The General couldn’t explain why, but he thought Spark had actually made sense. “Okay, we’ll check there first. Come on. We don’t have time to go through options.”
***
Bark was about to land near The Hill, one of the universities most famous landmarks and the location of the first building that Ichabod had declared he would destroy.
“That’s enough, Bark,” Bastion’s voice warned through the speakers.
Bark pressed the com button and said, “Leave me alone.”
“Nope, the computer will now return that shuttle.” Without any further warning, the autopilot activated and the shuttle’s descent stopped. It hovered for a second while the sensors plotted a return course.
“NO!” Bark slammed his fists against the controls, breaking a few of the surfaces. It didn’t stop the shuttle, but it did cause one of the emergency door latches to come open. He realized he had one option left, so he activated the emergency evac system, blowing all the door latches free and sending the door flying away from the shuttle.
Chapter 14: Confrontation
The General, gun at the ready, Spark, fully charged, and Snow with a glowing hand at the ready walked through the deathly dark theater. It was even creepier than they had expected. Several of its windows were broken and nature had blown in, rendering the floor wet and moldy in a lot of places. The movie posters from five years ago were still in the mounts, though they were ragged and faded almost beyond recognition.
Snow jumped at the sight of a large spider web that she almost made contact with. “Creepy was an understatement. This is like a bad horror movie.”
Spark smiled like a 13-year-old. “Cool, isn’t it?”
“Focus, people.” The General held out a hand and craned his head. “Do you hear that?”
Snow and Spark both stopped moving and listened. Spark nodded. “Yes, it’s coming from the theater with the Grindhouse X poster.”
Snow shuddered. “Figures.”
They made their way down the hall as quietly as possible. It was more and more apparent that someone was there. Light was flickering out the door and sounds were getting louder as they approached.
The General stopped the other two at the door and gave them the “hush” sign with one finger. Then he directed them with his eyes to stand on either side of the door. It was obvious that he would go in first.
The General slowly entered the room, hoping to catch this person off guard. The room was devoid of the normal theater chairs and filled with computer equipment, a holding chamber for the armored body, and several large screens with information running on them. The main theater screen had the images of what Ichabod was seeing plastered all across it, the projector having been replaced by a digital system. A man sat in a chair at the front holding all the controls. He was speaking into a mic that was the voice of Ichabod. After he spoke into the mic, the body would translate it into its own voice and repeat what he said. It was like a horrific Wizard of Oz.
“THAT’S ENOUGH. FREEZE!” The General got the attention of the man at the controls.
The man turned around in his office chair, a smile on his face. He was a very heavy man who had spent too many hours behind a computer screen and not enough on a treadmill. But, for his less-than-imposing appearance, he certainly didn’t look like a man with a gun pointed at his head.
“So, the famous UCH General has come to arrest me. How did you find me?” He wasn’t showing an ounce of fear.
“Who are you?” The General demanded.
“I’m Torren Wild, the most brilliant mind in this world. I’m the one who…”
The General glared at him. “I don’t have time for this. Turn off your systems and shut down that Ichabod, or I'll shut it down for you.”
Torren stood up, still not afraid. “You and what army?”
The General rolled his eyes at the cliché. “Enough!” He shot at Torren’s shoulder to take him down, but the bullet bounced off.
Torren smiled victoriously. “You didn’t think I wouldn't protect myself, did you? I did help Dr. Ogle design that armor, after all.”
“Don’t try to intimidate me…” The General pointed the gun at Torren’s head, intent on ending this threat now. He shot, but Torren moved at the same speed as Ichabod, dodging the bullet. The cape he had wrapped around his body against the cold theater fell off, revealing a sloppy version of the armor that Ichabod wore – sloppy, but effective.
“Snow! Spark!”
Snow and Spark came through the door, Snow with her hand held up. She shot a blast of cold energy at Torren. He smiled and let it hit him. He shivered, but ran right at her and punched her in the jaw. She went down with blood coming out of the side of her mouth.
“GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!” Spark ran at Torren with his hands out, ready to grab and fling him just as he had to Ichabod at the stadium. Torren caught him by the arms, his armored hands holding Spark’s wrists and trying to crush the bone.
Torren glared down at Spark. “I'm going to win, you're going to lose, and Dr. Ogle will be blamed.”
The General held up his gun again, but was met by a small blast of red energy.
Spark gritted his teeth, but smiled. "You know, Dr. Ogle did design a good suit of armor, but he also designed a special body to wear it.’’
“Huh?”
Spark arched his back and let out a massive jolt of electricity from his deepest parts through his hands. Torren shook harshly as the electricity surged through him. Parts of his armor burst and shattered while he screamed in pain. He finally let go of Spark and fell down. He wasn’t dead; his armor had saved him. But, the armor was worthless now.
The General quickly got to his feet and pointed his gun at Torren’s head again. “Now, tell me how to turn this off.”
Torren coughed and shook before smiling and laughing. “It’s too late,” he teased. “I have programmed it with the sequence to destroy all of UT. Then it will take out Knoxville. You can’t stop it. You have failed every time you tried.”
The General knew that he would be reprimanded for killing this man, but he really, really wanted to. Fortunately for Torren, The General had morals. “Keep him quiet.” He grabbed his communicator. “UCH. This is The General, I……oh my God.”
Snow, who was still gathering herself, stood up to look at the largest screen. She gasped and then held her mouth. “NO!!”
They could see what the armored body saw. Ichabod was hovering near Ayres Hall, his arm out and ready to destroy it. Only feet away from Ichabod, standing on the very top of the tower, was Bark. He was glaring at the body, his teeth showing through a snarl. Just as the arm shot the blast to destroy the hall, Bark leapt off the building, tackling the body in mid-air. Its arm was thrust upward and the energy was sent skyward.
They watched as Bark punched and punched at the body, riding it in much the same way he had when first encountered it.
Snow ran over to Torren. “TURN IT OFF!!”
Torren laughed. “Say please.”
“Jackass!” Snow slapped him.
Spark walked over to the computers and held his hands out. “I'm betting a good shock should do the trick.”
“Ha! Nothing can stop it now. If it doesn't complete its mission, the power cell that runs the armor will self-destruct. Do you have any idea what kind of damage a type forty sub-nuclear energy cell can do? Knoxville will be a smoking crater.”
Snow pulled him up so she was nearly face to face with him. “TURN IT OFF, NOW!!!”
Torren sneered at Snow. “Even if I don’t take out the university, at least I will take one of your stupid heroes down today.”
Snow punched him so hard that he was knocked clean out of his senses.
***
Bark was carried high into the sky, and then plunged downward toward the ground. Ichabod was trying to shake him loose. Just as they were about to crash into the ground, Bark ripped at the armor and pulled upward, forcing Ichabod
to fly straight at a building.
“Release me, villain.” The body’s voice had returned to its pre-programmed setting.
They flew fast through the university, into the old city. Bark clung to the front of the body, holding on with his legs and one hand. He used the other to repeatedly punch it hard enough to deflect its path. Ichabod persistently tried to ram Bark into a building, but Bark would deflect the path with a well-placed slam.
“Desist, villain, or I will have to destroy you.”
Bark punched the vocal processor so hard that his fist punctured the armor and broke its voice system. It would not be speaking anymore. “THAT’S FOR TAKING AWAY THE LAST SHRED OF MY HUMANITY!”
Suddenly, they crashed through the windows of an office building, destroyed five desks, and then crashed out of that same building as they headed for the river they had first fought over. Bark held on, but he was a little dazed by the encounter with so much debris.
Ichabod gripped Bark by the shoulders and pulled him in closer. It was going to slam them both into the ground, sandwiching Bark between the body and the pavement. Shaking off the dazed feeling, Bark realized he would not survive unless he did something drastic. He wrapped his legs around its waist and thrust his heels up into Ichabod’s knees. This veered jets off course and out of control. Ichabod slammed into a light pole, flew sporadically around, and slammed Bark’s back against a wooden telephone pole. Neither bounces dislodged Bark. The body let go of Bark’s left side to use its hand jet to stabilize its flight.
Bark grabbed at the other hand with his now-freed left hand and painfully ripped Ichabod’s fingers off of him. The body was able to straighten out the legs, which forced Bark’s legs to let go. Bark had to grab it by the collar to stay on. Bark was now barely able to keep himself attached.
Ichabod registered that slamming Bark around was not accomplishing anything and was causing too much damage to itself, so its tactical systems changed plans.
Bark was about to continue ripping at the armor when his ears picked up the distinct sound of a charging beam. The right arm was coming around Ichabod and pointed at Bark. Quickly ducking, Bark avoided the blast, but the beam continued to shoot as Ichabod intended on bisecting Barks skull. Bark grabbed the arm with one of his and pushed it so that its beam would not hit him. It was shooting into the sky like a spotlight, only this spotlight could slice a plane in half. Had the shoulder armor not been damaged by Thrasher, Bark would not have been able to keep this things arm at bay.
***
“BARK! STOP!” Snow was yelling into the mic at the front of the theater. The computer showed a small window that stated, “Vocal Processor Has Been Damaged, Recall for Repair.” She did not pay attention and continued to yell into it, “BARK! PLEASE DON’T!”
The General pulled her back and looked into her teary eyes. “He can’t hear you.”
Snow broke down and started crying. “Bark, please don’t do this.” She was so terrified right now that she could not even think of anything else. Would she witness his death? She could not bear the idea of seeing that, so she turned and buried her face in Spark’s chest and cried hard. Spark put his arms around her.
The General grabbed up his communicator and barked, “Ladybug! Come in!”
“UCH here.”
“Tell me you have something.” He watched the screen as it displayed a dizzying view of the battle.
Ladybug replied through the com, “We linked into his computers and hacked all the codes. I am afraid there is nothing we can do.”
“Can you turn off its systems?”
Ladybug answered, “Yes, but there is a failsafe that we cannot bypass quickly enough. If we do, its sub-nuclear core will be set off. It’s a catch 22. And, if that core goes critical, it will make Hiroshima look like a firecracker.”
The General closed his eyes. “Continue analyzing, see if you can figure out anything on your end.” This was a hope, not an order.
Ladybug answered solemnly, “Yes, sir.”
The General closed the communicator. “It looks like we have to hope that Bark can stop that thing, or at least get it far enough away to minimize the destruction.”
Snow gripped Spark tightly. “But, that would kill him.” Her voice was a raspy whisper.
The General could not look at her when he said, “I know. I can only hope that he knows that.”
***
The battling pair flew higher and higher while they arm wrestled, Icahbod’s arm shooting green blasts all the while in an attempt to kill his enemy. Bark, however, was not going down until he knew for certain that this damned thing was going to be utterly destroyed.
Bark was losing the battle, but he refused to lose the war. He mustered all the canine power in his body and pulled the weapon arm over, breaking bones, ripping off pieces of the armor, and nearly killing himself in the process. Delivering a bend in the arm that would have broken the shoulder of any man, Bark forced the body to slice off its own appendage. The green energy beam cut through the armor and body’s shoulder. Instantly, the beam stopped. Bark, now holding the bloodied arm, threw it away.
Running out of options, Ichabod attempted a final attack on Bark’s life. Ichabod flew upward with Bark still sitting on him. Soon, they would break through the breathable layers of the atmosphere and Bark would suffocate. Bark realized this and knew he had little time to react. With his free hand, he grabbed at the broken parts of the armor where the arm was cut off. He cut own hand ripping and tearing to get the armor off of the body, his blood mixing with the blood pouring from Ichabod’s wound.
They passed towering clouds and plumes of smoke with the earth a distant planet below them as they ascended into the heavens. Ripping and ripping at the armor, Bark was like a hungry animal tearing flesh from a killed carcass. He was losing the ability to breathe, yet it was likely the cold would get him first. He wasn’t sure, nor did he care. With one final pull, he ripped a plate of armor that was attached to some cords that ran right into the body. Feeling this would do the trick, he ripped with all the strength he had left. He pulled a mechanical sphere from where the heart should be. The orb was attached to several cords and glowing a green color. It was a delta wave radiator operated with sub-nulcear reactions, and it was about to go critical. He ripped it out, pulling half of the cloned body’s chest with it. It was disgusting, but it was the death of Ichabod. The armor became limp and all the little lights blinked off. Only the camera system remained active, as it was independently powered. The green heart dangled by a few cords and veins against its broken body.
Bark gasped one last time. The air was gone and he was freezing to death. The world faded around him and he slipped off the body, falling straight down towards the earth.
***
Snow turned to look at the screen. The General had gone quiet and Spark’s breathing slowed; something terrible was happening. Time seemed to stop. She could see the entire planet from where Ichabod was located, but she could also see blood, and broken armor, as well as its green glowing heart. But, worst of all, she was watching the lifeless Bark fall from the heavens. He was slipping away, through the clouds and down to his death. Then, as a horrible last chord of this symphony, the image was engulfed in a massive green explosion that ended the signal. The news reports on the other screens revealed what had just happened: the body’s energy supply had erupted and exploded in the upper atmosphere. It was a spectacular sight that split clouds and shook the ground far below
The General was as choked up as he had ever been. “He did it,” he whispered.
Spark held Snow close to him, tears in his eyes too. “He saved all of Knoxville.”
On the news, everyone could be heard cheering as the reporters announced the demise of the enemy that had done so much damage and threatened so many lives. It was a cruel, bittersweet moment.
Snow closed her eyes and sunk to the ground as her heart broke. She started bawling out of control, “OH GOD, NO! BARK! NO, PLEA
SE, NO!” The General and Spark knelt down and put their hands on her back in a fruitless attempt to console her. The three of them sat in silence and cried.
Chapter 15: Recovering what is Left
“The scene here right now is the aftermath of a massive explosion in the atmosphere over Knoxville. It is not apparent if anyone was killed in the blast, but…wait….yes, our eyes in the sky are seeing something fall. We aren’t sure, but it is believed to be the hero who was tracked attacking the villain only moments before its intended destruction of the Campus of the University of Tennessee.” The Channel 10 news followed the spec on their screen that was Bark falling down through the sky.
“Oh, no.” Ladybug went white in the face as she watched Bark lifelessly fall back to earth.
Bastion watched the multiple screens showing the many different news casts and asked, “Can we do something about this?”
Ladybug slowly shook her head. “No.”
Bastion closed his eyes. “Why does this have to happen? I have seen so many heroes die saving the earth. It just isn’t fair. He was so young.”
Ladybug nodded. “Snow is going to be crushed. We will have to be there for her.” Suddenly, she recalled that a person was in the room who was as close to Bark as Snow was – perhaps closer. This person had not said anything since they started following Bark’s attack. “Toshi Sensei, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?” She turned around, but Toshi was not there. “Toshi?”
Bastion frowned. “I could swear that she was right here a moment ago. Toshi?”
Ladybug looked over to one of the drones. “Locate Instructor Toshi.”
The drone accessed the internal sensors, then replied, “Instructor Toshi is not within the parameters of the UCH space station at this time.”
Ladybug looked at Bastion. “What the hell?”
***
“I can’t watch this. I have to find him.” Snow ran out of the room.
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