Flashf0rward

Chapter 44: Finale

Ivy

Looking at Max's dead body on the ground, I remember always telling him that I wanted to see what his true form was like. I suppose I had finally gotten my chance, but I didn't want it to be like this. I saw Wren staring at me in shock, and I looked at him. "You alright?" He nodded, and then looked at Matthias. "Let's end this."

Matthias stared at the two of us, his head wound closing up as he cracked his neck. I saw something in him had changed. The hit to his head must have healed up his brain, but could have possibly put some things in the wrong place. Clenching his fists, he looked at us. "Do you have any idea who I am! He chose me to kill you! And I will not fail Him!"

Knowing that he'd gone fully crazy now, I cocked the hammer back on my pistol. "Come and get us." I felt the heat from my brother's hands begin to rise as we stared down Matthias. He charged at us first, firing the shotgun with one hand. Both of us ducked out of the way, and Wren blasted the gun out of his hand, burning his skin in the process.

He cried out in pain, and I shot back, hitting his chest several times. But, as I'd seen before, both his hand and his chest healed up almost immediately, the scars and wounds fading away as the bullets dropped out of his skin. Matthias wasn't someone who went down easily. This was one of the only times I wished Tobias could come back so I could be controlled again. Maybe that way we could kill him permanently.

Grabbing his shotgun off the ground, Matthias shot my arm. I cried out as I felt the bullets hit me. Some of the armour managed to deflect them, but I knew that it would still cause some damage. Wren shot a blast of plasma at his chest, but he simply walked right through it, seeing his melting skin reform before my very eyes.

He reached out and seized Wren's throat, lifting him up into the air. "I am a servant of Him. You are NOTHING TO ME!" He was becoming more unhinged, and I knew he would kill us the first chance he got, orders or no orders. Seeing him choke Wren, I unloaded the rest of my clip into his head and neck, distracting him long enough for me to tackle him to the ground, making him drop Wren.

I pinned him to the grass, punching his face and making sure for every wound he healed, I made another one. Before I could pistol-whip him in the throat, he raised his hand, and I felt my whole body freeze up. It was like I was having a seizure, but I was conscious for it. I didn't have control, and all I could feel was pain. I couldn't even scream.

Pushing me off of him, I was now on my back as I watched Matthias stand up and look at the two of us on the ground. I know he was doing the same to Wren as he was doing to me, because he wasn't moving, but I could see the look of pain on his face. "You both don't get it, do you? You can't kill me. You never will. You all think that you can win, and good will triumph over evil. Have you never once considered that you're on the wrong side?"

I tried to move my hand and reach for the gun, but every single thought I made gave me pain. "Think about it. You're both doing the deeds of a god who made an entire facility just to use you people and turn you all into weapons. You convince yourselves its for honour, love, and equality. You're just the longest in a line of fools who commit crimes because you think it's for the greater good."

Kneeling down next to me, Matthias stared into my eyes. "You know why He wants you? Because you still have that connection inside you. He sees the power you have, and he wants it. And I thought that capturing you would be the best way to do it. But, you see...he never mentioned anything about you being alive." His eyes were filled with rage. He was insane.

Walking over calmly and slowly to his shotgun, he picked it up and racked the last shell into the chamber, aiming it down at me. "The best part about all this is that I have an audience now. And I'm going to enjoy burning down your village, and wiping this annoying settlement off the Earth. My only regret is that I can only do it once." Pressing the barrel against my head, I could feel the cold steel against my skin. Closing my eyes, I thought my last goodbye to Wren.

Then, I smelled something. Smoke. More specifically, burning rubber. Opening my eyes, I saw Matthias's shoes were melting, and the ground beneath his feet was smoking, the grass burning. He cried out in pain as he finally felt the heat through his feet, burning his skin. Looking across from me, I saw Wren's hand already placed on the ground, glowing with green energy.

With his attention diverted, I felt his control over us lift. Immediately, I kicked his leg, feeling his kneecap shoot sideways for a moment, the familiar sound of breaking bones sounding off. Wren one-upped me, blasting his other leg off with a beam of plasma, making him drop to the ground, the instantly cauterized wound smoking as he screamed in pain.

Getting up, I panted and brushed my messy hair to the side. Looking at Wren, I nodded, letting him know I was ok. He did the same. Grabbing my gun, I reloaded it and pointed it at him, Wren drawing his own pistol as well. Matthias looked up at the two of us, and laughed slightly, coughing up blood. "You brats. You realize that I can just heal and this will start all over again."

I looked at him with an angry gaze. "Oh really? And when's that supposed to happen?" Matthias was confused, then looked down with surprise when he realized something. His legs weren't growing back. He looked up towards the sky with fear. "NO, NO PLEASE! I DID WHAT YOU ASKED OF ME! I'M SORRY! PLEASE, GIVE IT BACK!"

Looking at Wren, I cocked my hammer back. Matthias whipped his head towards us. "Wait...please...have mercy..." I spoke up. "Like you said. Our only regret is that we can only do this once." With that, both of us fired our weapons over and over into him, emptying our clips until he was no longer moving, and both of us were out of ammo.

The battlefield became deadly quiet. Turning towards it, I saw that all of the hypermorphs had stopped, and most of Matthias's men had either surrendered or ran away. The hypermorphs looked at us, then Matthias's dead body. Then, they all ran away over the hill, retreating without so much as a single noise. Clearly, whoever He was, He was done.

Dropping my gun, I panted, letting out the last breath I'd been holding. It was over. All of it. Finally. Looking over at my brother, I saw he had the same look I did. Rushing over to him, I hugged him tightly, both of us holding each other. I felt tears rolling down my face. "We did it..." I said, then I heard his voice in my ear. "No...you did."

Looking up at him, I smiled slightly, wiping my face. "Thank you, Wren...for believing in me." He smiled. "C'mon, Vee. I always did." I lightly punched his chest. "Jerk." I heard voices rushing towards us. "Wren! Ivy!" Jude, Sparrow, Katrina, Yuko and Connor were all heading over to see if we were ok.

Jude spoke first. "What happened?" Wren motioned over to Matthias's body. "It's over." Katrina rushed into his arms, holding him tight. She kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear. Judging by Wren's expression, it wasn't hard to tell what she'd said. Sparrow sighed. "We have a few injured people, and we took a lot of casualties, but...everyone else is ok."

I sighed in relief, then felt a hand take mine. Looking up, I saw Connor staring into my eyes, his injured eye fully on display. Raising my hand to his cheek, he held it. "I'm glad you're alright." I smiled and kissed him. "Me too." Sighing, I placed my forehead against his, looking over at the hill. The sun was just beginning to crest the horizon. A new day was dawning yet again.