SciFi Voyage Of Truth #Wattys2016

Chapter 13

Kaphir stomps up the ladder and instinctively stops. He taps his fingers in a wet footprint and smiles once he realizes it's Nulo's blood. Kaphir points his flashlight and follows the smeared trail leading into the shadows. "Heeey, super soldier! I just want a sincere apology for my friends you hurt downstairs. Listen, my AC is empty and I just want to talk like men." There is a long silence. Kaphir grins. "Whelp, I see you still want to take the other route."

"I do!" A thunderous blast illuminates the hall and strikes Kaphir in the stomach. He slides on his back a few feet and rolls completely over onto his face. Nulo appears as a silhouette through a cloud of dust with his smoking AC9 by his side.

Kaphir holds his chest and asks, "I thought your glove was deactivated?"

Nulo backhands Kaphir across the face and says, "It was."

Kaphir sees the shiny glazed upgraded model and begins to scoot backward. "Come on, Nulo, you know this isn't fair. I'm empty. I was just playing earlier. I wasn't really going to kill you."

Nulo ignores the pleading and follows Kaphir as he slides helplessly on his elbows. Nulo laughs. "Doesn't this look so familiar? Wow how the tables have turned."

"Listen. Everything I said and did was an act for my crew. I was just having some fun before I left the lieutenant position."

"Fun, that's what you call it?" Nulo increases the voltage on his AC9 and fires an explosion between Kaphir's legs.

The ground crumbles into a massive hole and Kaphir's voice cracks, "Whoa. Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You thought it'd be that easy? You thought I would say, oh no worries, we'd shake hands and be best friends from now on? No!" Nulo punts Kaphir in his stomach. "You have no idea what I've been through because of you." Nulo follows up with a roundhouse kick to Kaphir's jaw.

Kaphir's head snaps to one side as he spits out blood. He turns back, weakened with a deep gash hanging above his eye. Kaphir tightens his one eye and tries to plug the blood out his vision. He feels around and contemplates when to use his remaining shot. Kaphir looks over his shoulder and sees a surveillance camera under a spotlight and baits Nulo to follow him. "Please. Think about what you are doing. You don't want to kill an innocent soldier do you?"

Nulo catches the slick insult. "You got a lot of nerve if you think mocking me in your position is the best idea." Emotionally, Nulo raises his voice, "I practically died in the bistro. You took my TDA so I couldn't heal. I don't believe you were just playing. I should take your glove off and swing a few rounds across your face. How would you like that?"

Kaphir gets in position of the camera and says, "No, Nulo, this isn't you at all."

"Isn't me?" Nulo suddenly pitches an underhanded fireball at his foe, but Kaphir flips back to his stomach and avoids the shot. Nulo ignites another haywire shot at him, but again misses. Kaphir backs himself onto a crumbling peninsula in the floor and realizes Nulo's stray shots were on purpose.

Approaching with a devilish grin, Nulo states, "In the words of Kaphir, how does it feel to be inefficient; punished and powerless just like that? It hurts doesn't it?"

"Alright, we're even. I'm sorry."

"Naw, he hasn't had enough until I say so. Remember that?"

Kaphir cries out, "I didn't go this far. You know I could've killed you, but I didn't."

"But you did kill me. You removed everything I had because of your pettiness."

"Petty? Look at what you are doing. I said I was sorry. What else do you want from me?"

"I want you to remember my face whenever you feel like you're untouchable."