Thriller The Reckoning

Matt Andrews
Motel

None of their security reacted. They were all dead. Matt knew they were. Probably one of their men did a similiar trick to LEGO and they had strikes at all of them the same second ... after stopping time.

He turned to Miller, his last remaining security detail and sighed. "I know your job is to die here, but I am afraid you can't. Washington needs to know. Whatever remains of our Government must try to stay intact as long as possible." Matt walked over to the man. "So you gotta go and warn them."

The man looked at him in shock. "Sir, under no circumstances ..."

Matt straightened himself. "This is a direct order of the President of the United States." He said calmly but without leaving doubt. "By now we are the only two left. They won't let me go. So it is you." He nodded and handed him the satellite phone. "Now."

The man nodded and took it and then turned and vanished out of the door.

Matt waited a moment and then walked out of the room. He stepped into the center of the courtyard and threw his gun aside. Pushing his glasses aside he smiled his thin lipped smile and straightened himself. "I am here." He just yelled out and folded his hands behind his back.

He has faced death a few times now. It had probably been a matter of time until it catched up.

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Jane
Blackrock, Nevada

"Damn it." Jane shouted as she watched Chad fall. He was useful, being able to shutdown gifted abilities make this mission so much easier. She caught sight of that weasle Malcolm drawing another knife, to match the one currently buried into Chad's skull. Her knife was still out ready to get close and personal. She sent a few rounds downrange to keep Mal's head down as she moved to Kawin, Chad was telling him to move, move from…

Looking to the man he'd killed she saw the grenade, the pin pulled and handle released. Her slow down was still active giving her some time to pull Kawin out of the way. That was when she saw him open his arms, accepting death. Her hands pull back and she dives for cover, looking to the man with grim determination. With a nod of her head, the world returned to real time and she prepared herself for the snap back. It wouldn't be the first time, in her minds eye she tried to remember where Malcolm was, so she could find him and kill him before he could do anything. She knew that everyone's first time was a little rough.

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Anna Talbott
Black Rock Facility

Anna stepped back as the man came running. He was incredible fast, but even that gave him only the advantage of moving at normal speed.

Anna raised her gun and aimed. She waited until he had bridged half the distance before shooting. The bullet left her gun at an incredible slow speed and Anna concentrated on the bullet and speed it up. Faster and faster until it began to melt mid-air and left an orange trail in the air.

She watched it fly and began stepping back to get a second shot if needed.

So many had to die. So many ...

Tag: @Mitth_Fisto, @galactic-vagabond422, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Command Center

The second passed and the last thing before the explosion Jane saw on Malcolm's face was ... a smile. He knew what Kawin was about to do. And with time returning to normal he used his advantage ... his Gift. Bestowed on him artificially. Both hand spread and one released his knife which ripped into Jane's shoulder with a precision and force a normal throw would not have allowed. It ripped her off her feet and with a numb pain send her to the ground.

The second gesture send the grenade tumbling down the corridor, where it exploded. The shockwave was channeled through the tunnel and still ripped Kawin of his feet, but except a painful drop it did little to hurt him. He was still there ... no reset. Malcolm was unbalanced, but quickly regained his footing and went directly after Kawin. Certainly not to kill him. He obviously knew a lot about their powers. He knew everything about them.

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @Mitth-Fisto




Laboratories

The bullet was so fast it would have probably ripped him to pieces anyway, but hitting the Speedsters accelerated body in it's accelerated state ... the effect was exponentially heightened. The whole torso of the man virtually exploded.

It left Anna with no more enemies to fight. Only a complex of connected labs before her with machines, vials and computers there. No scientists. Only their work remained.

Tag: @RachelTyrell



Motel, Nevada

Matt waited there and nothing happened. No shot. No one showed himself.

Then the most unexpected person showed. A little girl walked out of a door and walked over to him.

"Hi. I am Ava. You don't have to be afraid. The bad men are now gone. They are not gonna hurt you again."

From another building Steve Alden appeared and then from a third a young woman with a handgun. As Steven came closer the President saw he was covered in blood. He seemed to have shot a man from close distance.

"Hostiles have been eliminated, Sir. Took us a few attempts, but now we are clear." Steven reported an smiled. The woman stepped to them and nodded. Steven returned with a grateful nod. "This is Angel. She saved you Mr. President."

Angel now was close enough to show she was covered in sweat. "My pleasure, Sir."

Tag: @LordTroepfchen

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Black Rock, Mojave Desert - Nevada

Death was such a common refrain in his line of life, that having someone actively keep it from him while trying to kill them all was the weirdest and most perplexing situation he could think to find himself in. Arms open and death was literally snatched away form his grasp. When he was suddenly. . .not dead. . .and not in front of a bomb going off.

A gesture at the edge of his vision seemed to coincide with sending the grenade tumbling away down the corridor, where it exploded. The shockwave was channeled through the tunnel and still ripped Kawin of his feet, but except a painful drop it did little to hurt him let alone kill him. He was still there ... no reset. Somebody was charging him, and from what just happened even in a bit of a foggy state he knew from his training to never assume it was a friend. Especially when someone just saved him from dying. Rolling toward the threat he brought his arms up to protect his head and neck. A delaying tactic, he didn't want to get knocked out. Miss his window to help.

Quickly working his mouth he fidgeted with the false tooth and the poison pill inside to trigger him. It was a race now, his tongue and teeth versus this gifted coming for them.

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Anna Talbott
Black Rock Facility

Anna watched the man's death in horror. The destructive effect of her power was something she had only recently discovered. He just vanished in a cloud of torn flesh and blood and she stumbled back in disgust.

Stay focused!

She breathed out and watched the corridor full of dust and blood. The remains of all who had tried to stop her. They had not stood a chance against the young girl. They had died. Dozens of men. Killed by her.

Shaking her head she stumbled forward. The vaccine. She had killed yes, but she had done so to save millions of lifes! Millions!

Stepping forward she finally approached the lab. She realized she did not know what the vaccine actually looked like. She would grab everything she found. Laptops, vials and probes. Everything ...

Concentrating on the door dividing her from her final goal she raised her hand and allowed it to speed up, to age. Minutes. Hours. Months. Years. Decades. Centuries. Millenia of she had to!

She was almost there. Almost there.

Tag: @Mitth_Fisto, @galactic-vagabond422, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Jane
Command Center

Her eyes widened seeing Malcolm rise from his place right as time returned to normal. She brought her weapon up just too late. The knife hit with such force that it took her off her feet, though that was mostly from her turning away rolling her shoulder a little. The roll saved her life, had she not it would have caught her full in the chest, puncturing a lung or piercing her heart. She didn't stay on the ground long, powering through the pain though the adrenaline took the edge off it, she got to her feet. Holstering her pistol she summoned her focus again slowing time again. She needed it to get in close, to turn this gun fight into a knife fight...a proper knife fight. Though her grip was weakened in her arm she still had the other and her intensive training had made her just as deadly with either hand.

Leaving the knife in her shoulder she moved to protect Kawin, to keep Malcolm away from him as he did whatever he was planning. Keeping her arm close to her body she lashed out with short quick stabs and slashes hoping to kill Mal, or at the very least hold him off until the snap back.

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Command Center

Malcolm was fast and was above Kawin in no time. He had just been a lot closer to the man. A single quick hit by his hand hit his throat so hard it pressed the air out of it. But the strike also kept Kawin from swallowing. Of course Kawin would die anyway, the poison was potent enough. It would just take a few more seconds. Seconds that counted, because with this attack he barely would be able to concentrate enough to make any larger jumps back than the usual few seconds. So every second counted now. Every second was a fight for the second life of the fallen Chad.

Jane arrived and Malcolm dived below her blow and tried to grab her hand. He failed, but slashed out with his own blade, slicing through her already injured arm. He was a former special forces, trained in the arts of close combat. But he had two hands. Stepping forward he went into offense, attacking with both arms and with a ferocity that made it obvious he was after a quick kill.

Within the reach of Kawin still lay his gun, if he managed to gather the clarity to use it ... but what sense made killing Malcolm when he would reset just like them?

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @Mitth-Fisto



Laboratories, Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


The door was right in front of Anna, the laboratories linked through connected doors. It began to rust immediately as the years passed in seconds ... behind it ... Vials, computers, lab fridges which contained cultures. She was there ...

And then it all vanished. In an explosion of glass and dust the labs seemed to implode ... even in the state of a slowed time it happened at incredible speed. Instantly. Sucked into an invisible void.

Anna was left in a cloud of dust. Nothing was there anymore. A hole in the complex where the vaccine had been.

"Hey Anna." The voice came from a few meters back and Simon stood there, wearing black trousers and a black shirt. "Who would have thought that of all people in the world it would you be who ran out of time ..." He smiled. "Not too late to pick the winning side." He laughed and produced a knife from his belt, a long military survival knife.

"Or you die ..." He said and looked at her.

Tag: @RachelTyrell

 

Anna Talbott
Black Rock Underground

Her jaw dropped as the laboratory vanished before her eyes and all hope she had with it. So close ... so damned close ...

The Vaccine ... the vaccine that would have saved millions ...

Her mind started racing ... she felt her legs and hands tremble in ... anger. This was unfair. She had killed. She had given everything. She had paid the price. It was unfair she had been betrayed of the victory.

The hope ... hope seemed like a traitor to her that moment. It had made her do all those things only to leave her alone in this moment.

Alpha's voice came from behind. Mocking her. Challenging her. She barely heard a word. Anger pumped blood into her head.

"I am gonna kill you." She hissed through her tears and turned. Then she speed up ... speed herself up to the velocity of a lightning strike ... and leaped forward at him. He was immune to her bending of time, but not to her ability to manipulate her own body. She would rip him to pieces ...

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Black Rock, Mojave Desert - Nevada

Ok, now he was just ticked. Malcolm was fast and was above Kawin in no time, granted he had been closer but Kawin hadn't felt so old since he tried to recruit that . He had just been a lot closer to the man. A single quick hit by his hand hit his throat so hard it pressed the air out of it. But the strike also kept Kawin from swallowing. Of course Kawin would die anyway, the poison was potent enough. Move it under the tongue, absorb there, it would just take a few more seconds. Seconds that counted, because with this attack he barely could concentrate and that was not good. Blind jumps without focus left him just before the killing blow, every second now was a fight for the second life of the fallen Chad.

Drawing at his frustration and pawing at the ground as he found he couldn't breath, moving the broken capsule, spotting Jane arrive and Malcolm as they fought. It wasn't going good. He had to focus. Keep from being kept alive, focus on when. When he needed to return to, but it was fuzzy and shifting. In and out of focus. . .then his pawing hand felt it. Cold steel. Hard plastic. Heavy.

He pulled it towards himself, and looked at Malcolm. And squeezed. Once. His head turned and stared at Chad, he needed something to focus on, he had to focus. Squeeze, twice. Two shots, one to the heart in an upward angle. One trying for the brain.

His brain, Kawin's heart and brain. Focus. Look on Chad. When. Focus.

Win.

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Jane
Blackrock, Nevada

She grit her teeth as Malcolm's blade dug into her injured arm. That was her plan, use her mostly useless arm as a shield, present is at a target and bring her own blade into the opening. Though she knew her main goal was to hold him off from Kawin, to keep him from preventing whatever plan the Candaian had. He rushed at her going for her neck, the inside of her leg her armpit, all the soft places with arteries that would leave her bleeding out on the floor. She was doing just the same, though she was at a disadvantage, she had one hand tied behind her back. Figuratively, the knife was still lodged in her shoulder preventing her from using effectively.

Though she wouldn't let that stop her. Lashing out with everything she had making him think twice, it didn't matter if he was going to snap back, she wanted him dead if only to get the satisfaction of killing him again.

The roar of a pistol reached her ears and she didn't look away she needed to keep Malcolm pinned or distracted to keep him off balance, not prepared for the snap.

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Command Center

Malcolm stayed calm and allowed Jane to attack as Kawin pulled the gun to his heart. Jane had wanted the feeling of killing him, but overconfidence was deadly in a close combat situation. It turned out just the other way.

Malcolm allowed her to attack, blocked her arm and smiled satisfied as he sliced through her throat. The panic of the inevitable unchangable inability to breath spread in Jane for a whole long second. Then Kawin died as the bullet burst into his heart and the world ... reset.






"Move!" Chad said and his eyes widened. He moved aside just enough to avoid the knife to his skull. The blade cut his face and he tumbled aside as Malcolm now leaped out of the shadows. He had surprisingly easy adapted the new situation. He almost seemed to be used to this. Maybe they had someone with similar abilities among their own gifted. Maybe he had just read each and every report on Kawin.

He did not throw a knife at Jane this time, he did not draw his second knife. Instead he dived for cover and took out a gun. Not fast enough. Jane might get him if she was quick.

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @Mitth-Fisto



Alpha
Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Simon ... or Alpha as he was called nowadays ... watched her leap forward so fast he could barely see her.

With all this velocity she rammed into an invisible wall. A wall as solid as time and space itself. Her shoulder shattered on impact. Pain.

"You manipulate time. I control space." Alpha grinned at her and behind Anna the dust began to crawl towards a fixed point as the corridor began to implode ... the concrete split and a million small pieces began to speed towards the center of the implosion like tiny flechettes. A second or two and it would swallow Anna.

Tag: @RachelTyrell

 

Anna Talbott
Black Rock Underground

Anna gasped in pain. Adrenaline could only dampen the agony so far. Shaking her head she collapsed. Alpha stood there, protected by his mastery of time/space. Folding space ... she did not know how this even worked. Her mind raced as she thought of anything to go around his power. She came up with nothing ...

Then she saw the dust move ... the concrete split. With clenched teeth she slowed time ... slowed time as she had never slowed it. An instinct roared into existence inside of her. Survival! She began to run ... run ... run ... away from the unnatural gravity of his miniature black hole. She ran until the pain would make her collapse ...

The man was death. He had brought death to the world and now he brought death to her ... he would kill them all. She could not allow that to happen.

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Black Rock, Mojave Desert - Nevada

"Move!" Chad said and his eyes widened. He was back, they both moved then knowing what would come from the motions already locked in progressing. The blade still cut Chad's face, a far improvement from sinking into his skull. Malcolm now leaped out of the shadows, not only had he known to keep him alive he seemed to have trained somehow for dealing with this situation, one which normally gave them an short advantage.

He did not throw a knife at Jane this time, he did not draw his second knife. Instead he dived for cover and took out a gun. Hustling to keep Chad safe with his own body like a human shield he struggled to push and kajol his legs into proper positions before locking them while leaning heavily on one polio cane, the other was on the ground. Out of reach, but at least they were alive for a moment more. He could only hope Jane got a good shot and who knows, maybe Chad could block the enemy long enough for this to work. Leaving it them as he tried to lean over Chad he was looking around, looking for another threat.

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins , @galactic-vagabond422

 

IC: Jane
Blackrock, Nevada

She felt her blood dripping down her neck her eyes widening. It was so different from getting nuked, the bright flash the burst of heat as you became nothing. Her limbs become cold, her vision growing dark, her mind fuzzy as the blood quickly left it. She was falling forward when everything snapped back.

"Move!" Chad shouted moving his head just slightly as the blade passed by his cheek. Her eyes instantly move to where Malcolm was hiding, just as he lept out of the shadows. With no knife coming at her shoulder, Jane didn't hesitate, there wasn't time. He had given her an opening, not as long or as easy as she would have liked but, she had to take it. Bringing up her pistol she let off four shots, a double tap to his head and to his chest. The shots were quick and accurate, just like her uncle taught her. With him gone they would be one step closer to their target, to Taylor.

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Command Center

Malcolm was it by the bullets into the head and collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut.

They had won. Chad was alive and ...

The Grenade was now not contained and the explosion ripped Kawin to pieces. He actually did not feel the pain, but simply ...



"Move." Chad was better prepared this time and turned half a second earlier the knife missing him entirely as he turned around his G-36 to be unloaded into Malcolm's direction, while the soldier leaped behind a desk and took cover ... looking straight at Jane and knowing he had lost.

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @Mitth-Fisto




b] Alpha [/b]
Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Alpha smiled and watched Anna run. The corridor collapsed and left only a giant hole and another cloud of dust. So much dust was in the air now one could hardly see farther than a meter. He sighed and allowed to rotate the knife around his hand against the laws of physics.

Then he vanished ... he knew where she was running. The only place she could run to. Her so called friends.


Anna felt the slice in her leg as the knife entered and severed the muscle of her upper leg. Alpha had appeared right next to her and his knife had materialized in her leg. He allowed her to collapse at the incredible speed she had summoned and vanished again. In the cloud of dust she could hardly see her own hand.

Tag: @RachelTyrell

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Black Rock, Mojave Desert - Nevada

"Move!" Chad stated again. This time he did as told. Gotta get them all under cover before that grenade goes off. This time the knife missed Chad completely. He didn't bother looking now, he remembered everything, the man on the ground having pulled a pin free moments before. Dying but not wanting to go alone, Chad saving him merely for him to have to die to Chad. Now they both needed to take that original advice and get to cover! Quickly!

"Crutches don't fail me now!" he muttered as he rapid stutter stepped his polio canes. The enemy that seemed to speed up objects was still alive as well. But there was little he could for that now. All he could do, was live and keep his friends and allies the same.

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 , @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Anna Talbott
Black Rock Underground

Anna understood her mistake as she felt the pain in her leg. She had been more powerful than any of them, but this man had lived decades with his powers. He had fine tuned them to a degree she could not hope for in the few days she had.

Tears ran down her cheeks, as she felt like a Instagram blogger again who had been drawn into a nightmare. She was about to die. Her leg, her shoulder ... they hurt so badly.

Slowing down her body now she leaned against the wall. The leg wound was probably enough to kill her. But she could slow her body, make the bleeding slow down. It would at least buy her time. With the wall in her bag she would at least know where the attack was coming from.

"He is here!" She yelled, hoping the others could hear her. "He IS HERE!" She yelled again.

With her body slowed down she could not access her powers anymore. Her only limit was she only had one power at a time. So she dragged her gun and fired wildly into the slush cloud. She simply hoped to hit him. As the gun clicked and the magazine was empty she dropped it. No way she could reload with her shatttered shoulder.

Crying she sat leaned against the wall and waited for him. Waited ... to die.

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Jane
Blackrock, Nevada

She smiled a cruel smile as Malcolm fell to the ground two bullets in his head. There was only a moment for her to savor her victory before it was ripped away from her. They never dealt with the grenade. It detonated sending shrapnel through Kawin and leaving him in a pile on the floor, bleeding out, or it would have if it were not for the reset. She snapped back to where she was her pistol already pointed to where Malcolm was. Letting off a few shots she watched Kawin, her good luck charm struggling to move.

With one last look at Malcolm her greatest foe up 'till now she put one bullet between his eyes and moved to pull Kawin along.

"Come on Kawin," She said pulling on his arm. "We have a general to meet."

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins @Mitth_Fisto

 

Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Command Center

Malcolm was finally cheated to death. He had beaten them twice and yet it was him who died with two bullets in his chest. The grenade went off and Chad and Kawin just made it in time behind a massive desk. Their ears were ringing for a moment, but otherwise all three were alive and well.

They were all three alive and well. But dust was in the air ... too much dust coming from the corridor and spreading. Something had gone wrong at Anna's side.

"HE IS HERE!" Anna's voice was heard from the corridor.

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @Mitth-Fisto


Alpha
Black Rock, Underground, Mojave Desert, Nevada


Alpha let her wait, listening to her crying and grinning into the cloud of dust. He knew she was defeated and he enjoyed it. An adversary that at least had resisted.

Then he closed the gap between her and him with one thought and his blade rammed into the stomach of the injured girl. He looked at her, so close he could kiss her and as her eyes widened he pulled the blade upwards, cutting through her inner organs.

"I told you this was gonna happen. You could have ruled the world and now look at you. You die, suffering and alone. For what?" He pushed it up once more. "For them?"

And he was gone. He knew she would not survive this wound for long. No matter what she did. The bleeding might slow down, but it was internal now. He left her to suffer and contemplate about her failure.

He had another victim to claim tonight.

The Reckoning wasn't over yet.

Tag: @RachelTyrell


@TheSithGirly ... Now!

 

Maria Liang and LEGO Sebastian Klein (combined)
Hong Kong, Repulse Bay

Maria was weak on her legs as she stepped next to Sebastian. He turned towards her and smiled down at her. Then she did something she had not expected and certainly he had not. She kissed him. A tender, simple kiss ... not passionate but full of caring affection.

The kiss did not last, as he legs gave in and gently he put her on the simple bed in the room. It was hot, but that wasn't the reason she sweat.

Sebastian took a chair and sat next to her.

"I sprayed Graffiti at some walls and hoped to change the world, now I can change it by snipping my fingers and want nothing more than people leaving me alone. I am the living example of people not knowing what they truly want, am I?"

"You still spray Graffiti." Maria smiled.

"True."

"Why?" Maria asked and tried to focus her gaze.

"Old habits, I guess."

Maria shook her head. "Nonsense. You have put thought into the one in London. Prepared. It was a warning." Maria raised her brows. "One could argue it was the last thing someone who wanted to be left alone would do. Quite the contrary. It was a nod to all of us ... I am still there."

Sebastian looked at her and shook his head. "Not for all of you. It was message to one man."

"Who?"

"Don't you know?" He asked.

"The one behind this. This isn't an accidential flu. It was released?"

Sebastian came back to her and smiled. "If your mind is that quick under fever I don't wanna know what you can do when healthy."

"What was the message?"

"It was: I know what you are doing."

"Why did you give him that message? Will you go after him?" Maria hoped the answer would be yes.

"Maria, I don't go after anyone."

"Why? He must be ... stopped ..."

"You missed that chance three years ago." Sebastian smiled. "He obtained it three years ago."

Maria looked at him and did not know what was more shocking, how easily he said it or that he knew this and done nothing to stop him.

"Why did you not save us ..."

"There is no saving you. All you can do is change the point in time when you cease to exist." Sebastian looked at her. "I see you die, you all die. All the time."

Maria did not fully understand his words, but could imagine these things were hard to communicate. "When will I die?"

Sebastian smiled. It was the saddest smile a man had ever given a woman. "Thirty Minutes."

The words struck her like lightning. Truth was, she had found him and was running out of time anyway. "Thirty."

Sebastian nodded and put another cold, wet towel on her head. She wiped it away. "Help me."

Sebastian smiled. "I can't. That is not even in my power." He looked down at her and desperately wanted to leave.

Maria realized something in that moment. "You are lying, are you? You are lying, you can save me?" Sebastian looked down at her. The warm light of the fire made his suffering terribly visible for a moment.

"No, I cannot. You die." He said and she saw clearly he said the truth.

"Please. Save them then."

"Was that the reason? Did you kiss me so I save the world?"

"No, I just haven't kissed anyone in a long time. And I thought you might be a good kisser."

"I am afraid I am probably not."

"You totally are. There is something sad in your kiss, that makes it bitter-sweet." Maria smiled. "And you are immune. So I did not have this whole kiss of death scenario to worry about."

He gave her another sad smile.

"I cannot save them." Sebastian then said. "They are all gonna die." He lowered his gaze.

Maria looked at him. "There is something you can do. If anybody can do something it is you." She looked at him.

Sebastian looked up again and folded his hands, leaning forward. Finally he gave a slow nod.

"Then do it! God dammit!"

"You do not understand ..."

"Of course I do. You see everything. You know how rotten and unworthy of saving we all are. So you decided this is as good an end as any and decided to watch. Watch until there is only you. A lone god in a forsaken world filled with death." Maria wanted to grab him, she wanted to slap his face and yell at him. But she did not have the strength to do so. "But it isn't as easy as you expected, is it? I know you wanna do something. I know you have to."

Sebastian looked at her and nodded. "Yet, it is too late." He said. "I let the moment pass, believing to be right. But you are right. It isn't so easy to watch. I am no God. I lack the indifference of a God, I am afraid." Maria had tears in her eyes.

"Is there a world in which we turned out okay?" She finally asked him.

"Define okay." He said with a desperate laughter.

"Did the good ones make it and the bad guys got what they deserved? Did we live happily ever after?" She asked this and was aware she was probably not one of the good guys. She was pretty sure she wasn't.

"No. Only endless variations of failure, tragedy and suffering." Sebastian said, not finding the strength to lie.

"That is ... so sad." Another wave of coughing shook her body. It was not long now. Pain went through her like a wave. Her eyes widened and she found the strength to grab his hand. He held it tight and closed his eyes.

"I am so sorry." He whispered to her.

"Save them. Please. Sebastian ... save them." Maria tried to get up but failed too. "You owe us that much!"

"I owe you nothing! Nothing!" He hissed now in a sudden outburst of anger. "You hunted us, you killed us!"

"Because you made us to." Maria replied.

Sebastian looked at her, still holding that hand and remained there in silence for a long moment. Maria then fought down another cough and smiled. "The Source. I read Simmons notes. I know about him. He made Adrian hunt you. You did! Some version of you."

"You did the hunting." Sebastian replied.

"He died to save the world. The other you at the Club. I killed him. I wake up every night and scream, because I see his eyes at night! That look!" Maria forced herself up and coughed it blood. "They all tried to save the world. They died to save it. They were you. Whatever happened to you ..."

"I learned to see." Sebastian replied with a cold voice. Yet, he sounded defensive.

"Whatever. You owe them! You damned owe it to yourself! Do whatever you can to save the world!" Maria collapsed again. "Please." She added.

Sebastian nodded.

He looked at her and knew this outburst had shortened her life. The end would be painful.

Had he become like Ayshe? By absorbing her power had he become the creator of his reality? A God unwilling to serve a flawed humanity? He sighed. Yes, he had once saved the world. Because he felt he was part of it. Then he understood the countless worlds that existed and lost his connection. Ayshe had not been as bad as him probably. But he was not lost. As he remembered the Source, he understood his struggle, his failures. He understood he had become worse than the man he had feared to become.

"Okay." He finally said to her. "I will help them."

Then he looked down at her. "Then there is something I owe you I believe." He said and she collapsed to her knees. Gently he knelt next to her, slowly taking the gun from her belt.

She smiled as she saw the human side inside of him win this battle. "Thank you." She said and saw into his eyes.

He looked at the gun. She did not have the strength to fight it, but she would not have anyway. She was about to ask him anyway. Something he had probably foreseen.

"Yes, I did this for you once." Her voice was barely a whisper, as she felt her lungs burn. It was beginning, the failure of her organs.

She closed her eyes and knew she had accomplished her mission.

"I know." He replied to her recalling his execution. She had not enjoyed it he assumed and neither did he. Slowly he pressed the gun against her head. "I am sorry." He whispered and felt tears run into his eyes as he pulled the trigger and ended her suffering before it really began.

Maria died smiling. She had succeeded.

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Anna Talbott
Black Rock Underground

The pain hit her like a lightning strike as he hammered the knife into her body and dragged it up. Her mouth opened in a gasp and a silent scream. He was whispering to her, but she received his message only dimly through the pain.

Yes, he had told her. Yes, she had believed she could defeat him. If she was good. Pure. Good vs. Evil. Good would prevail, right? It didn't. It was power that prevailed and Alpha was probably the most powerful Gifted she could imagine. A perfect monster. A creature for whom the laws of physics never existed. Collapsing to the floor she still tried to concentrate to slow down the bleeding, slow down her body. The world turned for her into a whirlwind as she dimly realized she was only prolonging her suffering.

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Black Rock, Mojave Desert - Nevada

Finally they had survived this moment and their enemies had not. It was a muted victory as Chad and him just dove, or rather in his case fell behind the massive desk just in time to let it absorb the blast from the grenade. So it was with ringing ears he shook his head, removing his glasses for a moment to just breath. He might be in better shape then he used to, but jumping back several times as well as fighting for your life and trying to run on polio crutches? Now that was an exercise regime!

"Ah, we did it. One side down." he huffed only to cough on the dust in the air. Too much dust for a single grenade. It was coming from the corridor and spreading. Something had gone wrong at Anna's side.

"HE IS HERE!" Anna's voice was heard from the corridor.

"Oh no." he muttered as he began struggling to stand up. "That's not good. For any of us."

Tag: @galactic-vagabond422, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Sebastian LEGO Klein
Black Rock Installation

It had all played it as he had foreseen it.

Anna was dying and also Kawin did not know yet, so was he ... Jane. The Ex-Cop who could restrain Gifted abilities.

Alpha was here. Simon. His steps through the corridor were like a countdown to his self-declared Reckoning.

Sebastian breathed in sharply and the dust made him cough. Then he stepped through the cloud and appeared over Anna. Anna was the key. Looking down on her bleeding body he gave her a warm smile.

"Hello Anna." He said and waited for her to realize who he was.

Tag: @RachelTyrell

ooc: I will take a break until new year, when you will get the next update.

 

Matt Andrews
Motel

"Thank you." It was all he could say. He felt his jaw drop a bit. The two Gifted ... he assumed the girl was one two and obviously on with the gift to turn back time ... without dying like Kawin ... had neutralized the attackers who had managed to kill his entire security detail.

"You ... can turn back time?" He asked the woman. How far? The question that forced himself upon him was ... how far could she turn back time? Safe the President? Safe the world? Kurt?

Matt felt suddenly he had been wrong all along. They ... whoever exactly they were ... had adopted the new rules of the game forever changed by the appearance of the Gifted. He had done ... nothing but trying to control them, harvest their abilities for mundane espionage tasks while containing and super-powered members of the Gifted.

He understood now how he had wasted their opportunity.

Time. They could control time. They could change it. Right?

"Yes, sort of." Angel said smiling. Matt understood how powerful these two Gifted were together. A man who 'remembered' future events and a girl able to adjust such events. Their enemies had probably never had a chance. Steven had played all events through and Angel had allowed numerous iterations to be played through.

A deadly force, even though none of both seemed to be trained in combat.

"Thank you." Matt smiled. "In the name of all American people, thank both of you!"

------

He stepped into the dark room again and switched on the lights. The Professor sat there still, trembling in fear. He had an uncontrolled spasm as the light switched on. He was visibly relieved when he saw Matt.

"Your friends are all dead." Matt proclaimed and took the other chair.

"So you lost. I now give you a chance to redeem yourself. Do you want that chance? A presidential pardon is probably the only thing that can save you now."

"Anything I can do .." Cale exhaled.

Matt did not sit down, but got a bottle of water from the mini bar and stepped over. He gave Cale small sips and then finally sat down.

"Professor. I want you to tell me everything you know about time travel."


(THE END for Matthew Andrews in this game.)

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins