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Part 1- The Final Encounter
“Attention, 5 minutes until self-destruct,” blared out the mechanical female voice.
Liz, Tony, and Bip walked down the corridor bathed in the flashing red warning lights. They followed on In Alex lead as he walked past the large hole overlooked the arena.
“So what do you think? Reckon he was telling the truth?” Asked Tony.
“Hmm it does seem a little farfetched, but it didn’t seem like he was lying,” replied Liz.
“It doesn’t matter,” Alex chimed in. “Whether what he said was true or not it’s the only lead we’ve got. Our next move now should be to…”
Alex's words were cut off by and unexpected enraged shout coming from the corridor beside him. He turned his head to see the Anvil barreling down the corridor at full speed. He collided with Alex, wrapping his arms around him and sending the pair crashing over the fence and plummeting down the hole towards the arena. Liz and Bip dashed quickly over to the fence and watched as Alex fell.
“Alex!” The pair shouted out in a panicked tone.
Alex continued to fall down the long shaft. The Anvil let out a deep psychopathic laugh.
“What the hell are you doing? You’re gonna get us both killed you, idiot,” Alex scolded.
“You think I give a crap! I’ll die happy knowing I took you out with me!” Replied The Anvil.
Alex turned his head to see the ground growing closer and closer. He closed his eyes as he focused all his magical energy into forming a shield around his back. The pair collided with incredible force forming a large crater in the ground. The Anvil stood up from his position on top of Alex, continuing to laugh menacingly. Alex slowly began to pull himself up from the crater before quickly being stomped back down by The Anvils boot. Alex grunted and struggled against The Anvil to no avail.
“Haha… look at you, pathetic. Your friends aren’t here to help you this time, guess you’re nothing special when you don’t have any backup,” The Anvil taunted.
He raised his hands above his head forming them into tight fists.
“Imma enjoy killing you!” The Anvil yelled as he sent his fist crashing down towards Alex.
Alex averted his eyes and closed them tightly as he prepared for the impact. Several second past, each one feeling like hours to Alex. He re-opened his eyes and turned his head to see the Anvil holding his fist mere inches away from his face. His body was shaking slightly as he let out a quiet groan. He began to stand back up letting his hand fall limply to his sides. He let out a violent coff sending a spray of blood shooting out. A long sharp pillar of stained red ice began to dig its way out of stomach causing his body to go completely limp. Alex began to stand back up to see Liz standing behind the Anvils lifeless body.
“Liz… you...you,” Alex stammered, shocked by what he had seen.
“Don’t…” Liz said, still trying to process what she had just done.
“Let's go,”
Liz turned and began to walk towards the exit, followed shortly behind by Alex.
Part 2- Cutting it close
Liz and Alex frantically ran through the destroyed hallways of the top floor of the facility. They had already been running for quite some time and were extremely exhausted and out of breath however pressed on in spite of it.
“Attention, one minute until self-destruct,” blared out the loud
mechanical female voice.
“Crap… we’re not gonna make it,” Liz huffed in a panicked tone.
“We’re almost there… come on we can do it. Where are Bip and Tony?” Alex asked.
“They’re already waiting for us outside.”
The pair ran past the hole overlooking the arena, veering off to the side to face the stairway leading to the exit. They ran up the long stairway as fast as they could manage.
“Attention, self-destruct in ten, nine, eight, seven.”
The pair continued to run up the stairs as the exit grew closer and closer.
“Six, five, four.”
The pair reached the door, Alex cocked back his leg before launching it at the door sending it flying off its hinges and revealing the outside world behind it.
“Three, two.”
The pair ran out of the building quickly jumping to the ground and covering their faces with their arms.
“One.”
There was an unexpected silence and calm over the forest. Liz and Alex turned their heads around to look at the small shed marking the entrance to the arena with confusion. They continued to wait and watch for a few seconds as nothing continued to happen.
“Huh... guess that…” Liz said before being cut off by a loud bang.
Without warning the shed exploded bathing the forest in orange light for a brief moment. The pair covered their faces as chips of wood shot out in all directions. As the sound of the explosion began to die down the pair removed their hands from their faces to see the hole left in the ground where the shed once stood. The pair continued to huff as their exhaustion caught up with them. They turned over onto their backs to face the sky. Alex began to let out a slight laugh growing more and more hearty. Liz followed in adding to the sound of laughter. They slowly began to peel their aching bodies up off the ground.
“Alex… Liz,” yelled Bip from deeper in the forest.
The pair turned to see bip flying towards them at top speed with Tony walking behind him. Bip collided with Alex, wrapping his arms around and hugging him tightly.
“I was so worried about you two,” Bip said as tears welled up in his eyes.
“Don’t worry, we're fine,” Alex replied, gently patted Bip's head.
“So what now? Is it over?” asked Tony as he reached the rest of the group
“Guess so,” Alex shrugged in reply.
“Not quite yet,” Liz interjected, drawing the group’s attention to her. “I mean there were a lot of sick people involved with Channel 4014, be a shame if they got off scot-free.”
As the sun began to rise over the forest, the distant sound of sirens began to grow louder and louder as red and blue flashing lights began to shoot through the gaps in the trees.
Part 3- The Aftermath
3 picked up his cup off the table in front of him and raised it to his mouth.
“Well well I must say that I am impressed, only your first mission and you’ve already managed to take down one of the most powerful men in the world and dismantle the larges underground fighting wring in history,” 3 said taking a sip from his cup with his eyes closed.
He lowered the cup before opening his eyes to look across at Liz, Alex, and Bip on the other end of the table with a sarcastic glare.
“Though in an official capacity, I’m actually here to reprimand you for taking such drastic action without consulting the guild first… so try and not be so naughty in the future… ok.”
Liz smiled back across the table to 3.
“It’s good to see you again 3, how’s the clean up going?” Asked Liz.
“Well the police are being fairly tight-lipped, but from what I’ve managed to gather, over the past three days thanks to your little anonymous tip-off they’ve made over a hundred arrests. Everyone from high profile criminals to employees and attendees of Charles little murder dome have been taken into custody, I even heard the chief of the Sol Dantol police department is under investigation,” 3 explained before shifting his gaze across to Alex with an inquisitive smile. “So what happened? Did you find out any new information?”
Alex looked down contemplatively for a moment before finally opening his mouth.
“Charles defiantly had something to do with everything that happened,” Alex said candidly.
“Come on… you got to give me more than that. What did he say? What happened to Harry?”
Alex continued to avert his gaze away from 3. 3 let out a long disappointed sigh as he realized he wouldn’t get any information out of him.
“Fine, let me guess knowing would just put me in danger. You know you and Harry might not be blood-related but you’re clearly his son,” 3 said, once again leaning back in his chair as he noticed a slight smile raise from Alex's lips. “So what’s next for all of you?”
“We’re going to Niske. We’re hoping we can find out more there,” chimed in Bip
“Niske hey?” 3 said as he sat back up. “The word going around is that there’s some serious stuff going on over there. The military’s been hiring mages by the dozen for work there.”
Liz and Alex turned to look at each other for a moment with confusion. Liz turned back around to face 3.
“The Military? Sounds pretty serious, what’s happening?”
“Some sort of new disease or something was found there. The entire city has been completely quarantined, no one goes in or out, you’re lucky that the pair of you are mages otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the city limits,” 3 explained.
Alex looked down at the cup in front of him as he contemplated on what 3 said. A dull beeping began to emanate from 3 wrist. He pulled his hand up and looked down at his watch as it continued to beep.
“I should get going, the police wanted some help raiding some of Charles’s old property’s,” said 3, as he slid his chair back, stood up and turned around to walk off down the street. He waved behind him as he walked. “Catch up soon, and best of luck.”
Liz and Alex waved in reply as 3 walked off into the distance. Liz turned to look to Alex.
“Sounds like there some pretty serious stuff happening in Niske, you sure it’s a good idea to go there?” Liz asked.
“We don’t really have any other option,” Alex said as he continued to think. “It seems a little too convenient that the entire city would be quarantined as soon as we find out all this new information.”
“I guess so,” replied Liz as she stood up out of her seat. “Come on, we should get a move on then.”
“Hey you guys,” came Tony’s voice from further up the street.
The pair looked up to see Tony running down the street towards them, waving with a huge smile stretched across his face. He came to a grinding halt as he reached the table that the group sat around. As Tony came to a stop he knelt over grabbing his knees and began to let out a series of heavy pants.
“You guys weren’t heading off already were you,” Tony panted.
“Ahh maybe,” said Alex.
“Come on, at least say goodbye first. I wanted to thank you for everything you did before you left. If it wasn’t for you guys id probably still be locked up and fighting for my life right now, I owe you big time.”
“It’s no big deal, we’re more than happy to help,” Bip chimed in.
“I mean really It was more of an unintended side effect,” Alex mumbled under his breath.
“So what’s next for you now then?” Asked Liz.
Tony smiled timidly as he looked over to Liz.
“Well umm… Well honestly seeing the two of you in action inspired me,” Tony stammered. “So I’m gonna practice my magic… and then next year… I’m gonna become a mage, just like you two,” Tony continued, brimming with determination.
“Huh for real?” asked Alex.
“Nope,” Tony replied with a cheeky grin.
“Then why would you say that you lier!” Alex scolded.
“Lieing, acting, same thing really. With Mr Morhan out of the picture, all of his competitors in the entertainment industry are scrambling to take up his share in the market, one studio even managed to get the rights to the story of everything that happened in the arena, they gave me a job as an authenticity consultant.”
“A movie? After only three days?” Liz questioned.
“Things move fast in this town, you gotta keep up or you’ll get left in the dust,” Tony shrugged. “They even offered me a role as a side character in the movie… I’m gonna be a star.”
“A side character huh, yeah the role seems fitting,” Alex muttered under his breath.
“Good for you, I’m sure you’ll do great,” Liz congratulated.
“Thanks, I’m finally gonna live my dream. So what’s next for you guys then.”
“We’re going to Niske to follow up on Mr. Morhan’s lead,” Bip chimed in.
“Wait you’re not serious are you? You heard what Mr. Morhan said if I was you I would try and forget about all that cult stuff and stay as far away from Niske as I could.”
Alex let out a quick sigh.
“We have to go, we’ve come too far to turn back now.”
“I can understand that just don’t die on me before I become famous alright,” Tony said as he turned around. “Anyway I should get going, they needed some help with the script today, catch yous round, I promise I won’t forget you when I’m rich.”
Tony began to walk off down the street with an unmistakable spring in his step. He waved behind him as he walked which the group returned.
“We really should get a move on to now, come on Alex,” Liz said as she began to walk off in the opposite direction.
Liz continued to walk off down the street for a few steps before turning back to see Alex still sitting at the table with Bip hovering next to him. She looked at the pair confused as she waited for them to follow.
“What are you two doing? Come on let’s get a move on or else we’ll never get to Niske,” Liz said.
“Liz… we need to talk about what happened, back in the arena, what you did,” Alex said, a serious aura overcoming him.
Liz's expression sank to match Alex's seriousness as she walked back over to the table.
“What’s there to talk about, it happened, that’s all there is to it,” Liz replied.
“We both know that not true. You killed someone, even if he was a bad guy, even if he deserved it that kind of thing isn’t something you can just instantly get over, especially when it’s your first time, trust me I know. I just want to make sure that you’re gonna be ok. You don’t’ have to pretend it’s not affecting you,” Alex assured.
Liz looked down to the ground in silence for a moment as she thought back on what had happened.
“The truth is I’m not ok, every time I think about what happened… the blood dripping out of him onto the ground, it makes me sick to my stomach. Even when I try and justify it, I just can't. I’m not ok… but I will be, I’ll get used to it, and better at it to, I’ll have to if I ever want to succeed as a mage,” Liz said as she once again turned around and walked off down the street. “So don’t worry ok… come on let’s get a move on.”
Liz walked off down the street brimming with determination. Alex let out a long sigh as he slowly pulled himself up out of his chair.
“That’s the thing,” Alex said as Bip and him followed Liz. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about.”