Book 2: Preventing Londinium

Showdown To The Graves

As I stare down the street, Dentry hands a few items to Jake and tells him something, but I can't tell. Moments later, Jake moves slightly closer to me and throws me the items. I recognise them almost instantly. It's my original prosthetics? And my Concealer Ring? But why would they give them back? Unless... "DENTRY!" I yell, attaching my old arm and eye into their places, "WHY DID YOU USE JAKE?! WHY NOT JUST KILL ME YOURSELF?!". I demand an answer, as I have wanted to know since I tackled Dentry in the alleyway. Dentry grabs a megaphone and calls out to me. "Oh James," he exclaims, pulling out a different-looking KillCode, "thank you. This is EXACTLY how I imagined your death. Now Jake, kill him. And make it painful.". But Jake doesn't move. Not even an inch. "No. He's my friend." Jake states. Dentry taps a button on his switch and Jake falls onto one knee in pain. He's being electrocuted, meaning that Dentry had gotten the KillCode modified. Dentry stops the electrocution and ask Jake to kill me again. Jake slowly stands up and unsheathes his blade. "I'm sorry James." he mutters, proceeding to walk up to me. I can't stop him. I have to fight.

We meet halfway in the road and I quickly throw a punch. But before I know it, he's caught my hand and lifted my over his head, slamming me onto the floor. I'm momentarily stunned, but I stand up and continue my efforts. But they're useless. No matter what I do, Jake counters it. In under a minute, I'm on my knees with blood all over my clothes. "Jake....don't..." I mutter tiredly, struggling not to collapse. But Jake reluctantly holds his blade above his head and prepares to drive it down into my heart. Luckily, I catch the blade and hold it back with all the strength that I can muster. But I've been weakened by the fight, and I'm slowly losing my grip. But I have come up with a plan. 'This is going to hurt' I think to myself, before redirecting the blade towards my left shoulder. I can't move it to my prosthetic arm because my left hand isn't strong enough. When the end of the blade is alligned with my shoulder, I release the blade, causing Jake to stab me with full force. Luckily, he didn't do enough damage to stop me from using my arm, so I grab him around the back of his head with both hands and headbutt him, finally doing a bit of damage. Using all of the energy that I have left, I throw the blade to the floor and try my best to jog away from the street while Jake steadies himself.

I limp through different alleyways and eventually came across a destroyed office building. I know this place: It's where CyberCorps's old tower used to stand. As I maneuver through the debris, I keep on getting flashbacks. Ron's death, my battle with Karim, and my blade piercing his throat. But in the middle of all of these, I'm suddenly shoved across the room. I look up to see General Sosia walking towards me. Unlike Jake, she has the same combat skillset as me, so this can go either way.

She runs forward and swings a knife at me, but I'm able to quickly unsheathe my Concealer Ring's blade and block her attack. We exchange attacks but no one seems to land an attack until I lose my balance and she jams her knife into the back of my left shoulder. I yell in pain and fall onto my front. What General Sosia doesn't know, however, is that I'm not actually unconscious. So, when she grabs her knife, I quickly spin around and (using my prosthetic arm) launch her through the brick wall. She slowly stands up, clearly heavily affected by the attack. As she limps over to me, she falls onto her knees and, only for a split second, I see something that changes my opinion on her immediately. There's a KillCode in her, just like Jake? "Wait. General Sosia," I begin, slowly edging towards her, "you have a KillCode? So you're also not doing any of this willingly?". I'm now directly in front of her, kneeling with her. "Oh Mr. Elshire, you really are so gullible." she responds. She then proceeds to quickly grab her knife and jams it straight into my side. "Aarrgghhh!!" I yell, falling onto my back. Sosia stands up and pops some of her fingers back into their sockets. "You really thought that I would need one of those KillCodes in me?" she states, clicking a button which removes the KillCode from her throat, meaning that it was an illusion. "Seriously! How can you be so stu- *gasp*" she gets interrupted. I have fired my blade through her throat, and she falls to the floor. I get to my feet once more but I'm not going anywhere quickly, not with this stab wound in my side.