Chapter 29: Cold hard Reality

The cold November morning along with the ice cold wind and the pouring rain already predicted nothing good awaited when the sky lightened up and the day started. The guards found them first. It had been more of a coincidental discovery, since the two had smelled the rotting bodies and thus found them. The first who reacted on the news, had been Odd. When he arrived there and saw what horrible thing XANA had done, he had gone to Jeremy immediately.

And now he stood there again, close to the bodies, at the border of the factory and the bridge with only three meters separating him and the body of a man he didn't know. At his sides stood the two guards, but they stood out of sight from the monsters and looked at the interior of the factory. They didn't want to look at the 32 miserable bodies of friends and possibly family. You'd think they were bad at their job, but they were not, actually – Odd was there, and he would give them a sign when those monsters attacked or tried to sneak in.

And yet, at this moment Odd wasn't the best choice as a guard. He only watched the bodies, the people he knew from seeing, from talking or just two days. His eyes searched for that one face in the small group, and before he knew it, he put one step forward, outside the factory. Another two followed. The rain made him wet from head to toe and he would catch a cold because of the wind, but he couldn't care less at this moment. He continued his small walk before the guards could call him back in.

This wasn't needed either, for Odd entered the factory within five minutes. This short walk was all he needed to find what he had been searching for. Emily, with a few deep cuts and opened eyes. Jim, clearly being taken care of by the big boys like the spider and the crab. Yumi and that recruit, both taken down by multiple bullets. That had been enough for him, and so he went back inside.

He looked at his right and saw Sissi and Nicholas came running his way. They probably had also heard the terrible news of their fellow refugees, which has been spread fairly quickly throughout the entire factory. They stopped when they were close to Odd, both having a worried expression on their face – they had seen Emily too much around Jim not to suspect anything. "Is it true?" Sissi asked, and Odd needed no further explanation about the topic. "Are they really… are Jim, Yumi and Emily…" She didn't dare finish her sentence. Odd looked at them, and then nodded.

"They are. I wouldn't look outside if I were you… It is very depressing…" He then turned around and walked away. Odd wasn't really in the mood to talk to Nicholas and Sissi right now, he just wanted to be left alone. Nobody blamed him, though, since he just lost three people he deeply cared about, especially Yumi. He had told her it wasn't wise
to go out there, and he had hoped she'd taken it as a warning to stay here, but she didn't. His legs brought him everywhere in the factory, until he decided to go and see Aelita again. Almost without thinking, his legs brought him there. He opened the door and noticed Jeremy already was in here. Without saying a word, Odd joined his comrade and went to stand next to him. For a long time, neither of them spoke, each being busy with their own business.

"I'm sorry," Jeremy said again, breaking the silence. Odd turned his head.

"You were just worried, I don't care if you scream or whisper to me." the genius shook his head.

"I know. But that's not it. I'm sorry because… because I let them leave." Odd put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder.

"You didn't know. And even if you could have stopped it, Jim would've done it anyway. We… we needed to let them go, sooner or later. We couldn't have done anything else." Jeremy accepted the comforting gesture and returned his gaze to his Aelita – a motion Odd had known Jeremy would do even before he did this. "Say, Jeremy… did you ever think about it? About her?" Now Jeremy turned his head to his surviving friend.

"I'm always thinking about her," the genius said convincingly. Odd believed him, because Jeremy always had cared about Aelita. Everything Jeremy did was to protect all the refugees, and Aelita was also counted as a refugee, so technically Jeremy wanted to primary get Aelita out of this mess alive. And yet, Odd had this lurking feeling today would be their last day.

"And I'm thinking about the consequences of her rescue." Jeremy raised an eyebrow.

"Would you mind to explain?" he asked, and Odd smilingly rolled his eyes. Even now, he already sounded worried.

"I don't like being the smart guy her, but alright," Odd breathed in deeply before speaking, "Like I said before; no machines means no life. But what makes sure those machines do their jobs properly, now? I immediately thought about the supercomputer, didn't you? And if those machines do their jobs properly, the supercomputer might be still working, too. You… you do remember the supercomputer was used almost daily for all of XANA's attacks, don't you?" Jeremy nodded, and when his brain put two and two together, he realized what Odd was trying to tell him.

"You want to shut down the supercomputer? But…"

"Jeremy," Odd interrupted him, "If you stay indecisive, you will need someone to make those decisions for you. So… what would Aelita do if she could choose herself and was able to tell us?"

"She'd say… She'd say we should shut down the supercomputer." Odd nodded and left Jeremy all alone with Aelita. It took him a while before he too left Aelita. Odd was right. Aelita would sacrifice herself. He had walked all the way to the 'thing' that powered the supercomputer. He put his hand on the handle, and was at the point of turning it off. Then, he felt some kind of pain in his chest and almost pulled back his hand. No, he thought, it has to happen. With one movement of hi hand, he ended the threat and Aelita's life, a tear rolling over his cheek.

In the meantime, Odd had come back to the entrance, looking closely at the small army, which could attack anytime XANA wanted. And if he did, Odd would be there to immediately warn the others. Close to him stood Nicholas, but far enough so he wouldn't be able to see the corpses, but that didn't mean he didn't smell them. The two were talking about a lot, if only to pass time a little faster. "And what do you think he'll do to her?" the redhead asked, and Odd shrugged.

"She'll be able to go peacefully." Nicholas scratched his head.

"Yeah, but what about Jeremy? I mean, he really likes her. He isn't going to let her go so easily." Odd turned his head to his friend, gave him a smile, and then turned his head back to the army.

"You know, I explained to him it had to be done. He does know what's best for everyone, but sometimes he just does what's best for himself and Aelita. But I think he'll make the right decision… No, he just made the right decision." Odd walked to his friend, while he was adjusting his Laser-Arrow to fit him just right. When he stood next to Nicholas, he put his hands on the redhead's shoulder and slimed weakly. Nicholas thought this was suspicious, almost as if he were saying goodbye.

"Nicholas," uh-oh, thought Nicholas, "Please, take good care of Sissi and Jeremy, if you will. They won't be able to pull through if there's nobody to support and comfort them. Well, if you'll excuse me, I must join three of my best friends." And before Nicholas could stop him, he started running outside, towards the army, who were already firing their lasers to him. Nicholas stood there, shocked.

"Odd, are you out of your mind?" He shouted.

"I always was!" Odd answered, and he started to shoot back with his Laser-Arrow. He did not stop running, not even when he had passed the defenders of their small camp and everything was trying to kill him. But he was all alone and the monsters were with at least 100, so that meant soon Odd was forced onto his knees. That didn't mean he stopped attacking, though. No, he only stopped when he had almost no energy left and sitting on his knees became too tiring to do. He slowly lifted his head with difficulty when the sound of the lasers stopped, and he saw that bastard of a William standing in his light, accompanied by his big sword.

"C'mon then, coward!" Odd shouted, "Finish it already! Or will you hide behind those monsters forever?" William/XANA grinned, and he took his sword in both his hands. In one swing, the sword climbed up and then came down, to where Odd thought his neck was to be hit. The young Warrior closed his eyes, so he did not have to see how his life was to end.

I assume y'all didn't like the way this chapter ended, did you? It's okay, I didn't really like it either. Why would Odd do such a thing? What'll happen to Jeremy when he hears he's the last Warrior left? Will XANA finally decide the factory is ripe for take-over and let William attack it? These, and other unanswered questions will be answered in the last chapter within a week. I'll see you the 24th, guys. And now the review.

Bluedog197 (Odd, a robot? I don't think so. But that last action he did was because his work was done. And when his work was done, he had to go. I didn't go too far with this one, did I?)

See ya next time!

-Dutchwriters2