End Boss

by Bryan Nyaude

  All I saw was a stock pile of burning debris, completely ushered everywhere. Alongside it appeared to be carcasses of dead terror beasts and metallic gate rubble. These carcasses were probably Dr. Vegai’s second batch of monsters, created for his sick minded schemes. Oh well, I no longer needed to worry about them—since they could no longer get to earth. I moved my neck and felt a jolt of pain in my spine. “Perhaps, I should rest for a while.”

  I sat down again to preserve my remaining strength and energy. At last, another invasion had been stopped. With the doctor defeated and the dimensional gate no more, our problems had been cut in half. Our major concern now was the other terror beasts still rampaging on earth. We had no knowledge on how to stop them, but I got the feeling the other Rasians would help us. There had to be some information in the remnants of Dr. Vegai’s damaged lab that could be of use. I went from a sitting position into a more comforting position, with my back hard and straight against the ground. It eased the pain a little. Everything was silent. I couldn’t hear any sound of gun fire or terror beast cries—a little too quiet, even for my liking. Just what was happening? Our com link was static, I couldn’t converse with anyone. Was it really over? Was Dr. Vegai really gone? I never imagined he would drop his guard that easily—it felt like he wanted me to attack him.

  No, I had shot him at point blank; there was no way he could have seen or avoided that. But it did feel like he was still alive. I had this nerve wrecking hunch that warned me to get up. It was an alarming feeling that I took seriously. Now getting up was the hard part. Usually it would be a snap for me; however, today was different. It was like trying to lift ten tons. I got back on my feet for a second and fell instantly. It felt like the ligaments, in both my legs, had been torn apart. Yep! I bet I had a whole lot of stretch marks all over my body, meaning I couldn’t show off my muscles at the beach for a while.

  “What in the!”

  Something was falling, in red flames, from the sky. It looked metallic and almost humanoid in form. No, I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. That armor belonged to Dr. Vegai, meaning my hunch had been right. Half of his armor had been synched off, while the other half was buzzing sparks of electricity. That being said, I couldn’t afford to be careless around him. He was still dangerous, even without the use of his armor. My scanners detected a pulse from his body and signs of consciousness. Oh man, of all the times for him to appear again before me. My body was in no shape for another bout with him—but then again, so was his. The doctor smashed, back first, into a large metal hull, about few yards from me and lay there motionless. I sighed with relief, because he wasn’t going to move any time soon.

  “I will not be stopped,” he screamed and suddenly rattled wildly.

  He was just incredibly motivated towards destruction. I don’t think anything I could say or do could stop him from his madness. His psychosis was giving him untapped potential abilities I couldn’t logically explain. Was he immortal or something? The last blast from my gun had enough power to level half a city, and yet this man took it at point blank range and survived. Just what did it take to bring this mad man down?

  We both started to struggle to get up, each of us with no more reserves of energy left to use. Our systems had both been damaged beyond normal repairs, so it was now a fight with our fists. My legs felt like porridge, nevertheless, I wouldn’t go down.

  “I commend you, Den,” he struggled to breathe, barely on his feet. “You are the first person who has ever pushed me to this extent. But your motives are weaker than mine and that is why you will lose.”

  “Enough with your stupid talk,” I roared, hardly standing on one good leg, “I don’t care about resolve anymore. I just want to stop your madness once and for all.”

  “I see, then come at me with everything you have,” Dr. Vegai said, taking a south paw stance. His stance was a deadly left handed technique in close boxing. In the week I spent boxing, I learned how to counter both orthodox and south paw boxers. One thing was certain, getting in too close would prove fatal in my case. However, I needed to check him out and see the extension of his left punches. Quickly, I switched to an orthodox style first (right hand style) and moved in close. I wasn’t going to attack first. My primary goal was to learn his rhythm and power. As soon as we were in close proximity, he let out a furious howl of right jabs. I watched him closely, staying out of his attack range cautiously. His right jabs were a distraction to lure me in close. And if by some chance, I took the bait, it would be over instantly. The moment I stepped into his attack range, he was going to shift all his weight to his hips and finish me off with his left powerful hook or so I thought. As expected, his jabs had half the speed due to his physical and mental weariness. I felt my legs lock and tremble with each dodge I did. This was not good. My best chance lay in getting in close and making it a close brawl: another bad idea.

  What was I thinking? I stepped into his attack zone, with my hands shielding my face. The power behind his right jabs was undeniably strong. Okay! One, two, three, four, and stop. A pattern in his attacks emerged and I proceeded to come up with a perfect counter. His rhythm was basic and straightforward boxing.

  “Here goes nothing,” I stepped in even closer as he was retracting his right jab.

  In that moment, he shifted all the weight in his body into his right leg and hit me with a strong, powerful right punch. I stumbled back, trembling in total dizziness. That was different, completely straight out a genius boxer’s handbook. I was under the impression that he was left handed and now I wasn’t so sure. Dr. Vegai turned around into an orthodox right hand style and attacked without mercy. Typical, I fell for the simplest trick in the book. His south paw stance at the beginning was only a ruse to lure me in close. Meaning, he had anticipated I would take the bait and move in close like a simple idiot. I bit my lip and utter anger and raised my fists again. The only way to beat someone of his caliber was to do the unexpected and catch him off guard.

  “You are good, but I am better,” he commented and moved in for a quick assault.

  He blitzed into my blind spot from behind, hoping to strike me without too much trouble. Knowing this, I raised my leg up hard and countered with an unanticipated kick to the face. My kick connected with his face, flawlessly, causing him to stagger back. Not enough, he was still standing on his last legs. In fact, we both were at our limits. I felt my body burn with intense pain and realized I was still standing on a whim. At any second, I could fall, signifying my defeat. Desperate for a quick finish, I rushed and punched him hard with everything I had. “Oh come on.”

  He didn’t go down—in fact, he acted like it had not affected him at all. My legs gave out on me and I fell hard onto my knees. I glared up at him and saw his gaze turned towards the blue sky. What was he plotting to do now? I had nothing left inside me to launch another assault, all my reserve energy had been depleted.

  “I see,” he laughed, attempting to sound tough or something. “You held onto your beliefs and fought hard, I can see why I have lost.”

  After saying that, he fell to the ground and didn’t try to get back up again. What an opponent! I had never faced such a worthy adversary before. On top of it all, my childhood idol. But it was not over. I crawled towards him, ready to deliver the final blow. My heart was full of hatred and anger. This was the man who ruined my life, the person who took everything away from me.

  Today, I would get my justice, my own brand of judgment. As he lay there, I grabbed a large metal sheet and raised it above his head. What was I doing? Would this satisfy my anger? I growled out loud and threw the large sheet down in anger. Killing would not change a thing. I could either choose to move on or linger in the past, just like him, and I didn’t want that.

  “I will get your justice for you, instead of killing you,” I said to him, kneeling closer.

  I could barely keep myself up as there was no strength left to support my weight. “You don’t have to keep fighting anymore, let me take some of your burden
for you.”

  I truly meant every word of it. This man who I had admired as a kid was still someone I could save, despite his horrendous mistakes.

  “You truly are something else,” he commented, removing his helmet to show his face. “My son would have been a lot like you, I can see that. You truly remind me of him; he always saw the good in others, even when they couldn’t be saved.”

  “I can still save you,” I replied him, my heart finally calm, “it is never too late to change your life, you were once a great man and you still could be.”

  He smiled and looked at me without his helmet on this time, “thank you; however, it’s too late. My actions will never be forgiven, although I can still do one thing right. Here is the data on how to stop the terror beasts that still remain on earth. I built a safe switch, just in case things ever went wrong.”

  He placed his hand on my com link and some new data I had never seen before popped up on my helmet screen. This was his first atonement for his crimes, proving that any man could change—given a chance and someone to believe in them.

  “What will happen to my people?”

  His face was full of remorse and the expression of concern on his face was genuine.

  Not even I knew the answer to that question but I said, “no one knows what the future holds for us. But I am positive that they will survive and thrive. Our work is done here. We will leave this planet and go back to earth. I will only report to my superiors only the small details. Your kingdom is safe from us; I don’t think we will ever come back here.”

  Before I could say some more words, I was rattled back by something powerful, causing me to spiral backwards onto the ground. I spat out blood and rolled all over a few clunks of hard metal. Someone had shot me with a proton-like bullet. Who was it? It was so intense that I struggled to stop myself from screaming.

  “Excellent job, Den,” Roldo walked up to me and stood next to the doctor. “We would never have been able to take him head on without some sort of miracle. You weakened the good doctor enough for us and did us both a favor.”

  What the! Now what did these backstabbing yowsers want? To be exact, what were they doing here? Roldo walked past me, picked up the doctor and put him on his shoulder.

  “Such a shame that I can’t move,” Peter hissed while being carried by Danack. “The next time I see you, you won’t be so lucky.”

  Wait! What in the world was going on here? It was like they just appeared from thin air. If memory served me right, the last time I had encountered them, they were enemies. Were they still my enemies?

  “Just what is this mess?” I asked them, anxious to get up. The intensity of the pain all over my body was too much that I gave up and rolled back onto the ground.

  Roldo took out a golden amulet from his thigh plate pocket and showed it to me. No way, I couldn’t believe, but it was right in front of me. The object in his clutch was the seal of top secrecy. From the moment I became a soldier, this seal was our life line to the government. Everything we did from then onwards was to be kept a hush-hush from civilians.

  “You had your mission and we had ours. Ours, to be precise, was to infiltrate the enemy base and snatch the leader and all his research work. We were ordered to take any measures necessary to bring them both back to earth. Did you really think we were traitors? Everything went all according to plan except for one thing, you. We never expected you would meddle this deep into our mission, but we couldn’t have easily completed this mission without your help. I will let the superiors know of your role in all of this.”

  Whoa! Had I just been used? I felt worse than toilet paper. I don’t think there was anything worse than what I was feeling right now. If all that was true, not saying I believed it, then why had they told us something different before this mission begin? How many other crew members knew about this?

  “So you used all of us like puppets for your little scheme?” I growled in frustration, at the moment of truth. “We could have died. Was this all for nothing? Did all our lives mean anything to you?”

  “Shut up, you fool,” Roldo growled at me, with a

  scary and frightening voice. “You know the mission code, right? Orders are orders, even if you don’t like them. Who cares if a few of us make it back? What matters is that the objective was completed and nothing less. Just be glad we spared your life, and never speak a word of this to anyone.”

  “I get it now,” the doctor interrupted. “You are in league with them, aren’t you? They sent you here to retrieve the formula, didn’t they?”

  What was the doctor saying? Who was he talking about? Then it suddenly came back to me. Dr. Vegai mentioned something about the men who ruined his life still living on earth. Was this somehow related?

  “Did the elder government leaders send you on this mission?” I asked stupidly without thinking. I regretted my poor choice of words, nevertheless, there were out in the open.

  They all looked at me, alarmed. Roldo’s movements became stiff and almost brutal like. I should have kept my mouth shut, and regrettably I didn’t. I winced slowly and tried to move back, out of their range. Not good, my body wasn’t responding accordingly.

  “So Dr. Vegai told you about them, didn’t he? Big mistake, Den,” Danack screamed and put Peter down. He walked up to me and bent down, picking me by my neck so quick I barely had time to react. I tried to yank off his arm, but his grip was tight.

  “We can’t let him live now, after what he has just said,” Danack growled, telling Roldo.

  Roldo shifted his weight to his right leg slightly while carrying the doctor, looking coldly at me through his head gear. “You are right, finish him off now before he becomes a nuisance again.”

  “All this time, I thought you were my loyal followers,” the doctor cut in, looking down. “But you were just deceiving and using me, just like they did.”

  “Stupid doctor,” Peter commented back to the doctor, “Did you really think we would follow your ideals? We are not that gullible, after all, we are elites.”

  Roldo and Danack were elite scumbags, but I wasn’t sure about Peter. I’m positive Peter was just there for the ride along. Although, I still couldn’t believe it. They had deceived us all into believing they were traitors, and then twisted it around to make themselves our allies again. Darn! Did that make them double or triple agents?

  “Well, sorry, Den, I hate to do this to a comrade, it can’t be helped,” Danack said, reaching for his gun. “You know too much—so it’s too risky to keep you alive. No, wait, this won’t work.”

  He was giggling and acting strangely as his other free hand reached out for my head gear. Danack unlocked it and took off my helmet. He threw it on the ground and unsheathed his gun for a clear head shot. Intensely, my head trembled, reacting to the heavy feel of the gravity. I looked at him without remorse and anger. The deep sensation of fear and regret had somehow disappeared from my heart. I clearly understood now what he meant by those words. Every soldier had to do whatever it took to finish his mission. I knew the risks so I did not blame him.

  “He can breathe this air?” Peter asked, sounding surprised. “We should take him with us and let the research team study him; he might prove more useful that way.”

  “No! Absolutely not,” Roldo yelled and refused Peter’s suggestion. “Remember what happened last time we took him to the lab. He almost killed us; who is to say the same thing won’t happen again, once he recovers?”

  Darn! Roldo was truly the brains of this operation, he knew me too well to see through my tactics and strength.

  “I guess this is goodbye,” Danack said, leisurely trying to savor each moment.

  I closed my eyes, and tilted my head, bracing my mind for my demise. It was then I heard a thunderous sound close to my ears. I opened my eyes, slowly, and saw Roldo’s gun on the ground. Someone had shot it out of his hand. I had no idea who, but I was thankful.

  “Put them down,” a voice commanded.

  I glanced around and caugh
t a glimpse of the captain, along with the rest of the crew. They were armed and standing in a battle formation pattern. Peter and his lackeys looked around and saw that their chance of victory was slim. Bit by bit, they backed away, carrying me alongside, looking for a safe exit. But there wasn’t anywhere to run for them.

  “I would do what they say,” Kristin and her army appeared from the other side, ready to fight. Their fire power was frightening too—at this point, I knew that they had no choice except to surrender.

  “Okay, will do,” Danack said, and gently let me go, before dropping something on the ground.

  It was a smoke flare which ignited and spread rapidly through the thick air. Within the smoke, Peter and his comrades made a quick getaway, taking off for the skies. They took Dr. Vegai along with them, leaving me lying down on the dusty, metal wreckage.

  “Until next time, old friend,” Peter snickered from the smoke before his voice disappeared completely.

  “We should go after them,” Kristin’s younger sister ordered, signaling a team to pursue. “They have the doctor and we need him to pay for his crimes. All those who can still fight join me in the hunt.”

  Kristin grabbed her sister who was about to rush towards the fleeing men. She shook her head with eyes full of sentiment. “Enough blood has been spilled today; we need to look after the injured ones first. We can track them down later, but for now, this comes first.”

  Crap! I couldn’t believe this was how it was going to end. Just what had I accomplished? Was our mission over? How were we going to escape this wretched planet? What sort of information had the doctor left me? I had so many bothersome questions going unanswered, it was nerve jolting. But something was revealed to me, there was perhaps some truth to Dr. Vegai’s last words. I did not want to believe it, but I was certain something big was about to happen. It was probably going to change our way of life as we know it. Did I really want to know that answer? Nope, some things were better left unknown, especially something this big. I was desperate to tell someone about this new revelation. That being said, I couldn’t, since I had been sworn to keep everything I knew a secret by Roldo and his gang of two timing traitors. But how had they acquired the golden seal of top secrecy? Who were these elder government leaders and what did they want with Dr. Vegai? The thought of it all was enough to make my head hurt.