Specter

Chapter 45 (Night 4) (AOTIA): Breaching The Basement

We last read Chapter 44, in which Specter, King Ryker, and the other heroes on the king's court finally face off against Imperator Barrows, Rogue, and the full extent of the Shattered Circle's army in the battle to end all battles, located in and around the vicinity of the Imperator's Armory work and production area. Though all of them kick significant amounts of butt, the intense confrontation eventually comes to a head when Bonnie, Specter's younger sister, manages to pick up Rogue—Imperator Barrows's second-in-command—with the Armory's ceiling crane and very nearly kills her by dropping her into a tall vat of molten slag. However, Imperator Barrows manages to save Rogue at the last minute by throwing his long hammer-like weapon lengthwise in Bonnie's direction, brutally impaling the young girl in the right shoulder in the process and ruthlessly pinning her against the back wall of the production area, much to Specter's great alarm.

Barrows then walks over to Bonnie, callously pulls the "hammer" out of her shoulder—leaving behind a nasty, gaping, bleeding wound—and prepares to slam it down on Bonnie's head.....and then Specter tackles Barrows out of nowhere from the left hand side, saving Bonnie from the Imperator's wrath and sending both herself and Barrows tumbling down several flights of stairs away from the main battle.....directly en route to the basement, which is where the Shattered Circle's supercomputer resides.

This time, King Ryker makes a tough decision in order to save Bonnie's life, and Specter—while continuing to brawl with Imperator Barrows—experiences the Shattered Circle's endgame with her own eyes.....

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On the main work and production area of the Imperator's Armory, King Ryker and the rest of his court—sans Specter, who was still squaring off against Barrows below ground—had successfully eliminated each and every Shattered Circle minion whom Barrows had summoned to fight them; even Rogue, whom Barrows had saved from nearly being killed at Bonnie's hands—or claws, as one might've seen it—was lying face down and motionless on the floor with her split rapiers a few inches away from her hands.

With Rogue and all visible hostiles down for the count, King Ryker and the court's first action was to rush over to Bonnie and analyze her condition. To the king's shock, the wound looked severe; her once-vibrant open tropical shirt was now visibly reddened in that area no thanks to the Imperator's blow, and she looked like she was losing way too much blood.

"Oh, no....." Ryker muttered in disbelief as he tried putting pressure on the shoulder wound, even pulling other peoples' hands in to help him do the same. "No, no, no, no, no....."

"You....." Bonnie said quietly, visibly struggling to get words out as she fought the effects of her rapid blood loss. "You....."

"Shhh....."

"You need to call.....him....." she whispered. "You need to.....call.....Doc....."

Ryker initially declined, shaking his head. "No. Nope. Absolutely not. You're already injured; I'm not about to put you through an even riskier situation—"

"Just do it!" T.J. cried, already tearing up at the possibility that Bonnie could die at any second without someone's intervention. "Please! He can save her!"

"T.J......"

"If we don't do something now, we won't get another chance!" he argued urgently. "Please, Your Majesty! She'll die if we don't!"

"Sire....." Sylvester said calmly, clearly more restrained than T.J. even though he was in agreement with the boy. "Perhaps he's right. It's time for forgiveness. It's time for new beginnings. And Bonnie's life is at stake."