Round 4: Misc.

xXx

Atop a great tower, surrounded by enough explosives to level a building, Bill and Alice stared each other down.

Bill looked around. An intricate, bright-red web of lasers surrounded them. Every minute, the web grew smaller. And if either one of them crossed one, the entire complex would blow.

Alice felt the handle of her knife. Would he strike? Would he try and shoot her? She's given up attempting to predict the actions of her father, he...

Bill sighed. "Alice, I'm not going to try and kill you. Put away the knife."

She shook her head. "No. I don't think you've earned enough trust for that just yet."

Bill shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The red-suited man sat down on the ground, crossing his legs. "Alright then, let's go over who's left in the competition."

Bill withdrew a piece of chalk from his pocket, and began scrawling on the ground. "Teams Plasma, Galactic and Rocket have been completely wiped off the map. Fennel took out Joey and Misty before she died, A and Brendan managed to take out Koga at the fairground, and I finished off Sabrina myself, with help. So most of the major threats have been eliminated."

"...Why are you telling me this?" Alice said.

"That leaves you, Red, A, Aoooo, AJ, Napoleon and Wattson." Bill continued. "Red and AJ are going to be the easiest to handle. They don't have any particularly great combat skill, or any Sabrina-esque powers. So you're on a relatively equal footage with them, with the advantage of having already killed."

Alice shook her head. "Dad, I don't..."

"Napoleon and A are going to be a little trickier. A's lost Brendan, Napoleon's lost Pearl, and they're both on a warpath. Napoleon also seems to be freakily proficient with a sniper rifle he's managed to pick up, while A has a tank. Stay out of their way until the end, if you can."

"Wait." Alice blinked. "Wait, you're talking like..."

"It's Aoooo and Wattson that you'll have to really look out for. Wattson is almost untouchable with that electrical equipment of his, and Aoooo... Aoooo will rip you apart if she gets close. Avoid both of them at all costs; let someone else handle it."

Bill got to his feet. "Only one of us can get out of here, Alice. And believe it or not, murdering my offspring isn't really my wheelhouse."

Alice took a step forward. "You... you can't..."

"The whole 'heaven' thing never really made sense to me, so... we probably won't be seeing each other again. So after you win this, find someone who cares about you." Bill smiled at her with tear-filled eyes. "I... would have liked to have seen the person you're going going to grow into, Alice. Bet you're going to be fantastic.

Bill withdrew his pistol from the holster and placed the barrel in his mouth. "Goodbye."

"Wait!"

Bang.

A gunshot echoed across the early evening landscape. The lasers deactivated. And one of the two figures collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.

Bill withdrew the gun from his mouth. "...Alice?"

Alice didn't move. Bill rushed to her side, turning her over. "Alice!"

Alice stared up at him with pain-filled eyes. Her right cheek was missing, blown apart by a bullet.

"G...uuuunnn..." she gurgled, ruined mouth distorting the sound.

"I... this... no." Bill whispered, frozen tendrils of horror latching onto his soul. "Not... this, this can't..."

"...Ruuuuun." Alice whispered.

She... she couldn't...

Something whizzed past, slamming into the ground next to him. Bill looked up. There was someone out in the mountains, someone with a sniper rifle.

Someone wearing a red beret.

Bill grabbed his daughter by the arms, dragging her across the floor behind cover. He crouched down, cradling her head in his arms. "Alice. Alice, please..."

Alice's sightless eyes stared back at him.

"Please." he begged, hot, salty tears running down his cheeks. "Don't be dead. Don't be dead, Alice."

But Alice didn't respond.

The life... drained out of him. He didn't care about the sniper. He didn't care about the bombs. Alone in the world, Bill just curled up in a ball around his daughter, and sobbed like a child.

xXx

A sharp wind came in from the north, cutting through Red's thin cloak like a knife. The boy paid it no mind. He raised a hand to the Helix amulet around his neck, stroking the cool metal.

Red had discovered something, down in those tombs. Or, to be more precise, he'd rediscovered something.

Red had refound his religion. And with it, an apathy towards the material world.

He slowly made his way down the darkened forest path, feet making little noise on the leaf litter beneath. He wondered if he was going to make it out of this competition alive. Probably not.

A figure to his right caught his attention. Red slipped behind one of the trees.

There was a girl, crouching in the center of a clearing. She was dressed in an orange shirt, with black spandex pants. And she was wearing some sort of strange, floppy white-and-green beanie-hat on her head. There was a knife strapped to her side.

She was crouched in front of a mound. No... not a mound. A grave. One that she'd dug with her hands too, if the dirt stains were any indication.

There was a gravestone, too. Just a chunk of wood, embedded in the ground.

Red lifted his pistol out of its holster. He stepped out from behind the tree, leveling it at A's head.

She looked up. Her eyes widened in surprise.

And for a second, they just stood there,

He made an 'up' motion. She got to her feet, hands raised over her head.

Red motioned towards the grave. "You knew him well?"

She nodded, swallowing. Red felt a twinge of pity.

"Have you given the rites?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Was he a follower of Helix?"

"M...aybe." Her voice was cracked. She'd been crying. "I don't know."

"I could give them."

She looked at him, surprise clear in her eyes.

"But I don't want to die. I'll need your word."

She swallowed. "I swear, on my heart, life and soul..."

"No." Red pointed down at the grave. "Swear on him."

A put a hand to her heart. "I swear, on the heart, life and soul of Brendan T. Birch, that I will not try anything."

"...Okay." Red put his pistol back in his holster, and bent down next to the grave.

"Oh Helix, who..."

He was almost expecting it when his pistol was yanked from his side, and he flipped around and shoved into the dirt. A stared down at him, pistol stretched towards his head.

"You swore." he said.

"I know." the corners of her lip quirked up into a sad, painful smile. "But you know what? I think it's what he would have wanted."

She took a step backwards. "Get out of here. And if I..."

"No."

A's brow furrowed. "What?"

"No." Red sighed. "I can't win this tournament. I don't have the motivation, or the ability. I'm quite happy to just stay here."

"What? You want..."

"I've made my peace." Red said. "It's so nice here. Please, go ahead. Someone's going to have to do it anyway, might as well be you and a bullet."

A raised the gun, pointing it at his head. "You... are sure?"

He smiled at her. "Best of luck. And I hope you find peace before the end. Shoot me."

"..."

"Praise He..."

Bang.

xXx

Napoleon calmly leveled his rifle at AJ's neck.

AJ gave a yelp, and copied his action. The barrel of the shotgun came up, clasped in two trembling, sweaty hands.

Napoleon looked him dead in the eye, and gave his head a slight shake.

It was easy, now. The people in the tank had murdered Pearl. He'd killed the boy. Now, he just needed to bring down the other one. He had a purpose. And that let him feel cold.

But AJ was no threat. Or, at least, he didn't have to be. In fact, he could be useful.

"I'm not going to shoot you. Put the gun down."

"H... how do I know that?" AJ stuttered.

"Because this is a sniper rifle. You came in the northern road. You stopped at the building with the black glass doors. I could have shot you a dozen times. Or, I could have shot you just then. There are bigger threats out there, and I need allies." Napoleon lowered his rifle a touch. "Lower the gun."

AJ stared at him. Napoleon could almost see his mind working. Finally, the boy took a deep, shaky breath, and nodded, lowered the weapon.

Napoleon slung his rifle back over his shoulder. AJ wasn't going to turn on him. It wasn't in his nature. Slowly, so as not to panic AJ, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a bloody metal wristband.

"This is a C-Gear device." he said. "That Fennel woman was using it to teleport."

"I... I saw."

"I found it lying next to some bodies." Napoleon continued. "I'm not very good with computers, so I haven't been able to get it to work, but I thought you might have better luck."

That was a lie. He just didn't want to test an unknown technology on himself.

Napoleon felt a twinge of guilt. He pushed it down. He was going to kill Pearl's killer. That was his mission. That was what mattered.

"I'll hand you the C-Gear if you hand me your shotgun." Napoleon said. He didn't want to risk AJ disappearing with both. "You know I'm not going to shoot you, so there's no danger."

AJ thought about it for a second. "Okay... I'm not very good with computers either, but I'll do my best."

They swapped. AJ tapped the screen. It flashed.

The other boy looked up at him, having unconsciously accepted Napoleon as the leader. "It wants a fingerprint."

Napoleon thought about it. It was worth the risk. "Do it."

AJ pressed his thumb up against the screen. Immediately, a cheery face popped up. Fennel.

"Hello there!" the woman burbled happily. "According to this, there's an unauthorized person attempting to use this C-Gear! Which probably means I'm dead. So, first of all, congratulations on your victory!"

AJ looked up at Napoleon, eyes uncertain.

"Second..."

Two barbed metal tendrils shot out of the base of the C-Gear, coiling themselves around . The boy yelped in pain, trying to let go of the machine, but they held fast.

"My C-Gear device is about to fuck you up!" Fennel laughed. "Cheers, dumbass!"

The screen turned off. But Fennel's laugh remained, echoing around the alleyway. And the air around AJ began to ripple and darken, like he was being shrouded in smoke.

"Get it off GET IT OFF!" AJ yelled!

Napoleon began to move forward to help. And then froze.

Because there were eyes in the smoke.

AJ let out a scream, vanishing in a roiling miasma of blackness. A chilling, chittering sound pierced the air, complete with the sound of ripping, tearing flesh. Napoleon could see motion in the darkness, strange, unidentifiable shapes flailing and biting at the struggling boy.

Napoleon stepped backwards. A dozen glowing red eyes locked onto him, picking up the movement.

They narrowed.

Napoleon ran.

xXx

"AOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Chittering madly, a black insectoid launched itself into the air off the rooftop barrier, scythe-arms stretched out to strike. A furry claw caught it in mid-air, catching it in its chest and flinging it off the roof.

Aoooo howled her challenge to the skies, tongues of drool trailing down from a slavering black mouth. A giant, black moth-thing with glowing red eyes zoomed from above in an aerial attack, and the werewolf caught-it mid flight, tearing it apart.

At the other end of the rooftop, Wattson jogged back and forth, firing off bolts of electricity at the shadowy flying creatures trying to take off his head. "Wahahahah! So nice to see that everyone is so full of zip!"

Another black insectoid clambered up over the wall. Wattson rushed to meet it, placing a hand on its forehead. "Welcome! Wahahahaha!"

He fired up his gantlet. The creature screamed, flying backwards in an explosion of light.

"Waha..."

A whooshing sound from behind him caught his attention. Wattson jumped to the side, avoiding Aoooo's claw with inches to spare. "Werewolf! I'm glad you're charged up, but why not wait until..."

"RAAAAAAR!"

"Okay then!" Wattson leveled his gauntlets at Aoooo and let fly. The pulse took the werewolf in the chest, flinging her back across the rooftop.

"Chichichi!"

Something heavy slammed into him from behind, sending him tumbling forwards. By some miracle, he ended up on his back. The black insect came in hard, scythes raised high. Wattson raised his gauntlet high, blasting its head off in an explosion of black gunk.

"RRRRRRAAAAA!"

Wattson rolled out of the way as Aoooo attacked him yet again, gravel flying every which way. The portly man pushed himself to his feet. "As electrifying as this battle is, I think I much recharge!"

Wattson took off in a run, slowing down only to blast another insect-creature off the roof. Reaching the edge, the man leapt into space.

And activated his foot-thrusters.

"Wahahahaha!" Wattson took off through the air. "What a beautiful night for a fly! You..."

He stopped. Because out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aoooo charging towards the roof, with no signs of stopping.

"Uh oh."

The were wolf jumped. Wattson tried to get out of the way.

It didn't work.

Aoooo hit him like a truck, sending him spiraling downwards through the air. Wattson felt the claws pierce his back, and knew his time had come.

Well then. He would end this the only way he knew how.

Wattson threw back his head, and laughed. "Wahahahahahahah! Wahahahahah!"

"WAHAHAHAHAH..."

He hit the adjacent building. Headfirst.