Chapter 34 - Hitting Rock Bottom -
Felix stared at Lily as she lay there unmoving.
He didn’t understand. It was the same type of attack that had nearly killed Victoria.
Why did it kill Lily outright? It’s not fair.
It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.
It’s NOT FAIR. IT’S NOT FAIR!
The Warden’s cockpit closed up on Felix and he turned down the hallway.
He lifted up the black metal shield and activated it. Setting his feet, he did his best to get into a stable stance. Then he flipped on his jump jets.
Leaning forward behind the expanding magical shield, he rocketed down the tunnel.
“IT’S NOT FAIR!” Felix screamed.
His shield bucked and smashed into his arm as if struck by something. Felix didn’t care. His shout carried him onward as the jump jets continued to build up speed down the tunnel.
As rapidly as he gained speed, he lost it. All of it.
He slammed to a standstill against what he could only assume was the end of the hall.
Deactivating his jump jets, he pulled his shield to one side to take a look around it.
Smashed between his shield and the wall was the hero who had killed Lily. The damned electrical spawn of the devil.
Felix smiled when he realized the man was alive. Moaning, breathing heavily, and looking like he’d been hit by a car, but alive.
The metal shield flickered and went out, the magical enchantment having been completely spent.
Disconnecting the shield and tossing it to one side, Felix hung his rifle on one of his ammo pods. Then he reached out for the hero with both hands.
Grabbing him by the arms, Felix got a good hold. Then he yanked his arms apart, one to each side with as much strength as he could.
With a sickening crunch and pop, one arm tore off from the man’s torso and the other crackled sickeningly and went limp.
Flinging the torn arm over his shoulder, Felix pressed his free hand against the man’s torso.
The man had been screaming since the moment Felix had started. Rather than deal with it, Felix lowered the receiver, then pulled again on the man’s remaining arm.
With a wet squish, the arm came free. Dropping it to the ground, Felix pushed the dying hero to one side.
Pulling his rifle free, Felix stomped over to the door and kicked it in with a single boot strike.
His low-light vision flickered on and he could immediately pick out where the enemies were.
Pulling the rifle into position, he began firing quick one-second-long shots at each hostile.
As they were turned into bonfires, they began to return fire at him.
The rounds pinged off him, doing little to no damage to the Legion’s Fist.
Felix moved forward, slinging his rifle and pulling a grenade out of his pod. As the men and women around him screamed, burned, and died, he casually stepped amongst them and threw a grenade down the next hall.
Lining up his rifle, Felix waited.
The explosion was a dull echo, but he moved the moment he heard it.
This time, he happened upon a group of stunned and disoriented enemies.
Using his rifle as precisely as he could given the blood-curdling rage he felt, Felix kept moving forward.
A wounded man was squirming around on the ground at the center of a hastily put-together barricade.
Felix aimed his foot and stepped down hard on the man’s skull as he went by. The wet pop and crunch of his own skull was probably the last thing the man heard.
Felix couldn’t get his breathing under control; he was panting, gasping, and shivering inside his cockpit.
Reaching the end of the hall, he found a heavy-duty service elevator bay.
There was no elevator, though.
Looking down the shaft, Felix let out a choked huff. There was nothing but darkness below him.
Stepping into that abyss, Felix braced himself.
Seconds passed by as he plummeted down.
“Down, down to goblin town,” Felix said, snickering into his microphone between heaving breaths.
His Warden slammed to the ground, warning lights going off all over the cockpit. The resounding boom of his landing echoed upwards.
Taking two steps towards the bay doors, he inspected them for a second. Rearing back, Felix threw as heavy a punch as he could.
One of the doors peeled away and bent outward while the other broke in half.
Crawling out of the wreckage of the elevator shaft, Felix tried to get back to his feet.
The Warden refused to cooperate with him. The flashing red lights became solid red lights.
Son of a bitch! That’s what you get for not thinking, idiot. Did you even try to slow your fall? No. You just jumped down a giant dark hole in the earth.
Think, think, think.
How bad is it?
Glancing at the warnings, Felix decided he’d have to go on without the Warden. Both legs were damaged and the servos were locked.
There was no way it was going anywhere.
Unbuckling himself he hopped out of the cockpit before it even fully opened. Snatching up the energy rifle he turned the big weapon over to inspect it.
Running a hand through his sopping wet sweaty hair he looked at the connection point in the handle.
Now to check a battery.
Reaching into the cockpit, he fingered the control for the Warden to open up its battery compartment.
The lower back half of the torso slid open.
Felix yanked on one of the straps that had held his hips in place. Pulling the knife out of the sheath on the Warden’s belt, he quickly cut the belt away.
Moving back to the rear of the Warden, he looked at the batteries. They were connected by a single cord each to something else.
Yanking the cord out of that point, he flipped over the connector to look at it.
“Looks right,” Felix muttered, his breath slowly coming back under control. Pulling the cord closer, he tried to fit it into the handle of the rifle.
Two seconds of wildly trying to insert it, he got it to seat itself.
With a pop, the energy rifle hummed to life as the cord fed power to it from the battery.
Setting the rifle down against the Warden, Felix took out the strap and tied it into a sling through the carrying handle of two of the batteries.
Tying it closed like a bandolier across his chest, Felix tied the second connector cord to the first.
“Gotta make sure the reload is quick,” he muttered to no one.
Hefting the rifle, he went to the front of the Warden. Reaching into the pod, he fumbled around blindly to find any grenades he could. It was hard when the system didn’t tell him what he was accessing.
Getting a hold of three of them, he attached them to his harness. Turning towards the hallway in front of him, he took a deep breath.
Then set out again.
“Shit to do, people to kill.”
Getting to the door, he found his first obstacle.
The damn locked door itself. The Warden could get through it, but not Felix.
Looking up at the edges of the door, he found that it was only held up by two hinges.
Heading back to the Warden, he spent a minute hunting in the pod. He was hoping that for some reason someone had thought to include some C4 or a breaching charge or anything.
Unfortunately, there was no such luck.
Grumbling, Felix went around to the battery hatch and dragged out two more batteries. Lugging them over to the door, he detached the rifle from the battery on his back.
Snatching the cord up from one of the two at his feet, he clicked it into the rifle.
Aiming it at the top hinge, he pulled the trigger. It only took him a second to get the beam into place, and then he waited.
Holding the trigger down.
Twenty seconds in and he finally let go.
The hinge was slag. It’d turned molten and oozed its way down
.
“One down.”
Aiming at the lower hinge, Felix pulled the trigger.
The beam was decidedly less bright this time.
Rather than mess around, he let go and pulled the cord out. Kicking the spent battery away, he attached the second one and went back to work.
Twenty seconds in, and the lower hinge was gone.
Turning the rifle and its sizzling, smoking barrel away, he disconnected the second dead battery.
As he moved up to the door, he reattached one of the batteries on his back to the rifle.
Staring at the door, it was clear he’d really messed it up. The entire thing was warped and bowing outward.
Pulling a grenade free, he wedged it into the hot, bent metal, then pulled the pin.
Jogging off as quickly as he could, Felix didn’t stop until the grenade exploded.
Turning around, he headed back the way he’d come. As the smoke cleared, he could see the door was done.
The entire upper half was torn out, and it was hanging on the other door.
Rather than risking it and giving people a clear shot on him as he went through, Felix did the only sensible thing.
He wedged a grenade in the bottom of the door and repeated the process.
As the smoke cleared from the second explosion, he watched as both doors swung slowly open. The busted one fell out and slammed to the ground while the other kept opening.
“Are you done?” a voice called from inside.
Felix blinked, his shoulder pressed up to the space next to the now open door.
He hadn’t expected someone to talk to him.
“No. You’re not dead yet, and I don’t have Kit. How about you send her out and I’ll let you live today?” Felix lied.
None of them would leave this place alive.
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
“Then you get to die. Last words?” Felix called out.
He started taking deep breaths, rocking himself up against the wall.
Throw in the last grenade, then shoot him.
Find Kit, get out.
“Felix?” Kit called out.
Shit, Kit.
“Uh-huh,” Felix responded.
“Leave me here. They put a control crown on me.”
That definitely explained why she wasn’t fighting back in any way.
“They want me to fight Skipper for them. To free the city.”
“Can’t do that, Kit. The only way they get to keep you for themselves is my death.”
“What?” Kit asked someone else.
There was quiet discussion back and forth.
“Did they tell you they blew up the school to kill me? Ioana, Andrea, Lily, and Victoria are all dead.
“Eva’s probably dead, of course. Since, you know, they blew up a school. I’m sure Lucian is too. And you know, every other kid there.
“Real snazzy bunch of heroes. Totally in it to save the city. One dead child at a time.”
“That’s—” shouted the male voice, trying to argue with Felix and assure Kit at the same time.
Felix decided this was it. Sprinting around the corner, Felix went down to one knee and slid across the cement as he crossed the doorway.
Two men were standing next to Kit. One he knew, the incredible regenerating man, and the other he didn’t.
Felix pulled the trigger, the bright beam of his rifle stabbing outward.
Mr. Regeneration was cut in half outright.
The second man got the beam across his head, and dropped instantly. His head simply disintegrating.
Then a third person stepped out of the shadow in the corner. They leveled their weapon, and fired.
Bullets tore into Felix’s leg, stomach, and side.
Tracking the target, Felix pulled the trigger again, the beam lancing out once again.
It connected with the weapon and the hand holding it.
Screaming, the attacker hunched over, then vanished, leaving their gun behind.
Felix felt his breath catch and lay down on the cold cement.
“Damn,” he hissed.
Pressing a hand to one of the bullet holes, he lay there, staring up at the ceiling.
“Shit, that hurts,” said someone else, presumably the guy he’d shot. “Didn’t your mother tell you that cutting people in half isn’t nice?”
Felix felt his body failing even as he lay there.
He didn’t care anymore. Everyone was dead.
“Be your own hero, Kit. Don’t let them use you as a weapon,” Felix managed to say. He blinked, staring up at the ceiling, not seeing it. “You deserve more than that.”
He’d put in a word with No-Name a long time ago. If he died, release and free everyone from their contracts. Both slave and indentured.
“You just wait. When I get myself back together, I’m going to b-urrrrrrhhhhhnnn,” groaned the ever-regenerating hero.
Kit leaned over Felix, her hands gently pushing his hand away and pulling at his clothes.
“Damn,” she said.
“Sorry,” Felix gasped, his breathing getting short. “Couldn’t leave you here. Needed to at least try.”
Kit gave him a bitter smile and looked back to his wounds. “Stay with me, alright?”
“Sleepy,” Felix said softly. He really was sleepy. Everything was warm and nice.
Closing his eyes, Felix sighed.
“Damn you, wake up,” Kit growled at him. Then it felt as if someone were bathing him in fire. Someone had clearly pulled out every nerve in his body and then set it on fire.
Arching his back, Felix’s eyes shot open. Kit hovered above him, exactly where he’d seen her last.
Where’d that regenerating guy go?
“Regenerating hero,” Felix mumbled. “Everything hurts.”
“Dead. I killed him. After your stupid attack the crown deactivated. Threw it off,” Kit said, her fingers pressing into his side. “Sorry it hurts. Doing it to help you. You need to stay awake.”
Then she paused and looked off to one side. “Let’s hope this works,” she whispered.
“Huh?” Felix asked stupidly.
His arms and legs dangled at his sides as he was lifted up into the air. Felix rolled his head to one side, catching sight of the regenerating hero. He wasn’t split in half anymore, but he didn’t move. His face was slack, drool sliding free of his mouth, his eyes unseeing.
“Oh,” Felix said, then closed his eyes.
His nerves caught fire again. Groaning, Felix opened his eyes, trying to curl up into a fetal position.
His limbs wouldn’t respond to him. They wouldn’t move. Looking to his body, he found his arms and legs were strapped down. Tied down to a gurney.
How did I get on a gurney? Was it an illusion? It had to be.
Looking to the side as he was being rolled along, he passed his Warden.
“Did you jump down the shaft?” Kit asked from the head of the gurney.
“Yeah… no elevator,” Felix tried to say.
“Shhh. Rest, try not to move.”
Felix leaned his head back and attempted to listen to her orders.
“Up we go,” Kit said, moving the gurney into the decimated elevator shaft.
Except that when they entered, it was a fully working elevator. One that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
Kit reached over his head and flicked one of the buttons.
Felix closed his eyes as the hum of the box carried them upwards.
Only a second or two later, he opened his eyes as quickly as he could. He didn’t want Kit to hurt him again.
Taking a slow breath, Felix looked down to himself.
He was covered in blood. Almost to the point that it looked like he was made out of blood.
“Am I dead?” Felix asked, watching blood pour out of one of the bullet holes.
“You should be. You’re full of… you’re full of illusionary blood. I’m creating illusionary blood in you as fast as you’re losing it.”
Felix felt strange. Lethargic and on the edge of passing out, but not.
“It’s hard. Very hard. But not impossible, it seems. Shh, concentrating.”
Felix fell into silence, his mind stubbornly fighting through what he’d been told.
“Make sure they collect all our corpses. Need them,” Felix said. As soon as he said it, he felt unbelievably tired.
Despite his best efforts, his eyes slid shut.
Every now and then, he managed to get his eyes open.
All around him, things were changing. Hallways, rooms, his own people flashing by.
The interior of a car.
Open sky.
Clouds.
A bird.
Then impenetrable darkness.
And the quiet hum of a machine.
In that darkness, Felix thought.
He planned.
He questioned.
He had a lot of questions. Lingering questions. Questions that he was sure he needed answers to.
The crowns and how they worked. How Kit could toss one aside.
The vanishing hero who escaped after Felix attacked.
Why the heroes never bothered to approach him if all they wanted was Kit.
For all they knew, he would have agree.
Too many questions.
Epilogue
Lily’s eyes popped open. Her pupils dilating wildly as they adjusted to the overhead light.
Taking in a deep, choking breath, her hands came up to her face.
“I died,” she said.
“That you did. Have no fear, though, I put you back together, and now you’re back in the land of the living,” Felix said happily, leaning over her. “Or so I hope. Got any extra parts I should know about? Probably didn’t make it back with you.”
Lily’s eyes snapped to him and held fast to him. “I don’t remember being dead… there wasn’t… anything.”
“I should hope not. Your memories are a result of your brain, not your soul. Want to sit up? That tray is pretty cold.”
Felix took a step back and picked up her hands, giving her a tentative tug.
Lily didn’t argue, and she got herself into a sitting position. “How long…?”
She hesitated, as if not wanting to ask the obvious question.
“About three weeks. Forgive me for the delay, but we had to get everything put back together before we could start resurrecting people. Didn’t have the points for it.”
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