Chapter 14 - Homecoming

Chapter 13: Homecoming

        “Come on Adam, let’s go. They’re not here.” Jenny said as they stood still around the desolate area. They were searching for the other 3 that went missing earlier that day, or some reminant of a fight. Though the resistance had all but crumbled, word was spreading of rebellion. Infantry has been moved from the city to riots across the world. The fear was fading, the smoke clearing. Though, all could be restored. The city would need to have its defenses crumble and, in turn, have the Biolord himself die. “No sign of any activity captain Williams. Should we move to another location?” Said the man in the mask, with the other 7 survivors. “At ease, soldier. We need a bit of rest. Keep scanning.” Adam reported, as 4 of the seven went away to continue searching for life. The other three stood back and were guarding Adam and Jenny, as they sat down. “Adam, we can’t keep looking for them. We have a mission. The world’s in rebellion now Adam. The resistance may be dead, but we won. Those lives won’t be worth anything if we don’t kill Connors.” Jenny concluded. Adam sighed, and turned red a bit, tears falling from his dirt stained face. “You know, this may sound dumb, but Ashley proposed to me out there. She gave me one of her rings even.” Adam opened his clenched hand and showed it to Jenny. “It wasn’t probably anything real, but still, I knew how I felt about her, but I didn’t know she felt the same way.” Jenny paused and looked at Adam, still speaking casually, but tears streaming down his face like a rainstorm said otherwise about his emotions. “You know, I felt like kids do sometimes. I was in love, true love, and it just occurred to me that it was that way when she did that.” He paused again, smiling briefly, glancing at Jenny for a moment, then looking back at the ground. “That boy you were with, Jenny, Brad if I’m right, did it feel that way? Like you were home, some how, your life was complete only with them? Did you feel like something was missing when he died?” He looked at her again, smiling warmly, tears down his face. Jenny was crying silently, looking intently at him. “That night, the night we went out, the night I found out Sheldon had died, I feel was the biggest mistake of my life. I felt like I betrayed the person that loved me the most when I went so far with him, and I didn’t even feel in true love. Sure, I was in love with him, but not like you are. I always regretted that date. I felt it put a damper on the rest of our relationship, life after it seemed a bit like a play. No matter how well you act, it’s never going to be real.” Jenny paused until Adam gave her a reassuring look, and she continued. “I didn’t feel that way till the day he died. The moment I was lying on the concrete, right before my memory was wiped, I felt more human than I ever had in my life up to that point. My dream to become a teenager, well, I always thought I never achieved. Though, in that moment, I realized I had, because I was a kid.” Jenny said with a laugh, smiling at him. “So young, and so much that would have been ahead of me. My life wasn’t ruined because of his death, it was because I chose to act on my emotions, not my thoughts, or even my soul. I acted on the moment, and screwed up the rest of my life. I knew that the one thing I had always wanted, was the only thing I ever didn’t need. I didn’t know how much my friends meant to me, till they were gone. Though, one thing kept telling me to keep fighting, after I regained my memory. Like my soul was talking to me.” Jenny paused again, and began to cry. Adam looked intently at her, and began to cry too. “I knew…” Jenny sobbed. “I knew that only thing I could do was to give others the chance to feel that way, and I knew this society wouldn’t allow it. I wanted people to be people, not puppets for ones entertainment. That’s why I fight. Not for my own redemption, not for revenge, not for even a cause. Just for a tomorrow. For a happy ending. That was why I fought when I was young, and why I fight today. For the ending to be good, for it all to be right.” She whimpered, with a voice of determination in her voice. “They’re gone, Jenny. All your friends and family. Gone, dead, away forever, and you still fight for what’s right. After what you did, after what happened, you still fight. You amaze me.” Adam said in awe, but quickly changed to a tone of both anger and fear. “Though, if you think you have ghosts in your past, your wrong. Real ghosts, you don’t even know what they are even. You didn’t kill who you cared about, you let them die. What if you actually killed them, with your own hands? What if you still heard their souls talking to you, when you fight? What if you had to deal with what I deal with? You’d go insane. No man deserves what I go through, not even Connors. Every night, I hear their screaming, and I beg in my mind for it to stop. Though, I can’t let it stop. I don’t have control any more!” Yelled Adam while muttering, making Jenny’s gaze retreat a bit backward. “I can’t feel without them crying. All of them are in pain, but one. The one that I fear. He enjoys it, says it will let him out. He doesn’t want my body, he wants yours. You are powerful and he wants that.” Adam paused as he continued to rant, as he stood up, Jenny walking slowly backwards from his booming voice. “Just fracking run, Jen. RUN! Get away while you can! Don’t become like me! You need to end this, this pain. It is all linked together, I know it!” Jenny’s eyes flared with fear, but soon, they shot beams of courage. “I won’t run away.” She muttered loudly yet coolly. “I won’t succumb to fear. I won’t let it get the best of me, and I won’t let you talk me into that. We’re on a mission, and whether we like it or not, we need to kill Connors. Ashley’s dead, or will be soon. There’s nothing we can do about it now.” Jenny concluded. Adam flared up at this, and ran at Jenny, and punched her in the face, sending her skidding across the dirt. “My wife isn’t dead, and even if she is, I’ll search for her till I see her body. frack your mission, frack the world. All that matters now is making sure who I care about stay safe.” Adam concluded. “That was my mistake last time.” He said, as he began to walk away. That would have been the spliting of their ways, if a certain sound hadn’t happened. “REAPERS!” Screamed one of the resistance members, as the two reapers closed in on the position, hovering over the ground, as steel, skeletal hands dragged the four soldiers down into the ground, screaming, as the two reapers kept approaching.

        The Reapers wore cloaks, which shadowed most of their body. Each one had a scythe like device that would summon beings that would do their bidding, made of a metallic plasma that would continually shift form that would seep from the end of the blade, along with it doubling as both a shotgun and a deadly hand to hand combat weapon. Not that they needed these things. They moved silently and menacingly usually, but if needed, could run at high speeds, matching Jenny’s flight abilities. They’re faces are never seen, and only the arms and legs, made of the same metallic plasma as their minions, are visible to the normal eye on a regular basis. Jenny noticed all these things as they ran over to the area where the bodies had been dragged underneath the ground. “Damn it, we need to run Jen!” Yelled Adam. Though, his words would not go into her mind. “They’re for me, Adam. Get the remaining soldiers and you out of here, but stay there. We need to regroup. They’ll just follow us if we run, that’s what happened last time.” Jenny concluded, as they reminisced on the last time they were attacked by the reapers. Adam hesitated at first, but soon, ran from the area. “Good…” Jenny muttered as she transformed into her armor form again. She turned her arm instantly into a sniper rifle, that would eat at the metallic plasma. She set her sights on the target. They were at far enough distance that they wouldn’t be able to attack Jenny instantly. She set her eyes into the scope’s lens. She aimed for the center of the hood of the first one, the obvious leader of the duo. The Reapers noticed this and began to hover for her, scythes in hand. They wouldn’t run, risking a bombing attack, and the wouldn’t summon, risking her using the creatures against them. They acted the safest way possible, and the most fearsome to anyone other than Jenny. Though, she knew what they’d do. It was another robot, they fell to the same faults. They always did what’s the obvious best plan. She loaded the gun, allowing it to charge, the reapers still approaching. With one pull of the trigger, the beam hit the first reaper in the face. The hood flew off in an instant, knocking it back, it’s face revealed, or atleast part of it. The metallic plasma was not present, instead, a metallic mask, resembling a skull, covered the face. It was a machine, keeping the reaper alive. The other reaper, instead of continuing to float over, did the opposite. It rushed to the aid of the other reaper. In that moment, Jenny saw that the beam had chipped part of the mask, revealing the eye of a human, an eye she had thought closed forever many years ago. The impact of the blow left the reaper bleeding, his skull and skull mask cracked in the back, leaving him mortally injured. She dropped her sights from the scope, transformed back and ran away, tears in her eyes. She thought knew who she had just killed. Though, was it real? Was it her imagination?

        “Jenny, glad you could make it outside of a body bag.” Adam said sarcastically. “What’s the tears for, did you kill them?” Adam concluded, more serious and in a hushed tone. Jenny sobbed, falling to her knees, crying “I… I killed… I killed him…. I killed Brad….” over and over again. “Jenny, it’s not the time to be worrying about the past. Besides, Connors killed him, not you. It’s not your fault.” Adam responded, caringly. Jenny began to calm down, and started to speak again. “He… he was the reaper…. I shot him and he flew back…. his skull cracked….he bled to death…” Whimpered Jenny. “How could he? He’s already dead. Come on, it’s in your head, Jenny. I’m sorry about earlier by the way. Seeing those two made me realize that we can’t leave a friend behind.” Adam concluded, offering a hand to Jenny. She took it and stood up. “Your right, Adam.” Jenny said with a sigh. “We need to stick together. I’ll keep with you till we find Ashley and the Twins.” Jenny concluded, as they began to walk. “That won’t be long, then. I realized the one place they would use for their storage or imprisonment of those three wouldn’t be Connors’s home. It wouldn’t be somewhere random out here either. It’d have to be a place where Connors could showboat his relinquishment of the resistance and settle the desire for rebellion once and for all.” Adam concluded. “Adam, I’ve been in his house, he has a fracking arena in there. It’d be the perfect place for it.” Jenny retorted. “No, it wouldn’t. I know this guy, he would want it to be as far from the area he has secure. Showing the inside of a fortress just allows for the finding of weaknesses. It’d also have to be sentimental. This guy has pleasure in torture, in the pain of others, it makes him feel like a survivor. It’d be also in the city to show that the war didn’t go out of control. What is the most frequently used stadium in all of Tremorton?” Adam questioned. Jenny suddenly knew what would be coming as the answer. “The high school” She answered. “Yeah, Jenny, no use in that since there’s their new educational system, so why not use it for research? It’s perfect. We, though, have an advantage there.” Adam said with a smirk. “Let’s go finish the fight.” Jenny said in determined voice as they began to walk into the desolate streets. “You know, that’s from Halo 2, that really old video game.” Adam answered. “Who cares?” Jenny laughed.

        “You won’t get away with this.” Vega said, in the locker room that was now her holding cell. “Shut your mouth, dog. I’m this close to getting tortured to death, and I’m not going to let some robotic preppy girl get me otherwise.” Melody concluded, spitting at the tied up Vega, speaking in a more authoritive. “Your friends will suffer the same fate if that other robot girl doesn’t get here soon.” Melody said. “I don’t fear you, Melody, and they don’t either. We don’t fear your leaders either. It’s the end of the road. Rebellion is rising outside of the resistance. You’re as good as dead.” Vega hissed at Melody. “This will end it, your execution. This will end all the fighting, and I’ll live while you die.” Melody retorted at Vega. “You may be alive, but what life will you be living? Your fear is forcing you deeper and deeper into the maze of darkness. You only have one chance to escape.” Vega concluded. “1 hour, my dear, 1 hour till you die. Just like your Robin friend. Fodder for the Reapers.” Melody hissed at Vega, as she walked out of the room. Though her bravery soon faded, as she sat next to Dr. Connors in the stands. Fear struck her eyes as she neared him. “My lord…” Melody moaned softly, holding back a tear. “Yes my pet, what do you ask?” Bellowed the Biolord as he sat in his throne. “Will it end today?” She concluded, tearing a bit. “If XJ-9 comes here like planned, and brings Adam with her, it will all be over. The world will be at peace. No more war, only a strong yet gentle hand gripping the society as it smiles at its lord.” Dr. Connors said to the crying Melody. “The pain of the evil will fuel our utopia. Punish the ones who deserve punishment. That will be how we will rise to peace.” Dr. Connors concluded. “You must see the wisdom in this, my pet.” She smiled and nodded, but fear still lingered in her eyes.

        “Thank you, all, for watching this broadcast. Whether by force or by choice you were able to view it, you are thanked all the same.” Dr. Connors said warmly, with a scent of malice in his voice. He stood up, and walked down to the podieum in the center of the field. “As your just ruler of this fine planet, I will not execute those who show regret for rebelling by joining our ranks among the Bioforce, a protective squad of elite soldiers that protect our planet from rebellion. We must pause for the lives lost recently from the attack on our city by the terrorist group The Resistance.” A moment went by with minimal sound, and anxious looks from the stadium. “We have vanquished them, though, and currently hold their leader and some other members of their league of plaguing society, to be executed live. Though the violence may be gratuitous, we suggest that parents allow their children to watch it. It will set a lesson to our future and our current generation. Now, our first criminal will be Vega Prime, a former queen of the robotic military planet of Cluster Prime. She was one of the lead chiefs in strategy and frequent law breaker before her involvement, so she is one of our prime candidates.” He said with a smile, as two Bios dragged the bound Vega up to a chamber. “This chamber is the only known way to decontaminate a Contaminated, by burning the body, and then cooling it to absolute zero instinationusly, destroying all molecules under the pressure. The ones responsible for today’s execution are Brittany and Tiffany Krust, some of the fine women in the lead of the Bioforce today, joining as meer teenagers.” He concluded. Brit and Tiff were definitely older now, but still had the same flair of superiority, even in middle age. They were full with botox and other anti aging surgery to prevent them from aging. Vega was tossed into the chamber and a lever was gripped by Brit, while Tiff sealed the door. “In 5 seconds, the chamber’s lever will be pulled, sending her to her death. We hope you enjoy this execution.” Connors concluded. The screen that was videotaping the entire scene was currently turning into a countdown. Worldwide, people were watching their televisions in horror of the events unfolding. The audience chanted, though, top level bios filling the crowd. “5.…4.….3.….2.….1.…” They said. Then, a gunshot was heard and a beam of blue light soared at Brit, instantly decinigrating her. Another shot fired and destroyed Tiff. Screams of panic filled the crowd, as a blue haired robotic girl flew down, holding a shotgun. “They were always a duo of doges in high school, don’t see what I ever saw in them.” Jenny said casually, loud enough it was picked up on the sound stage. The camera focused on her and the cities of the world were all viewing her. She was smart, though. She pulled out her machine gun and pointed it at Dr. Connors. “Anyone attacks, he gets it first.” Jenny said. She stretched out her arm and opened the door to the chamber, letting Vega out. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, this isn’t the first time that you’ve overthrown a dictatorship, Jenny.” Retorted Vega as she stepped out. “Nope, not the first time we overthrew a dictatorship, and yes, to all the people out there, I have a fracking name! Vega, take care of the rest of this.” Jenny said, the camera focused on her. It then shifted to Vega, as she began to speak. “People of earth, well, I’m not going to be valiant anymore than I have to. Don’t put up with this shoothead. You’re stronger than they are.” “I’ve got unfinished business with you, Dominic. Are you going to hide behind your army anymore, sending other people out to fight for you, or are you going to fight like a man?” Jenny said, her gun more intent on Dr. Connors than ever before. “I crushed your rebellion! You’re nothing without me!” Yelled Dr. Connors, bellowing louder than before, infuriated at Jenny. “You’re the hero of this fracking story, yeah right. That’s a load of shoot. You used to be a member of the damn Bioforce, that‘s right. Remember how you whored your body for power, and how that became the Bioforce armor? Remember how you tried to kill the boyfriend of the leader of the resistance? You’re a fracking hippocryte.” He concluded, pulling out his own gun, as they began to circle each other. “Yeah, I do, and I’m not the hero of this story. The hero is valiant, without fault. No man is a hero. No man is without fault. I’m just trying to make a happy ending.” Jenny said with a smile. “By the way, I tried to kill your daughter’s husband, not boyfriend.” Jenny retorted, as she pulled the trigger to the gun, firing a beam of bullets directly at Dr. Connors. He flew back, his armor tarnished, bleeding profusely. Silence fell on the stadium, broken by a cackle. “Jenny, you don’t know even the tip of the iceburg.” Dr Connors cackled. Several members of the audience glanced worried looks. “You don’t know anything. You probably don’t even know how you were born, I mean really born. Not created.” He cackled again, as he stood up, pulling out a pistol, pointing it at Jenny. Though, when the trigger was pulled, it was pointing at a different target. Vega fell over, oil dripping from her chest, her eyes fading, as she collapsed over, and died. Silence grew back Jenny was stunned “Why would you shoot her? She‘s not a threat to you!” Jenny yelled, confused and angered. “Jenny, you actually think that I did this for revenge or power? You’re a bigger fool than I expected. Did you think I was actually thinking that they needed me? No, it‘s better this way, but it was damn fine before too. I‘m doing this, to finish what I started, and right now, I need you alive.” He panted, furious. “This is between just us two, and our own pasts, Jennifer. Everyone else, get out of the stadium. Find Williams, he’s here if she is. He needs to be killed only in the execution chamber, no usage of lethal force before hand.” The stadium flew out of its seats and through the doors back to the building. “Broadcast ended.” Connors said, and the Camera shut off, showing fuzzy screens across the world.

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