Legends Of Quell

Chapter 11: War on Grotia

After arriving on Grotia, Planetary Regime soldiers swarm the ship. "By order of empress Sheila and the Planetary Regime, drop your weapons and come out quietly!" A commander shouts. "We're cornered." Ben says. "This happened last time Sheila was in power, we got this." Skyler says. "Do we though, there's more on the line this time. Last time we had us, now we have to take care of a few other people. Heck, we have to make sure people like Jessica, James, Tony, and Robert are okay." George says. There's a loud bang from the ship's entrance. Skyler, George, and Ben rush to the entrance to find Holt, Lucine, and Parker are begging Photon to open the door. He turns around and surrenders to the enemy. "There's no one else inside." Photon says. "Prove it." The commander says. Photon presses a button that explodes the ship. He placed the explosive charges perfectly so the entrance wouldn't be blown up, but George was standing it the hallway leading up to the hallway. Ben and Skyler stare at the explosion in horror, but they don't blame Photon because they know he didn't know George was there. 

Photon is instantly knocked out for exploding the ship. Everyone in the ship stays quiet. Photon is recognized by a Grotian and taken straight to Sheila.

A few hours later, the group leaves the wreckage and searches for George's body. They don't find it. "What now?" Photon asks Parker as they stand outside the ship's wreckage while everyone else looks for George. "We go to war." Photon says. "Is that wise, admiral?" Parker asks. "It is." Lucine says overhearing the conversation. "What is?" Ben and Skyler ask. "Going to war. That's what we're doing. My bar on Grotia isn't far from here. There's guns and armor in the back closet, let's go." Lucine says. Skyler and Ben decide to go, but they do so reluctantly. 

They follow Lucine through alleyways all the way to her bar. "Suit up." Lucine says throwing Class-A rifles at everyone. She has Mark IV armor. "It's us against the Regime." Skyler points out. "We did it once, we can do it again." Ben says. "Let's hope so." Holt and Parker say.

"Hello, admiral." Sheila says when Photon is shoved into her office. "No restraints? That's unwise." Photon says taking a seat in front of her. Sheila grabs him and kisses him. "Sorry." Sheila says sitting back down and remembering when he broke up with her a few weeks before she was forced out of power. "It's alright." Photon says awkwardly. "Do you miss us?" Sheila asks. "I don't know, it was nice, but at the same time it hurt to keep it a secret from the public." Photon explains. 

~~20 years and three weeks ago~~

"Sheila, I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore." Photon says while the two hold hands at a park. Sheila lets go of his hands. "Do what?" Sheila asks fearing the worst. "I can't, we can't, be together. I'm sorry, I really am." Photon says. Sheila's eyes start to water. "I'm sorry." Photon says walking away.

~present day~

"You've changed." Photon says. "How's that?" Sheila asks. "The Sheila I love never would've done anything you did since our breakup." Photon says. "I did what I had to do in order to survive." Sheila explains. "No, you tried to impress me. I still love you, Sheila, well, not you, the Sheila that would've went to Zaleth, Reston, and Earth and made peace, not war. The Sheila that would've been voted out of office and be okay with it. The Sheila that wouldn't have destroyed a continent!" Photon yells. "I-I-I suppose you're right." Sheila says with watery eyes. "Please, stop this." Photon begs. "It's too late." Sheila says. "It's never too late." Photon says. "Why don't you just join me?" Sheila asks. "I would never do that." Photon says. "Why not?" Sheila asks. "I won't assist you in your murder spree." Photon says.  "Then we're truly broken." Sheila says aiming a gun to his head and tearing up. "If you want to shoot me, then shoot me," Photon says grabbing her other hand, "Or you can drop everything you're doing and run away with me." 

Back on Earth, James, Elias, Dakota and Michelle survey the ruins of North America. They have heat resistant Quell armor on, so the intense flames aren't hurting them. It's a desolate wasteland, and there's ton of ash in the air. "Lucky we moved to Europe last year." Michelle says. "You guys really are. I'm just hear for research honestly, I could use the temperature of the wasteland to figure out how hot the laser is by doing simple math. Then I could make a shield that we can use to combat Celestial's laser." Dakota explains. "No offense, but I don't really care." James says as he throws a molten rock at the ground. "Aren't you going to fight back?" Dakota asks. "She won, what's the point?" Elias asks. "The point? What was the point of getting The Orb? Fighting the Deity? The rebellion against the N.E.G.? Saving the people on Quell?" Dakota asks. 

"The point was to have an adventure and save people's lives." James answers. "Now you're going to give up because a continent was toasted?" Dakota asks. "Yeah, pretty much." Michelle says. "Is that what Tristan Grave would've done?" Dakota asks. "Don't you dare mention him! You worked with him! We fought alongside him!" Elias yells. "Fine." Dakota says calling down his Grave Industries ship and leaving. 

"I'll give up as well, then." Dakota says as he looks at Earth through his cockpit window.

While James, Michelle, and Elias survey North America, Tony calls James. "Tony? What's up?" James asks. "I need your help. Don't tell Jessica." Tony says as he fires his pistol over a piece of his ship. "What kind of help?" James asks. "The twins and I kind of stole my ship back from the Planetary Alliance, well the Planetary Regime, and rescued the guys from Quell. Then I crashed the ship, and I'm stuck on Quell with a busted ship and two twins with a mother that'll kill me if she finds out." Tony explains firing a few more shots at a Planetary Regime army. "Sorry, bud. After what Sheila did to North America, we're not interfering." James says hanging up. 

"What the?! Did that laser hit him in the head?" Tony asks angrily and firing a few more shots. "Guess we're on our own." Jasmine says as she fires a rocket launcher at the army. "Great." John says grabbing a minigun and opening fire on Planetary Regime soldiers. "There's one other person I can ask." Tony says. "Don't call mom!" John and Jasmine yell in complete sync.

"Too late." Tony says as Jessica picks up the holocall. "What's up Tony?" Jessica asks. Tony explains the situation again. "I'm on my way to save my kids, kill you, and beat the shit out of Sheila's soldiers." Jessica says hanging up. "This isn't our fault." John says. "I know." Tony says firing on the Planetary Regime army.