Meanwhile, Nathan pursued John and the officers. Upon leaving the military base, Nathan noticed them frantically entering military vehicles.
"Tsk! Nathan's coming!? How did he slip past the death-bringers!?" Harvey asked in confusion.
"It doesn't matter, get the hell in!" John responded as he entered the passenger's side. Snapping out of the confusion, Harvey entered the driver's side and started the vehicle.
These bastards think I'm letting them get away!?
In response, Nathan materialized a military vehicle and hopped in immediately.
Great...does this make the third car chase? At least I'm not the one getting chased this time...
With quick acceleration, Harvey drove through the open gates of the base, with Nathan following suit. Harvey did not take much time to accelerate to the maximum speed - nearly 100 mph.
However, Nathan's vehicle was faster, which he took advantage of.
"If we lure Nathan to super soldiers, we'll be perfectly safe!" Harvey said as he drove. He seemed to be sweating. "I just have to keep this speed--"
BANG!
Nathan rammed into the rear of Harvey's military vehicle, resulting in them swerving left to right as the car went out of control.
"TSK! DAMMIT!" Harvey yelled as he desperately tried to regain control, which he successfully did after a few seconds of swerving.
"THAT DAMN KID! WHY IS HE SO HELLBENT ON GETTING IN MY WAY!!??" John yelled.
"HAHA! There's more where that came from!" Nathan shouted.
CLANG! CLANG!
Nathan could hear his vehicle getting pelted with bullets. Looking through the rear-view mirror, he noticed the officers approaching with several military vehicles. The officers on the passenger side were leaning out the window and firing at Nathan.
"We gotta take this bastard down!" An officer yelled to his comrades. They kept a decent distance behind Nathan while driving at a constant speed.
Tsk, these shitheads are still helping trash like them...I don't have time for this. Let's use one of those gadgets or whatever the blacksmith made for me.
In his hand, Nathan suddenly materialized a strange-looking explosive. It was a blue sphere with many red spots on it.
"Hmm, the cluster grenade," Nathan remarked while looking at it intently. "Hopefully, this will be good."
After winding his window down, Nathan pulled the pin on the cluster grenade. Suddenly, the red spots began flashing.
"Wow..." Nathan said before tossing it out the window, right to the pursuing officers.
"SHIT! WHAT IS THAT!?" An officer yelled as he saw the grenade rolling on the ground. They had no time to react, as the numerous red spots ejected from the sphere omni-directionally. Instantaneously, they all exploded, displaying why it got that name as it produced a cluster of explosions.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Harvey exclaimed as he and John looked at the explosion in their respective rear-view mirrors, with extreme shock on their faces.
What resulted in the burst of explosions were destroyed military vehicles rolling around, which got engulfed in flames.
"Jeez...I didn't think it would be that effective..." Nathan muttered. "Well, I feel no pity...those guys were also trash anyways."
After dispatching the officers, Nathan could now focus on John and Harvey. Up ahead, they were approaching a cliff road as well.
Once again, Nathan began ramming into their vehicle, causing Harvey to frantically regain control.
"SHIT! HE'S INSANE!" John yelled in frustration.
Following up, Nathan materialized a cartridge of ammunition. The bullets seemed to have a golden glow to them.
Sper-piercing ammo made by the blacksmith... let's see if it's as effective as it implies in the name.
Nathan quickly proceeded to empty the cartridge of his assault rifle and load in the super-piercing ammo. Aiming through his window at their military vehicle, Nathan began shooting Harvey's rear tires.
With only a few bullets, the seemingly bulletproof tires were quickly stripped of their rubbers, with sparks emitting from them. As Harvey drove, a trail of sparks was coming from the back of the vehicle as the rims made contact with the road.
"DAMMIT! THE REAR TIRES ARE GONE!" Harvey exclaimed in frustration as he desperately kept the vehicle straight to not fall over the cliff.
"Just keep going straight!" John advised. "At least there are no turns--"
As if jinxing themselves, they noticed a bend up ahead.
"Goddammit! There's no way this vehicle will turn in time with two working wheels!" Harvey said as his frustration became more visible.
"J-Just slow down! You can make the turn if you slow down!" Harvey suggested.
"B-But what about Nathan--"
As they reached the bend, Nathan suddenly rammed into them for the third time, but this occurrence yielded a different result. The force of being rammed, plus the damaged tires, caused their vehicle to go right off the cliff.
"SHIT!!!" Harvey yelled as both he and John could only watch their demise with extreme panic.
As they descended the cliff, the vehicle violently smashed against the rocky side of the cliff multiple times. Finally, they crashed to the ground with their vehicle turning upside down.
Stopping his vehicle, Nathan stood at the edge of the cliff. He coldly looked down. There were no responses from Harvey or John.
"Hmm, that death doesn't feel deserving, considering everything you've done," Nathan said. "But...good riddance, bastards."
BOOM!
Suddenly, the military base that Nathan had left exploded, which surprised him.
"What the..." Nathan uttered in shock as he looked in that direction. He noticed a massive plume of smoke rising. "What is Charles doing?"
As if knowing Nathan was speaking about him, Charles suddenly landed in front of him. Immediately, however, Charles fell to the ground, violently coughing. Nathan noticed the extensive injuries he had on his body, even the bruises on his neck from being strangled by Deathgrip.
"A-Are you okay, Charles?" Nathan asked with a mix of confusion and concern.
With a big smirk and a thumbs-up gesture, Charles assured Nathan. "I...m all...good!"
I never thought I'd see this freaking superhuman get so messed up.
"That's enough...warm up..." Charles spoke in a hoarse and strained voice due to his injured neck. "Time for...the fight. I've been looking forward to it!"
"Fight!? How the hell can you fight in that condition!?" Nathan inquired.
"Ye...ah, I gotta find...the doctor. It would be...stupid...to not fight him...at my best!" Charles replied.
"How can we find the doctor without running into enemies--"
Interrupting Nathan, they heard a car horn, attracting their attention. Behind them was a grey work van, with the blacksmith waving to the duo from the driver's seat. Along with the blacksmith was the doctor in the passenger's seat.
"Hello, boys!" The blacksmith greeted.
Where the hell did they come from!?
Parking the van, the NPCs disembarked and approached them.
"Perfect...timing..." Charles commended.
"Jeez...why do you guys have to injure yourselves so badly!?" The doctor remarked with concern in her voice. Using her green healing light, she placed her hands in front of Charles, relieving him of his injuries rather quickly.
"Haha! I feel amazing now!" Charles ecstatically noted as he flexed his muscles.
"Where's Lilith?" Nathan asked the blacksmith.
"Don't you worry your little head, Nathan," The blacksmith said. "She's with the NPC. No one could harm Lilith with him as her bodyguard."
For some reason, I don't doubt that...
"I tried out a couple of the weapons you gave me," Nathan added. "It's way better than--"
"Hold that thought, someone's coming." The blacksmith interjected. "We gotta go. We can't let anyone see us yet."
"Huh?"
Frantically, the blacksmith and doctor hopped in their work van and drove off.
"I've asked this before, but who the hell are those guys..." Nathan questioned, and Charles scratched his head in confusion.
"...Nathan."
Hearing the voice, Nathan and Charles turned around. Just as the blacksmith notified about a person approaching, the injured Rebecca came up.
"What!? You're alive?" Charles asked. "I thought you would die when the base fell apart!"
"...Just as you said...I couldn't help my comrades defeat you with the way I am now..." Rebecca admitted. "Many things...are eating away at me...and I can't seem to shake it..."
Isn't she going to get medication for those wounds? Nathan thought.
"For now, I'll say this, Nathan..." Rebecca said before suddenly lowering her head, shocking Nathan.
"I am truly sorry...for all the suffering you experienced..." Rebecca apologized. "You were right, always right, Nathan. We are similar. We both had lost people close to us and were persecuted relentlessly without any reason...although you were just an ordinary civilian..."
Hearing an apology directed towards him, Nathan couldn't help but cringe.
"I am sorry that we ruined your life..."
"Tch! What's done is done!" Nathan responded with frustration. "Go back to wanting to kill me! Why are you trying to make it hard for me to hate you!? Don't tell me you want to switch sides or something--"
"That's...not it," Rebecca replied. "I understand the suffering you went through at the hands of my corrupted superiors, so the very least you deserve...is an apology. But my original purpose is to eliminate blessed criminals...and you and your comrades have committed many crimes. If I continue living, I will fulfill that purpose...and nothing more, I promise this."
With her resolve, Charles couldn't help but grin.
Oh ho, looks like you could be entertaining!
"...I see," Nathan said. "Let's go, Charles."
"...You're leaving?" Rebecca asked.
"Yeah, you're not in the condition for fighting now...so there's no point," Nathan responded.
Yes, Rebecca, that's how it should be...I'm an unlucky bastard turned criminal, and you're a good-natured super soldier who had corrupted superiors. Even though we have similar experiences, we are enemies, so let's focus on that alone...
"You're making a mistake..." Rebecca said.
"...I know," Nathan said. "I don't have a grudge on you, so we'll settle this later."
Just like that, Charles and Nathan went off. Rebecca simply watched as they left her, not even trying to pursue them.
"I should...get patched up now," Rebecca said as she looked down the cliff to the military vehicle. Letting a sigh, she walked off.
* * *
Upon closer look at the military vehicle, the passenger side suddenly flew open. Suddenly, John dragged himself out. He was bleeding extensively, and he was injured, but he was alive.
Mustering the strength, he got to his feet. He immediately clutched his left arm as if trying to soothe the pain.
"Ah...ouch..." With groans of agony, John was limping away.
"He...Help...me..." Harvey softly pleaded from in the car, grabbing John's attention. He was gravely injured and bleeding heavily, but his condition was much worse. Through the window, Harvey was impaled in the chest by a sharp rock. He had gotten impaled as the car rolled down the cliff.
"P-Please...he...lp. I don't...want to die..." Harvey desperately pleaded with hopelessness and fear on his face. John, however, noticed that the car was smoking and that even a small fire was forming at the hood.
There's no way...I can help him in our conditions. Plus, I wouldn't anyway. I remember you calling me wretched when Rebecca showed up...
Coldly, John averted his gaze from Harvey and continued limping away, much to his despair.
"J...John...?" The last thing Harvey saw as his vision blurred was John limping away. The vehicle quickly engulfed in flames.
I value how much help you've given me in the past, Harvey...but this is where it ends.