Young Heroes

It's Over - Pt. 2

*Ashlyn's POV*

I stared in utter disbelief and horror, at a boy I once called my family, who had kept me prisoner and made me suffer for nearly two weeks. I felt like I wasn't processing it, because the Riley I knew was sweet, a complete goofball, and just a great friend. But he was also dead. He was not supposed to be here.
I fell to my knees, clutching my gut because I felt like I was gonna throw up. "Riley...we had a funeral for you...we gave you a hero's send off...we mourned you...Alysa was heartbroken...you died...you were the only one who died that day...Riley..." I spoke slowly as I felt my world falling apart. Sophia had sunk to the ground behind me, a pool of silver silks and tears as she sobbed silently. Nathan was kneeling next to me and his eyes were as big as I'd ever seen them, tears slowly falling from them. It looked like he wasn't even here anymore.
Suddenly I was angry. I was furious. As furious as I had ever been.
"YOU DIED!" I screamed jumping up as angry tears threatened to fall. "YOU LET US ALL THINK YOU WERE DEAD! I BLAMED MYSELF! YOU LEFT YOUR FAMILY! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO US?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO ALYSA?!" I roared, starting to run forward to his desk, when Nathan grabbed my arms to restrain me.
"I DID DIE!" Riley suddenly boomed, making every noise in the room come to a halt. "Everything I knew or thought I knew died that day. Every piece of myself we gone. Like someone just snapped their fingers and 95% of my soul was diminished." He spoke in a loud, yet even and calm voice. I did not know this voice. I did not know this person. "I felt hollow. I felt like I had no purpose. I was mentally and physically so broken. Then, almost immediately, all those feelings were replaced with anger. And that's what fueled me. My resentment toward the people and kind of people that did that to me, fueled me to carry on. And that's what I did. Now I see clearly." Riley said with a cruel, twisted smile that did not belong on his face. It didn't even look like him.
Suddenly, Sophia started screaming bloody murder. She jumped up, and her eyes glowed a dark, angry purple on her tear stained face. Her aura turned purple and she summoned a purple fire so great and powerful that even I felt it from where I sat. She'd never done this before.
She fired her magic straight at Riley and it struck him in the chest. He fell back and slid behind his desk, and Sophia stood, panting with her eyes still glowing, but less intensely.
From the smoke, I saw Riley's hand come from under the desk and he slowly stood up.
"That was rude." He deadpanned. He flicked his finger to the right and Sophia's body flew to the wall, slamming against it, and falling limply to the floor.
"SOPHIA!" I screamed, me and Nathan running to her aid. But before I could reach her Riley flicked his hand again, and in a matter of seconds, me and Nathan were both bound to chairs. I struggled underneath my restraints and clenched my teeth in frustration. I looked at Sophia's body in a panic.
  "Let us go! She needs medical attention!" I yelled.
  "She'll be fine where she is." He said calmly. He walked back behind his desk and adjusted his chair and a couple of items on his desk so it was neat again. The calmness of his demeanor was frightening me.
  "Riley...come on. Why're you doing this? Is this a horrible joke or something?" Nathan spoke up, the first words he's said to Riley since before he died. His voice was shaking and distant.
  Riley sighed and tugged at the cuffs on his black suit. "You guys still won't take me seriously. Yes, I'm Riley. Yes, I'm real. Yes, I'm the head of SDI..." Riley spoke smoothly, taking a long pause as he sat down. "Am I going to kill you? Well...that is your decision."
  My mouth hung open in utter horror. Not because of the threat of death, but because of where the threat was coming from. In one more desperate act, I strained my eyes to try and use my hypnotic eyes, but Riley spoke up what I already knew was true.  
  "Powers not working? That cuff on your ankle is a power dampener, Ash." Riley said, using my nickname. For some reason it made me flinch, because coming from his mouth, it still sounded...unreal.
  "Ok, I'm not gonna waste any more time." Riley said, sighing and opening his desk drawer. He pulled out a gun and I felt my heart drop into my stomach. He was really going to kill his old best friends.
  "Riley. Come home with us. We can work through all of this and we can be a family again—" Nathan said.
  "I DONT HAVE A FAMILY!" Riley roared. He slammed his fist on his desk and my chair jerked across the room until I was right in front of his desk. He strode around his desk and leveled his face with mine, and I got my first good look at him, and there is nothing else I could say except this wasn't Riley.
  He swung my chair around so I was facing Nathan, who was about ten feet away, and the door, which was twenty feet away. Nathan looked utterly shocked, his eyes wide, his mouth hung, and his entire face red. His mouth started moving like he was trying to talk but nothing was coming out until Riley held the gun to my head and I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Riley! I'm saying please! Please don't do this...we...we loved you and you loved us. You were like a brother to me...and she's like your sister...we were the last two people to see you alive, and that was the worst day of my life. Ash actually tried to pry herself away from me while we were out of the plane to try and somehow get to you. Please don't do this." Nathan said desperately.
Riley was silent for barely a moment, and when he spoke, I knew he was in no place to reason or go for the family approach.
"Here's the deal. Your team is going to join the SDI and you'll realize the benefit of my mission, or I will kill her." Riley said in calm monotone. We weren't reaching him at all, and we'd need a miracle.
As if answering my thoughts, Carson's team, including Rhandy and Asena, bursted through the door noisily, running into the room, panting.
  "Hey! Guys..." Carson began, his excitement deteriorating, and upon looking at me, Sophia, and Nathan his eyes went wide and he quickly ran to Sophia and brought her to the huddle of Asena and Rhandy, kneeling next to her.
  "What the hell is going on?!" Rhandy yelled, pulling out his assault rifle from his back and approaching where we sat. He got closer and his eyes went wide, realizing the man had a gun to my head, and that that man was, Riley. His eyes widened with confusion and horror, and he found my eyes, looking for answers. I solemnly shook my head and Rhandy looked back to Riley.
  "Riley..." Rhandy began cautiously, and Carson's head shot up upon hearing Riley's name, eyes widening in pure shock.
  Riley held up his hand. "Don't try it. I've heard the sappy speeches. Now let's get to business. And let's make it quick, because I'm trying to keep my schedule." Riley pressed a button, and a door on the far right of the room, swung open, and a multitude of robots walked out and lined up on either side of him in a straight line. The last in the line to walk out was Buffy, his arrogance radiating off of him, and I death glared him. "You either join me, or suffer the consequences."
  Rhandy and Carson were still stunned, and upon seeing how serious he was, they reluctantly put aside any emotions, and put on their serious faces.
  "We will never join you." Rhandy said with determination and complete composure.
  Riley sighed. "Have it your way."
  And with that said, our biggest fight yet was upon us. First, Carson quickly freed Nathan and destroyed the anklet he had on. We all silently knew that Carson couldn't risk trying to free me, because Riley could shoot, or use his telekinesis.
  The boys were against something of 40 robots, so they were way outnumbered, but that's never stopped us before. Nathan wielded his sword, it blazing brighter then I'd ever seen before. Rhandy double wielded assault rifles, and Carson hand two handguns.
  The robots charged and the boys charged, screaming a war call or something.
  I had never in my life had to sit back and watch a fight, and I'd have to say, it was hard. There was so many places to look and I was so on edge, wanting to join in and help. Carson was in the center of several robots, and was punching just going around the circle punching and kicking each until they all fell apart and he moved on. Rhandy was just shooting whatever came his way. Rhandy was kind of like Rianna in the sense that he was a great sharpshooter, but still not as good as Rianna. Nathan was finally getting to use his sword, and his aura of gold and red was prominent and...huge. His eyes were angry and glowing gold and red as well, and his sword was moving so fast and taking down so many, I couldn't keep up. He stabbed his sword into the ground beneath him and a wave of gold overcame the many that surrounded him. Buffy approached Carson and smirked. They began their fight, and Buffy dropped to the ground, ducking Carson's swing, and caught his foot between his, flipping him to the ground. Once Carson was down, Buffy swung Carson around by the foot and caught him in a choke hold. My fingers gripped the edge of my seat until they were numb, and I gnawed on my lip until it was bleeding.
  Carson's hands found Buffy's neck, and he punched him in the throat. Buffy fell back, on his knees, coughing and sputtering. Carson quickly stood up, jumped, and did a backflip, landing two kicks up Buffy's jaw in the process, leaving him unconscious.
  "Show off." I whispered to myself, smirking.
  I turned back to see Nathan struggling. A robot was holding his arms tightly behind his back while another was about to start taking swings at Nathan's body. Nathan kicked the bot back with both of his feet, and that momentum made the bot holding him, stumble. Nathan used his strength to make the bot fall to the ground, where Nathan grabbed his sword nearby, and drove it through the robots head.
  A robot behind Nathan held up his hand to morph into a gun and aimed it right to Nathan's back. I began to scream out when a cloth was suddenly wrapped around my mouth.
  Thats when Sophia came out of nowhere and came between Nathans back, and the bot.
  "THATS MY SON, YOU UGLY ASSHOLE!" She screamed, gathering a ball of her fire like power, and launching in the bots direction, taking down several others in the process.
  Nathan turned around and looked at Sophia in surprise.
  "Thanks," He said, chuckling nervously.
  She nodded and flew off to keep fighting. Carson saw a window of opportunity where he wasn't fighting, and he turned to me. I saw by the look in his eyes what he was thinking. My eyes widened and I started shaking my head. He started sprinting to me, and even though he had the ability of speed, what I saw next seemed to slow down in my eyes.
  Carson sprinted to me and I saw Buffy stand up behind him. Buffy glared menacingly at Carson and raised his gun to his back as my screams were muffled by my mask. Next thing I heard was the gun go off in a deafening bang, and I saw the determination in Carson's eyes die as he stopped.
  I was still screaming as Carson never broke eye contact with me, until he fell to his knees, and in slow motion, his lifeless body hit the ground with a thud that rang in my ears, a bullet in the back of his head.
  "NO!" I heard Nathan scream as time sped up again, and I was aware of my surroundings. "NO! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Nathan roared, sprinting to Buffy and punching him so hard in the face, h he flew back and hit the wall.
  With that, Nathan stalked over to him, breathing heavily, and yelled in anger as his eyes glowed gold, and he drove his sword through Buffy's chest, the life leaving his eyes.
  By the time Nathan turned around and looked at Carson, Sophia was already covering his chest, crying for him. The remaining 15 robots were standing stock still, and I realized it was because Riley had ordered them to hold off.
  "It did not have to come to this." Riley spoke solemnly, walking around so he was standing beside me. I was doubled over, the pain of losing my friend stabbing me in the gut.
  "YOU SICK BASTARD!" Nathan roared at Riley, looking up from Carson's body.
  Riley was about to speak when Joe suddenly appeared on the left side of the room and Alysa and Rianna burst through the door.
  Joes gaze darted all over the room, taking everything in, and when he saw Carson his eyes went wide.
  "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" He spat angrily, walking towards me and Riley. Rianna had already ran to Carson, but Alysa was floored, her eyes huge with terror.
  "Riley...?" She whispered, her body beginning to tremble violently.
  He didn't answer and I craned my neck to look at him, and that's when I saw something in his eyes. Something sad deep within his dark eyes
  "I—" he began, suddenly looking conflicted and confused as Alysa silently weeped with her hand over her mouth. "There's....there's a bomb..." he spoke with great difficulty, and I was as confused as everyone else. Suddenly the emotion in his eyes cleared, as if someone threw a blanket to cover it, and his face was serious once again. "Yes. There is a bomb. Here's how this is going to work. You will all join me, and we can teleport out of here together...or..." Riley snapped his fingers and a giant frame on the wall behind him flew out of the way to reveal a giant bomb, ticking down. "We will all die together. You now have 60 seconds." Riley said with finality.
  "Riley please..." Alysa choked out, and Riley's gaze met hers. "Please...think of what your doing...your going to kill the people who love you?"
  Riley's eyes flickered again, like he was struggling an internal battle. "None of you love me. You never did!" He shouted back, trying to keep his voice even.
  "Yes we did...I did...we know you'll listen to us please don't do this..."
  My eyes met Joe's because he was still all the way on the left side of the room. I lifted my finger as much as I could underneath my restraints, and pointed to the team huddled around Carson, and then the door. He was confused, and then realization spread across his face, and panic filled his eyes. He shook his head, realizing what I wanted him to do. I wanted him to teleport everyone out of here. We had a silent argument and I jabbed my finger at the clock. There was twenty seconds left. He stared at me for a long time as a tear trailed down his cheek, and he nodded his head slightly.
  "Enough!" Riley suddenly yelled, making Alysa flinch. I panicked, thinking he was talking about me and Joe, but I realized Alysa and himself had been arguing back and forth. The clock suddenly began beeping loudly, counting down the last ten seconds. I jerked my head to Joe and widened my eyes, telling him to go. He gave me one last look and mouthed 'I'm sorry'. I blinked as tears ran down my face and I nodded.
  As the last five seconds ticked down, so much was happening at once in slow motion once again.
  5...Joe began sprinting toward the group on the other side of the room.
  4...
  "Please..." Alysa pleaded silently, tears staining her face.
  3...Joe dragged a confused Alysa by the hand to the rest of the group.
  2...Joe threw himself into the group, and in a flash I saw all eyes meet mine as they realized what was happening, and everyone reached out and tried to run to me. But it was too late.
  1...the team disappeared into the air, and the beeper gave a high pitched siren as the bomb exploded.
  I closed my eyes and accepted my fate with a little sense of satisfaction, knowing I saved everyone I loved, and I let the eternal darkness overtake me.

*****
AUTHORS NOTE: This is the end of the book, but there will be a sequel. Thank you for reading. :)