The Awakened World

Part 10: Downfall

Brian woke up to the sound of chaos. He lifted his head and soon regretted doing so. His head was pounding, his body was shaking, and he felt incredibly nauseous; this had to be the worst hangover he had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. "Oh, you're awake? Hang on, I'll fix you up," said the voice of Minerva as she placed her hand on the back of Brian. He couldn't truly describe the feeling of "de-toxification", but it wasn't pleasant. Soon he felt even more nauseous and emptied his stomach on the floor. "All right, that does it. Normally I would've done this in a toilet, but right now we're kind of in a hurry. Follow me," Minerva said and started to move toward the door. The hangover was gone, and Brian followed her. While they were moving toward the meeting room, Brian could finally look around with a clear mind: it was clear that something bad was about to happen, as the resistance members were running around and arming themselves, but Brian decided that he would wait until they were at their destination before making any questions. The meeting room was filled with people. All the awakened were now present, alongside the other higher-ups. Jupiter and Pluto were standing at the front of the room. In addition, a man who was sobbing quietly was strapped to the chair between them. As soon as Minerva and Brian had sat down, Jupiter began speaking. "Most of you are already aware of this, but about 10 minutes ago we spotted awakened agents outside our bunker entrance. As such, it is apparent that our location has been compromised." Brian shuddered. He had known that joining the resistance could lead to his death, but to actually see it coming was another thing entirely. "As it turns out, our location and the locations of our exits were disclosed by our friend here," Jupiter continued, and the man in the chair whimpered. "As you all know, traitorous actions will be punished severely. Pluto here already had quite a bit of quality time with him, but now I think it is time to finish it." The man started to struggle in the chair as tears ran down his face. "No, please have mercy on me! I did it because otherwise they would've killed my family!" Jupiter kneeled down and looked him straight in the eye. "I understand, a man has to protect his family. But if you truly wanted to do the right thing, you would've just killed yourself. Now you will die, alongside most everyone in this bunker. Pluto, if you would be so kind." The man in the chair started to scream, but it was stopped as Pluto snapped his neck.

"Now, I'm going to be frank with you. Most of us will not survive this. All of our exits are being monitored, and by the looks of things, a team of five awakened, including the Crimson Witch, are going to enter the bunker. I will stay at the monitoring room and try to give orders through radio. The attackers have two routes they can take. As such Vulcanus and Pluto will form one team and Minerva and Mercury the other. Your job is to stall the attackers, and if possible, kill them." Jupiter paused and scanned the room. "At the same time, the non-awakened will split into smaller groups and attempt to escape through different exits. If you manage to escape, vacate this sector and attempt to contact other resistance groups. That's all." With that, everyone in the room sprang into action. Pluto and Brian soon reached the location where they would wait for the attackers. All of this felt unreal to Brian. His legs felt as if they were made of lead, and he felt nauseous again. No encouraging words could be expected from Pluto, either. In fact, Brian was fairly sure he had never heard Pluto utter a word. Suddenly, an awakened came around the corner. She was covered in red scales, her manifestation. Before Brian could do anything, red smoke cloaked Pluto's entire body and he charged at her. She was surprised, but as she was clearly experienced, she made her defences as powerful as possible. Unfortunately for her, this was not enough. Pluto managed to get right next to her and grabbed her in a bear hug. The woman tried desperately to break free and hammered Pluto with enhanced blows, but to no avail. Soon, a small crack was heard, and her body fell limp. As Pluto dropped her lifeless corpse to the ground, Brian was horrified to see a satisfied grin on his face. This grin only widened, as another attacker came around the corner. "Oh, so you're dead already. Well, this is what you get when you run off," she said. The newcomer looked peculiar to say the least. She was a fairly petite woman, clad in green clothing from head to toe, and even sported matching lipstick. Brian sensed that something was wrong. That colour scheme, she couldn't be...? As before, Pluto charged her, and managed to wrap his arms around her. "Oh my, aren't you a little too forward. At least offer me a drink first!" Brian could immediately tell that something was off. Pluto was using all his considerable strength but couldn't seem to do anything to her. Suddenly Pluto burst into flames. Brian could only watch in horror as he loosened his grip and staggered backward. Even if he was clearly in pain, no sound escaped his lips. Instead he charged at his opponent one last time but was easily swatted aside. Soon Brian understood. It was all very familiar. Green rose branches were covering her body. She was, without a doubt, a second generation awakened like Brian.