The Legacy of Cole MacGrath

Chapter 20: The Price

I walk into the Historic District and get a call from John.

“Now that Alden’s out of the way, it’s time to move against Kessler. Though, he’s got you pinned in the Historic District. Head over to the 19th Street Drawbridge and open it. That way you have an out in case things go south,”

“Where are you going to be?”

“I’ll be there when you need me,”

I sigh.

“Heard that one before,”

When I lower the drawbridge, I get a call from Kessler.

“Our time together is drawing to a close, Cole. And I fear that you’re still not ready to face what is coming. So I’ve decided to accelerate things. Shall we begin? I know what Trish means to you, Cole. How much you love her. But we all have our part to play, even her. That’s why she’s sitting here next to me. I’ve planted a series of bombs across the city, and each is on a timer. Fail to disarm any of them before they detonate, and she dies,”

My chest tightens as I hear Trish call out to me.

“Cole!”

I clench my fist.

“You bastard,”

Kessler chuckles.

“I’ve engaged the timer on the first bomb. You don’t have much time,”

I sense the surrounding area for electricity and there’s a strong electrical source 4 blocks down the street.

When I get there, 5 citizens are surrounded by tesla coils pulsing with electricity. I drain them of their electricity and the bomb gets deactivated.

Kessler talks again.

“That’s five people now. Five people that will see another sunrise. But I wonder, did you save them because it was the right thing to do, or because you’re trying to protect Trish? I’ve started the timer on the next bomb,”

I sense for the next bomb and it’s in the center of the park.

As I’m running towards it, Kessler keeps talking to me.

“It’s amazing the things you forget. The smell of someone, the way their eyes light up when they’re happy. Those are the things to cherish, Cole,”

I reach the bomb and deactivate it.

Kessler taunts me.

“Tick, tock, tick, tock. The final bomb is counting down,”

This one is 6 blocks away.

I reach the bomb and deactivate it.

Kessler starts talking again.

“And it comes down to this - your final test. From one roof hangs Trish. The love of your life. From the other, six doctors. Think of all of the good they’ll be able to do, the thousands of lives they’ll save. Which is more important, Cole? The life of one, or the lives of many? Bombs are attached to each platform. You have time to save one, but not both,”

I’m stunned. He has to be joking.

I’m snapped out of my trance by Trish yelling at me.

“Cole! Save the doctors! I’ll be fine!”

“Are you insane?! The fall will kill you!”

“The doctors are more important, go to them!”

Begrudgingly, I head over to the building holding the doctors.

Kessler speaks again.

“I wish there was some other way that Trish didn’t have to die. She’s such a special woman. But in times of war, crisis, one must learn to ignore their feelings and do what benefits the whole, not the individual. No matter how painful,”

Every word that he continues to say fills me with more rage.

“I swear Kessler, once we fight. I’m going to kill you,”

He chuckles.

“Yes, you probably will. That’ll mean that my job would be complete and passed onto you,”

Once I reach the top I untie the doctors and they thank me.

The second that I think about running over to save Trish, a deafening explosion comes from the building she’s on. My heart drops as Trish falls.

“Cole!”

“Trish!”

Time slowed down as she fell.

I went down to her as quick as I could.

For a second, she sprung to life.

“Cole..I’m..I’m so proud of you. You’re using your powers to help people. I should’ve noticed that from the beginning. I love you..”

As she finishes speaking, the life fades from her body.

Tears start to flow down my face and I cry my eyes out.

-2 hours later-

I decided to bury her in the park, right next to her sister and all the others who died since the blast.

I swear, I’m gonna find Kessler, and I’m gonna kill him.

I also decide to sleep next to Trish’s grave.

When I wake up, I get a call from John.

“I saw what Kessler put you through. Hell of a thing. Every minute that mad dog walks the planet, all of our lives are at risk,”

I get angry.

“Where the hell were you? If you’d only helped out, Trish might still be alive,”

“Nothing I could do. She was dead the second Kessler got his claws on her,”

“Spare me that crap. You just didn’t want to put your neck on the line,”

“Expose myself to save one person? I don’t think so,”

From a military standpoint, he’s right. Prioritize the many over the individual.

He continues.

“But I can help you get some payback. The power grid on the southern half of the Historic District never got updated, so it still uses the old external substations. Turn on all three, and you restore power to the rest of the island,”

I realize what he’s getting at. 

“And give myself a new power in the process,”

“Exactly,”

Determined to get my vengeance, I head to the southern half of the Historic District to gain my new power.