From War, To Extinction

Chapter 14: The Angel Of Death

The loud roar of the warehouse explosion quickly overwhelms the sound of Michael and Alex's boots cluttering against the cold icy cement. The entrance to the subway is in eyes reach, and with no Antigen Forces in sight, gives Michael and Alex the first and second piece of good news all night.
"I can't believe we just did that," Alex says, nearly choking on his breath as they run through the street
"Stop."
"We just left him there, we didn't even try to fight it."
"I SAID STOP, OKAY?!" Michael cracks at Alex, stopping, still feeling the depression and exhaustion Matthew was feeling as they left. "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, GET THAT IN YOUR FUCKING HEAD!"
Michael and Alex stand there for a moment, staring at one another for a solid minute, in complete silence, Alex death-staring Michael for the first time since they met.
"I'm sorry, Alex, I- I don't know what got to me-"
"Don't be, just remember we both lost a friend, okay?" Alex explains. "He did have a point though."
"How do you mean?" Michael questions, wiping the blood from the side of his head.
"Fighting beside you has been an honour, and it always will be."
"The honour has been mine, Alex. Why does it sound like you're going to leave?"
"Me?! Leave?!" Alex scoffs. "Let's get to the Subway, we need to contact Kassie, she's needed you, Michael; she told me you're like her father."
"And she is like a second daughter of mine," Michael explains. "I hope that one day she gets to meet Eve and Selene, and if they're both comfortable with it, Kassie can become a part of the family. Fuck, let's go, I have to see if she's okay."

Alex and Michael enter the Subway, Alex being slightly behind his over-confident Hybrid friend. Alex has taken the Subway hundreds of times, but this time, something seems wrong, terribly wrong, he can feel it.
"Michael?! Stop!" Alex yells, catching Michael's attention straight away.
"What is it?"
"There's something wrong- this place, we shouldn't be he-"
Alex is silenced when a familiar, curved blade of a sickle pierces violently through Alex's chest, his darkening eyes widening as his blood drips from the smoking, warm blade.
"Michael?" Alex gasps as the blade tips upwards, sending him down the stairs, the blade still clamped into his chest.
"NOOOOOO!" Michael screams as he bends down to his friend's aid, staring up at a figure; the silhouette of the figure covered in damaged armour; Angel's armour. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
"Bartholomew is dead, Michael, Alex is dying, and at last, I'm left with you and only you."
"WHO ARE YOU?! WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?!" Michael commands answers, his hands desperately trying to stop Alex from bleeding. "I'm going to have to remove the blade, Alex, stay with me, okay?"
"You have no idea who I, do you?" Alex chuckles as he kicks Michael away from Alex, watching as his Hybrid nemesis is slammed into the wall. "I'm what you should've been, I'M YOUR SUCCESSOR!"
Michael impacts the wall at an excessive force, his body tearing chunks of cement and dust down with him. He wheezes for breath, his lungs desperately trying to heal from the impact. Angel places his boot directly onto Alex's stomach, and by the noises Alex makes, he's pressing down, and hard.
"You really wanna know who I am, Michael?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!" Angel screams, one dark blue eye staring through his mask; a mask damaged beyond repair. "THEN I'LL FUCKING SHOW YOU!"

Angel moves his left hand to the jugular part of his mask, pressing a button and making the locks clip off the rest of the neck, allowing Angel to finally take off his helmet and reveal who he really is. As Michael stares at the unmasking Angel, his eyes widen, and his face turns white in disbelief.
"Impossible."
Michael stares directly at a man; shaved dirty blonde hair, dark blue eyes similar to his own, pale skin and a thin, but muscular build. Michael stares at a man who looks exactly like him, or, exactly like the man he used to look like.
"That's right, Michael, I'm you, well, as I said, I'm the creature you were destined to become," Angel smirks. "But of course, you were arrogant and gave up that power, all of that ambition. You could have been the god of this world; the world Krasper plans on creating,
"I can't believe this," Michael gasps, his face drained completely to a white colour. "You're me?! But how?! How is this possible?!"
"You didn't think you could escape Antigen without them having your DNA, did you? It's the first thing Quint and Jacob Lane did, and it's the reason they became what they did, I mean before your daughter and wife slaughtered them. But they were weak, Julius Krasper; an Immortal, a leader, an idealist, he wanted to create more of you, or, better yet, make his 'experiments' better, stronger, faster, than even you. I am his first and only success, I am his successor, his equal, bred for a single purpose; to kill you and then, your family," Angel explains as he drops his helmet, his other hand gripping onto the curved blade sticking outside Alex's chest. "We're both Hybrids, you and I, but me? I went through the same experimentation as the Death-Squads, further enhancing my abilities. And what can you do besides get your friends killed?!"
"NO!" Michael screams, watching helplessly as Angel tears the blade from Alex's chest, ending Alex's life completely.
"THIS IS THE DAY YOU DIE, CORVIN! I WILL PROVE TO KRASPER I'M NOT JUST ANOTHER FAILED EXPERIMENT! I WILL REMOVE YOUR HEAD, AND THEN, I WILL DO THE HONOURS OF TEARING SELENE, YOUR DAUGHTER, DAVID, LENA, AND YOUR UNBORN CHILD TO FUCKING PIECES!"