by Nathan Ward
“If you will not co-operate, Captain, we have no further choice but to bring you in by any means, we recommend you take the simple route to save yourself any unnecessary harm,” said Houghton, stood from the sideline.
“I recommend you shut the fuck up and fuck off home - to wherever home is!”
Murdock raged.
Those words had spluttered from behind his shielded face of metal, glaring across into Houghton’s ice cold gaze, which only added to the rising tension, a tension that could slice its way through a block of iron.
But the stand off was short lived as Murdock had no other choice but to revert his attention back to Enrique, who had begun to make his approach with his axes held firmly beside his hips, initiating what had always been the captain's worst fear, having to fight a friend to their very last breath, while the evil dictators sat comfortable watching on as if the friendship they had known was all but a child’s toy, waiting to be moulded, played with and churned into the ground for all but entertainment purposes.
The UNA must have had everything they set out to acquire by now; their reign of terror was at a point of no return, surely? Unless we succeed, Murdock reminded himself, holding that thought burning bright in his mind as he clutched on to his trusty single bladed sword and glared in to the eyes of Enrique, his enemy.
Murdock took the first swing which came as a surprise to all, narrowly avoiding Enrique’s left hand as he threw his body to one side, weaving in and out of Murdock's reach while jabbing with the back of his pick axes, hoping to land the steel tips in to the toughened greys of his uniform. But Murdock was fuelled and countered just as quickly, using up what was left of his energy reserve. Weaving in and out, side to side, swiping across Enrique with his steel blade - but the pair seemed to be equally matched as they both continued to fail in wounding one another.
As Murdock brought his sword around for another mighty swing, Enrique seized his first opportunity and thrust the sole of his boot into his opposition’s chest, launching Murdock to the furthest corner of the room where his body slammed with a bone cracking thud against the surface of the gleaming white wall, leaving behind a hideous impression as he dropped to the ground. The metallic blade also came crashing among the rubble and plastic shards, emitting a sharp rustic pulse around the room as it collided with the debris, a disarmed sound of certain defeat, but Murdock, who felt as if he had no other option but to pull himself back on to his feet, proved that wrong, finding his balance just in time to grasp on to the body of Enrique and throw his accelerating mass through the already damaged wall and in to an unknown side room.
The room had an atmospheric blue lighting to match the sinister iris of the UNA forces, but it was bare and seemed a logical place to continue the face off.
Enrique crashed to the ground but he kept a tight hold of his two side arms and used them to assist in breaking his roll before jumping back to his feet with defiance. It had hardly even phased him, Murdock realised as he smashed his way through the semi demolished wall to find the bloody facial remains of Enrique staring back at him with a blisteringly powerful beam of neon blue light.
The pair slowly begun to circle one another around the room, taking slow and cautious steps in case of any nasty extra surprises lurking in the shadowed corners of the room.
Murdock glanced over his shoulder, remaining vigilant to the immediate threat, reverting his gaze back to Enrique whose field and strength of vision was far superior to his own.
“This city is collapsing, Enrique…Or whoever you really are!” claimed Murdock as he knocked away the dirt and dust from the surface of his overalls, but he received no response…only silence diluted by the echo of boots clonking against the ground, continuing their circling motion around the room and locked within each others gaze, counting down the moments until either would make the next strike.
As a bolt of lighting struck outside the window, Enrique launched himself off the ground and in to the centre of the room just inches in front of Murdock who had almost been caught off guard, with his sword lowered and far from a protective stance. The pick axes begun to flurry past Murdock's face while he ducked and dived, buying himself fractions of seconds until the enemies weapons were met by the thick steel of his blade as he quickly rose his arm to shield himself from the attacker, Murdock's brute force pressed against Enrique, pushing his mass back towards the window, while both shared the same rage and anguish and utter determination to emerge from this victorious, both roaring at the face of the other with murder burning in their eyes. This was a battle that would rage to the bitter end – and only one would walk away from it...
Enrique wasn’t completely converted; his legs were still that of a human so they were no match for the thighs of Murdock, which had been built up over years of training. The Captain had Enrique where he wanted him as the blade of his sword neared the vulnerable flesh of his neck, but before the edge of the sword could reach him one of the axes shifted its position, breaking the tension between the three weapons and giving Enrique the upper hand as Murdock fell in to a sudden stumble, while simultaneously doing his best to remain on his feet and out of the way of counter attacking axes being swung towards his back.
But his best was not enough as he felt the sharp pointed blades penetrate the thick grey of his uniform and pierce through his flesh, he could feel the axes digging deep inside of him, lodged into his back like a pair of joy sticks controlling the direction of his fall.
Murdock's body crashed to the ground with Enrique still latched on to the weapons embedded inside of him, but he quickly removed them, pulling them from deep within the Captain's body, followed by a trail of crimson which dripped from the shiny tips. The vulnerable Captain laid wounded on the floor while the axes were raised, preparing for another swing - but as they descended towards Murdock's head he suddenly rolled to one side, watching the weapons as they planted themselves within the concrete tiles where he had laid just a moment ago.
Sweat continued to pour from his forehead and blood oozed from his wounds as the Captain hastily found his footing and rose above Enrique, towering over him as he attempted to extract his weapons from the ground, which proved costly as Murdock grappled on to him and with all his strength launched the semi robotic lump towards another appliance wall, which immediately erupted in to an explosion of plastic debris as Enrique bulldozed through it, plummeting face first and in to an uncontrollable slide along the glazed white ground on the other side.
Murdock traipsed his way through the newly formed opening, pushing aside the plastic and plasterboard hanging from the broken wall, until he noticed the startled figures of Lynch, Michael and Steph, stood frozen further up ahead, looking back at him.
“Didn’t mean to crash the party!” claimed Murdock in a tone of exhaustion.
Murdock kept his focus as he proceeded to reach down for Enrique’s battered body that laid along the ground covered in a mess of coloured dust and plaster, the Captain grasped his hands around the torn fabric of his uniform and hauled him on to his feet, where he was abruptly met with a thunderous thump from Murdock's knee as he forced it into his chest while he held on to Enrique’s torso, pressing it down so he could feel the uncapped force of his brutal actions, for the world had now reached a point of no return, civilised was long dead in the water and now only the strongest would survive.
Lynch clenched his fist as he suddenly became drawn to the fight as Murdock continued to pound at Enrique’s body, one after another until he must have been dead, thought Lynch, staring eager eyed at the captain until he realised to the side of him stood Steph, with a look of innocence and bewilderment in her frightened eyes..
“You can’t fucking stand there, come with me!” He roared, seemingly knowing of an impending threat as he held on tightly to her hand and dragged her to one side.
“I need you to hide behind here, and I don’t want you showing your face until everyone is dead, you hear me?” shouted Lynch as he pulled away a sheet from the wall, exposing
the inner workings and compartments that seemed to be unmanned.
“I hear you…just, don’t die. Please don’t die!” Steph begged before squeezing her body in to a narrow compartment. It ought to be a place of safety, Lynch had hoped as he pressed the wall segment back in to place, “I’ll do my best,” he confirmed as he turned away, casting another glimpse towards Murdock who was still engaged in battle.
“How long?” Lynch asked, running back towards the elevator shaft wearing nothing but a tatty garment around his groin.
“Minutes, seconds… I can’t tell, but it’s moving, FAST!” said Michael, with his face pressed against the glass of the door, staring down at the capsule as it begun to approach.
Lynch stood in a state of deep thought with his hands held to his hips, in that moment Michael couldn’t help but notice that he had quite an impressive body for a man in his fifties as he turned to await his command, General Lynch was tall and thin but his muscles were very well toned from intensive exercise and military drills, the only thing that gave away his age were the shiny silver locks sprouting from his head, and even those were silky smooth, he noticed as Lynch passed his fingers through them. The General was trying to figure out a plan of staying alive, knowing the elevator might well be filled to the brim with UNA soldiers which they’d have no hope of taking down…
“Unless,” Lynch shouted as an idea suddenly exploded to the front of his mind, “Assuming the doors open and the capsule is occupied by ten, twenty soldiers – They’re going to attack the first person they lay their eyes on!”
And that will be us…” Michael assumed, watching as Lynch paced the corridor from side to side, throwing his hands around as he explained.
“What if they didn’t, what if they see the Captain beating ten pounds of hell out of his…mate?”
“That’s a point, why are they fighting?” asked Michael, glancing over Lynch's shoulder towards Murdock and Enrique, who were now trading punches to the head.
“I’m sure they have their reasons, anyway…the troupe advance and then we strike, which by then all you have to do is leave it up to me, understand?” Lynch said, staring in to Michael's eyes with an intense grey frown.
“Understood, but how…”
Before Michael had a chance to finish his sentence, the General had already torn another segment from the wall, right beside the doorway, now completely out of sight to the soldiers that were on their way up.
“Get in!” Lynch commanded, holding the remains of the plastic covering underneath his arm as Michael scurried inside, squeezing himself beyond the machinery ticking away like a countdown till destruction.
Meanwhile, down the opposite end of the corridor, the titans continued to pound one another with Murdock now becoming more tired than anything, he was just about holding his own, dodging the incoming knuckles as they flurried past his face at a whiskers length. Even though Enrique was partially android, he too had begun to slow from tiredness, what was left of his human remains had been exposed to prolonged sessions of extreme punishment and he could feel it, with every jab.
Murdock hadn’t let his observation slip as he spotted a chance to counter, while Enrique’s fist made another advance, Murdock took a step to the side and unleashed a quick parry of punches into the enemies’ stomach, striking with remarkable power, an unfailing force which cracked apart the inners of his lower rib cage, leaving Enrique no choice but to let his body sink to the ground like a puppet with strings cut.
But even in his moment of defeat, Enrique made it clear with the energy in his eyes illuminating the ground beneath him, he was far from done, and it seemed to worry Murdock as he took a step back to regain his breath:
He had done everything he could to take charge of the battle even though Enrique was no mere human, he was much more and no man was ever supposed to stand up to a machine, for they were designed to be superior in every way possible. But that made Murdock all the more determined, perhaps today would mark the occasion that would make the history books, to defeat an android in hand to hand combat... He reverted back to his action stance and advanced once again towards Enrique as the sound of the elevator capsule clonking against the level doorway echoed up and around the narrow corridor.
A sudden burst of air emitted from above the doorway as the elevator doors sprung open, revealing the sinister squad of UNA soldiers stationed inside with their sights focused on the brawl up ahead, as Lynch somehow predicted.
The tin men suited in their navy leathers and armed with large laser rifles begun to exit the capsule, clonking along as their heavy metal boots pressed against the tiles laid along the corridor, they were advancing towards Murdock and Enrique, but as Lynch peered from behind his hiding space in the broken wall, he noticed the android at the front, it wasn’t wearing any uniform – in fact its entire body looked as if it had been scorched by fire, it looked like a fucking creature from the pits of hell, but he hadn’t any time to waste on that opinion as he reverted his gaze over towards the elevator, where the doors had remained open.
Lynch pulled a small device from his belt and twisted its head until a bright white light shone from the top, the gadget begun to tick as if it was counting down and Lynch was not eager to hold on to it as he reached out from behind the wall and quickly rolled it towards the platform of the capsule, where it came to a sudden halt and tipped on to one side with a tiny clank as metal touched metal, alerting the group of soldiers who turned their sights back towards the elevator, raising their weapons to their chests, aware of some kind of unidentified activity within the elevator.
They slowly returned back to the entrance, remaining forever observant to the surroundings, their minds tuned to the likely risk of sudden attacks, although completely unaware of Lynch and Mike hiding in plain sight behind the broken covering, watching as the soldiers moved past them and back into the elevator capsule.
As the sound of the device had gotten louder, it acted as a trigger for Lynch who suddenly sprung out from behind the broken wall, knocking it to the ground and pulling Mike from the inner compartment.
“Run for your fucking life, Boy!” Lynch roared, pushing Michael down the corridor away from the elevator – but as the General desperately made his last efforts in escaping what was to come, he felt sharp finger-like claws grapple on to his ankle and pull his leg from underneath him, sending his body crashing to the ground where his head took a knock, casting him into a state of unconsciousness - just as the soldiers pulled him in towards the elevator.
Mike had a sudden urge to turn back as he reached the middle of the corridor, as a sensation crawled up his spine, a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. He turned on the spot and became stunned by the sight of General Lynch being pulled in to the capsule by the android soldiers, but before he had time to act, or help in any way, it was too late.
The device emitted a loud sharp squeal which forced Mike to press the palm of his hands against his ears, the sound was causing him such piercing pain that he felt almost entirely immobile, his legs had turned to jelly beneath him and could barely hold his weight as the elevator suddenly exploded, igniting the corridor with blinding light and launching a mass of bodies along the ground as fire followed behind them like a raging bull, burning away at the surfaces of the walls and filling the corridor with a thick black smog which stole his breath. As Mike covered his nose and mouth in absence of head wear and suffered the stinging to his eyes from the heat and the smoke, he had made his decision as he dropped to the floor and began to crawl under the worst of the smoke, advancing towards the flames – knowing the General was down there, and as he pushed on he held on to a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, by some miracle, he was still alive...
Murdock and Enrique simultaneously turned to cast their gaze upon the flames erupting from the other end of the corridor, watching as Mike disappeared beyond the smoke. The Captain had lost sight of all signs of life; even Steph had gone…He hadn’t the time to pay attention and even the moment in which
he stood staring towards the flames proved life threatening as Enrique pounced, pulling a small dagger from his belt sheath and impaling it sharply into Murdock's exposed neck.
He let out a cry of pain as crimson launched from the small wound into the already bloody face of Enrique. A little blood never bothered him, so he extracted the dagger and thumped it back in again, repeatedly, his hand moving back and forth mechanically, stabbing away until blood poured down the front of his uniform, puncturing more wounds in to Murdock's neck and chest with every blow, and all he could do was yelp and try not to choke on his own blood as infuriating pain overwhelmed him, a pain like no other that he had ever experienced.
But it didn’t feel like death, his consciousness wasn’t slipping away and if anything it was becoming more prominent with every fatal jab of the dagger...
Something was growing from the depths of his soul; he could feel it climbing from within him, numbing him to the constant pain and instead with further blows to his body, fragments of his past suddenly burst in to light:
As his body died, long lost memories were reborn from within his mind, Enrique was unknowingly conjuring up a strength that had been buried for a long time, and he continued his assault until there wasn’t a single piece of untouched flesh upon Murdock's torso. Blood poured like a waterfall down his body and into a growing pool around his feet, far too much blood...
It was only then that it occurred, the realisation that he really should have been dead by now, but wasn’t the first time something miraculous had happened, Murdock realised, as memories of Sasha and the love they had for each other flooded back into his mind. He could feel something inside of him moving under the surface of his skin like a swarm of scarabs, squirming and turning.