"Stultic..." Zephoram said, monotonously.
"Or should I say, Sebastian."
Stultic's already broken mental state broke even further once he heard that name.
"Don't call me that ever again..."
"Fine, though it is funny that you and I meet again. I was a-about to come to you, but you come to me! What fate, huh? Doesn't it remind you of how incredibly the universe w-works?" Zephoram asked, philosophically.
Stultic didn't care to answer. He had no reason to answer to such a shameful monster who had massacred defenceless men and women only to annihilate an Arch-WARDEN afterwards for some twisted sanctimonious goal. Even if Stultic was inadequate compared to Zephoram, he had no choice but to keep Madica and Carmen safe until they could escape, but escape was unlikely. Zephoram was quick and nimble on his feet. His metal armour looked to be hefty, yet he could catch up to any champion runner in seconds. The only way he would stand a chance was to face him head-on in a one-on-one fight.
He slashed at Zephoram's torso but the metal monster dodged backwards and flung him around to strike back. It was futile because Stultic too, was nimble. His boots flickered with light and with a sonic blast, he was launched to the ceiling, only to rebound towards Zephoram. Charging foot first, Stultic rammed Zephoram's head into the stone arch, causing pieces of rock to crumble down - the disruptive quake shook the tunnel. The ceiling above them cracked from the impact.
Zephoram let out a poor, delayed laugh. "The only p-problem with this armour is that kinetic force does not always want to work with it. Still, I was able to d-diagnose this problem beforehand. Guess what my solution was."
Stultic moved away from Zephoram to put some distance between the two. Zephoram's hands grasped the stone around him and lifted himself out of the crater to look at his newly messy attire. It bruised him to see dust and tiny pebbles stuck between the plating. He gazed back at Stultic.
"Ding ding ding. Kinetic Absorption. Thanks for 'playing' my game," he sarcastically explained.
"Seems pretty stupid to tell me what your armour is capable of beforehand," Stultic sternly replied.
"Not really. I know that even if I didn't tell you, you'd f-figure it out by the time I finish this sentence."
Stultic rushed towards Zephoram a second time. He tried to gain the upper hand through agility, but his reaction time was faster. A hook punch came from the left and pummeled him into the nearby pillar. The pillar broke and Stultic couldn't move. His clothing wasn't designed to sustain heavy fire or physical attacks. It was solely to dodge his opponent's attacks and get them when they least expected it. Speed over strength. Zephoram was both Speed and strength in one terrifying, unstoppable package. Stultic tried to get up and fight but his head was hit from above by a hard fist. He wanted to look strong but the hit hurt more than he originally thought. It left him feeling dazed and disoriented. One final punch to the gut left him in just as bad a state as the one Carmen was left in.
"There we go..." said Zephoram in a happier tone. "Now then, let's b-begin your demise, shall we?"
A syringe, filled with a clear liquid substance, came out from his right wrist. He flicked his finger at it, making a clinking sound. He smiled to see the liquid slosh around inside the syringe, splashing against its glass walls. As the syringe got close to Stultic's arm, he used the remaining energy left in his bones to try and cut through his neck. The blade was grabbed by his hand and tossed aside. For safety measures, Zephoram punched his head so severely that he went unconscious.
Underneath his metal face, he could only see joy.
The very image he swore to begin to fruition for years, had finally come into his grasp.
It was now.
Zephoram laughed maniacally. His laugh could be heard from miles away. It was filled to the brim with hate, aggression, anxiety, sadness, stress, happiness, love, disgust, and so much more all wrapped in one incredible package. He could feel his eyes bulging out of his sockets. His spine shaking as his arms drew closer. The happiest smile on his face which continued to grow until his smile reached his cheeks and even further. He laughed. He laughed on. He clawed at his helmet; whispering to himself silently.
In one swift motion, the syringe went in.
He pushed the plunger and the liquid gradually seeped into Stultic's arm.
After all of it was dispensed, Zephoram yanked it out and cleaned the needle. He was overjoyed. He was endlessly content until Madica shot his syringe which fragmented into thousands of miniature glass shards. She subsequently shot the wrist that held it. It tore through the metal armouring and froze the inners of the wound. She finally got a clear shot during her blatant rage.
Zephoram screamed, looking at the icy hole in his arm. His hand went limp like a dead spaghetti noodle. He cried on the floor in agony, only to stop crying and start laughing. He got back up from his feet and grasped his axe.
He purposefully severed his arm.
It flopped to the rails only to reveal no blood, but wires; wires that tangled out from its core and in numerous colours.
Zephoram casually shook his now armless stump. "My my. I love Drama. It was such a fun subject in middle school. Don't you think?"
Madica felt sickened by his presence and the anger she felt was unbearable. Everything about this... thing was wrong. It wasn't normal. The way it talked wasn't normal. The way it moved wasn't normal. Now, she wondered if it was even human.
No.
No human would act like this.
No human should act like this.
This was a monster.
"I can always pay for a new arm. That isn't the bad part." Zephoram said. "The only thing I am a bit m-mad about is the fact you shot my favourite syringe. That p-pisses me off, Madica Myers."
Zephoram watched as Madica continued to fire at his impenetrable torso and head. His other wrist was harder to penetrate since there wasn't an opening like the other. Zephoram started to walk away, but on his way to the Maglev, he stopped near the bruised and unconscious Stultic and crouched before him. All he did was point towards his arm and his heart before patting his head.
"You don't deserve to live. A plague must be d-destroyed like the parasitic lifeform it is. I know that one day, you will grow into a w-wildfire that cannot be tamed. I must stop your fires before they become too e-enlarged for this world to handle. Nevertheless, I cannot deny that this is more personal than my reasoning for harming Ms. Blitzer. I h-hope you can u-understand that."
Zephoram stood back up. Madica did too and tried her best to prevent him from leaving with her power alone, yet she was promptly thrown aside like a ragdoll. He looked back on the carnage. The dead Arch-WARDEN, the diseased mercenary, and the weakly gunner. Internally, he had never felt so satisfied.
"For the will of Moraine."
Hopping aboard the Maglev, he escaped with the cargo, but the Maglev wasn't important anymore. Madica wished for Stultic and Carmen to wake up. The pain of her dislocated shoulder was nothing compared to the emotional shots her heart had just endured.
The darkest pit of the Underdown had come to swallow them whole.
—^v——^v——^v——^v——^v——^v——^v—
Another day, another bed, another wake-up call. The alarm rang beside him, making Stultic's face cringe at the thought of having to wake up. He didn't want to wake up. His arms felt sore, his head pulsated with pain, he couldn't feel his left leg. Stultic was never one to drink since he hated wine, beer, and any alcoholic beverage with a passion, but he finally understood the meaning behind feeling hungover. The way he was feeling wasn't probably even worse than feeling hungover---
Wait.
He couldn't feel his left leg.
His eyelids blew up and his torso jutted from the bed. He looked around him. The walls were white, the ceiling was white, the closet was white, everything around him was white. He was in a bed but it wasn't his own. He'd never paint his room white because it's such a tough colour to clean and he was already lazy enough about cleaning. His arm felt pinched when he tried to move it. There were many tubes and needles stuck to his left arm. There also seemed to be a small purple patch where the needles were jammed in. His arms were also cuffed to the bed. What was going on?
He then looked to the exit. An officer was standing in front of the door, heavily armed with a rifle pointing directly at his face. His let out a gasp, but something else entered his mind.
"Zephoram," he grumbled to himself.
The officer was a problem, but his leg was an even bigger one. His concern evanesced when he figured out the reason behind his numb leg. Juliere was lying fast asleep. The clock rang at eight in the morning. The birds were chirping but the sound of car horns and constant yelling were still as evident as before. The helicopters flew overhead in pursuit. The view from the window to his side wasn't that great either. All he could see was the packed highway and the many vibrant buildings that lined the streets. The view was so plain to him because all he ever saw in the city of Edtweiser were vibrant buildings and streets. Variety was a dead word.
Almost all of Northern Abstrain was like this. The country was very modern and stylish but lacked in originality and flair. People used to wish for the world to become more "futuristic" but the day it came, people asked for even more "futurism". Nothing can satiate the appetite of the hungry human race. Speaking of appetite, Stultic was beyond famished. He felt his stomach gnawing on its acid because of how desperately it wanted food. His stomach rumbled in response to the emptiness.
The noise must've been raucous because Julière's eyelids fluttered open. She took a glance towards Stultic and went back to sleep.
She then sprung out of bed like a wild coyote after its prey and jumped into Stultic's arms crying.
"I'M--- SHO--- SOWWY!" Julière cried, sniffling and breaking down. "I SHOULD--- HAVE SHTOP YOU!"
She blew her nose into a tissue. Her hefty tears and dropped onto the once clean blanket. She was sobbing out of control. With all her makeup wrecked via her continuous crying, she would easily make a few unsuspecting children run for their parents. Stultic felt more worried about what others might react with if they saw her messy face, but at the same time, he was particularly delighted to know that she cared.
"Hey! Hey! It's alright! I feel pretty fine! I'm just a bit bruised from all the fighting!"
"A-ARE YOU SURE?!" Julière asked, patting Stultic down to check for any injuries.
Stultic nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine! The only thing wrong about this situation is that there's some creepy-looking guy near my escape route..."
The officer hadn't moved his arms or legs after aiming the gun at Stultic. His posture was incredibly stiff, making him wonder if he was a robot in disguise. Stultic moved his head to the right and the rifle's barrel followed him. He then moved to the left and again, the barrel went the same way. Stultic felt pressured to not do anything stupid in fear of being riddled with bullets. He had enough of that fear after Madica's surprise intervention on the Maglev.
Julière had forgotten about the officer at the door during her slumber. They were extremely quiet and not disruptive in the slightest. She didn't know whether to respect them or feel creeped out by their stillness.
"Right!" she said. "This officer is here to make sure you don't move from bed and so that I can't break you out from here. They're strict about all this 'secure and contain' stuff."
Stultic already understood why that was the case, for it was the reason why he never went to hospitals in particular. Even if they didn't know who he was behind his disguise, it was easy to figure out anything through a simple yet effective blood test. His growth into adulthood hadn't changed the fact that his DNA was the same and was, as always, a deadly tool against him.
The wonderful joys of being wanted.
Looking around, the miniature cameras were even more evident upon closer inspection. His entire room was rigged with surveillance tech. It wasn't the worst sight in the world by miles but it was mildly unsettling to know that someone would be watching your every move. Stultic waved to the camera with a smile on his face and made a lovely heart with his hands. To his surprise, the camera's lens moved. The camera shook its lens in rejection. Stultic felt sullen to know that he was rejected by a moving camera.
Fortunately, something important came to mind after his rejection. Not all love has a sad ending.
"What happened to Madica and Carmen?" Stultic asked with a timid expression.
Julière took a while to figure out what Stultic meat but she soon did after digging deep into her mind.
"You mean those two beaten up ladies who came with you? The one with the shorter ponytail got her shoulder relocated and is currently in the room next to yours to rest. The other long-haired one needed to go into emergency care and the doctors seemed to be pretty frantic. Her condition wasn't the best visually."
The memories of what happened kept seeping through his mental floodgates. He was distraught beyond explanation. Questions entered his mindscape.
"Was Zephoram Havoker? Why did he want the Maglev? How did he know we'd be down there? Is the reason why Madica and Carmen being in the same location because of him?"
It was tough to answer any of the questions for certain without talking to Zephoram himself, which would be impossible from his heavily-guarded hospital "prison cell".
They both heard the door open as a man in a white coat came through with a holographic screen projected in front of him. He walked while clicking through the lengthy report. He stopped in front of the bed, turning off the hologram.
"Hello, Mr. Utaliski. I am Doctor Singh," he said, formally introducing himself.
Stultic squinted his eyes upon hearing the word.
"Utaliski. Curse my life..." Stultic muttered under his breath.
"To put it briefly, I have some disappointing news for you today."
"Yeah, I have a ton of fractured bones. That's great and all but can I leave now?" Stultic scoffed.
"Sorry, but I wish it was only that. We found out that you were injected with a substance via a crude syringe on your left arm."
Julière looked more afraid than ever. Her mouth opened, mortified. Stultic still seemed to be quite cheery for someone who was just told they were injected by a syringe. It was almost as if he was trying to ignore it entirely.
"Nah it's okay, right? It was probably some weird narcotic to knock me out. I could care less about it." he grinned.
The doctor looked very unpleased. With a heavy sigh, he continued to speak.
"We're sorry to say but after conducting numerous tests, we have concluded that you were injected with an unidentifiable terminal illness."
Stultic's grin dropped.
His body froze.
"There's no information on it within our database nor any medical database across our entire planet of Erther. It's estimated that at your body's current rate, you will be dead within the next two months. You may have a little more time
to live
or a
lit
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ss
b
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.
.
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—^𝐯——^𝐯— 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 ——————