Wow this story seems uber short...but I actually finished it, which is a rare thing!!!!
Don't sue me for killing people, if you don't want people to die don't read this story!! Although I can give you a spoiler and tell you that there's a happy ending...maybe...
READ it, REVIEW it, but most of all ENJOY IT!!!!
FLAMES FADE
CHAPTER THREE:
HERE AT THE END OF ALL THINGS
"You do realize we are as likely to survive this battle with Imperiac as we were the first time?"
Brin sighed, standing up lithely as Querl joined him on their concealed little balcony. "Yeah, Querl, I know. I know full well that I'll be leading my team into a sprocking death trap. Thanks for reminding me."
Querl shrugged, his chin length hair blowing about his face in the wind. "I am only being honest, Brin. You have led us well all these years."
Brin growled, stalking to the edge and looking down on the smoggy streets. "Yeah, well you could try being tactful instead of blunt sometime."
"Tact has no place in our world anymore, Brin."
Brin sighed again and went inside, leaving Querl on the balcony.
"You ok?"
Tinya had bumped into Brin on the way back in, and she didn't seem to be aware of Querl's presence there. Brin sighed again, and she placed a hand on his scarred cheek.
"Oh, Brin...you can't bear everyone's burdens." She said softly, running a hand through his long, thick hair. He took her hands in his and pushed them away, looking sad.
"Not here or now, Tinya. Not ever, in this world." He turned to leave, but looked back. "And I can try, can't I?"
She choked down a sob, and the leader swept out of the room, long coat swirling as she sobbed into her hands.
"Tinya?"
Querl had stood up, and she jerked in surprise. Her eyes were still leaking tears, and he noticed her shaking hands.
"You care for Brin in your world, do you not?"
She sat down heavily with a sigh and nodded, dropping her head into her hands. Suddenly she looked back up, eyes panicked. "What if this doesn't work? What if...what if this only messes everything up more?" A spot of water appeared in her lap. "If any of you were hurt...or killed..."
"That's a risk we all knew we would take."
Tinya and Querl spun to see Luornu and Reep standing there, the latter quietly handing something to Querl. Luornu sat next to Tinya, eyes revealing utter exhaustion. "We all knew that we would have to make a last stand someday. All the resistance has been is holding off the inevitable." She looked into Tinya's eyes, fiery passion burning. "If we get killed, better that we do it resisting Imperiac and taking down however much of his work as we can." She suddenly winced and pressed a hand to her side before she went on.
"We are all willing to make that sacrifice, just like the sacrifice the rest of the Legion gave years ago."
Tinya watched Luornu carefully as she spoke and realized something. Even after all this time, she still missed Chuck. All of them had lost loved ones, and they were willing to give everything to hopefully give future generations the gift of freedom.
"They died for us then, we're willing to die for your Legion now."
A gentle hand rested on Tinya's knee, and Reep smiled softly. So quiet, so somber...so unlike Cham.
She nodded and stood up, new resolve hardening her. "Then I say let's go show Imperiac who's boss!"
"Alright, so this is the construction specs for Imperiac headquarters." Tinya looked around the room at the gathered resistance members, some faces she did know, others she had never seen before. Brin was handling a hologram as it showed a three dimensional hologram of a large building.
"There are only three entrances at ground level, heavily guarded, and no windows. There is an entry pad for incoming vessels, also heavily guarded. Attacking through any of these entrances would be instant suicide. Our best bet for getting in..." At this, the hologram lifted to show an underground portion of the city.
"...would be the sewer. There would be minimal detectors and give us the element of surprise." A red beam highlighted a route from the bottom of the tower to a central chamber.
"The warp key is held in one of Imperiac's labs at the very center of the building." Blue points started appearing all over the building. "Imperiac's drones keep a tight, round the clock schedule. Part of our plan is for Querl to receive access to a computer terminal and hopefully make some changes to his drones programming. Garth, Luornu, Reep, and Squad Zero, all of you cover Querl and make sure he gets to a terminal." They all nodded. The green path was outlined from the entry point to the nearest computer.
"We'll rendezvous with you the floor below the lab. Half of us will go towards the energy chambers as a distraction. The other half will attack the warp key lab." Brin surveyed the group, seeing eye cool and hard.
"I understand that this plan could well get most of us killed. It's been an honor serving with all of you, and I'm grateful to have met everyone here."
Then he flicked his hand towards the door, and the Resistance slipped away to meld with the darkness. Tinya looked over at Brin for a brief moment before he faded away as well.
It looked like it was time to do or die.
The thirty-odd members of the Resistance group crouched low to the dirty water in the sewer line, eyes and ears alert. They moved forward with barely a whisper of sound, trained in the art of moving undetected.
"How much farther to the entry point?" Brin whispered to Querl, who shot a glance at his robotic arm.
"Several yards. We are nearly there." He pointed up into a pipe that was pouring out of another system. "That is our way in."
Brogyn coughed a little, choking on the stagnant air. "You said it was a few yards in...how are we supposed to breathe through several yards of running water pushing back at us?"
Querl started pulling small pins out of his pocket. "Personal shields. It will keep the water at bay until we get to the drains. Unfortunately, they will not provide much protection from Phasers." He said, tossing one to each member.
They activated their shields and began the long, foul trek up the sewer lines, one at a time in single file until Brin popped the entrance hole and they crawled out into Imperiac's fortress.
Throwing out his arm, he kept the group from moving forward. "I have to check something." Pulling a small device out of a pocket, he pointed it towards the hallway. Bright blue patches appeared in several areas over the walls, ceiling, and floor. "Anywhere that's blue is covered by a security camera. Avoid the blue, avoid the cameras."
Brin's keen eye scanned the hall. Most of it was covered in blue, but there were a few blind spots. He looked back. "Tinya, we're going to need invisibility and intangibility to get through. Think you're up for it?"
The dark haired woman looked around at all the people, then took a deep breath of determination. "Alright. I'll...I'll try."
Reaching out, everyone joined hands as Tinya pulled her power on. Within a few moments, Resistance Squads Alpha, Beta, and Omega were all moving silently down the hallway, as stealthy as ghosts. Finally passing through the last door, Tinya let go, all of the Resistance members phasing back to their own three dimensions as Tinya collapsed to her knees for a moment, breathing hard.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She murmured as she stood back up. A little wobbly, but nothing she couldn't handle. Luornu and Hart pulled out long thin plasma blasters, looking around the corners before signaling the coast was clear.
"Beta and Omega teams, head for the energy labs. Alpha team, we need a computer terminal and the warp key. Move out." The other squads melted down the hall as the former Legion members went their own direction.
Garth looked down at the building schematics. "There should be a terminal two hallways to the left."
"Let's move. Garth, Tinya, cover Querl. Everyone else, move on." The team split again, and Tinya watched with more than a little apprehension as her teammates...no, her friends...left. The threesome continued in silence until they came to an empty corridor, where Querl gestured.
"This is it. We have to move fast." Tinya silently reached out and grabbed them both, rendering them all invisible until they slipped into the room and they closed the door.
Querl plopped down in front of the screen, typing rapidly. "Coluan. He reconfigured all the original systems into a Coluan dialect."
"Can you get through it?" Garth asked, eyes not leaving the door.
He didn't look up as his typing grew even more feverish. "Of course. Just because I have not read it in some time doesn't mean I no longer can." He snapped, and Garth backed off.
"Got it." The computer screen blinked to life, and Querl's eyes flashed over the screen faster than any human would have been able to register the images.
"He's keeping it in his personal archives. It's three halls down and the fifth door on the left."
They leaped into action, slipping down hallway after hallway beneath the security cams and guard bots until they reached the designated door. Querl blew the computer lock, disarming the security system. "We'll have to hurry; I wouldn't have it past him to have several backup systems that will come online quickly!"
"How much time do you think we have?" Tinya asked quickly as they ran down the hall. Querl made a neutral sound. "His systems are probably very quick, but I've set up a spider virus that should hopefully keep him at bay for a few minutes. He may be more powerful, but I still have a higher intellect."
"Great, now let's get to that lab and meet up with the rest of Alpha squad." Garth said, firing lightning at every light source they saw. Many security droids now lay in ruins.
The Archives door slid open noiselessly, and Querl, Tinya, Garth and the regiment they had run into--Brogyn and two resistance Beta members--stepped into the room. The lights flashed on suddenly, making them blink in surprise at the sudden change from gloom to lab condition brightness.
One of the resistance Beta members--a Tamaranian named Najira--recovered first, and she made a strangled choking sound that made Tinya force her eyes open despite the brightness of the room. At first she saw only manikins in glass cases along the length of the stainless steel room, but when she recognized one of the faces, her blood froze in her veins.
They weren't manikins.
"Oh Goddess..."
Dozens of corpses, perfectly preserved since their day of death, lined the walls like some twisted museum display, some eyes open and staring glassily at them, others closed. They were still dressed in their tattered uniforms, and some displayed the burned flag or ring or belt of their once great team. The Embellished L with a star glared out at them at every turn, reminding them just how many had died fighting Imperiac.
Garth stumbled forward, face in pain as he touched the glass of Imra's tomb. She looked more serene than the others, but her charred uniform told of her violent death. Beside her stood Rokk, his murky, flat eyes staring out firmly even in death. Half of his face was red and blistered from laser burns, and the dark red bloodstain on his chest along with the Dominator Lance hanging like a trophy on the wall behind him, proved his cause of death.
Brainiac was now called Imperiac for a reason--Imperiex's influence was obviously very prominent.
Brogyn made a choking sound and turned away, this grisly scene too much for even this hardened version of her. Tinya, much softer than the already horrified people around her turned and nearly retched, tears cascading down her cheeks. Garth rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, brow furrowed and eyes angry. Querl was the only one who seemed unfazed, and he and the Zamuran man from Beta continued the search for the Warp key.
"Is this the thing?" The Zamuran--Leif--called, and Querl came, avoiding the anguished faces of Jo and Jan on either side of the smaller case, standing like sentinels.
The warp Key rested innocently on a pedestal, but Querl's sharp eyes caught the alarms that lined it like a spiderweb. "I'll have to blow it. It will be only seconds before we are found." He said, and the others joined him, Garth holding Tinya's hand firmly between his human and metal ones.
"We will contact the rest of the team and tell them to get to the courtyard--we will have to fight off Imperiac's forces while I program the warp key for Tinya."
He looked at her, his eyes severe. "Can you take the key and return the world to its rightful order alone?"
She took a breath, suddenly feeling strength well up in her. "Yes. Yes I can."
Querl turned back to the case, and Garth kissed her hair, murmuring, "That's my girl."
"All resistance Beta members, retreat to the courtyard and prepare for battle!" Leif commanded, and the Alphas heard Brin give the same command. Then there was a small ZZZT, and the case opened. Querl grabbed it and was already halfway for the door before the others could even react, and they followed him at full tilt, speeding up as the alarm began to blare.
They skidded into the courtyard, the rest of the resistance already locked in battle with the flow of robots that had responded to the alarm. Querl handed the key to Garth, and he stood beside Tinya, blasting anything that came near her. She could fight for herself, but he was defending her anyway. Tinya stumbled back, the ring of Resistance members around her shrinking back from the onslaught of Imperiac's forces. They were barely holding their own in this fight, and it scared her to death.
"Tinya! You have to leave now!" Querl shouted, barely flinching as the blood of a comrade--'Oh goddess...Hart!' Tinya thought despairingly--splattered him from the side.
"I can't do it alone!" She cried, watching helplessly as the ring shrank more, filling in those heart-wrenching gaps where friends had once stood.
"Activate the key and get out of here!"
Reep fell to his knees as Luornu caught him, rage welling up in her eyes as his large green ones glazed over and his blood stained the ground. They were such close friends here, and they were both going to die.
"Tinya, you can do it."
Brin was suddenly beside her, back-to-back with Garth as they created a protective bubble of destruction around her. They would protect her until the end.
"GO!"
Garth's voice was urgent, and he shoved the Warp Key into her hands and kissed her fiercely before turning and shouting a ferocious battle cry as he charged head on into the crowd of Destructor Bots. It was suicide and he knew it, but he was going to buy her time no matter what it took.
"GARTH!!!!!"
Tinya tried to run after him, but Brogyn grabbed her shoulders, shaking her once and looking into her eyes fiercely.
"Tinya, unless you take that Warp Key and get back home, and put this whole sprocking mess back to the way it's supposed to be, they'll have all died in vain!" She snarled, and Tinya was shocked by her ferocity.
"But, Garth..."
"It doesn't matter! If he dies, if I die, if we all die--it doesn't matter anymore! But if you die, it's all over! The end for not only the Resistance of our world, but Legion of yours! Is that what you want?"
Her blue eyes were hard, steely and angry, but there was terror, determination and trust beneath the exterior shell. She believed in her, and Tinya could not let that trust go to waste.
"You must--GAUGHN!!"
Querl had been covering them, and he suddenly flew back, crashing into the ground with sickening force as Imperiac shoved through the crowd of Bots. Brin leaped at him from nowhere, claws flashing and teeth bared, and the villain's attention was momentarily turned.
Querl tried to stand, and Imperiac whirled and shot him dead on with a blast from his plasma cannon. He seemed to fall in slow motion, his face still surprised that he had been caught so off guard.
"NO!!!!"
Brogyn screamed and raced to his side, dropping to her knees and catching him as he toppled over on buckling human knee and limp mechanical one. His robotic pieces were sparking erratically, and a trickle of light green blood trailed from the corner his mouth. His cybertronic eye was dark and motionless, and his pale green human eye was unfocused and slightly glazed. His suit was black and charred, and it crumbled where Brogyn touched it. His chest beneath wasn't much better.
"Querl, get up! You have to get up! We can't do this without you!" She was sobbing, holding him tightly against her. "You're our techie! We need you! I...I need you! I need you, Querl!"
His eye flickered to her face, and he raised a weak hand to hers, eyes determined even as he lay dying.
"Bro-ogyn...make sure that Ti-inya gets away...safely...that's all that...matters..."
She gripped his shoulders firmly, blue eyes furious behind her tears.
"Stop that! You think you're leaving? Taking the easy way out? You're not going anywhere, got it? You hear me?!"
He smiled shakily, his hand moving up her dirt, blood and tear streaked cheek to tuck a stray dirty blonde curl behind her ear. She looked surprised at the gesture, and she stroked his cheek with more tears in her eyes.
"You know...I believe I am...beginning to see...how perhaps...I could have...fallen in...love...with you..."
His breath shuddered, and the light faded from his human eye as Brogyn sobbed and held onto him. 'This can't be happening. It can't!' Tinya thought despairingly.
"TINYA!!!"
Suddenly a laser beam lanced out of nowhere, headed directly for Tinya's pounding, aching heart. She instinctively went Phantom, and something shattered in her hands.
She looked down to see the broken pieces of the Warp Key float into the air in what seemed to be slow motion.
No...it was slow motion. Time was slowing around her. Slowing...slowing...stopped.
The Resistance Team members were frozen around her, halfway into an attack or flying through mid-air in some cases.
There was a whooshing sound from behind her, and she turned slowly, as if she was swimming in water. The key had opened a wormhole that was expanding rapidly. That was good...right? Her head was spinning sickeningly.
A shadow appeared in the glow, getting bigger--and, Tinya realized, closer--gradually taking the shape of a person.
When she recognized the oddly achingly familiar face, she broke into a fresh wave of tears of relief.
"This is really strange, huh?"
The two Tinyas looked at each other, the real Tinya giving the true Apparition a sad, resigned smile. Images were flashing around them, glimpses of Tinya's future that would never be reality now that her world was in even more chaos.
One image in particular stuck with her--a little boy with black hair, pale skin and electric blue eyes leaping into thin air and being snatched by a living, breathing--and best of all, laughing--Garth. Then it was gone, but it had already done its damage to her heart. That would never be now. Garth was dead, and this entire universe was about to disappear. That little boy would never be born.
"It's not meant to be, Apparition. Your world is the one that should be--and because of them and you--it is again. I'm glad we could be a part of your life, even for a short time."
Apparition's hands moved subconsciously to her abdomen, and she looked at Tinya with remorse heavy on her heart, making her stomach churn.
"I'm so sorry."
Tinya smiled softly, taking Apparition's hand in hers. "Don't be. We have better things than even this ahead of us, in your world where we belong. Three better things, to be exact."
She winked mysteriously at Apparition as time began to speed up again. Apparition tried to touch Tinya's shoulder one last time, but the Resistance member--and the entire world around her--was fading, slowly becoming insubstantial.
"Take care of us."
Suddenly they both shot forward, slamming full force into each other, but as one became intangible, they felt their souls slip back into their true bodies.
"Goodbye."
And then Apparition's world went black.
"Apparition!"
A faint, faraway voice was calling out to her, and her mind began to flounder into consciousness. Where was she? What had happened?
"Apparition, wake up!"
The voice was closer now, and she felt the feeling return to her limbs. Then her memory came back, and she remembered the bloody battle she had seen last.
"Tinya!!"
Her eyes flew open, and she shot bolt upright, wondering what her eyes would see. They saw the most wonderful sight she could have asked for--Phoenix, Bouncy, Tesla, Shrinking Violet, Live Wire and a very pregnant Saturn Woman were sitting around her looking worried. Phoenix had been snapping her fingers in front of the Bgztlan's face, and her blue eyes were once again soft and concerned. Gentle blue-green instead of steely blue-grey. She sat up, feeling slightly dizzy from relief. They had really done it. They had set the world right.
"You fainted. Are you ok?"
"Phoenix! You're here!" Apparition leaped up and flung her arms around Phoenix's neck, knocking her back into Bouncy and making all three of them stumble.
"Are you sure you're ok? Really?"
She grinned in pure relief, although it saddened slightly when she felt her flat stomach. It was a price that had to be paid. She knew that.
"What happened? Is something wrong with Tinya? I came as soon as I could!"
A worried, wonderfully raspy voice asked, and she whirled to see Timber Wolf standing in the doorway, looking slightly abashed to be caught breathless after running full tilt up seven flights of stairs and down eight hallways. She felt her breath catch, and she smiled in relief.
"Brin!"
She flew at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a big kiss on his lips. He stiffened and pushed her down, frowning. He was pleased, but a bit uncertain about this sudden flamboyant public display of affection.
"Are you alright?"
She buried her face in his chest, breathing in his wolf-ish scent. She was near tears, but just the solid feeling of him in her arms was enough to make it all better. "Yeah. I'm just glad to see you, that's all."
She turned to look at them all with tears in her eyes. "I guess...I had a bad dream. But it's over now, and you're all alright."
As if to prove her statement, Phoenix suddenly shot by in a whirlwind of red and black, attacking the green man who had just returned from Mobile HQ--which explained Timber Wolf's earlier absence--and knocking them both flat on the floor in a breathless, laughing heap. He was fully human, and to see him laughing--albeit breathlessly--was almost too good to be true.
Live Wire smiled at Apparition before giving Saturn Woman his special smile and gently rubbing her stomach.
Everything was just right. It was just the way it should be.
But what had the other Tinya meant by three better somethings? She had mentioned it when they were talking about the baby...
Had she seen glimpses of her counterpart's future as Apparition had?
She peeked at Timber Wolf through her eyelashes; he was standing there watching Brainy try to get across the room with Phoenix doting on him the whole way with a slight smirk. She reached her hand out and gripped his, and he squeezed hers back.
She felt sudden warmth flow through her. Three somethings.
The future was bright indeed.
THE END
Wasn't that a disgustingly fluffy ending to a super angsty story? Yeah. Oh well, I like the foreshadowing for Tinya's eventual children (quite a while from now...)
Anyhoo...hope you didn't hate it too much, I cried when I killed off Brainy though...
Review please!!!!
~Firegirl~
