatcher.
"Well done, Mr. Tyson." A voice from behind the reception desk brought their attention forward. William quickly turned the chair around to view his challengers. He could immediately tell the difference between Christian and the fool, who had no idea about any of his plans. "I knew you would get here in time. I felt like waiting patiently for you before launching my barbaric plan to cleanse the Earth of this shit stain."
"Not the best idea you've come up with, Thatcher." Christian noted.
"Maybe, but I do have this." William threw a grenade disc towards Christian, who changed his spear into his hockey stick and hit the disc back as it reached the ground. The disc exploded at the desk, leaving a bunch of smoke in its wake. When it cleared, Christian realized they had been tricked.
"That was a smoke grenade."
"No shit, Sherlock!" Eric scolded.
Christian looked at the doorway to the stairwell. It was wide open and wasn't going to close due to the chair blocking it.
"He's heading for the core. Come on!" Christian began running in, looking up the stairs as he went through the door. William was looking down at them with much enthusiasm; his helmet in his hands.
"You'll have to be faster than that, Mr. Tyson." He dropped his helmet down and continued running up the stairs. Christian immediately followed up the stairs, and Eric was just shaking his head as he went to the elevator. There was no way in hell that he was going to run up all of those stairs in his armor.
William ran through the door without opening it, smashing open the glass and cutting parts of his face up. But he didn't even feel the sting with the rush of adrenaline through his body. Christian followed a second later, noticing Eric coming out of the elevator just as Thatcher pointed a shotgun towards it. Eric, however, had stayed to the side in case Thatcher knew how lazy he was, and was thankful that the shotgun blast missed him. Thatcher began to run again, but tripped and dropped his shotgun.
"Asshole!" Eric cursed as he stepped out of the elevator, throwing his maul at the man. William rolled to the side as the hammer missed him, flying out of a window. He laughed and ran away while Eric again cursed at how careless he was.
"That weapon was your life, you know." Christian joked.
"That's why I have the gun." Eric pulled it off and started running towards William.
"One thing's for sure, Eric. You're not Thor."
"Yeah, well you're not Captain America."
"And Michelle isn't Hawkeye."
"But the truth is we're all Iron Man."
Christian laughed as they continued on.
Seattle Alliance HQ, 11:46 am
Fourteen minutes until Meltdown
Admiral Taggart paced inside the communications room he was in. The casualty reports were staggering in the city of Metropolis. They were already in the millions in a matter of hours. And only seventeen thousand have been evacuated so far. It was devastating to even hear about.
"Patch me in to Sarif." Taggart commanded, standing in front of the view screen as Sarif's face appeared. "I hope your failsafes are working, Sarif. Satellite reports show that Thatcher and Ms. Thrask's friends are inside the facility. If Thatcher gets to that core, it's game over for millions of people."
"Relax. We've got the failsafes planted and we have extra failsafes we can control from here. Thatcher won't succeed."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"If I wasn't, I'd still be at the facility. But our failsafes have kicked in. We're already lowering core temperatures in the system so that even if Thatcher reaches the core, he couldn't detonate it without a bomb that would've been the size of a turian frigate."
"Who's to say he doesn't have something like that already?"
"This guy's obviously smarter than a Conatix member. They likely caused all of those 'accidents' back during the study of the L1 and L2 biotics. He couldn't just fly a turian frigate straight at the plant. He wanted this distraction because he's going to try and manually detonate the core. If everyone fights each other, then there's no one to stop him from blowing the place to hell."
"You seem to know an awful lot about his plan."
"When you work with someone like The Stranger for as long as I have, you get used to these kinds of things. You calculate things much faster when he's near. It's like a hive mind of sorts. If he's just there, you get better ideas. I can't explain it."
"Are you sure you're just not involved?"
"I spent twenty years of my life trying to fix the once-great city of Metropolis. Why would I help a madman destroy everything I've worked so hard to achieve? Why would you even accuse me of such a thing? Has your difference in opinion clouded your judgement?"
Taggart shook his head. "No. I just find it coincidental that you would know how Thatcher could take out the entire city."
"As I said, I spent twenty years trying to fix the city. I should know everything about that nuclear powerplant by now. If you find that suspicious, fine. But don't accuse a friend for stating what he thinks Thatcher could do to destroy a city."
"All right, David. You've made your case. Could you see if you could swing around to the southwest outpost? They've nearly evacuated everyone in that district, but there won't be room for the troops who are holding the line defending those fleeing."
"You sound like you're saying the city is a lost cause."
"I'm simply preparing for the worst."
"All right. We'll swing by and pick up your troops. God knowing we won't have to run away with our tails between our legs."
"Thank you." Taggart disconnected the line and went back to pacing, hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with the press if the city blew up.
Back in the Calypso base, William had reached the core of the powerplant. There were so many pathways and stairwells around the large area, but he had the map of the place to lead him straight to the controls. That gave him a headstart before Christian Tyson could catch up to stop him. Following the directions on his map, he ran up stairs and jumped over pipes to get him to the environmental controls much faster.
"It's almost over." William laughed. He was about to complete his mission. Not the mission he was hired for, but the mission he sought to complete once he got locked up in prison all those years ago. He was going to destroy Metropolis and save the Earth from the corruption of the city. Lies, greed, and misery had poisoned the souls of eight million people. He was going to set things right.
The controls were right in front of him.
Panting heavily, he headed over and began to mess with the settings. He needed to increase the temperature to an all-time high; enough heat and radiation to detonate one small charge he was to place next to the glass.
Then the console beeped.
In confusion, William looked at it and realized the controls had froze. He couldn't access the environmental controls to raise the temperature. He was about to try and bypass the failsafe, but another image popped up on the screen, revealing a skull and crossbones with a countdown for ten minutes.
"Statement: Have a good day, meatbag." The screen spoke.
William found himself laughing at the screen. Calypso had done his dirty work for him. In a surge of both rage and hysteria, he ripped the console off of the wall and hurdled it at the wall to his left. His breathing had become more erratic, and he finally felt the sting from the cuts on his face.
"Surrender, Thatcher!" William heard Christian yell from within the area. "I will be merciful!"
William looked behind him to see his two pursuers coming right towards him on the floor below him. He revealed himself and laughed. "It's too late to turn back, Tyson! In ten minutes, this place is going to be blown back to hell! You should've run when you first got attacked!"
"After the man you sent to capture me revealed your plans at the police station, I knew I had to stop you. But even if it's too late to save Metropolis, you can still pay for your crimes."
William looked at him with a confused look. "You mean the man I killed for failing to capture you? He died before that building full of corrupt officials went up in flames!"
Now Christian was confused. "That's impossible! He was there after the building burned to the ground!"
William looked at them, but instead laughed. "You know what, we'll just forget about my informant and perhaps focus on my employer. You obviously knew that a poor guy from the slums of the worst city on Earth shouldn't have had enough credits to supply thousands of madmen with military-grade weapons. So who in this city would likely want you dead? A corporate official who didn't want the slums to be fixed? A man whose child was beaten by you horrifically in the EUCC? Or perhaps is it-"
"A rival?" Christian interrupted as he heard Eric's gun unfold right next to his head. He had known for quite a bit it had to have been Eric. His words betrayed him in more ways than one, and it fit in both how he was a rival and held a grudge against him. No one else in the city knew that much about him. That left Eric as the only suspect.
"Is this where you planned to do it?" Christian asked cautiously.
"It's as good a place as any." Eric stated with a serious tone.
"Then at least have the balls to call this what it really is." Christian turned to face Eric. "Murder." He began to walk around him, but Eric kept his gun pointed at him. William watched with much anticipation over what was happening. The fool who hired him for this was trying to take matters into his own hands.
Christian stopped once Eric's back was facing William. "Do you really believe that anyone will fall for your stories? Do you really think Michelle will believe that you survived because I-"
"That's enough!" Eric yelled.
"-fell to a man who blew up an entire city?!"
"She will believe it. So will our boss. So will your family. You died fighting Thatcher. He drew a gun on you, and I got out to tell people what Thatcher had done. He was always meant to kill you, but this was never part of the plan."
"Why? Why now? I thought we worked this out."
"You mean at Moscow? How I almost get you kicked out and you punched me in the nose in retaliation?! I'm ERIC MOTHERFUCKING SPARROW! I NEVER LET GO OF A GRUDGE!"
"So you would kill me in cold blood?! So you can have my title and my new girlfriend all in your pocket?! That life won't be worth a damn. I know you. You won't be able to live with yourself after all of this."
William looked at the fight they were having with curious eyes. Christian wasn't showing any sign that he was going to fight for his life, and Eric wasn't pulling the trigger either. It was too boring to watch these two bicker but not take action. Looking to his left he saw a medium-sized pole.
"What'cha know what I can live with?!" Eric yelled. "You don't know what I can live with; what I lived with! You think you have what it takes? Here," Eric lowered his gun. "go ahead and raise your gun on me."
"No." Christian spoke, shaking his head. "No, I will not."
"What's the matter? You're afraid to get your hands dirty? You're not going to take the chance to fight for your life? I'm a better fighter than you! I'm better for Michelle than you'll ever be! You know why? Because I'm the better man. I've got the will to do what it takes to survive! I survived New Jersey and came out as the number 1 fighter in the EUCC, but then you come along and just DESTROY EVERYTHING!"
Christian still stood defiantly as William Thatcher began to slip through the railing from his floor.
"Raise your gun, Tyson!" Eric roared, pointing his pistol straight at the young man he hated with a passion.
"You'll have to kill an unarmed man."
William now had his legs dangling as he saw Christian still defiant against Eric.
"Watch my hand." Christian spoke, slowly moving his arm towards the pistol he carried. "Nice and easy." Christian unclipped the folded weapon from his belt and kept his movements slow.
William slid down a little farther, letting the pipe dangle in his hands.
"We can still walk away from this. Nothing has happened."
William gripped the edge with his left hand.
"We're going to put down our guns, we're going to knock out Thatcher, and then we're going to find a ride out of this place. Together."
William was now hanging off of the platform with just one hand.
Christian extended his gun slowly to Eric, who seemed to be relaxing. "Back to the team. Back to Michelle."
William landed softly on the ground behind them.
"We'll pretend this never happened at all." Christian promised as Eric took the gun from his hand.
A metal pole suddenly went through Eric's chest, allowing blood to gush from the gaping wound that William Thatcher had inflicted upon his employer.
At the southwest outpost, the prison group had marched in an attempt to stop the last ship from leaving without them, and they were attempting lethal force to get what they wanted. Michelle had been shocking many of the prisoners while the Alliance shot to kill. Some of their own had been shot, and Michelle had been resisting the urge to vomit at the smell of blood. The ship that had come from the Calypso building had landed down to provide evacuation, but Michelle couldn't stand the thought of leaving the city behind without knowing if Christian was okay.
Eric could suck eggs.
"Let's go!" A voice from behind her shouted from the ship. She turned around after she knew she was safe and she saw a man with an old black trenchcoat walking down to the soldiers. His voice was low and hoarse, as if he had damaged his voice box over time. "We've got an emergency signal indicating a heat spike in the reactor system."
"What the hell does that mean?" An Alliance marine asked.
"It means that Thatcher discovered a way around our failsafes! He's setting the reactor for critical! We need to leave to escape the blast zone!"
"What about the rest of the city?" Another marine asked. "We can't abandon our mission."
"Visual scans show that the rest of the occupants in the city are in the center at the town hall. Some are hiding and others are attacking. There's no time to get there! Admiral Taggart has ordered a full retreat! We need to move!"
Michelle saw as the Alliance troops began to board the vessel, aiding their wounded along the steps. The man stepped up to her.
"You, too. We need to get everyone out of here."
"What about friends? Where are they?"
"They're still at the facility. Scans show that one of them has lost his vitals, but I can confirm Tyson is alive right now."
"We need to get him out of there, then!"
"We can't. If we get near the building, there's no way we'll be able to escape the blast radius when the reactor blows."
"Can't you do something?"
"We're trying to get in contact with him. We have a vehicle on the helipad he can use to escape, but we need to get him to move now. And we can't do that without your help. You can get his attention on the radio, and we can give him the directions to the helipad. But you need to get onboard the ship now."
Michelle was glad she was wearing a helmet, because she could've sworn there were tears forming in her eyes. Nodding hesitantly, she followed him up the platform to the inside of the ship, praying that Christian could get out of there alive.
Eight Minutes Until Meltdown
Christian watched in shock as William pulled the pipe out of Eric's chest, pushing the body off of the bridge they were on to slump on the hard floor thirty feet below. Despite his differences with Eric, he didn't hate the guy. He didn't even expect him to pull the trigger on him. But William's sudden strike that ended the young man's life had caught Christian off guard. He didn't expect that at all.
This was the kind of man he was dealing with.
"Eric didn't have to die." Christian spoke with hesitance.
"He was expendable. I had a more reliable employer in my pocket. Besides, I did you a favor. He was going to kill you, but I-"
"Wanted to keep me for yourself?" Christian interrupted.
"Now that's one way to put it. But I can offer you a way out."
"What do you mean?"
"There's close to seven minutes left on the clock before this city goes to hell. And unfortunately, there's no way to stop it now. So we could both leave now like none's the wiser."
"Do you really think I could let you walk away after all you've done?"
"I'll leave Earth and never attack again. Nobody needs to know about William Thatcher. He died destroying Metropolis while you live as the reluctant hero that slew him. Or you could die a martyr here, right now, dying for a cause that was lost long before you came to this city. Make your choice, Tyson, and see how a hero is rewarded."
Christian pulled out his spear and pointed it at William. "I didn't come here to die. I came here to stop you."
William cracked a wicked smile. "So be it." William lifted the pole to strike at Christian, but he deflected the blows thrown at him. They both jabbed at each other, but neither could touch the other. Christian knew that William likely was using Combat Exoskeleton upgrades to increase his force on the blows, and William knew that Christian's weapon could send jolts up his body if not kill him.
"How about you give up now, kid." William spoke.
"I didn't give up in any of my matches in the EUCC AND the NHL. Why should I give up now?"
"Because you're in over your head." William ran straight towards him with the pole ready to slide through Christian's armor, but he quickly ducked to the side, grabbing the pole and transforming his weapon into a sword. With a twirl of his thumb, his blade became more dangerous as it slit through the pole, cutting it in half. William continued moving before Christian sliced at his back, removing William's rifles that rested on his back. Once William's weapons were out of the way, Christian switched his blade back to a spear and dimmed the blade back to its stun function.
William then turned around and fired something from his omni-tool straight at Christian. Before he knew it, Christian was trapped in a strange net that was circuiting electricity through it. The shocks from it were worse than the strikes from the weapons in the EUCC, and Christian couldn't stop the responses he made from the pain.
William laughed. "That's batarian tech they use to capture slaves out in the traverse. As much as I hate those goddamn terrorists, I admire some of their work. It can completely debilitate their prey so they can saddle them up for slavery. It can even capture naughty slaves that misbehave."
Christian went for his omni-tool and pulled out his shield, breaking the submission net he was trapped in. He then ran and charged at William, knocking him off balance for only a second.
"Impressive." William laughed. "Most impressive." He lashed out with the half pole he still held in his hand, but Christian blocked it with his shield as his spear rebecame the blade. They fought like that for countless seconds; both of them trying to strike their opponent down. Eventually, however, Christian missed a strike, and William took his legs out from under him. He fell close to falling off of the bridge, but William caught him and pushed his pole against Christian's throat in an attempt to finish him off.
"You know, Christian, your reluctance to fight Sparrow really killed the mood, but this fight was glorious. But we both know I'm going to kill you now." William pulled out a pistol from his belt. "You'll just have to imagine the fire."
"Even if I die..." Christian choked, positioning his arm up to point at William's shoulder. "you'll still feel the burn." His omni-bow was summoned with a green arrow on it that he fired straight into William's shoulder, making him shriek in pain and drop his weapons. Christian then put all of his weight on throwing William off of him, but William was thrown too hard and began to slip off of the bridge from the ledge. Acting quickly, Christian reached out and caught William before he fell to the cold, hard floor thirty feet below.
William laughed. "You truly are incorruptabe. Even at an opportunity like this to finish me off and leave, you still tried to be the good guy and save my life. You know, if we both survive Judgement Day today, I'll never come after you. You have a stronger will than the likes of which I have ever seen. Many people in Metropolis have been broken by people like me, but you are truly the only man worthy of your life. Why?"
"Because I believe in the good in people. I saw it in Eric despite our differences. I saw it in your informant you sent to capture me. I even see it in you, even if you've buried it so deep in your soul that no one can ever see it. I know that despite your murderous carnage, you thought that this city needed you to do this; that you could save this city through its destruction. And I'm only sorry that I couldn't stop you from completing what you wanted to do. But it's not too late to face justice."
"I'll be charged as a war criminal for allowing millions of people to be free from this hell. I'll take my chances, thanks."
Christian attempted to pull William up, but he felt his group loosening. William knew that, too, and decided to take matters in his own hands. Using his free hand, he reached for the gauntlet and began to unlock his straps.
"I can pull you up, Thatcher." Christian tried to stop him. "You don't need to do this!"
"Too late, Tyson. This has to end." William slipped out of his gauntlet and fell down to Eric's corpse. Christian heard the thud, but never looked at it. He didn't want to see another person die today. Instead, he stood up, groaned at the pain he went through, and picked up his multi-tool from the ground.
"Five minutes until Core Overload." The intercom spoke as he groaned putting the tool back on its spot.
"Taking my armor off is going to be a pain." Christian chuckled.
"Christian." Christian heard from his radio. "Christian, can you hear me? Are you alive?"
"Michelle?" Christian asked, touching his radio on his helmet with two fingers. "Is that you?"
"Oh, thank God. I thought Thatcher might've killed you."
"Almost. I need to get out of here. Where's the hangar?"
"There's a vehicle waiting on the landing pad for you. You just need to head up the stairs and to the left down the hallway. Hurry!"
"I'm moving." Christian ran as fast as he could, feeling the burn from his fight. Heading straight down the hallway Michelle mentioned, he could feel his escape within reach. He ran straight the door at full speed, almost breaking it as it opened for him.
"What the-" Christian stood in shock at the empty helipad. "There's nothing here!"
"What? But the staff in the area said that a skycar was left on the pad in case you needed to evacuate!"
"It's gone, Michelle. It's gone." Christian began to back up, unsure of what to do next. "I don't know what to do."
"Christian, you have to get out of there! There's only three minutes left!"
"Is there another way out of here?" Christian asked as he went back inside. Already he was feeling worried about his chances, but he needed to stay calm. It was the only thing keeping him alive right now. When he made it back to the main room of the building, he saw something flash in front of him. Christian stopped and looked at where it flashed, and then he saw it again head off to the elevator. Stepping inside, he looked at the elevator and saw that one button was glowing blue.
He pressed it.
"Christian," Michelle spoke.
"I'm in an elevator. I think a system V.I. is helping me find a way out of here."
"What? But how is that possible?"
"I don't know. But I'm taking the chance I'm offered now." The elevator opened just as it announced that there was one minute until meltdown. He walked straight through a gate only to be stopped by a decontamination center. He waited as patiently as he could for it to end, and then he ran towards the other side of the room when it finished. Within it was some strange contraption that had a control console blinking that same blue light.
"Thirty seconds until Core Overload." The intercom blurted. Christian touched the glowing button on the console. The device in front of him began to unfold itself right in front of him, beginning this wierd spinning pattern as it began to glow blue.
"Christian." Michelle's voice spoke on his radio, but breaking up at the end.
"Michelle." He spoke before the intercom warned there was twenty seconds to go. He stared at the device intently as the machine seemed to create something new and wierd that Christian had never seen before.
"Your signal is breaking up. Christian, can you hear m-" His radio cut off at ten seconds.
"Is this a gate to heaven? Or just a passage away from hell?" Christian heard himself ask before bright light enveloped everything...