Inside an enormous warehouse, Tim and Rose stood along with the man named Frank looking at a large ring made of strange elements, put on the wall vertically. All the surrounding wires were sparking, and the connected screens were glitching.
"What am I looking at, Frank?"
"Phoenix. Technically, it is a particle accelerator you wanted me to make. Personally, for you, that is. But I don't know what the fuck it is now."
"What do you mean?"
"Look here." Frank picked a very rusty sword with just a hilt and half blade on it from the table. It had many strange ruins engraved on it and, for some reason, some of them were subtly shining.
"Where did you pick this? Prop store?"
"No."
"Then?"
"It came from there." Frank pointed at the ring behind them, which was making weird noises.
"What…?"
Taken aback, Tim was in loss for words, and could only stare at the strange ring in front of him. Getting a hold of himself, he turned to Frank, but still could not suppress the surprise and disbelief in his tone, as he raised his voice. "What the fuck are you talking about? You said it was a failure. This thing didn't even start the last time."
"Yeah, but just an hour ago, it worked on its own. I didn't do anything. It just opened. This nonsense came flying and gone. Everything is glitching after that. Main framework is completely lagging. I don't know what's going on?"
"Something is not right."
"Just restart the entire system. It will fix itself." Added Rose with a bored expression on her face.
"We tried; it is not working. This shit is just stuck." Replied Frank, hitting the tablet he held multiple times, but it didn't respond.
"Well, just shut it down and bring me the diagnostics."
"I would love to but, it is not responding to any of our commands"
"Just cut the power." Said Tim, looking at the flickering screens around him.
Soon the research assistant of Frank cut the power to the entire station and the sparking in wires with the glitches in screen disappeared. For a moment, everything seemed to be back to normal.
Rumble! Rumble!
Suddenly a loud noise occurred outside as if something blasted, and the entire room shook violently. The ring was now on again, with every screen showing weird numbers. Sparks of electricity covered the entire outer layer as a whitish hue started forming inside.
The room shook again as the hue started whirling like a tornado, slowly sucking the surrounding air. The spurs of lightning got even more violent, hitting nearby instruments.
"Frank, what is happening?" Yelled Tim with a shocked expression on his face and Frank was no better to answer his question.
"I don't know…" retorted the man, taking a couple of steps back along with everyone present.
"Well, well… well, what do we have here?"
A very familiar voice was heard from behind, and everyone's attention shifted. Soon a man came into view, surrounded by two guards with guns. They pointed their guns at the group.
"Charles!" Tim spoke in a casual tone, thinking it was some kind of misunderstanding. "What are you doing here?"
"It is company property, isn't it? And as an esteemed shareholder, I am welcome here." Charles smiled, almost looking down on his friend.
"It is not company property. It is my personal stuff."
"Well, not anymore."
"What-"
Charles gave the signal to his gunmen, who pointed their guns at the trio close to the particle accelerator, excluding the research assistant.
"What the fuck are you doing?" snapped Tim, as he couldn't understand the meaning of this strange matting where guns were involved. Someone could die if something goes wrong.
"What? I am making a headline. Tech Billionaire Tim Walker shot dead in his own private facility. That sounds good, right?" Responded the man with the same grin from before.
"What do you want?" Tim now clearly understood the reason behind this man's arrival here, and it was not a petty one.
"You remember that day when your world fell apart? Who do you think was responsible for all that?"
"It was an accident…"
"You are too naïve, like always." Charles sighed, pulling a chair beside him.
"Your father and mother were good people. I mean, they were too good for their own good. We had to take them out to run the company, but you piece of shit survived and now I have to do this again."
"What did you say?" asked Tim in a tone of disbelief. His brain refused to acknowledge what he just heard. This man was someone who helped him at the toughest time when he had no one to rely upon, but now he said he was the one who made his life miserable.
"I said the only thing you heard. Now sign this and die silently." Charles pulled out a small bundle of paper from his silvery long coat before throwing at Tim.
Tim didn't catch it and it fell on the floor. Rose, who too understood the gravity of the situation, picked the paper and read it. Soon she looked at Tim with a shocked expression on her face, but Tim was in no condition to respond.
"What does it say, Rose?" asked the man, scratching his neck as a smirk appeared on his face.
"It says… Due to not having any children or wife to inherit Tim Walker's fortune after his passing, Charles Rotenberg will be his legal heir to receive everything."
"You will get nothing, you piece of shit. You put me into this hell and I swear to God, I will make you pay for this." Tim had no words left except the words of vengeance. He was overwhelmed by everything he had just heard.
He tried to dash towards Charles, but Rose and Frank stopped him forcibly.
"Calm down, boss." Yelled Frank. "You can't do anything."
"I will kill you!" Shouted Tim, trying to get out of the duo's grasp but couldn't. Soon he fell on the ground along with Rose, who held onto him like her life.
"Well, if this drama is over, then sign please. I have things to attend to."
"You know, Charles, you are one of the most fucked people I have ever seen."
"Well, yes." The man chuckled, answering Frank's words before pulling out his golden revolver.
Bang!
Uttering nothing and with a horrified expression on his face, Frank fell on the floor lifelessly as blood guessed out from his face where once left eye was.
"No…" Tim screamed, looking at his fallen comrade, but couldn't do anything. Rose was too shocked to even mutter a word. Her entirety was trembling violently.
"You won't get away with this." Tim gritted his teeth as Charles laughed hysterically.
"Oh, I will. You see this fine gentleman here?" responded the man, pointing at the guard to his left. "He is here on a suicide mission. His wife is ill and has a four-year-old daughter. And the most surprising thing is he just got fired. So, in anger and desperation, he wanted to kill everyone present here."
Tim kept staring at the man before him with a deadpan look in his eyes as he continued. "Now, the best part. He kills you, Rose, and Frank. Then my guard shoots him in the leg, but that doesn't stop him from killing himself. His suicide letter is already at home, under the pillow. It won't take long for the police to conclude that it was a homicide and we are free as victims. Simple right?"
"You bloody piece of shit!"
Tim's blood boiled as his brain lost the power to make rational decisions. He couldn't think straight, nor of the consequences of his actions he was just going to attempt. Was there even any point in even thinking of the consequences, when he was going to die, anyway?
Tim lunged forward. Rose cried with worry, but lacked the power to stop him. One guard of Charles came forward and soon they were engaged in a bloody fight.
Tim threw some punches at the assailant's face, and he took it, giving no response. His orders were to stop this man, and he was doing it until Tim grabbed the man's pistol strapped to his waist.
Tim clutched it, but the assailant was not that easy to shake. They rolled on the ground several times, but there was no winner.
Seeing this shit show, Charles pointed his revolver at Tim to end this shit show. But before he could pull the trigger, Tim jumped at him, leaving the guard.
Charles fell backwards, but the shot was fired.
"No… No… No…" screamed the research assistant, but it was too late.
Boom!
One part of the mechanism exploded after seconds of the bullet impact, killing the nearby people in an instant.
Tim was thrown to the very end of the room with his hand and legs broken by the blast, losing his senses. Charles' fate was no better, as he too lay on the floor motionless, eyes closed. But the up and down motion from his chest cleared that he was not dead.
Tim's consciousness returned after a couple of minutes with unimaginable pain, but the only thing that came to his mind was the face of the little girl he had saved long ago.
His body refused to obey his commands as it throbbed with pain. Every fiber of his being begged him to stop, yet he dragged himself towards the fire, breaking all his limits.
But once he grew closer, he only saw a lady lying there beside the fire lifelessly. His brain refused to believe what he saw. So, he pushed further.
Soon the beautiful face of Rose came to view with half her face covered with her auburn hair, and the other half buried in the broken floor. Tim bent down beside her, moving her hair out of the way, and shook her a little, expecting her eyes to open, but sadly, they never did.
Was she just asleep? No, that was not the case. A long shrapnel had pierced her from the back, right where her heart belonged.
Tim could neither scream nor lament, as not even a single ounce of strength was left in him. Still, with sheer willpower, he placed his hand on her cold forehead for one last time, as a single tear escaped his eyes.
"I will kill everyone," Tim muttered under his breath as his consciousness drifted off, succumbing his mind to the dark pit of obscurity.