After taking a taxi, all three of them ended up at a dock at the very start 0f the Pacific Ocean.
"You sure you want me to leave you here?" the driver asked.
Milford nodded his head for everyone. The driver obviously didn't care, not even looking towards him or anyone when they closed the car door and drove away.
The water was as blue as it could be, crashing on the Chinese waves. The sun was glistening like a lost daydream of sorts, reminding every single one of them of when they were younger and how this mission to kill could end badly or could save the entire world as they respectively knew it.
Milford let out a huge sigh as he turned around to see a huge circular dome that looked abandoned and gone, red rust covering the entire structure. The sky was dust brown, the clouds looking like smoke.
"You ready?" Pablo put their hand on Milford's shoulder.
"Well, we can't go without-" Milford was interrupted by huge crashes coming from the waves. Suddenly, they all rose to reveal a huge creature. It had the grey skin that could only belong to Ajax.
"I felt your presence," they grumbled as they spit out gobs of water. They then grabbed the dock with their own two hands, shaking the ground Milford, Max, and Pablo were standing on.
Once Ajax was up, the group was prepared.
Milford himself was wondering why the hell they were all just standing there for so long. Wanting to get this past torture over with, he strolled into the building like it was an invisible wall, having almost no point to it whatsoever.
The door, rusty like the other parts of the outside, creaked extremely loudly while Milford was opening it carefully, the loudest he and the others ever heard a door cry in their lives. All Milford could hear were the heavy breaths coming from Pablo and Max, while visualising nothing due to the extremely dim lighting coming from the fluorescent lights, which looked twenty years out of date.
G-force immediately overtook all of them at once, the doors slamming shut at the same time. This action made impact to the already rusted entrance, especially from Ajax. Milford was surprised that they didn't destroy the door and send the group flying out across the ocean. He didn't have much time to think, however, as the man he had been waiting to see all this time, Ajax, dared to show their face up on top a stairwell that was shown on their right.
"Welcome to my little fanfare!" Marcus's accent reeked of alcohol and sleaziness, even though they seemed to have complete control over himself, unlike a person in a drunken state. Their previously blonde hair was instead covered in heavy amounts of brown substance. Milford figured it was dirt or grime.
Pablo decided to fight back a little, if not for a very short time, by shouting tauntingly, "Oh, sure, what exactly is your plan?"
This entire instance of conversation felt very cliched to Milford, but that wasn't important. Getting out of this predicament was at that point in time.
He could feel the force pushing him against the wall promptly lessen as Marcus's thoughts must have been extra clogged up at that instance due to having to answer a question and explain his answer thoroughly while already being intoxicated. Milford felt it was his chance, but he thought maybe he could wait until Marcus was more than halfway into his response, where they were most defenseless.
"Haven't you seen the news lately?" Marcus drunkenly screamed, "to destroy the world, or course!"
During this ramble, Milford felt the peak of weakness in the force that was pushing him away and kicked off the wall to beat it. He landed with no problem and ran for a good five seconds heading for the stairwell. However, the pull away from where he was sprinting to was even greater than before and even more instantly. It felt like he slipped on ice except the fall happened for a bit longer than it should have before actually impacting something that wasn't the ground, instead being the same wall. This attempt had failed, unfortunately.
The bigger failure was trying not to get hurt by that action.
Where Milford had landed was his back again, and the sudden pain caused him to immediately almost choke, his breath stopping for a short moment.
The usual laugh emitted from Marcus, nevertheless sounding confused as to what they were actually succeeding at, like they merely planned that one White House attack and expected to win on only that factor.
"You just think you can waltz up to me all the way up here like someone on their way to see God Himself or something? I'm bigger than that and all of you know it." Marcus proceeded to smash the bottle they were holding, not quite sure of what they were doing or where they were going with this. "You're all just like my parents... Never cared for me or any of that... Just sat there and watched my depression unfold. Nothing is good in this world, this universe. What even is good, anyway? It's all on stupid perspective and ways people see things... Oh, what am I saying? This is just a ramble. Ever see your family watch you have a panic attack? Ever look at 'em closely, see how they know exactly what to do: call 911 or something, but they don't? Really justifies my existence all in all... Jesus, what am I doing? Is this right? Nothing is okay, everything I've ever liked is gone, destroyed. I'm really spilling the beans now, huh?!?" Every other sentence that Marcus declared in their babble of uncomfortable proportions was a change in subject and a definite change in tone: one second they were completely fine with living and breathing, the next they wanted to cry and hug someone, anyone who would either listen or comfort them like a child in need. They knew deep down someone was out there in the world who was nice enough, despite not knowing them whatsoever. However, they didn't feel like admitting it or acknowledging it at all because they needed to be known, needed attention in order to gain someone's interest in the first place.
Milford was surprised Marcus didn't collapse on the stairwell in tears as they was confessing his well-kept secrets. It made him feel some sympathy, only a shred of it.
For lack of a better word, it was a time of rehabilitation for Marcus, somewhat. This type of therapy, talking and not stopping about your personal problems, was extremely common for most people with mental issues or experiences, obviously.
There was only one person who could have bombed the White House, though.
Milford didn't even realize the force was off of him until Ajax grabbed him seemingly out of nowhere with his enormous hand. "NOW, WHILE HE'S DISTRACTED!"
Not having time to hold a breath in, Milford was thrown at very medium speed, considering last time he was thrown by Ajax, straight to Marcus. There were two bars which were placed like railings that Milford thankfully had enough space for going in-between them before he finally landed on the horizontal walkway where Marcus was located. He did collide with another wall, however, which gave Milford a bit more pain to add on to.
He could only barely hear Pablo screaming, "Why do you always have to throw people!?"
Marcus was too caught up in sadness to realize that Ajax hurled Milford to the walkway. That was until they heard the sound of the impact, which they reacted to by finally opening their eyes and setting their mind to action.
Milford stood up. This is important, he told himself.
The two of them stared at the other for some time, only releasing breaths.
"This is the end."
Milford figured he'd be thrown across the room for the billionth time at first, but when Marcus lunged at him, he didn't know what else to think except that he was engaged in a fight with a tipsy, grown man. He didn't have any sort of plan in this particular environment, but neither did his opponent.
The impact of the punch and how hard it felt on his shoulder set Milford off.
It was like starting dynamite: one second you light a simple flame on something as flimsy as a string, the next moment an entire house could be destroyed. The entirety of just five crucial seconds was Marcus showing off their somewhat capable punching skills, followed by Milford coming back a split second later with an array of good, right-on-the-target kicks and strikes right around Marcus's leg area. There were about five or six, all with the effort of a person who had a good quality and practice of fighting, whether it was in school or the very few visits to the gym with their dad. Milford made his endeavor to get only Marcus's legs because he determined since they were as intoxicated as they were, they would slump and fall right on the hard concrete. They did not, to Milford's rapid-fire disappointment. Everything he knew was on the line, and he knew he couldn't risk anything else that could be in Marcus's favor in the fight from happening.
With the sharpest senses he ever had in his mental state, Milford moved his head to glance at Ajax, who was back down with Pablo and Max, standing exactly where they were before, looking back at him smiling. It was only for a fraction of a second, but it all went into Milford's mind instantly without getting distracted from the brawl he was in. He wondered for just around the same amount of time about why Ajax wasn't aiding him. It didn't seem important then, since he and Marcus were pretty equally matched at that point.
They were both back where they were, waiting for each other to make a move like a boxing match: fists were clenched high above their chests and everything included in the rule book. It was only a basic human instinct that never evolved like humans did, so their attitude towards one another only made sense.
Milford was about to sense a comeback from Marcus, but just then, something he wished he could do himself happened. Ajax smashed smack dab into his enemy like the Hulk, squashing Marcus like a bug in the wall that was to Milford's left. White-colored bricks covered the floor in front of him. Ajax must have hopped from the ground, because there was nowhere else he could have since there was no warning about a change in their movement or position. The only noise there was was Ajax's feet shuffling, which Milford must have missed being caught up in one of the most pivotal moments in his life right then and there.
Smoke and dust covered up the sight of Pablo and Max watching what had just occurred, but there was no covering up the true and utter shock coming from both of them. Their eyes were wide open and staring upwards at, for now, Milford because Ajax and Marcus were hidden in what was left of the wall one of them had just destroyed. Their jaws weren't completely open, but left to the imagination, they were just about halfway to the floor. They closed them a while later to avoid dust possibly entering their lungs, however.
What Milford was waiting for, though, was Ajax to come back out of his hole he made holding Marcus. This is what happened shortly after he gained the thought of it. This moment was also the only time Milford wanted, no, needed to see Marcus alive: he wanted to say one last thing to them before they were totally defeated.
Marcus wasn't knocked out, but they did have their eyes closed when they were revealed like a curtain unfolding Door Number 3, tucked into Ajax's arm, their knees dangling while their own arms were wrapped over their caretaker. It was cute in a sick, twisted way to Milford.
They opened their eyes, their mind dead set glued on Milford along with their pupils. They and Milford both knew it was really time for this all to be done and over with. They had caused enough trouble, and the cruel thing was, he'd bathed in America's general torture with their crime against humanity for quite some time then.
Milford felt truly important for once in their life, and it felt good. He wanted to see Marcus cry and act like they deserved to be spared for what they'd done, but they didn't, and that was the sad thing. All of these thoughts just formed onto one another like a ten car pile up until suddenly
Snap!
Nothing moved except for Marcus's neck. It wasn't Ajax or anyone who did it. A force, push, pull, whatever: that's what it was. Milford saw it happen after seeing an almost flash of white, but it was so quick that it didn't deserve to be called a flash. Afterwards, Marcus jerked back so hard Milford thought it was impossible. The entire thing was so swift that in just two seconds, the entire place went back to sounding just as abandoned as it was ten or twenty years ago.
Nothing compared to Ajax's reaction, though. Out of the two or three weeks or even a month (Milford hadn't kept track) of knowing Ajax, Milford had never seen a look so perfectly filled with horror as he did after Marcus's neck snapped.
Pablo and Max looked completely flushed as well, and Milford could see it from all the way over where they were standing.
None of them knew what to do after. Were they just going to walk back to their hotel and talk about what fun they had or just stand there until the end of time?
The first choice ended up being correct.
Walking back outside, Milford asked Ajax a multitude of questions, like he always did. One of them happened to be answered after, leaving Milford with about seven eighths of them to think about.
"Did I kill Marcus?"
Ajax stopped walking to think about the response they were going to say back before telling Milford, "I think all of your emotions crumpled up into an action that could only lead up to the amount of Rinchor that Marcus had. It was an action so powerful that, yes, it killed them. Everything you've been through, no matter how grating or scary, in the past month or so had purpose." He patted Milford on the back, saying, "You saved the world, kid."
They decided afterwards that Milford, Pablo, and Max would go back to the hotel, leaving Ajax to the journey under the sea once more. It wouldn't be as cozy as the airplane ride back to America, but they would manage.
At the dock, they all said their goodbyes to Ajax, because they wouldn't need to see him again.
"Hey, man, sorry for being a bit of an idiot to you this whole time," Max apologized.
Ajax stared at him like they were going to kill them, but smiled after and offered to shake their hand, to which Max agreed. Pablo did the same very firmly. Milford had already kind of left it off at that speech Ajax made, as he just nodded to them.
Ajax pencil dived into the water casually, and the group was going to walk back into the city only for them to come back up to add one last thing before they all turned their backs on the water.
"Oh, yeah, Milford. Don't use Rinchor on any school bullies."
Their head disappeared.
