Chapter 24: Fallen

A/N- Extra super-long showdown chapter for you guys, enjoy! :)

"Fine." Rylan agreed. "So what's the master plan? Anyone?"

"Ay ay ay... Sí.Yo sé." Olivia smirked as the cell clicked itself unlocked from her pin and the door became ajar. "We're going to go out there and squish some Fireflies!" She proclaimed as she and Bill both stepped out of their cell.

Joel and Rylan were surprised to see though that with Bill out from the shadows, they could see the damage to his face that was done by the Commander. The whole left half of his face was bruised and beaten, and the two also noticed that Bill's hand was in a makeshift wooden splint, more than likely from when Devlin also stomped it. "Sure yeah... let's go on out there shoot a hundred or so of them Fireflies and we'll all be on our merry little ways." He responded in a sarcastic tone. "Is that what I'm getting?"

"Fuck off Bill." Olivia snapped at him. "You have a better idea?!"

Joel remarked. "She's right, we're going up shit's creek without a paddle..." He looked down at Ellie and Rylan who were doing some brainstorming of their own. "Bill you got something to say?"

"Yeah I do." Bill gave a gruff as he walked to the armory lockers and opened it. "Shit... they have most of our stuff somewhere else."

"What's in there?" Rylan inquired.

"Extra clothes, my machete and our sidearms. ...Not much ammo." Bill mumbled as he took back his pistol and handed her gun to Olivia. "Make every shot count."

"You don't have to tell me that." Liv nodded as she took it and gave a weird glare at Rylan when she suddenly pointed her gun at him! "Don't move!"

"Whoa! What?!" Rylan held his hands up in defense as Ellie and Joel got in front of him.

"Hey hey hey hey! What are you doing?" Joel demanded to know.

"What the fuck's wrong with you?!" Ellie shouted at the Latina.

"Both of you shut the fuck up before we get caught." Bill shushed them. "Just let Liv put the kid down before he mauls us."

"What?" Ellie looked to Joel for answers and then Rylan for comfort, and that was when she remembered that Rylan was bitten by an Infected. "No way."

"Get the hell outta the way now! Move!" She commanded the both of them but they would not budge an inch. "I'm not going to get bitten over something stupid!"

Joel finally revealed the truth to them. "He's immune, look at his bite!"

"It's true." Rylan confirmed as he pulled his sleeve back to show them all the un-aggravated teeth marks in his left forearm. "Bill you saw it yourself when you took Ellie. ...And everybody stop fucking shouting."

"You're immune too?" Ellie looked at him in near disbelief, had he really gotten an Option 3? "Just like me."

"Just like you." Rylan smiled at her and his mind wondered to the possibilities he could have with Ellie now, but that would have to wait for later. "Guess you're stuck with me."

"Where the fuck are all these immune kids coming from?" Bill questioned as he made Olivia put down her weapon. "Liv, calm the hell down."

Olivia complied as she holstered her gun and crossed her arms in distaste. "I hope you understand my intentions..."

"You're telling me that you didn't get that as soon as the boy walked in here?" Joel barked at her as he addressed Bill. "What the hell is the matter with her?"

"Take a wild fucking guess Joel." Bill retorted with a tone of grief in his voice. "We've both been on edge since we got involved with this whole shitty situation."

"I've known Lance even longer than Bill has... and watching him die like that." For the first time since they've all known her, Olivia sobbed. "It should have been me instead of him. ...And as much as want it, I'll never be able to see him... talk with him, or watch his back ever again."

"You and me both Liv." Bill sighed as he did his best to hide his emotions under the tough guy mask. "I'll miss him too."

It was Rylan who stepped forward and said to both of them. "I forgive you, both of you. And the only consolation I can give is that we get the fucker that did this to you." Rylan pointed to his eye patch. "Because Devlin did this to me too!"

"That asshole has taken something from all us." Ellie mirrored next to Rylan and stealthily held his hand, interlocking her fingers with his. "We're going to kill him and end this once and for all."

Bill and Olivia were finally on board and congruently sound for this broken group of fighters to become a solid team. Bill spoke up to announce his plan. "Joel, here's what I'm thinking, we take your split up idea and make that happen: some of us go and get a ride outta here while causing a distraction then whoever's left we pay a visit to the Commander in his office."

"Alright, I can get behind that." Joel agreed with this idea. Splitting up their group might divide their forces; however they can succeed and escape safely in half the time, as long as nothing went wrong.

But when does that ever happen?

Bill directed his next question specifically at Rylan and Joel. "Either of you two spot a tank on your way in here?"

It was the boy who answered. "Yeah, the APC? ...We can use that to bash our way outta here."

Bill nodded at his correct guess. "That's what I'm thinking. When the shit hits the fan, I think I can drive us all outta here in that thing. Bullets won't stop us from in there, and we can all ride back to my train."

Joel made the ultimate decision as to who went where though. "Then it's settled. Bill, take the kids and go get that tank ready to go, be discreet if you can though, maybe set off something else away from the tank. Olivia and I will finish off Devlin."

Ellie and Rylan whirred around and stared at Joel in disbelief. "What?!" They said in unison.

"I'm not hearing any of it." Joel gave them the parental finger and why he says this is so. "If things go sideways, Bill can get you both outta here and to safety."

"We won't leave you behind." Rylan promised him to return the favor. "You didn't leave me behind in the snow; you refused to give up on me so-!"

"We stick together, always." Ellie finished wrapping up both of their resolve for Joel. "We've been through way too fucking much just to abandon you... you never abandoned us."

Joel chuckled, "I know... I know" as he patted both of their heads, one with each hand. Then he looked up to meet Olivia's gaze. "You up for this?"

"sí, yo estoy listo para cazar. ...I'm ready to hunt." Olivia had an angry and vengeful look about her. "I remember right where his office is."

Bill then announced to them as he took the clothes out of the locker and tossed them to Ellie. "Here, hurry up and change outta that. We ain't got a moment to lose."

Ellie caught them and barked at him. "Well fuck, I'm not going to get naked in front of everybody!"

Rylan suggested a fair idea. "Just hide behind the desk over there, and we'll turn around."

"Easy for you to say, Jesus..." Ellie dragged herself to the desk and crouched down. "Nobody fucking look!"

"We ain't got all day!"

And so the epic showdown of fight then flight commenced...

Here at the University of Easter Colorado, home of the Big Horns, it was well into night and our heroes could better conceal themselves in the darkness of the corridors. Firefly Soldiers roamed the hallways in shifts and the only way to traverse them was to wait for an opening and make a run for it. The first group to go out was Bill, Rylan, and Ellie who had a longer trek from the Security Office to make.

Thankfully for the five of them, they haven't been caught yet, but time was of the essence. Leaving Joel and Liv behind to take care of Devlin, they all wished each other the best of luck when Ellie said to Joel. "Hey..."

Ellie was wearing slightly larger clothes than she was used to, but they would do. She adorned some worn-out blue jeans, brown boots and an old but warm red nylon jacket to match her hair. "Ellie? What's the matter?"

"Just... don't get yourself killed, you know? Usual thing..." The redhead looked around at all of them. "I don't think any more of us should die today."

"Unfortunately that's not up to us." Bill remarked as he opened the door. "Let's go kids."

"Yeah, be careful." Joel hoped that they would stay out of harm's way; especially after all they have been through. "If we make it outta this..." And a little something to lighten the mood. "...I'll sing for ya."

For the first time since their reunion, Ellie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?! Can I get that in writing?"

Rylan chimed in. "Joel, you can sing? ...Like good?"

He might regret this later, so Joel scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yep, really. ...Pipes might be a little rusty but-!"

"We gotta leave, now!" Bill gave an apologetic glace towards Joel for spoiling the sweet moment but they had to initiate their move before the next shift of guards rolled through. "Kid, get her."

Rylan compiled and placed a comforting hand on Ellie's shoulder, signaling they had to go with Bill now. "We'll see you soon Joel... And make sure Devlin doesn't see the sun rise again."

Before Bill or anyone else could protest further, Ellie sprang forward and wrapped her arms tightly in an embrace around Joel. The old man was slightly taken aback but the nervousness subsided and Joel returned her hug affectionately, like any real father would...

And without another word, Ellie wiggled out of Joel's arms, gave a knowing smirk, and took Rylan's hand to meet Bill by the door. He led the way for the two kids and the next thing he knew, Joel was alone with Olivia.

"You ready to go Joel?" Liv asked in a softer tone, probably affected by the scene before her.

"Yeah... yeah I'm ready to go." Joel snapped out of his refreshing high of euphoria and peace as Olivia went towards the door to take Joel to the Commander's office upstairs. "Lead the way."

Joel and Olivia traversed the shadows which now occupied the near entirety of the University hallways. Other than some mobile spotlights which shined a bright white light in certain corners, and the easy to spot flashlights from the Firefly soldiers, there was only darkness to take advantage of and sneak by in. The two of them quickly found the staircase and traveled up two floors to the level of where Devlin's office resides. Surprising to them, there was barely any resistance on their trip up, killing only a handful of guards along the way.

Liv and Joel soon arrived to their destination, and still this all seemed too easy or too out of place. Maybe he wasn't even here, perhaps somewhere else, out joining with the hunting party for them? It was Olivia however that turned the doorknob and opened the door without hesitation. Their guns raised, the two of them stormed inside and scanned the office with their pistols. Joel noted the odd sight. "Ain't nobody here..."

Devlin's office was deserted and it was dark, the only thing that served as a source of light was the back wall which was still mostly made up of a large window and weirdly enough a small television on the desk whose screen faced the empty chair. There was a quiet sound coming from it, but it was definitely on and playing something. Liv closed the door behind them and locked the deadbolt. "Watch the door, while I check his desk."

"Alright." Joel agreed as he kept his gun glued towards the door. He gave one last look around the office space to still find it barren other than from he and Olivia "I don't like this..." Wait, there was a couch in here too...

"Neither do I but..." Her voice trailed off and she focused her attention on the TV. "Dios mio... Joel? It's you..."

"What?" He questioned in response, unsure if he heard right. "Me?" He looked where her eyes followed towards a screen he couldn't see, so he paced to her location behind the desk as well. But what he found playing on that TV was just... haunting. "Jesus Christ..."

Joel was watching himself... on what looked like black and white security camera footage in an indoor parking lot. His eyes widened at the realization of when the recording was taking place when he saw an unconscious Ellie in his arms and Marlene was holding him at gunpoint. The audio was very faint from the volume of the TV but it was loud enough to trigger the memory.

"You can't save her." Marlene warned the old man in the video as she kept her pistol on him. "Even if you get her out of here, then what? ...How long before she's torn to pieces by a pack of Clickers?" The two of them moved around, keeping their distance apart. "That is if she hasn't been raped and murdered first."

The Joel in the video adjusted Ellie's body so that his left hand which had the gun would have a clear shot. "That ain't for you to decide."

"It's what she'd want..."

All of a sudden, the real Joel took his pistol and shot the television screen out with the bullet ending the show on that pivotal decision he had made six months ago. He already knew what would happen next with Marlene. "It ain't what she want anymore..."

Olivia seemed slightly confused at the loud action and as to why Joel did that but she quickly understood and meant not to pry into the hardened old man's thoughts, not that it would matter if she knew or not. So Olivia brushed past Joel to search the desk for clues. "Let me look through the drawers."

"Yeah sure..." Joel moved behind the Latina as she grabbed the first drawer handle and pulled it out.

*BOOM!*

The momentary sound of quick metal shredding followed by a deafening of the eardrums as the nail bomb in the drawer was loudly set off. The blast of nails and other sharp objects blew both of them violently back into the window, the shards, debris, and the weight of their combined bodies nearly shattering the glass, but it still precariously held together much to Joel's relief in the sense that they weren't blasted out a three-story window.

Joel coughed and diagnosed himself that he was relatively uninjured save for a few cuts and bruises from the bomb. "Olivia..." Liv was on top of Joel and unresponsive, she had taken the bulk of the trauma however Joel turned her around and was shocked to witness her fate.

Nails, scissors, and shivs, all were impaled into some part of her once attractive face. Four inch nails embedded themselves in both of her eyeballs, her lips and cheeks were pierced by other objects as well as her neck. By now her entire body was covered in red and it was safe to assume that Olivia had died instantly as soon as they sprung that trap, but she also unintentionally saved Joel's life using her body as a shield. "Oh Jesus, oh god..."

Joel rolled out from under her and tried to reassess the situation and get his hearing back, but when he turned back around to find the ruined desk, he was also met by a fist.

"Suppose Bill's nail bomb idea worked out for me!"

Commander Devlin had sneaked up behind Joel out of nowhere and clocked him across the jaw. Before Joel realized what was happening to him, Devlin's ambush continued as he took the flaps of his jacket and used his strength to throw the old man over the desk and roll to a stop in the middle of the office room.

Play The Wolf Among Us [EP4] Music - VS Jersey Devil (or your favorite battle theme I don't care)

"Did think you could come into my house?! And fuck me up?!" The Commander only spared a glance at the dead Olivia. "...That's a damn shame, could have used her... but you, Joel." Devlin pointed his revolver right at his opponent. "...I've realized that you and I, well we're more alike than I previously thought."

Joel grunted as he stared down the barrel of a gun once again from the same man. But he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice and let him get the upper hand on him, this was still a one on one show, maybe Bill, Rylan, and Ellie had already been distracting the soldiers outside. Either way, Joel wouldn't be wasting another second. "Just keep yapping your gums," Joel made the risky dive roll to his left towards an old worn red couch in the corner of the room, the only cover provided in the office. "I'm sure that'll work!"

Devlin fired his much more louder revolver as Joel dived, *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* Three shots were fired and they all missed their mark as Joel found safety behind cover with a gun of his own, so when Devlin stopped firing, Joel emerged upward and fired his pistol several times at the Commander. But before Joel even pulled the trigger, Devlin instinctively ducked beneath his desk and Joel's bullets were able to shatter the fragile window into a million pieces behind him.

Devlin popped back up and was about to repeat his attack by forcing Joel back under cover. *BANG!* *BANG!* Two more shots and Devlin moved up to Joel's position across the office as he sled across his desk and sprinted to the couch. When Joel peeked back up he was face to face from a revolver about an inch or two away from his left eye, his blood ran cold and his heart dropped to his stomach... he had the jump on him.

Devlin pulled the trigger and...

*click*

The revolver was outta bullets... Devlin exclaimed. "What the fuck?!"

He thought he only fired five shots out of six, but he forgot the one he used to kill Lance. He miscounted. Joel took this golden opportunity and snagged Devlin's shooting arm with his right arm locking him in, then with all of his strength he used his left fist to give a piercing punch to the stomach. The Commander reeled from the blow and retaliated quickly by smartly kicking the couch forward into Joel and pushing him back. This tactic forced him to let him go but Joel hurdled over the couch and tackled Devlin.

The two men landed in the middle of the office, with Joel on top. Restricting his movements, and being brutal and relentless, Joel began battering Devlin's face over and over, left fist, right fist until his beaten face was that on par to what he did to Bill.

Suddenly, Joel felt a sharp splitting pain shoot up his arm, "AH!" and he had no choice but to get up and stagger back from the Commander who was wielding his Firefly Butterfly knife that was already drenched in Joel's blood. Joel was leaning on the desk for the support as Devlin got back up. "You just don't know when to quit... huh?"

Devlin responded darkly. "That's a quality we share Joel... not like Sarah though, right?"

No way. "...What...?" Joel thought he misheard. "What'd you say?!" He couldn't know, no there's no possible way he could know...

"Sarah knew..." Devlin chuckled between panted. "...When to die..."

"You... you son of bitch! You shut your mouth!" Joel took out his pistol and aimed it at him. The man only laughed more. "Now!"

"Surprised? I bet you are..." Devlin smirked as he revealed how he possibly knew about Sarah at all. "You can thank Tommy for spilling the beans about what happened... Your little bro really did hate your guts back in the day."

Joel's breath hitched when he remembered that Tommy and he did part earlier in the apocalypse on ill terms to join the Fireflies himself. Had he told Devlin about Sarah's tragedy out of spite? Maybe this was why he didn't want to get into details about the Commander when they first encountered him back in Jackson.

"Yeah... but why? Why?!" Joel demanded to know as he stood on his guard.

"...You're not the only one who lost his baby girl..." Commander Devlin revealed as he remembered his most frequent nightmare.

*click* *click...* groah...*

The Baby Clicker writhed around in its crib with its tiny body, the abandoned infant already smeared with that of a deep crimson blood. Its head twisted and corrupted by the Cordyceps fungus, which had rotted the never to be developed brain for perhaps months...

Devlin picked up the former innocent child in my hands and held it over its crib, his fingers more than far enough away from its weak and repeated attempts of biting him.

"Why... why did this happen to you?"

"You are not special Joel!" The Commander roared with all of his wrath, veracity, and anguish. "You couldn't save Sarah and you can't save Ellie!"

The Commander charged at Joel with the knife in hand and Joel fired his gun, but he only had one bullet left in the chamber before signaling that the clip was empty. The shot had hit Devlin's left sleeve which only clipped his trench-coat as that did not stop the bull as he attempted to shank Joel in the stomach. But the old man was able to grab the wrist that held the knife and stopped it, the tip of the blade threatening to disembowel him. "I said I would end you..." Joel twisted Devlin's wrist and forced the knife out of his hand and into his own. "And I wasn't lying!"

Joel took the butterfly knife and dove it into Commander Devlin's abdomen deeply, which got a painful response from the steel intruding through his skin and flesh. "Ahh! Fuck you..." Joel followed that up by pulling out the knife, tossing it aside and taking Devlin's whole body and flipping him over the desk behind him so that he would land in the small pile of shattered glass created by the destroyed window. "AHH!"

Joel made his was way around the desk again to finish Devlin off once and for all, to stop his flailing and his struggle. The old man thought throwing him off the edge so when he got close enough-!

"NOT THIS WAY!"

The Commander suddenly found a second wind and spun off his knees with a shard of broken glass in his hand and effectively stabbed Joel in the side deep enough that Devlin couldn't even pull it back out at his angle. So instead a writhing Joel in piercing pain was at the mercy of his opponent who punched him in the stomach and got behind the old man in a choke-hold.

Tighter and tighter, Devlin squeezed the breaths out of Joel's lungs as he tried to wring his way out of the head lock to no avail. Joel was gasping for breath and beginning to turn blue while he was racking his brains for a means to an end.

But then he remembered... Joel was about to black out and die when he used his hands to search his jacket and found the only metal can that was in there. He took it out and angled it so that the nozzle was aimed right behind his head.

Then he used the bear spray...

"AHHHHHH!" The result was almost instantaneous. The arm around his throat was gone, and Joel was gasping for oxygen. "FUCKING FUCKS! What did you do?! GOD, MY EYES!"

"Just used some bear spray; and you can thank Tommy for that one." Joel growled as he examined the damage.

There was a reason why this stuff was meant for bears and not for people. Just imagine pepper spray but about fifty times worse. Devlin's whole face was so irritated and red that it looked like... no, he got a direct exposure so yeah his face was burnt and his eyes were bleeding and forced shut. He was now pretty much blind, and he was coughing uncontrollably and gasping from breath himself. "Now...where were we?" Joel grabbed Devlin who was completely incapacitated from fighting back and just physically unable to make heads or tails of what was going on from the absolute searing pain ailing his body. "Yeah... I remember."

Joel cringed as he spun Devlin around so that his back was to the broken window and there was a three-story drop below. "Joel! *cough* *cough* We will... *cough* this'll never stop! NEVER!"

"...Leave US ALONE!"

And Joel let go of the Commander as he gave a powerful right hook right across his jaw, pretty much breaking it and warped Devlin's senses so much so that he lost his balance recoiling from the blow and he fell out of his office window. "AAAHHHHHHHH-!

*Crack!*

Joel looked down over the edge to see Devlin's lifeless body below, his limbs in jaunty angles and a pool of dark red blood already forming and pooling around his head...

"It's over..." Joel sighed with relief as he stepped back and fell in the chair next to the desk. "ACK! ...shit!" The glass embedded in Joel's side began to bleed and make his body and muscles scream in agonizing pain.

No, it wasn't over yet...

A/N- Commander Devlin is finally dead but Joel is severely injured, will he and the others be able to fight their way back out of a compound full of hostiles? Stay tuned for the next update. :)