End Boss

by Bryan Nyaude

  “So he is finally awake?” It sounded like Peter was finally conscious, or I had been asleep a lot longer than I thought.

  No, I could still hear the noise outside, from gun fire to the clash of proton swords. I had been out for maybe two or three hours, give or take. Peter approached me quickly and punched me, “You deserved that one, Den. Did you really think I would come to the battlefield without backup? These two are the legendary cousins of destruction, the only two to have survived the battle of ONLI, ten years ago.”

  That’s right! Now I remember, it’s just that I never paid attention in class, but I’m glad someone did. As I seem to recall, it was said that two people out of a thousand survived a deadly battle, when the rebels attacked a decade ago. I don’t remember the rest because I was sleeping during that class.

  “Big deal,” I commented, knowing truly that deep down, those two were not as stupid as they acted. Wait a minute! Roldo was a brilliant expert in nuclear physics. His intellect was almost superior to my own. On that note, Roldo’s prowess and knowledge made him exceptionally gifted in building and destroying any type of generator or nuclear engine. Oh no, I stared at him as I realized something important. My body tensed in rage.

  “So, Roldo,” I chuckled to myself. “You were responsible for sabotaging our ship’s engines and generators, weren’t you? You almost killed us all.”

  He literally jumped back, alerting me that I was right. There was a long silence for a couple of seconds. Roldo laughed out loud, shifting his left foot in front. “So you figured it out? I am impressed; I honestly thought I got away with it. I mean, I left no trails, no clues, or anything. How did you deduce that conclusion? Please tell me?”

  “It was simple,” I said. “You two are famous—it was only a matter of time before someone figured it out. Besides, after betraying us, you made it easy for me rule out everyone else. Danack and Peter are idiots which leaves only you.”

  “How dare you,” Peter rattled, coming to hit me some more.

  Instantly, Roldo stopped him and calmed him down. He looked back towards me and glared without saying a word. “You did your homework well, simply worthy of appraisal. Even if you know that, it won’t change a thing.”

  “So why did you guys do it? Why did you betray your planet?” I decided to push my luck a little further.

  “I can’t tell you,” Roldo shifted away. “You wouldn’t understand, even if I did.”

  “Try me,” I replied quickly, not giving him time to change the subject.

  “Enough of this nonsense,” Peter interrupted and walked towards me. “It doesn’t matter now, we have come this far and must proceed as planned.”

  I see! So I was right, these guys were preparing to do something big, and dangerous. But what was it? Who was involved? My best chance of finding answers was to talk to the lunatic causing all of this. I looked around and saw no signs of another life form in the building. But it felt like someone else was watching us; it was just a feeling I had in my stomach.

  “I see the puppets, but where is the master?” I mumbled as I stretched my jaw a bit. I could still feel the stinging pain from Peter’s punch.

  “You have quite the perception,” a voice finally spoke from the shadows. “You deduced my presence, even without seeing me.”

  I heard heavy footsteps coming from the left corner of the building. Someone was approaching.

  Finally, it was about time he or she came out of hiding. I was curious to talk to this person—the true mastermind responsible for the terror beast invasion. Why were they doing this? What did they have to gain by destroying our planet? The thought of it all made my stomach clinch.

  “You remind me of me, when I was young.”

  A man finally appeared out of the darkness and walked towards me. Whoa, I was surprised. He had been in front of me the whole time and somehow I had missed him? He wore a dirty white lab coat—in his hands, something that looked like a remote controller. The look in his eyes was unsettling. I had only seen these symptoms in text holograms. Shabby hair, dirty clothes, constant shaking hands, blurry red eyes, etc. If I had to guess, I would say he was having a psychotic breakdown. Not good! However, there was something about the way he glared at me that aroused my interest. He looked and talked to me like I was a long lost family member or relative. Good, a weakness I could exploit later.

  “I was impressed with your sense of battle” he smiled, placing the device in his hands into his left lab coat pocket.

  “Really,” I laughed to myself.

  It was hard to believe this man was the person responsible for all this destruction; he was just too scrawny and too simple to be considered scary. But one thing I knew from experience was to never judge a book by its cover. Wait! His face, it was familiar to me—I had seen this man somewhere before. I just couldn’t tell exactly where I had seen him before; probably, because of the gray skin color. He resembled someone I once saw in my scientist history class pad. Darn! Why had I not paid attention in history class? Think! 6 years ago, pad in my hand, supposed to be studying, but instead, sleeping through class.

  “Don’t you know who this person is?” Peter smiled and spoke in admiration to the man who stood in front of me.

  Even if he was some big time scientist, I had no respect for someone who hurt so many people by sending those terror beasts to earth. What made me even more furious was when he compared himself to me. That was degrading.

  “I am nothing like you,” I replied, without a trace of fear in my heart. “Your actions have hurt so many people and I can never do such a thing. How can you even live with yourself, after everything you have done?”

  “Are you sure on that?” he looked directly at me.

  It felt like his eyes were piercing into my mind for signs of weakness. No! How could he ask me that question? I could never hurt so many people like him, even if it’s for revenge. It just wasn’t in my nature.

  “You have so much potential, Den,” he continued and walked over to this big screen that showed a live video link of the entire kingdom. “I can’t bear to destroy such an extraordinary talented young man like you. Join me and you can have anything you want; you just name it and it can be yours.”

  Seriously! How delusional did he think I was? No one could ever truly have everything they wanted, it was just a dream fools thought of.

  “It’s tempting, but I will refuse,” I said and looked down, happy with my decision. The only thing I wanted to see were my family, friends and definitely Rose. Everything else in life just seemed unnecessary to me, at this point.

  “What a fool,” he turned his eyes aside and walked away. “Well, I have no use for you, if you refuse to join my kingdom. Perish with the rest of those fools and think about your actions in the afterlife.”

  After saying that, he vanished beyond a door and left me in the hands of three maniacs. My eyes lingered in the direction of his exit, filled with resentment. Darn! With my hands all tied up, I was at the mercy of Peter and his two goons, who seemed anxious to finish me off.

  “I am glad you refused his offer. Now we can continue where we left off” Peter said, with a menacing grin on his face.

  Oh crap, I could tell that I was in for a world of hurt, and honestly, I didn’t know if I could endure it. I gritted my teeth and tensed my body in anticipation of his surprise assault. Out of time, I thought of something drastic—desperate man, after all. I had to buy some time to think of a plan of escape.

  “Just what did you give that alien to get him to trust you?” I asked quickly before Peter could move in. “I mean, it’s not like I am going to tell anyone.”

  They exchanged glances in silence. Roldo moved in close with his hand on his gun, and stopped, inches from me. “We gave him secret access codes.”

  “Access codes to what?”

  My heart raced quickly. These guys were playing a high stakes game—I was certain the codes were government related. Their treachery knew no bounds.

  “Access codes
to Sigma 15, the biggest fortress city on earth,” Peter snickered.

  “No, you didn’t,” I rattled hard against my binds. “How could you do that?”

  Sigma 15 was one of the last fortress cities still holding off the terror beasts on earth. It housed a population of at least 15 million people, almost a third of the entire earth population. I think my family and friends were there. I felt an intense urge to break free and bash these guys down.

  “If I get out of here, you guys are going to be sorry.”

  “But you are not getting out of here,” Danack added and removed the safety lock on his gun. “This time, you won’t recover so quickly at point blank range.”

  Crap! He was right, there was no way to recover at this range or even duck out of the way. The adrenaline rushed to my entire body and I began to breathe heavily and uncontrollably. All three of them had their weapons pointed straight at me so close, I could feel the proton particles condensing. Just my luck!

  “You should have,” Peter said, but didn’t finish as something powerful broke through the compartment, wreaking utter chaos.

  There was a strong wind that blew across in all direction, sending small dust particles in my eyes. Peter and his goons jumped away from me, seeking cover. The lights flickered on and off in response to a powerful energy resonance. I closed my eyes for a bit and cried a little to get the tears to wash away the dust on my left cornea.

  “Looks like you needed our help,” Rick spoke through the com link.

  Yes! Reinforcements had arrived, just in the nick of time to rescue me. Something metallic and powerful swooshed in and hovered next to me. I opened my left eye slowly and caught sight of the End Boss armor. What was it doing here? It was so dark and mysterious, it spooked me out a bit.

  “By the way, the device I gave you was actually was central processor for that armor,” Rick said and laughed a bit. “The old scientist told me not to tell you, because you would have refused to put it on, but I guess there in no point in hiding it now.”

  Yes! I knew it. I had been suspicious to the reason why Rick gladly gave me that power battery, when there were so many lying in front of me, in the armory. Rick and Ali had tricked me, but oh well, at least I was still alive. If I made it out of this alive, I was going to quit my job and go looking for my ex-fiancé, who was somewhere on earth. Yep, my mind was made up—no more crazy space biologist missions for yours truly. Whoa! I began to be pulled towards the armor by some unknown force.

  “Stop him now,” Peter yelled to his lackeys and began firing ultra proton bullets at the armor. Something like a force field repelled the bullets from me and the armor. It felt like the armor was alive. That was why I had been hesitant, in the first place, to put in on. My shackles broke loose as I was pulled in towards it. It opened up like a hatch and allowed my body to go through which was something new to me, before closing up. Creepy! Creepy! Creepy! My heart wrestled the fear crawling up my spine. Relax! I needed this power, even if it was from this terrible armor of destruction.

  “Desperate man, after all,” I encouraged myself as I warmed to the new armor.

  Nothing else mattered—my only goal was to stop the mad alien from destroying earth. I gazed at Peter and his lackeys, the first target of my vengeance. They hid desperately from me while firing their rifles aimlessly. What were they trying to hit?

  But at this rate, their bullets were going to penetrate the invisible shield. I readjusted my body comfortably to the armor and looked for the armor control manual. I had to be careful in the way I used it, otherwise, I would end up destroying myself along with everyone around me. Crap, the controls were far too advanced for my simple mind to understand. Were there instructions for dummies for this armor?

  “Oh, there you are, finally,” the old man said through the com link. “I was wondering when you would use the End Boss system. I guess it was a good thing I talked to Rick.”

  “I can’t say the same thing, sadly,” I said sarcastically, in a rude tone. “Any ideas on how to operate this new armor?”

  “Relax and focus,” he said and paused for a while.

  “Really, that’s your brilliant idea for me?” I asked a bit surprised; I was expecting a little more than that from him.

  “Yes, I am serious,” he finally replied back, “the End Boss system is an extension of your own body and thoughts. Think of it as another expansion of yourself, and the good parts is that, it is not hard to operate.”

  It sounded simple enough from his explanation, although a little complicated the more I thought about it. I sighed out loudly and inhaled a large breath of filtered air. With my mind focused, I knew what I had to do. My objective was absolute.

  “I really hate you?” Peter growled, still firing his weapon at full force. “Don’t think for one second that your armor can protect you from us.”

  I saw his bullets reflected away, barely even feeling them. Slowly, without fear, I descended towards the ground and fully tested my mobility to its limits. Time was essential—every minute was important to me. First things first, I looked towards Peter for a second, filled with intense anger.

  “He really looks angry,” Roldo said, pulling away his gun. He shifted away from the others, taking safety precautions in the process. “It’s best if we retreat for now, and come up with a strategy.”

  Roldo’s decision was wise, he clearly knew he was in over his head on this one. Pity he was just in with the wrong crowd—can’t say the same for the two idiots next to him.

  “Shut up, Roldo,” Danack cut him off, sounding violent. “No one is invincible and I will show you.”

  Danack charged at me—he zigzagged into my blind spot, aiming for my head. I felt his fist clench, but did move. I was going to wait him out until he was close to counter. At the last minute, I automatically swerved out of harm’s way without actually moving. It was so sudden; I didn’t actually see myself shift at all. It was the armor, it just had to be. I didn’t know how it happened, but it moved me without acting on command. Danack growled and rolled back on his knee, twisting the hill of his foot to attack again. His movements quickly increased, due to the speed boost from his armor. I saw him come, but my body didn’t respond. Without delay, the armor took over, forcing my body to duck, vertically, in a leap. Weird, it felt like someone was controlling me. Oh no, I think this suit had another modified AI system, just great.

  “Oh yeah, before I forget,” Ali continued. “This armor came in with a built in AI more advanced than anything in your old armors and it doesn’t talk that much. Try to get along with it, otherwise, bad things could happen.”

  “You tell me this now?”

  What did he mean by that? The com link went offline as all I could hear now was static interference. Should have listened to my gut feeling, I knew this armor was bad news. Although, I was a desperate man and the armor had forced itself on me.

  “This is impossible,” Danack shrieked out of breath.

  His helmet screen was foggy from his heavy breathing. I, on other hand, still had my full energy. After all, I had not used my body to dodge his attacks or anything, since the armor was moving on its own. I glared hard towards Roldo and Peter, who were hidden behind a metal barricade, watching me closely. For reasons unidentified, they were not attacking me recklessly like before.

  “Resistance is futile,” a voice in the armor said, talking to Danack. “Give up or prepare to be destroyed.”

  Who was that? Was it the AI? What a creepy cold voice, it sent chills to my bones. Danack soared up and launched an aerial assault, coming from an angle. It was impressive; I could tell that he was an expert in air combat. Suddenly, my right hand was up and an unknown energy power was surging up in the tips of my fingers. It was a massive build up of condensed positive energy, enough to level this whole building .This was getting too dangerous. I had let the AI take too much control over the armor. Nothing good would come out of this. Danack stopped, sensing the impending danger and backed away slowly. The surging pow
er in my right hand kept growing more powerful and stronger as the particles compressed densely.

  “No way,” Peter commented, moving back a little. “It can’t be possible. So the rumors of the End Boss of legends are true after all.”

  I had no idea what he was blabbering about. My mind was focused on one thing, and that thing alone. I wrestled with the AI over control of my right arm. Stubborn machine, it wouldn’t respond to encrypted commands I was giving it. Desperately, I grabbed my hand with my free left hand and forced my right hand up, towards the ceiling. Honestly, I never assumed this was going to happen, especially at a time like this.

  Think! The alien man (Ali) had mentioned that something like this might happen. His exact words skipped my mind completely, since I was in a midst of a struggle. However, I remembered him saying the suit reacted to my thoughts, like an extension of my body. If this suit reacted to my thoughts, then in the back of my mind, this was what I truly wanted, wasn’t it? Was I truly this twisted?

  No! I refused to believe it, there was still a lot of humanity left in me.

  “Stop and give me control,” I yelled to it, attempting to free my hand.

  “Why,” it replied to me, “isn’t this what you want? To end all the skirmishing and bring an end to the invasion.”

  “No! Not like this,” I said to it, “you can’t end war with more war—otherwise the cycle will just keep going.”

  It didn’t respond for a minute. “There is no rationale logic in that; further explanation is needed.”

  Of course! How could a machine understand human nature? But then again, neither did I. As humans, we acted and continue to act on free will and the pursuit of freedom. This in turn leads to war as people seek peace and liberty, it’s very complex. It would take years to come up with a logical explanation a computer could understand—time I didn’t have.

  “I command you to give me control,” I growled out loudly. In that instant, I gained mobility of my right arm. The power on the fingertips faded out slowly into nothing again.