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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is it, boys and girls. It's countdown time - only one more chapter until the end... If you're JUST joining us now, then I highly suggest you go back to the beginning and start from there. It's a lot better that way, trust me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~CHAPTER 26~~~

This can't be happening. This literally can NOT be happening! Not again it can't!

We CURED her! I was right there, I saw it myself! SO HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING AGAIN!?

All of my senses were going into overdrive. My throat felt completely dry, my lower lip was trembling uncontrollably, and my knees felt like they'd give out at any second. My eyes burned, and my brain was going completely insane from trying to rationalize what I was seeing right in front of me.

Exactly like it had happened the first time. I decided back then that I was grateful Cali had knocked me out, because it spared me from having to stand horrified at what was going on for too long. Except now, it was just so, so much worse...

Cali... Caroline... What have you become?

Small facts and details that Smith had explained to me came rushing back; how the mind-controlled hybrids were stripped of everything that made them remotely human and left them as mindless husks loyal only to Stryker. Their memories, emotions, their entire thought processes were completely suppressed. All that remained was a soulless automaton; something physically like a machine, but metaphorically much more zombie-like than the monstrosities we had spent so much time fighting against. Though my eyes were threatening to leak, I stared hard into hers as she met my gaze with no change in her expression. She had no idea who I was and knew nothing of the rich, loving history we had shared in the past. No idea where she was or even who she was herself, outside of simply being a puppet to be played with by the insidious puppeteer watching us from somewhere in this building.

She's just... gone. Everything that made her Cali is gone...

She simply saw me as an enemy; a target to blast into pieces with her fiery attacks. Attacks that, compared to the normal Cali, 'Red Death' Cali knew how to use much more effectively. My half- girlfriend had come a long way in such a short amount of time with her powers, but she was still nothing compared to her dark alter-ego. I had very nearly beaten her once before, but she never held back for even a second during our fight. And if I had known from the beginning that it was her inside that black armored suit and helmet, it would've been a completely different fight. And not in a good way for me.

I don't know what to do! I mean, I do_, but I couldn't... I won't... I can't even THINK of doing that!_

Strangely enough, as I stood with my mind on overdrive, the first one to grasp the reality of the situation and break the silence was Isaac. Kyla and I had soundly defeated him only minutes earlier, but this shocking change of events almost immediately revitalized him through sheer anger. "No way... No FUCKING way! You brought HER back? The one who took Liz away from me!? How DARE you! How fucking DARE you bring that BITCH back!" He screamed and thrashed his hands at the ceiling as he went on and on, suggesting that there were cameras hidden among all the lights and speakers. The whole time, Cali stood by him and kept that sharp, murderous gaze focused on Kyla and I, never even batting an eye as Isaac voiced his discontempt over Stryker's ploy. "No! No way! I am NOT fighting with HER!"

Indeed, Isaac was just as horrified as Kyla and I, even if for a completely illogical reason. But almost as if on cue, Stryker chuckled at Isaac's outburst, much like a parent would laugh at their child after saying something nonsensical. "Mr. Deneia, I sincerely hope you realize that this not a suggestion, but rather an order. You clearly cannot handle these two... _opponents_as well as you did yesterday, so I took the liberty of sending you a valuable reinforcement. And I EXPECT you two to work as a team."

At Stryker's words, Cali teleported herself across the arena to somewhere out of my line of sight, so suddenly and without any warning that it made the three of us take a step back each. My mind instinctively told me to draw my sword and get ready for a fight, but simultaneously reminded me just who the enemy was this time. But before I could even begin an internal argument between my head and my heart, Cali reappeared in her wispy cloud of black smoke. And her hand itself held a sword; Isaac's weapon that he had taken from me yesterday.

And the redhead was pointing it right at Kyla and me.

I cringed at the thought of Cali combining her teleportation abilities with the large blade, but instead she turned to Isaac and offered him the weapon hilt-first, not even batting an eye or showing any sign of interest in their forced partnership. Isaac appeared to grow even more confused; his brain unable or unwilling to accept the fact that the hybrid who executed his girlfriend in cold blood had now retrieved his own weapon for him and was more than ready to fight at his side.

All he could do was stutter his words and point a shaky finger of blame at Cali. "But she... she killed..."

"Elizabeth, yes. You've made that abundantly clear to me on numerous occasions..." Stryker groaned over the loudspeaker, not even bothering to hide the fact that he didn't give a damn about Isaac's feelings. "But it matters not, my boy. You've always understood that my company's ends justify its means, so imagine this as a means to an end; the ultimate test of your character and your devotion to OGD. Our deal still stands, but this is your LAST chance to earn your reward."

Isaac came close to opening his mouth and protesting yet again, but Stryker's words fully sunk in before he did anything rash. He stared at Cali hard in the eyes, his own appearing to contain a few tears. As far as he was concerned, Cali stood before him as a reminder of the horror he had endured, but also as undeniable living proof that Stryker indeed knew how to bring people back to life. He wanted to see her as a symbol of pure evil, but was being forced instead to see her as a symbol of hope. And I could tell he absolutely hated it.

Slowly and reluctantly, he reached out to grab his sword from Cali by the hilt, never breaking eye contact with my brainwashed girlfriend. He leaned forward and spoke directly to Cali, only inches away from her face, and just low enough that the cameras couldn't pick up his voice. "When this is over... When those two are taken care of and I have my Elizabeth back... I will kill you. And if Stryker brings you back again, I swear I'll keep on killing you until there's nothing left..."

And then he slapped her right across the face. Hard.

So loudly that it sounded like a gunshot echoing off the walls. And still, she said nothing. No response, no retaliatory attack against the wolf hybrid, nothing whatsoever. All she did was stare. She didn't even flinch.

But something inside me utterly snapped.

"You BASTARD!" I yelled. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!"

I grabbed my sword and dashed right at Isaac, completely driven by my rage at seeing him do something so despicable to the woman I loved. I saw only red and howled as I ran, determined to shred him into indistinguishable little pieces, starting with the hand he used to strike Cali. But I was so fixated on Isaac that I didn't see her punch her own fist into the ground, using her oleokinetic abilities to transmute the concrete floor and creating a slimy wave of oil that intercepted me seconds before I made my mark. The wave of thick, murky liquid felt as if it was ensnaring me tightly from the waist down, and before I could react it tossed me backwards. I landed hard on my back and skidded along the ground much like Isaac had earlier, coming to a stop only a couple of feet away from a shocked Kyla.

"GREG! Ugh... dammit, Cali! You've got to still be in there, somewhere!" she shouted. "Shake it off, you can do it! Don't let them do this to you!"

I groaned and slowly climbed to my feet, not significantly injured physically, but still completely emotionally despondent on the inside. "I'm okay, I'm okay..." I rasped, just to try and quell at least one of Kyla's worries.

But gradually, as I brought myself up and caught my breath, I began to notice something that my conscious mind had been ignoring since Cali had shown up. While Kyla tried in vain to appeal to Cali's suppressed humanity, I didn't think she was even aware of it.

Why is it so... hot?

The room we were in was getting much, much warmer. Little by little, the temperature had been rising from cool and crisp to warm and humid. Only now was it rising at such a pace that it became more noticeable than before.

"Kyla... do you feel that? That heat?"

She paused for a moment, observing the new sensation just like I had done. "Yeah... yeah, now that you mention it. Where's it coming--- wait a minute, it's Cali! She's doing it!"

Kyla was right; the brainwashed leopardess' hands were glowing a faint red that appeared to brighten in intensity with every passing second. And after several increasingly uncomfortable more seconds, the entire arena began to feel like a sauna. I started to wonder why she was doing it; whether it was an unconventional battle strategy or not, but the true answer revealed itself to me a second later.

Oh, you're SHITTING me...

All around us, the broken pieces of Isaac's armor began to melt from the heat into a shiny, silver liquid that began to gravitate towards its owner. It appeared that much like the T-1000 from Terminator 2, Isaac's suit could regenerate itself even when frozen and shattered, though the reason why he didn't use this feature earlier or even yesterday completely eluded me. It was possible that like the armor's cloaking abilities, this failsafe function used too much power and was only reserved for emergencies. Regardless, it annoyed me greatly that no matter how many times Kyla and I thought we had the suit beaten, it wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. I wasn't even sure Isaac himself was doing it or if the suit had a mind of its own, seeing as how he looked very uncomfortable as the grey goo engulfed his body and began to harden into its familiar shape.

Despite his non-reciprocated feelings towards the matter, Cali clearly had no problem helping her reluctant ally. And in that regard, it was unsettling of how good a combination their abilities were with each other.

With the process only seconds away from completion and a conjoined OGD attack sure to follow, Isaac angrily demanded Cali to stop making the room warmer, which she did unhesitatingly. But while they were distracted, Kyla leaned in and whispered into my ear. "Don't worry, Greg. I'll keep Isaac off your back; you try and snap Cali out of whatever's messing with her head. Ice doesn't work very well against fire, anyway."

"Are you sure?" I asked while wiping a bead of sweat off my brow.

"Positive" she smiled. Though it wasn't a fake smile meant to make me think she was just trying to raise my hopes; it was an actual, confident smile that proved she really felt she had the situation under control. "Greg, nobody knows Cali like you do. I don't know why, but looking at her, I just feel like she's still in there somewhere... And if anyone can bring her back, it's you."

Dear God do I hope you're right, Kyla... I mean, all I really need to do is knock her out, right? That's what Smith did last time, and that seemed to work. And there's probably a bunch of that power suppressant stuff around this place, too.

But... what if I make a mistake? What if I hit her too hard in the head or something? Or what if my sword swings and hits her at just the wrong angle...?

No. NO! Dammit, Greg, stop THINKING about that! This can work! Fucking LISTEN to Kyla and stop WORRYING about everything so much!

I swallowed my fear and took a bold step forward, pointing my zweihander sword right at my assigned opponent. "Okay, Red Death... if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you're going to get. I'm going to knock you out, I'm going to get my Cali back, and I'm GOING to make sure we kick you out of her head for GOOD this time!"

No sooner had the words left my mouth that Kyla launched herself into the air and fired a huge blast of ice at Isaac with a fierce battle-cry; the opening shot to signal that the second round of our fight had begun. I saw Isaac deflect the blast out of the corner of my eye, but knew I couldn't afford to watch what happened next. I had my own enemy to fight.

I dashed towards Cali and prepared to make a heavy horizontal slash with my sword; very wide and easy for her to anticipate. As I expected, she immediately teleported herself out of the way, leaving me to only slice through the wisps of black smoke left behind. I could hear her rematerializing right behind me; ready to hit me with a burning napalm attack, but it was all a part of my plan.

Similar to our first fight, actually. Whether intentional on my part or just a coincidence, I didn't know.

I kept going and ran right into the wall, kicking off of it and using the momentum to dash shoulder-first towards the redhead. She fired her napalm blast, which I easily swept out of my way with my sword, giving me my chance to finally make contact and swiftly shoulder-tackle her to the ground.

It worked; she was stunned for the split second I needed to hit her in the head with the flat, dull side of my sword. Not too forcefully, I assumed, just enough to knock her out like I had planned. But as I raised my weapon and prepared to close in again, I realized that deflecting her burning attack had actually melted a hole right through the metal.

That was a problem... Unlike the last time I had fought Cali, I hadn't made my sword dense enough to shrug off her napalm attacks. I had only designed it for engaging another sword-wielding enemy, namely Isaac. It was only damaged to the point where I had just enough time in between attacks to fix it, but if either Cali increased her rate of fire or if I lost my focus for even a second, my weapon would ultimately melt or break into pieces. And it was way too late to make any major changes...

My weapon was still intact for the most part, but a missing chunk of metal on the side would potentially have thrown me off balance if I swung too hard. Or it would've made my weapon shatter if I had hit anything too hard around that area.

But that wasn't nearly my biggest problem at the moment.

"All right... Let's try this again" I muttered as Cali slowly climbed to her feet, equally ready for the next bout as I was.

For the next several minutes, I tried numerous times to either slow Cali down or to hit her in the head, but she evaded or countered my every attempt to do so. I attempted a surprise attack from behind, but she sensed my presence teleported out of the way. I tried attacking from above or below, but she used her oleokinesis to cast me aside. I did get in a few hits at some points, though she was likewise able to get the better of me at times. It felt like she was winning as far as damage went, however.

At the same time, I could see snippets of Kyla's fight with Isaac just a few yards away from us. He kept using the same tactics as before to try and stun Kyla and move in for the kill, but the leopardess out-maneuvered him at every turn. I may have been in turmoil over one girlfriend's reluctant treachery, but I was greatly relieved over the other's ability to flawlessly defend herself.

All the while, I tried in vain to appeal to my former girlfriend's suppressed humanity. Nothing I said made the slightest bit of difference, but I clung in vain to the faint thought that if I kept at it, I'd eventually reach the kind, loving woman behind the homicidal monster. "Cali, please don't do this" I pleaded, for all the good it would do. "I think Kyla's right; you're still in there somewhere... I just know it! Try to fight it! Fight Red Death off, don't let her control you!"

She ignored my words and raised her hand, preparing to launch another attack right at me.

"Please, Cali... you're stronger than this!"

The glowing, murky ball of liquid fire grew bigger in her hand as her eyes focused on hitting me right in the head.

Bigger...

And bigger...

...and then it vanished. The ball of death simply melted away, and the red aura around Cali's hand faded and disappeared at the same time. Speechlessly, my gaze slowly traveled from her hand down her now-trembling arm, all the way up to her own eyes, wherein I could suddenly see a faint glimmer of life. It was small and weak, but it was there.

"Cali? I-Is it you?" I asked, beginning to tremble myself. "Is it really you!?"

"G-G-Greg?"

It was working! I had no idea whether it was my words of encouragement or an internal struggle on Cali's part, but I didn't care! "Yes, Cali, you're doing it! Fight harder; you're almost free from Red Death! You CAN do it!"

Her jaw was trembling uncontrollably, as if every word was a struggle to get out. "No... I can't... can't anymore..."

"Yes you CAN!" I fiercely disagreed. "You just need to focus more!"

But then, she interrupted my pleading and hammered the final nail into her coffin by saying the one thing I feared the most:

"Greg... You need... You need to kill me. You... have to..."

NO! No, don't say that! Don't give up!

As quickly as her previous napalm attack disappeared moments ago, it suddenly reappeared in her same hand.

"I... love... you..."

And then Cali fired the shot. Time slowed down as the blast flew towards me, though I was more focused on her eyes than the burning attack meant to leave a hole in my head. Little by little, that small spark of life faded from her green eyes until there was nothing left but emptiness, signaling that Red Death was back in the driver's seat. Without even waiting for the blast to make contact with its target, Cali raised her fist and charged at me with ferocity, ready to strike on the chance I would deflect her attack.

I know you do, Cali...

I quickly snapped back to reality and deflected her attack with my sword, sending it hurtling into the wall and causing a loud hissing sound as it exploded into the concrete. I had no time to deflect her follow-up punch, but I was able to sidestep just far enough for her fist to only graze my chest plate. She immediately teleported to right behind me and struck again, hitting me right in my spine and painfully knocking me to the ground. She stomped right on the afflicted area to stun me further, kicked my sword away from my loosened grasp, and stomped on me again to pin me to the ground as she readied another flaming blast, ready to make another attempt at blowing my head clean off my shoulders. And from that short a range, she would NOT miss.

But she had made a crucial mistake by doing so. In her overconfidence brought on by all her power, Red Death had forgotten just what the extended nature of my own abilities was. I could only control the phases of metal by touch, though that also included metal objects in contact with other metal objects. And considering the leopardess was still wearing the suit of armor I had forged for her myself, it was fair game for me to manipulate as long as I could reach.

"I love you too, Caroline. And I'm sorry for what I have to do to snap you out of this."

I wasted no time in reacting. Like a snake striking its prey, I reached up and grabbed Cali's leg, grasping the metal knee guard I had created for her. With only a single thought, I willed the metal to change phase and sprout straight up, re-hardening itself into a blunt rod that struck Cali right under her chin. Like Smith's blunt ice spear from weeks ago, it was intended to non-lethally knock Cali out, and from what I could see and hear it appeared to his just as hard. Her napalm attack involuntarily fired and hit the ground uncomfortably close to my head as my own attack knocked her off her feet, allowing me to get back up and try to rub some of the pain out of my lower back.

Unfortunately, however, the redhead was still stirring. My improvised hit to the head wasn't enough to knock her out.

But as Cali climbed to her feet and attempted another attack, Isaac suddenly collided into her from out of nowhere. They both crashed into a heap on the floor, and from out of the corner of my eye I could see Kyla throwing a shiny ice blast at the two of them. It exploded and encased the OGDs in a thick layer of ice, trapping the two of them for the time being.

"Figured you could use a second to catch your breath" the snow leopardess chuckled as she ran over to me and I grabbed my sword from off the ground. "I might be able to help you in another minute or two; Isaac's going down fast. I think his armor's glitching up from when I froze and blasted it apart; he hasn't even scratched me yet. But I'm doing more than just scratching him!"

"Thanks. And I'm glad you're doing so well..." I groaned. "But dammit, Kyla, what are we gonna do about Cali!? I'm running out of options and I'm running out of steam!"

"You can't knock her out?" she asked.

"No... I keep trying, but she just won't go down! I need a miracle right about now..."

But suddenly, as if waiting for me to say that very thing, the loudspeakers overhead crackled to life again, this time with a different voice. "Oh don't worry; I've got your miracle right here, Greg. OGD always did a great job with making monsters, but it seems that even the craziest plans always have a failsafe. So allow me to fix your little Cali problem once again, since I tend to do such a good job at it."

Confident, sarcastic, and a little arrogant... Wait a minute, is that...?

"SMITH? Is that you?" I shouted, finally able to place an identity on the electronically distorted voice. "Where the hell ARE you? What happened?"

He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Greg... We met a lot of opposition after those first three guys, and eventually we got overwhelmed and captured. I saw it all... I couldn't stop Stryker from doing what he did to Cali, but I managed to get away right after. But from here, however, there's a LOT I can do to help. And I'm already working on it as we speak."

With another loud burst of static, Stryker assumed control over the PA once again. He chuckled heartily, not even remotely threatened by Smith's new plan, whatever it was supposed to be. "I've always known you were good with computers, Mr. Smith. It's one of the reasons why I recruited you, after all. But unfortunately for you, so am I."

There was no third burst of static to signal that Smith had regained control, as if Stryker had given back access to the microphone willingly. Though we could hear the husky hybrid beginning to curse under his breath and mumble random bits of information he was presumably reading off a screen to himself. At the same time, Isaac began yelling at Cali to break the ice trap they were both caught in. And I could already see the faint red glowing from inside the mini-glacier that told me she wasn't very far away from doing just that.

"Crap... No time to explain anymore! Kyla, grab Greg and put an ice roof over your heads!" Smith shouted. "Stryker's activated the antivirus program; the system's trying to lock me out before I can activate what I need to. So do it fast!"

"But why---" Kyla started to ask.

"Don't ask, just DO IT You only have one cha---!" Smith yelled as he was abruptly cut off of the PA again. At the same time, the ice violently shattered, freeing Isaac and Cali.

Despite the confusion, Kyla wasted no time following Smith's unusual instructions. She fired a blast of ice at Isaac who easily deflected it, though his choosing to do so gave Kyla the precious seconds necessary to run over to my location. With one hand aimed low and the other aimed high, she quickly created a mushroom-shaped ice shield over our heads just like Smith told us to, while I deflected a blast of burning napalm Cali shot at the ice construct with the same ease as Isaac had.

"All right, this is it! Get set to get wet, everyone!" Smith shouted. And one at a time, starting from the rear end of the arena, the sprinkler heads on the ceiling began to turn on and spray water everywhere as if there was a huge fire in the room. But as I deflected another blast from Cali, I could see from the rebounded attack's luminous glow that the water raining from overhead wasn't water at all. Rather, it was a light blue in color. This became more apparent as it began to pool around the floor.

Both Isaac and Cali appeared to observe the phenomenon with only mild curiosity at best, but the true purpose of Smith's plan revealed itself to all four of us once Isaac tried to walk towards Kyla and realized he couldn't move his left leg. He tried to reach down and remove the suit material hindering his ability to walk, but quickly realized that his right arm was just as unresponsive.

"I can't... I can't control the suit anymore!" Isaac shouted. "I can't--- I can barely move at all!"

"That's right!" Smith jeered, clearly happy to be the one holding all the cards against Isaac for a change. "I had a feeling that the reserve tanks of the power suppressant solution were still around here somewhere, and it only took a few modifications to connect them to the base's main water lines. By now, it should be coursing nicely through your system, since this is a different, concentrated form of the solution that's absorbed through the skin. And thanks to all those gashes in your armor that Kyla provided, it looks like you've already absorbed enough of it to completely shut yourself down."

"What is the meaning of this!?" Stryker suddenly interjected over the intercom after a burst of static feedback, his condescendingly assertive tone given way to one of genuine surprise and alarm. "What have you done to the suit?"

Smith laughed as he wrested control back once again. "Technically, I haven't done anything to his suit, Sir. That would've taken a lot more time to hack into. But I did all I needed to already. According to your nanobots' schematics, courtesy of OGD's pathetically easy-to-hack mainframe; should the wearer's brain ever lose its technopathic abilities, the connection to the suit is severed and the nanobots go into hibernation mode. So no more enhanced strength and stamina, no more invisibility, and no more goddamn static discharging. I'd suggest you lay down your sword and surrender right about now, Isaac."

Astonishingly, it was exactly what Isaac chose to do. No dramatic yelling, no screams of fury at his second and hopefully final loss of the day, no nothing. I couldn't see the expression on his face because of the mostly-intact helmet, if there even was one at all. He let his sword drop to the floor with a loud clanging sound and simply let himself fall back, collapsing into a heap just as loudly. Even if he wasn't saying anything, however, I could've guessed what was going on inside his head.

Cali, however, didn't react as submissively as Isaac did; she began to outright PANIC. She tried teleporting anywhere within her line of sight, which was presumably the current limit of her power after spending the entire fight abusing it so freely. But no matter where she reappeared in her little cloud of black smoke, there was nowhere to hide from the shower of power suppressant. In her desperation, she launched a fierce flurry of napalm blasts at the sprinkler heads on the ceiling, but even with each successful hit, her attacks grew smaller and smaller as the chemicals took their effect. She clutched her head and screamed loudly, stumbling all over the place, as if the Red Death persona took every single drop of liquid like a bullet and was dying a slow, agonizing death.

Dammit, she's in pain! I mean... one... of her is in pain. Shit, I, I don't know!

"Smith, shut it off!" I yelled over the highly unsettling sound of my half-girlfriend's wails. "It's hurting her! She's had enough of it by now, right?"

There was no answer over the intercom.

"Right, Smith? RIGHT?"

Still no answer. It was possible Smith had finally been locked out from the system and was unable to hear us anymore. My heart began to race faster.

"Dammit... DAMMIT! Screw this, this is too much!"

I took a step forward and prepared to dash over to Cali, but Kyla quickly seized my arm and pulled me back in before I could leave the shelter of the icy roof over our heads. "You can't go out there, you'll get hit with the power suppressant too!" she yelled. "I know if hurts to see her suffer like this, but you can't make yourself vulnerable! We still need to take care of Stryker!"

But at the same time, just when Cali's screams of terror seemed to reach a crescendo, they abruptly stopped. Eyes rolled back into her head, she was either dead or unconscious before she even hit the floor. Immediately after, the overhead sprinklers began to turn off one by one, whether the tanks of power suppressant were depleted or Smith had answered my pleads after all. Either way, I gently yet hastily wormed my way out of Kyla's grasp and ran over to Cali's limp form. I knelt down and cradled her in my arms, not caring if any of the residual chemicals on her body rubbed off onto me and temporarily stripped me of my powers.

"Is she all right?" Kyla shouted from across the room.

A very good question, but I feared the answer. Because it didn't feel like she had a pulse when I pressed my fingers to her neck, and I couldn't hear her breathing at all.

I gently shook the comatose leopardess. "Cali?"

I checked again, still no pulse. I was beginning to panic.

"Cali, wake up! Please wake up! Please... We won, we beat her! Just... please wake up..."

"Greg... is she...?"

Christ... the two of us came half-circle with having to fight each other again, but now we've finally come full-circle. Me holding her like this... it's exactly how all of this started on Z-Day... Exactly how the nightmare began...

Please... please don't let this happen... Not again...

I planted a soft kiss on her lips. "Cali... Please wake up... Please tell me you're okay."

I clenched my eyes shut to try and stop a tear from leaking out, fearing that the worst had happened to Cali despite my single-minded goal of not killing her. But when I opened mine back up, at the same time I could see her piercing green eyes slowly opening and taking in her surroundings. She was weary, confused, and probably incredibly sore from the fight, but Cali Greenlaw was very much alive.

"Nnnggh... Greg?" she moaned wearily. "Am I... Am I dead?"

With a wide smile and a growing surge of joy in my heart, I lovingly brushed a strand of red hair away from Cali's face and continued to hold her tight. "No, Cali. Faaar from it..."

She jerked against my hold and her eyes went wide after a few passing moments as her the events of the fight all came rushing back to her, painting a horrifyingly vivid picture in her mind of what she had done if the look of guilt in her face was any indication. "Oh God, Greg... the whole time, I... I knew what I was doing! I could see and hear it all... I screamed at my body to stop, but it wouldn't... I tried so hard to fight it, but I could only break through for a second! I just... I'm so sorry!"

She buried her face in my neck and began to sob loudly, though her remorse for her actions was unnecessary. Nobody in their right mind could've blamed Cali for what her murderous alter-ego had done, especially since she tried her best to stop it. All I could do was gently rub her back and try my best to console her, prompting Kyla to hurry over from under the ice structure and do the same for her friend. "Shhh, shhh, shhh... It's okay, baby. It's all okay now. That's all that matters to me; that you're back here with us again. It's not your fault... None of it's your fault..."

If anything, it's still my own fault. I'm the one who let you out of my sights and failed to save you on Z-Day in the first place all those months ago... But I'm not going to beat myself up over that again. The past is the past, and I can't do anything about that. But at least now you definitely have a future, Cali.

Even if... Even if it's not one you're going to expect...

"Do you think it's gone for good this time?" Cali asked meekly after the tears stopped flowing. "Am I finally free of this... thing... in the back of my mind?"

"I... I don't know" I answered her truthfully. "After what just happened, I honestly don't know anymore. I don't know if it'll just happen randomly or not, either. Not until we give you those meds Dr. Jackson created for you two weeks ago."

Kyla shook her head in disagreement. "No, Greg, I think I get how it works. Cali's alter-ego needs to be 'activated' again by OGD because we already fixed a part of it back at home. It doesn't matter how badly we nuke her powers or if she gets knocked out; she'll stay as Cali unless she falls into the wrong hands again. But that doesn't mean she's definitively cured; Red Death is always going to be there, subconsciously. At least until we figure out how to go into Cali's mind and kill that bitch where she lives. If that's even possible..."

She patted the redhead's shoulder and smiled, glad to have her friend back, even if she was a rival for my affections. "But we can worry about that later. For now, Cali's gonna be just fine."

Cali sobbed loudly again as she snuggled herself into our arms, but this time it was a happy sob of joy. "Thanks, guys... I love you two so much..."

It was truly a calm, serene moment we shared right there, on the cold basement floor of the enemy's stronghold. At least until Isaac clumsily climbed to his feet and began limping over to us, moaning and groaning with pain and exasperated sighs of misery. As he previously mentioned during the chemical shower, he could barely even move in his non-responsive nanobot suit.

"WHY!? Why does EVERYONE get a happy ending but ME!? Why, Greg? Why do you get BOTH of the women that love you and I get NOTHING!?"

THERE it is. There's the freak-out I was expecting.

"Because we're the good guys, psycho" Cali giggled through a completely justified smirk. "We're Human Advancements."

"Which is ironic, my dear, considering you wouldn't even be alive to say those words were it not for OGD's guiding hand" Stryker suddenly interrupted with over the intercom. "I gave you a second chance at life, gave you superhuman abilities more powerful than what most of my other hybrids have, and you still wish to leave... But it's neither here nor there. It seems that I simply cannot have you and all your power to myself anymore. A pity, considering you were one of my greatest creations."

"I still don't really know what I am... But I do know who I am" Cali replied calmly, her smile giving way to solemn righteousness. "And I know who I'm fighting for and why. And that's all I need to know right now..."

Isaac's ears perked up upon hearing his superior's voice throughout the conversation, but his eyes were flashing with fear of Stryker's impending criticism of his failure. "Sir, p-please! I n-need another---"

"No, Mr. Deneia, there are no more chances. Don't even attempt to persuade me otherwise; I recognize a broken asset when I see it. You served your primary purpose well enough, but it appears I was correct in assuming you would fail to meet _all_of my expectations."

"My... primary purpose? What purpose?" Isaac stuttered.

I suddenly heard the elevator doors slowly opening behind us. The girls and I glanced over our shoulders to see who it was, though once again, the elevator's sole occupant was not someone we were expecting to see so soon.

The tall, slender man in the business suit stepped out and absent-mindedly adjusted his cuff. My eyes only met his for a second as he gazed across the room to view the remnants of our battle, but the unsettling sensation that shot through my body in that same instant confirmed what we were all thinking. Because in that split second, I saw in his eyes all the same things I saw in Red Death's; coldness, zero empathy, but above all, power. Power that he knew he didn't even have to flaunt at all, because it permeated the air like a toxic gas. Power that I realized we knew we would be on the receiving end of very, very soon.

Stryker chuckled as he walked towards Isaac's pathetic form; not even paying the three of us the slightest bit of attention. All his focus was on the wolf hybrid.

"Oh yes, my boy. It's almost spot-on to what Mr. Ossland mentioned before your little skirmish, actually. A sample of your modified DNA and an analysis of one's ability to manipulate the living dead through technopathy were all I truly required of you."

His unnerving smile grew wider with every word. "After all, it's why I tasked Miss Greenlaw and her accomplices to specifically find and eliminate your beloved Elizabeth in the first place."

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Well folks, there's only two more chapters after this one. Two chapters, and then the epilogue, which I may or may not release at the same time. Depends on how much I can get done and how fast...

But anyway, I'm hoping everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! I sure did, thanks to a certain someone and her certain gift exchanging extravaganza :)

Kicking off the New Year with a new LITA chapter worked out well back in Chapter 12, so I figured I'd do it again for you, the readers!

Rate, comment, and Watch!