Gravity ~~~Book Two | Red

Chapter Five - The Final Battle

I awoke in a small Bondar containment unit, with a force-field across the doorway. I could see other people in cells near mine, and all of them were bloodied and sleeping. No...
They were dead.
Suddenly, one of them moved.
"New guy, eh? Good luck gettin' out of 'ere. They locked us up months ago."
I looked at him.
"How did I get here?"
"One of 'em dragged you 'ere. Yer face was bleedin' pretty bad. What, did 'ey use those crowbars?"
"Umm...yeah. I think so. Did you see them bring in a kid and a couple of women?"
"Yeah, I think so. 'Ey were sayin' somethin' about seein' 'The Master'."
I turned around and contemplated this.
"Hey, Umbrik, what are you looking at?"
I looked at the guard who had just spoken to me.
"Get away from me."
"You've got quite the mouth, Umbrik."
He lowered the field and walked towards me.
"Get the hell away from me, before I make you go away."
He raised his rifle at me.
I grabbed it and twisted it out of his hand, and it dropped to the floor.
"Backup!" He shouted.
I kicked him in the head, and he crumpled.
"'Ey, Let me out!"

"Oh my gods, Vanies, just give me a little more time! He's already in my building, I'm just waiting for the right time to gas his cell! Gotta get him with the rest!"
"I've given you thirteen years, Vincent! Thirteen years! I gave you infinite power, and you still haven't killed the descendant of Kanien! If you think I'll let the Knights reign, I will destroy you."
"Just give me a little more time, Vanies! He'll be dead by midnight!"
"Vincent, the Knights are the only thing stopping you from achievement!"
Blix grabbed Emilie's AK-47 and loaded it.
"Vincent, you cannot hurt me with a bullet."
"I wasn't preparing to, as you'll find out in three...two...one..."
The door fell down, and standing there was a man in a blue robe.
"Vincent Blix, I represent the Gravitex Core Containment Commission! You have been misusing-"
"Save it, Knight." Blix started firing.

"Chris!"
"Daddy!"
I found Emilie, Kate and Stacy in a single, larger cell with tiny holes everywhere on the ground.
I swiped the keycard, and the field went down.
Kate ran at me and hugged me.
"We have to get out of here."
Stacy nodded.
"They took everything to some sort of armory."
"I think I can help you with that."
There was someone behind me. I unholstered my handgun, but the person was the one from the alley.
"I'm Li. Used to work here. I can probably still get into the security interface."
He started running, and we followed him until we came to a big door.
"This is the armory. Look for whatever you need." He took out a small cube and inserted it into the locking mechanism, and the door slid open.
I immediately spotted the red cube and purple cube, but I also grabbed a knife, a frag grenade, and an X-Co LaRifle.
"Let's go!"
We almost got to the elevator when someone cleared their throat behind us.
"You aren't going anywhere, Umbrik."
I glanced at Emilie before throwing the purple cube at her. She caught it and pressed the button on it, and the Prism X jumped onto her. She smiled and hopped onto the ceiling.
I took out my Prism, but Blix shot it out of my hand.
"Good luck without your precious gravity." He snapped his fingers, and the red prism was crushed under the weight of an invisible force. The rifle and knife were crushed, too.
Emilie jumped at him, and he raised his hand.
She froze in midair.
He snapped his fingers, and I dropped to the ground, pressure overcoming me.
"What...what are you...doing?!"
I grabbed the grenade from my belt and rolled it past him.
"This isn't how I imagined this, but it is what will have to be done."
The grenade exploded under him, and he flew into the ceiling before falling through the hole that was created.
"Go!"
Blix had lost his focus, so I managed to get up and run into the elevator as the doors were closing.
We were moving at standard elevator speed when we started plummeting downward.
We hit the floor, hard.
"What the HELL just happened?!"
"Blix snapped the elevator cables."
"Is everyone okay?"
Stacy nodded. Emilie nodded. We looked at Katie. Her cheek had a cut on it, and her leg was bleeding.
Stacy picked her up and started comforting her.
"Stace, we need to get out of here. Blix will be coming."
Emilie started using her ICE breaker to open the door when the door was wrenched open. Blix was standing there, blood leaking from his mouth, his nose bleeding, and a feral grin.
I tackled him as Li aimed his fist at Blix, and Emilie and Stacy ran out, the latter carrying Kate.
There was a resounding bang, and Blix staggered backward, blood spewing from a hole in the vicinity of his right lung.
Li lowered his fist, jumped on Blix, and started beating Blix in the face.
"Run!"
I ran after the others, and turned around in time to see Blix throwing
Li across the room.
I took out my radio.
"Kevin! KEVIN!"
"Chris, what took you so long?"
"DETONATE THE CHARGES!"
We heard a series of explosions behind us as the building fell.
I turned around, and saw the rubble shifting. Blix stood up, along with three Shadow Servants.
"That won't stop me. By Vanies, you won't escape this city alive."
We started running again, and two crossbow bolts flew by us about two minutes later.
Two shadow servants fell. The third kept pursuing us.
We ran farther, until we reached the end of the island.
The servant pulled out an assault rifle.
He aimed it at us.
We ran along the coast until we found woods, and we dove inside.
"The Knights have a facility in here!"
We ran until trees started falling behind us.
A car flew through the air, and we hid behind it.
The car lifted up, and Blix was standing above us.
He pushed us all ten feet back, but Emilie got back up and ran at him.
Blix threw an onslaught of weapons at her, and when she emerged, her face and arms were covered in slash marks.
Blood started pooling on the ground.
"Emilie!"
"Dean would want me to."
More weapons. When she emerged again, her eye had a slash across it and she collapsed. Her Prism was in pieces.
"Now that that threat is taken care of, Dmitri, deal with the rest."
The final shadow servant extended his arms to envelop Stacy and Kate.
"What in hell's name do you want, Blix?!"
"What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT?!
I want my revenge for the pain you have caused me, Umbrik. I have been to hell and back. Part of me stayed in hell. And now, so will you."
He drew his rifle, and I raised my hands.
"Kill me then. Kill me, if that's what you want."
He grinned like a madman as he pulled the trigger. I felt the bullets piercing my skin, draining my life from me. I could feel them tearing my flesh apart. Maybe this was for the best. I let my brother die, I let his wife die, I almost let my friend die. I may be dooming Hondo-Okhana, I may be dooming every Prism in the world. But at least I'd be protecting the rest of my family.
Maybe, just maybe, he'd let Stacy and Kate go.
Maybe he wouldn't kill the only people I truly loved.
I can not think of anything I would like more than to protect my family. Protect the Knights.
To pass on my knowledge.
And I understand now that all that truly matters in life is being able to spend time with good people that you love.
Gravity started this adventure for me.
But understanding the gravity of my actions is what will end it.
I understand now, as everything goes black.
I understand now, as the Knights drop onto my enemies. I reach my hand to the closest one.
"Bastet..."
No multiple endings this time. Only one ending. This book is not the end of the series. The adventure will continue. There's still one book left in this trilogy.
The adventure isn't over yet. Blix is still out there.

One Umbrik will die in vain,
One Umbrik will die in pain...