F A D E- New Kansas

by Tom Cain

  "The bombs were linked up under the ground, this was thought through. Three and Four were there, Seven or the doctor must have set a trap for us. Again we are not completely sure but right now we have a bigger problem John I need to…" Ron urged.

  "I am going to kill those sons of bitches" John shouted in anger clearly upset.

  "He was my oldest friend. From the start. From the beginning he was there. Shit. Son of a bitch, do you know where they are?" John now muttering almost to himself before blurting out a question in Ron's direction.

  "That's what I am trying to tell you, you don't need to find them, they are coming here. They are on their way now. The doctor lost his rag, something to do with Swiss leaving and the switch parts being taken from the tower, he knows it was us that organized it. He let his guard dog go. I heard he killed Three and Four" Ron said spitting.

  "You mean Seven is coming here?" John asked in a low tone seemingly bothered by the fact.

  Ron sat down and rested one hand on his brow, looking nervously over the Little London plans.

  "We got to defend this place John, it's one of very few refuges for the good in this state".

  "You organize the defending of the city, I will take care of Seven. The doctor will be another problem. I don't know what he is capable of if anything. He was closest to the blast so he could be a bitch to take down" John said putting his hat back on and rubbing his shoulder.

  "I am going to going to go bat shit on this guy for killing my friends, so, sorry in advance" said John deadly serious.

  "Ron, those things work?" said John pointing to two walkie talkies.

  "Sure they do, but only maybe a mile and a half" Ron replied.

  "Tell me when you know which way they are coming from I will brief my guys and meet them head on. Get the innocents and non combatants well out of the area, this is going to get nasty" John said leaving the room.

  Ron brought in a few more people to make the plan. Burke came into the room as John left.

  "Follow me Burke" John said walking past and straight faced, Burke immediately turned around.

  "Right o" he said.

  Ron continued to discuss the plans.

  "So we have to put sentries at every entrance and exit, which would mean sixteen teams of at least three per team" Ron did some quick math.

  "That's forty eight guys, how many have we got for the perimeter?" Ron asked.

  A sturdy looking women called Duck spoke up.

  "We have at least eighty for the perimeter and another maybe eighty for the inside".

  Ron nodded in agreement.

  "Good, well the labs are to the east so I would think they will be coming in one of the east entrances. Lock them all down put the extra guards on the east quarters" Ron barked.

  "Sure, but what about the supply lines?" Duck asked.

  "This isn't going to be a drawn out battle, Duck, they are coming in somehow and they want to kill everyone they can".

  CHAPTER 16

  The Final Battle

  It was a full day before anything started to happen. Ron got word from scouts that one of the perimeters had been breached.

  "What the fuck is going on out there?" Ron shouted at one of his cronies who were also a tad surprised.

  "Sir, the perimeter has been breached, section fourteen on the east side had been collapsed, we think the team are dead" the scout reported after having run into the main room.

  Ron stared at the scout for a moment then said.

  "Why are you still here? Get everyone to that exit!".

  "The entrance was completely collapsed, they blew something above to block the entrance with rubble" the scout added.

  "So the doctor can't get down?" asked Ron.

  "No sir. Not unless he drills through".

  Just as the scout finished his sentence a call from the radio came through.

  “Section four and six have been blown Ron. No one getting in or out this side" the caller coughed as he spoke.

  Several other loud explosions were heard and some felt. Panic ensued outside Ron's operation room, the soldiers kept a beady eye on all exits. More radio calls came into to Ron and to multiple scouts hand held radios.

  "Sir, all the exits are being blown" Duck reported.

  Ron looked confused for a moment.

  "What are they trying to do?" He slammed his hand down on the metal table spilling a plastic cup of water onto the floor, pooling the water into a dent he made several months before.

  "Are they trying to make us run out of air? We have ventilation all over the city, it would take them weeks to find all of the ports" Ron speaking to himself.

  "Sir" Duck said nervously.

  "Are they trying to disrupt our supply lines, maybe starve us out, they would be pissing off other states and that's not a good move knowing what's out there" Ron continued to mutter ignoring Duck.

  "Sir, I don't think they are starving us out" Duck said.

  "Do they have a plant in here or something? Are they trying to…" Duck interrupted with a louder voice.

  "SIR, they are trying to stop us getting out, so they can kill us all" she said pointing to a dodgy CCTV camera screen.

  Seven had smashed through the concrete and metal and landed in one of the underground cities streets taking out several soldiers in Green District. Ron picked up the radio and turned the frequency dial to eight.

  "John, get to the green district, he is here" he said nervously.

  The doctor had entered through a hole he created in exit six, he was wearing a brown hooded cloak, he had his white lab coat on underneath and a terrible glare in his black eyes. Dr. Ahiro had self inflicted scars on his own face after years of mental torment from guilt. A security guard raced to the exit, and confronted the doctor. The guard raised his automatic rifle and fired. The gun did not release a bullet, the guard looked down at his gun to try and unblock the jam, he looked back up at the doctor and noticed his arm had been raised and his facial scars were glowing slightly green. The doctors hand changed from a outward facing palm to a closed fist immediately crushing the gun into a small compact ball, the clenched fist opened and flicked outwards sending the ball through the guard and smashing into a concrete wall behind him. The guard dropped to his knees and fell flat on his face at the doctor's feet. He walked onwards being confronted by several other guards coming to the area. They all met the same fate. His anger grew and grew, with every kill he screamed more and more, his anger fuelling his unseen mental power. The doctors progress down the streets and tunnels was not hindered much by the defending parties, each man or woman was crushed indiscriminately by the doctor as he marched forwards. To the doctors surprise a rush of wind passed him by and made him stumble backwards. He could not see what was attacking him, it was too quick, a blur. The doctor pulled several pieces of wall away and tried to block the attacker. Eventually the attacker stopped in a darkened corner having had near misses with several of the pieces of debris the doctor had been throwing with his mind. Two purple lights appeared in the darkened corner, the doctor smirked. Valeria took a step out and smiled back. She pulled out two large knives from her back and pointed one at the doctor, who also raised his arm.

  John heard the radio call and immediately left for the location. John was seething, he couldn't think of anything else.

  "Hey you need back up buddy, the doctor is over in the East exits" Huck said to a marching John.

  "Not now Huck, Seven is mine, take care of the doctor" John shouted stomping passed.

  Hucks radio called in with a warning.

  "They have greeners, in the yellow and the…" gunshots were heard and the radio went silent.

  Kairi ran passed Huck on the way to the Yellow District.

  "Come on numbnuts, let's take care of the greeners, John has got Seven, and Vals gone off to take on the doctor, we gots a job to do Huck. Get you ass in gear!" she stopped and stared expectantly.

  Huck looked back at John who was now a distance away and decided to follow Kairi
in the direction of the Yellow District.

  John reached a street in the Blue District, it was called the blue district because all the low level lighting around the area was blue, they had separated the areas within the city into colors to more easily manage the population and security aspects.

  John did not see Seven anywhere, low level screams came from a few houses. A growling voice rang through the tightly squeezed sheet metal huts.

  "EIGHT" the voice said deep and creepy.

  "Where are you? I'm going to tear you apart for killing my boys" John said shouting into nothing.

  The street was silent, just the glowing blue hue of the district lights slightly flickering across Johns hungry eyes.

  "Come out you bastard" John demanded holding fast in the center of the packed street and grinding his steel rimmed boots into the concrete floor.

  A few chancing greeners find Johns shouting too tempting to pass up and charge at him from a side alley. With two strikes John flattens them both collapsing them on their fronts.

  "I am a bastard John" Sevens voice echoed.

  "I am a bastard, but then, so are you, all of us are, we were not born the natural way were we John".

  John slowly walked forwards, kissed his pendant, some people were still in their houses and nervously shut the doors and locked them.

  "Everyone needs to leave this place, get somewhere else, your homes won't help. Take what you need and get out" John shouted across the street breathing heavily from his mouth.

  A dark figure stepped out from under a corrugated roof, he had to bend down do fit through.

  "I am not one for too much talking John, and we don't have a devious plan, I simply just want to see who is stronger, you or I. The doctor on the other hand, saw the scribe take the parts". Said Seven.

  John started to grind his teeth, he took off his hat not taking his eyes of Sevens face. He rested his hat on the floor next to him, and slowly took off his jacket.

  "I'm not going to kill you quick Seven, this is going to take a while…" John only got one arm out of the jacket when suddenly Seven rushed forwards at unnatural speed fist clenched behind him ready for a hefty right cross, John quickly used the jacket to deflect the powerful punch and wrapped it around Sevens face regaining balance after having been forced back by the momentum. John followed up with a swift right cross of his own sending Seven plummeting into someone's home. John allowed Seven to get back to his feet.

  "I'm not going to beat you that quick" said John walking towards Seven.

  "Oh John, I haven't even started".

  John threw a left hand, this time Seven stood still and took the punch directly in the face, he didn't move, John looked confused. John threw a second punch this time from his right arm; Seven moved his head to the side narrowly avoiding the blow. John immediately recognized that his right arm could hurt Seven and continued to thrash forwards, swinging right hooks and right crosses in Sevens direction. Seven ducked and slipped away from each glancing blow and planted a heavy uppercut into John's stomach making him cough and splutter. John took the blow and charged forwards grabbing Seven by the waist and slamming him through another wall. Seven began to laugh crumpled on top of a broken wall. If that's all you have got John this will be over quickly. With that John sprung into the air around twelve meters, as high as he could go inside the underground city and dropped down directly onto Seven who was still laying on a broken wall. Johns right hand plummeted into Sevens face, cutting his above his eye.

  "That's more like.." said Seven before being grabbed by John again who this time picked him up and sprung yet again into the air the same distance and body slammed him into the ground. Seven struggled to break free as John smashed him several more times into the ground, each time with more ferocity and more anger. Seven hit the floor for the fifth time, he smashed his hands into the concrete either side and gripped stopping John from picking him up a sixth time. Seven groaned with pain as he snapped Johns grip apart and planted a palm into Johns chest. John toppled backwards breathing heavily. Seven staggered up slowly as John regained his breath.

  "That's what I wanted John, finally someone worthy" Seven spat blood on to the mess of rock and metal.

  The houses creaked, and a strange wind swept through the remainder of the streets.

  "I didn't kill your friends John, Just hurt them a bit" Seven said dribbling blood.

  John walked forwards to meet Seven in the center of the street, John threw a right, Seven blocked with his left arm, Seven threw a right, John blocked and straight kicked Sevens chest sending him backwards a few meters. Seven halted his stumble and pressed forwards again towards John, this time crunching his foot into the ground and blasting upwards grabbing Johns neck on the way, picking him up and slamming him into the street floor. John let out a long painful sigh as he impacted. Seven followed up with a hard punch to the face, causing Johns nose to cut. Seven staggered again clearly tired.

  "How long will this go on John? I'm not sure you can win…" John pushed hard from the ground getting to his feet quickly and slamming a right fist into Sevens stomach forcing him to bend over, John grabbed him around the waist his face in his lower back, picked him up and threw him into a wall, which did not break. Seven fell to the floor, in a seated position and let out whince.

  "That hurt John but not enough" he spat blood on the floor.

  "First one to make me bleed and it looks like the last" he coughed.

  John cracked the knuckles on his left hand, his eyes taking a long journey up to Sevens face. Seven moved quickly grabbing the wall and tearing a piece off with one hand, launching it towards Johns face, John moving swiftly again smashed the block with his right arm, closing his eye but for a moment to allow the dust to roll over his already bloodied face but Seven was already standing and already had his arm full cocked, it plowed through the still in the air debris. The straight punch landed squarely in Johns face, taking him by surprise. John did not fall over, but took the punch and winced letting out a groan before coming back with his own.

  John cracked Seven, Seven punched back, neither would fall over. A soldier appeared from one of the crumbling houses, and noticed the two battling it out. He took aim with his rifle, determined not to hit John. Shaking, he aimed at Sevens legs and pulled the trigger, a single shot fired and echoed, John and Seven stopped throwing punches and the bullet hit Sevens back and ricocheted with a twang. Seven disappeared and reappeared behind the soldier taking his gun and swinging a lofty left hand.

  "What the…?" the soldier stammered, John appeared in a blur in front of the soldier and grabbed Sevens hand.

  "No innocents" John protested throwing Sevens arm back at him. The soldier fell over quivering.

  "Go" said John with a closed eye and battered face.

  The soldier crawled backwards and got to his feet shocked.

  "You want them all to live John? A little late, seeing as though the doctor is already inside" Seven said with conviction.

  The both of them breathing heavily and with every breath the victory got further away.

  "Why do you do what he wants anyways?" John murmured.

  Seven backed up away from John warily.

  "He is the reason we are here John. Well, him and Doctor Willis Scott".

  John wiped some blood away from his mouth and nose.

  "What are you talking about?" said John breathing through his mouth.

  "Constructs John, implanted in your memory. We are the same you and I. Bastard children of the Doctors imagination" Seven said ready for an attack.

  "Remember John, remember being in the tank?. There were nine of us, failed, mutated after the green. Ahiro let us lose, one by one but you were first, before everything. You were the eighth of us but the first to be released." Seven continued.

  "What the shit are you talking about? My wife and child, the blast took them both" said John confused.

  "Yes, you did have a wife, you had a child, that was real, your marriage, love, the house, being
a good dad" Seven said with a hint of jealousy.

  "That was all real, Dr Willis-Scott put you out in the world before it all, to see if you would integrate. Me too. Didn't work too well for me. I got put back" said Seven.

  "I can remember playing in the fields with" John was interrupted by Seven speaking over him.

  "Holding hands with your granddad, you were going down to the river to try and catch the salmon jumping upstream during the fall" Seven finished and looked upon an even more confused John.

  "How did you…?" John muttered.

  "They gave us all the same memories John, all of us" Seven revealed.

  "It doesn't make any sense, they cloned us? How?" John struggling to make sense of his jumbled memories.

  "Only the Doctor can answer such questions, but I am not here to give you a science lesson John, I am here to see who is the best, who is greater, you or me, now come on, I want you to try and kill me" Seven began to shout.

  Johns face turned from searching to anger, as he accepted his fate. John’s arm started to glow green, a bubbling fire grew from the arm to cover his body. Seven also started to glow green, but a distinctly different shade. A nightmare green energy emanated from sevens eyes and hands. John exploded with rage charging Seven at incredible speed, his feet almost not touching the ground. Seven burst into action pulling back a mighty fist and raining it down in John's direction. Both punches landed on both faces, turning both their heads the opposite way for a moment. John recovered more quickly and was able to grab Sevens arm and thrust several more punches his way. Seven dodged with equal speed. Round two was well underway, the green shone and sparked and crashed across the entire district.

  Blinding speed from them both. John managed to grab Sevens head whilst rolling through the air, smashed it into a roof, dragged it along and then drove him into the floor. All the while Seven was manically punching Johns body. They landed on the ground with the crunch of breaking concrete and metal water pipes bursting, spraying water everywhere. The water sizzled, as it landed on Johns now bare shoulders.

  "Get up Seven, I am going to beat you standing up" said John again breathing heavily.