FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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This is it, boys and girls. It's countdown time - next chapter is 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 27~~~

"You... You did WHAT!?" Isaac yelled at the man in the business suit, breaking the long silence that followed his grisly revelation.

Smiling, Stryker adjusted the cuff on his right sleeve and continued to shatter any remaining hopes that his defeated henchman had in him. "Yes, Mr. Deneia, it's true. My company has had spies within Human Advancement's walls a long time before the living dead began to walk the earth, actually. We've both had similar goals of creating human-animal hybrid soldiers for use at home and overseas, but admittedly, Human Advancements was the forerunner in this genetic arms race more often than none. Thus I decided that if we lacked the means to create a new soldier with a new ability, we would simply... persuade an existing one to join the winning side instead."

"So you... killed her... on purpose... ON PURPOSE!" Isaac growled as he slowly climbed to his feet, drawing all attention in the room back to him from Stryker. "You RUINED my life, SHATTERED any dreams I had of being with Elizabeth after we took care of all the zombies, all just because you wanted my POWERS!? Powers that are completely USELESS without these fucking nanobots?"

Stryker frowned at that, as if put off by the notion that Isaac wasn't fully appreciative of the ability he possessed. "I wouldn't say 'useless' at all, my dear boy. Quite frankly, my plans would have been long-delayed had I not taken an interest in what you can do..."

And slowly, the sickening smirk began to reemerge on his lips.

"But to answer your question, yes. That is precisely the reason why."

The entire room fell silent. Someone cursed under their breath, though I wasn't able to tell who through my sudden onset of doubt. But not doubt in Isaac or in our mission to stop Stryker's ambitions... it was doubt in myself.

I can't believe this! I mean, I was completely right about Stryker only using Isaac for his own despicable ends, but going THAT far to gain his loyalty? It's like... I can't even be AS angry at Isaac anymore... He still made the conscious decision to betray and attack us, the consequences of which were just terrible. But... Stryker didn't just prey on his weakness; he CREATED the weakness in the first place!

Isaac was set up from minute ZERO, not minute one. And it wasn't his fault for that.

I... I called him selfish... Selfish for only wanting to have someone to love. But that's not his fault, either. Because he's like me; he just LOVES too much. It takes one to know one... he just doesn't have as much willpower as I do, I guess...

The bottom line is that he hasn't been as evil as I thought he was... and maybe I wasn't being as heroic as I thought I was, either...

"You sick FUCK!" Cali shouted at Stryker, pointing a trembling accusatory finger at him. "What makes you think you can just---"

But she was suddenly interrupted mid-sentence by the loudest, most ear-splitting howl of anger and sadness I'd ever heard.

"I'LL KILL YOU, STRYKER! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

With energy I didn't even know he still had, Isaac dashed over to Stryker as fast as he could, fingers balled up into a fist, ready to punch the smiling man into next week. His mouth was twisted into a menacing snarl and I could see teardrops leaking from his golden eyes and trailing behind him as he ran. Once his attack had connected, I was sure Stryker's head would come clean off...

"KILL YOU! KILL YO---"

...But it didn't. Because in that one second, as Isaac was less than a yard away from his target, everything changed.

And I mean everything.

Stryker calmly placed his hand on the concrete wall behind him, and instantly the molecules it was made of transformed into a thick, viscous black oil that immediately stopped Isaac dead in his tracks. The wave of sludge ensnared his waist and tossed him back a great distance; its slippery nature making him skid across the floor much further than he would have normally.

Before Isaac could get back up, or before either my girls or I could question what we were seeing, Stryker pointed one finger at the wolf as a small red, glowing orb of napalm appeared on the tip of his digit.

"I'm not usually one for puns, my young friends, but I do believe Mr. Deneia is... fired."

And fast as a gunshot, the ball fired from Stryker's fingertip and hit Isaac square in the chest, instantly igniting the oil-drenched hybrid in an intense inferno!

SHIT, ISAAC! NO!!!

"AAAAAAAAGH!!! I-I'M BURNING! I'M BUUURNING!!!" he screamed, tossing and thrashing madly on the ground as the flames spread and threatened to start melting even the floor itself.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! None of us could. Despite the mutual underlying curiosity of how Stryker, who wasn't a hybrid, apparently had the same powers as Cali did, my mind was spinning into overdrive as I realized that if I didn't act immediately, Isaac would burn to a crisp within seconds.

Christ, he's on fire! I need to help him! Shit, I can't though! I don't have--- WAIT, Kyla can---

"Kyla, hit him with your ice beam! QUICK!"

She hesitated for a second, but ran off to stop Isaac from burning like I had asked. I could tell, though, that during that split second Kyla was asking herself why, after everything Isaac had done to us, did I suddenly want to save him? He had already made a deal with the devil, so why not let him burn for his atrocities?

The answer, which I was glad Kyla also realized in time, was that deep down, somewhere underneath all the broken promises and insanity, the hybrid I called my friend was still in there. And even though I would've reluctantly killed him earlier if I had no other choice, there was NO way I was going to let him die like this.

"I've got him, don't worry, Greg!" Kyla shouted as she hastily went to work. Thanks to her quick timing, her cryokinetic abilities neutralized the flames that had started to spread to Isaac's vital areas. His armor, or what remained of it thankfully took the worst of the damage. I could see several fur-less patches of singed flesh around his body, but his hybrid physiology would mend those wounds over time.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Kyla! I knew you could--- LOOK OUT!"

Before I realized it, Stryker had prepared another napalm attack on his fingertip and fired it right at the leopardess. Without thinking, I used my super speed to leap in front of my friends and intercept the attack, crashing hard onto the ground from the force of the impact. My armor's chest plate was badly burned, but not enough to melt through and damage anything vital.

But it still felt like taking a line drive right to the chest.

"GREG!"

"Ugh... Greg...!"

Both Kyla and Isaac were alarmed, but Stryker was completely astonished. "Very impressive, my boy! Willingly taking a hit to save the life of your pathetic friend? Or the life of your companion, perhaps? I must admit I was aiming for the former, but as the old saying goes, two birds..."

He chuckled. Chuckled so haughtily and darkly, that it made me completely lose my shit like Isaac had only a moment ago.

"You... MONSTER!"

I couldn't fight it; the only desire in my mind became to throw all my morality out the window and kill that insane man, as brutally and painfully as I could. Drawing my sword I charged forwards screaming, prepared to cut Stryker right in half, knowing that with my superior speed and agility compared to Isaac's, I'd be able to avoid any oleokinetic attacks the man could throw at me. I jumped up and prepared to swing down as my target raised his arm at me, presumably ready to fire a napalm blast instead...

...and then I stopped. Right on a dime, with my sword an inch away from Stryker's head, I stopped.

What...

I couldn't move. I was completely frozen in place. And after a quick second, I noticed that there was no ground under my feet, either. I was floating helplessly in midair.

...the hell!?

The whole time, from the second I started running up until this perplexing moment, Stryker's eyes never left mine. He smiled and gently tilted my sword away from his head with his free hand. "I see you're more than confused, Mr. Ossland. But fear not; I promise that one way or another, you won't be confused for much longer..."

His hand telekinetically holding me in place clenched into a fist - and I flew.

Fast as a gunshot, I soared backwards across the entire length of the room, hearing nothing but the sound of wind in my ears and unable to even yell out in terror. My right hand instinctively clutched onto my sword, but it was completely ineffectual for what happened next.

I slammed into the far most wall, hard. Back-first, with enough force to make it feel like I had got hit by a car. For a split-second, I could see Stryker grinning wider and wider from all the way across the room, with his hand still outstretched and my body still metaphysically within his grasp. But before I could even yell out in pain, Stryker thrust his arm to the left, and with it, my body accordingly flew into the adjacent wall. It felt like I had hit this wall just as hard, if not harder.

One of the girls screamed in terror and begged Stryker to stop what he was doing, but my ears were ringing so hard I again couldn't tell who it was.

But it didn't even matter. Because with one flick of the wrist, I was sent hurdling into another wall, and then another, and then ANOTHER, cumulating with me being flung at the ceiling face-first and then allowed to fall to the ground and let gravity have a turn at dealing me damage.

"AGH! UGH! FUUUCK!!!"

"GREG!" Cali and Kyla yelled in unison, the latter nearly dropping Isaac's head onto the hard ground in alarm. "What the HELL was that!?" he managed to mutter after a pained cough. Even he, the insider, had no idea what was going on from the look of it.

The pain of impact... It was nothing compared to taking the hit from a minute ago. The wind felt like it had been knocked right out of my lungs and my head was throbbing madly, though my armor took a good deal of the force of impact from slamming into the walls. My body, however, may or may not have contained several broken ribs.

"You see, my young friends, my abilities are in a different league than your own," Stryker explained as Cali helped me climb to my feet while Kyla dutifully returned to tending Isaac's burns. "In layman's terms, my power is to assimilate the powers of others through physical contact. Temporarily, mind you, but long enough to finish you all off single-handedly." He chuckled darkly at that last part. "As you can see, I've already taken Miss Greenlaw's oleokinetic abilities for my own usage. Those, coupled with the telekinetic abilities so generously provided by your other colleague, have brought me up to a very healthy start, I would say. Not bad, for an ability my scientists have only half-way perfected."

Kyla suddenly gasped loudly, as if waiting for any positive or negative mention of her only living teammate after seeing Stryker use his superpower. "You son of a bitch! What did you do to Evan!?" she shouted angrily, though there was a noticeable underlying tint of worry in her voice. "If you killed him, I'll... I'll..."

Stryker, completely unfazed by the leopardess's thinly-veiled threat, simply adjusted his cuff and chuckled, which seemed to be a common theme for him. "Young lady, after seeing just how easily I incapacitated your companion and your former adversary, you are in NO position to make any threats. But if it puts your mind at ease, know that the grey wolf hybrid is alive. I've sent him off, I truthfully know not where, but I'm rather certain he won't be alive for too much longer... telekinesis is another ability that my company just hasn't quite... perfected, as of yet."

My God... the way he thinks, talks, and acts... I know he's not bluffing; he's being serious right now! And the way he's already corrupted my friends... Do people's lives mean ANYTHING to this guy?

"But on the subject of power-stealing," Stryker resumed, "I must admit that I was unsure if even my own abilities would reverse whatever treatment Miss Greenlaw was given to suppress her programming... But it seemed that in the end, nothing is beyond my grasp after all."

"THAT'S how he did it!" Cali yelled, stepping forward and pointing an accusatory finger at her 'creator.' "When the three of us got captured, I remember someone suddenly grabbing the back of my neck. Then Arty made his move and escaped, but I felt like I was slowly passing out..."

As she talked, I could see tears slowly building up in the corners of her eyes. Not enough to flow freely, but enough to denote the emotional torment that Stryker's revelation was causing her to experience. "And then... when I woke back up, I was staring right at you. I could tell, without a doubt, that you were the one who called the shots around here. That you were the one who used my body for your own despicable needs. All I wanted to do was blast you right in your smug face with a fireball, but I couldn't. I was standing up straight, with nothing holding me down, but I couldn't move. I had zero control over my own body as it started to act on its own. Walk, run, and eventually fight... And... and all I could do was fucking WATCH!"

Cali sniffled loudly, unable to vent any further. I went over and hugged the redhead tight (ignoring the lingering pain in my chest), turning her away from the madman across the room and gently rocking her back and forth. It wasn't just to calm her down; it was to remind her that that horrible part of her life was finally over. That despite OGD's efforts to turn her into an instrument of destruction, Cali had ultimately cheated death and enslavement. Even if she still didn't really like being a hybrid, OGD's potentially most powerful soldier was now their own undoing.

Of course, Stryker was completely unfazed by our tender display of affection, like a proper sociopath. If anything, it seemed to only make him more impatient than haughty. It would've been funny if he had tapped an imaginary watch on his wrist or something, but I didn't want to make him or I wait any longer.

"Oh, don't worry Mr. Evil Businessman, I haven't forgotten about you. You came all the way down here for a fight, so it's a fight you're going to get. Me and you, one on one." I gently released Cali from my loving embrace and whispered instructions to stay clear of the impending fight into her ear. In her powerless state, she'd only get herself needlessly hurt. But she understood my wishes. She kissed me lovingly and retreated to the sidelines, offering to help Kyla with Isaac. The irony that it was her own stolen abilities that had burned him to within an inch of his life was not lost on me.

I grinned and turned back to face Stryker. "Because I'm REALLY fucking tired of hearing you talk."

"Quite right you are, Mr. Ossland; I've grown tired of this... witty bantering" Stryker replied in agreement. "Since my armies of hybrids and the undead haven't been enough to stop you, or even my two best fighters for that matter, I have indeed taken it upon myself to personally destroy you all."

There was an inhuman gleam in his eyes as he spoke. "And I must admit, I'm going to enjoy it. Because believe it or not, running a company such as this is very, very tiresome at times. I may not have been the first person here to receive his new abilities, but I myself went through some of the same training and exercises as all of you. And at times like this, I enjoy allowing myself to cut loose and... have some fun..."

I drew my sword as Stryker readied a murky napalm blast in each hand. "Today, I will finish off Human Advancements once and for all. Tomorrow... the WORLD!"

"There won't BE a tomorrow for you, Stryker. For everything you've done to me and the people I love, you won't _live_to see tomorrow" I retorted.

And then we both charged; the living embodiments of HAC and OGD, determined to permanently stop the other's ambitions.

This truly was the final battle. Now all I had to do was survive it.

~~~

I swung hard, in a diagonal direction this time, hoping that Stryker wouldn't be able to telekinetically parry my blade like he had been doing consistently.

The sound of metal slicing through the air rang into my ears... and then stopped.

Crap.

"You won't lay a single mark on me, Mr. Ossland" Stryker taunted as he caught my sword for the umpteenth time. With his free hand he fired a point-blank blast of napalm at my chest, but I was able to leap out of the way in time. We both retreated a few steps back, and then rushed back in to another lock.

Overall, I was getting nowhere fast. For the past several minutes, every time I swung my blade, it was stopped right in place, or I would only hit a cloud of black smoke as Stryker teleported away and launched a counter attack. Not that I was having a problem dodging his attacks either, the problem was that eventually we would both run out of steam. And while that seemed like a good thing on the surface, considering Stryker was still just a human and would therefore still be physically inferior to me, all he needed was one opportunity to grab me and absorb my powers. Which, if it was anything like Cali had described, would be a_very_ unpleasant experience.

But I still had a few ideas up my sleeve...

As I recovered from evading another counter attack, I swung again to my left. Stryker dodged, I threw my free arm out in a wild haymaker, Stryker caught my fist telekinetically and held it in place. But using the momentum I threw into my sword, which I knew Stryker would dodge, I was able to make another heavy slash. Stryker teleported himself, yet again. But that was what I wanted him to do.

"Cali, Kyla, what time is it?" I shouted to my girls, hoping that at least one of them would catch on to my fresh idea.

"What does---" Cali started, but Kyla's voice echoed over hers; she had figured it out:

"Seven o'clock! Quick!"

THAT's what I wanted to hear!

And she was, quite literally, accurate right on the tick. From behind me, behind and slightly to my left, I could hear the distinctive sound of Stryker re-materializing. With my split-second window of opportunity, I grabbed my sword by the very edge of the hilt and flung it right at my opponent. His reaction time was impeccable as always, but he wasn't expecting an attack like this. With both hands for extra power, Stryker used Evan's ability to stop my weapon from impaling him in the chest. It worked, but for the moment, he had his hands full and wouldn't be able to block a follow-up attack.

"I gotcha NOW!" I shouted as I dashed towards him as fast as I could, making up for my failed effort from earlier by punching him right square in the face. Dropping my sword from his invisible grasp, he flew backwards and slammed right into the wall, not hitting it quite hard enough to crack the pavement but hard enough to do some damage.

"Nice hit, stud!" Kyla cheered.

"What she said!" Cali added with playful snark.

I flashed them a thumbs-up, happy that I had my lovely two cheerleaders backing me up in the fight of my life. "I bet that hurt, huh Stryker? You talk a mean game and all, but I've got you figured out. You can dodge and teleport anywhere you want, but you rely on your powers way too much. I've gotten the better of those powers before, and I'm gonna keep doing it again!"

...Woops...

"Uh... no offense, Cali!" I quickly added.

"Nooone taken!" she beamed, much to my relief.

But Stryker laughed as he climbed to his feet, suggesting he was genuinely impressed with my tricky maneuver and completely justifiable jeer. "Then perhaps a change in strategy is required of me, wouldn't you agree?" He raised his hand, as if to grasp an invisible ledge just within his reach. "Make no mistake - you will die here, Mr. Ossland. And this arena will be your tomb!"

At his words, the room began shaking and rumbling violently, like an 8.0 magnitude earthquake had suddenly sprang into existence. A large piece of rubble from the ceiling fell down and crashed into the ground right next to me, and I immediately understood what Stryker was trying to do. A man of his word, at least this one time, Stryker was trying to bury me alive. Even if it meant bringing this entire room down around us, he was willing to do it.

"You can't evade me forever" he taunted as I jumped out of the way of another piece of rock. Just like that, he had the upper hand once again while I was forced to go back to thinking on my feet.

Shit, SHIT! I can't dodge all these! What should I--- fuck it!

"I can TRY!" I yelled.

And try I did, speeding around the arena from one end to the other, desperately attempting to avoid being hit by the falling debris. I felt like it was the fastest I had ever run in my life, super-speed or otherwise, and the constant avalanche-like sound from behind was enough motivation for me to go faster and faster. I jumped, I leapt, and I zigzagged, anything to avoid being flattened by a huge chunk of concrete.

But... It didn't last, though. Because while I could run faster than any living being on the planet, my power had its limits. And so did my body.

I saw it out of the corner of my eye; Stryker was able to anticipate the sharp left turn I was going to make due to my dwindling speed. He telekinetically tore the roofing from above the direction I would have run, and his final avalanche of concrete was the one that sealed my fate.

"GREG! Above you!" Kyla yelled, though it was too late by that point.

Several pieces landed right at my feet; in such a way that I couldn't have ran through them without stumbling. I tripped, hard, landing flat on the hard ground and skidding a considerable distance before the remaining rubble began to painfully pile on top of me. My sword was long gone and with no means of escape in sight, all I could do was shield my head with my hands for all the good it would do. Which was to say, not very much. Each rock hurt more than the last, regardless of the size. By the time it was over, only my head and arms were exposed and the residual dust from the collisions was making me cough uncontrollably.

But somehow, I was still alive. So there was that.

How is he not out of energy!? Was I wrong about him? I mean, he's a human with hybrid powers, so maybe the same rules don't apply at all here...

Again doing the thing with his cuff, Stryker calmly walked over to my buried form and peered down at me, with all the admiration of a hunter observing the dangerous animal he had shoved into a cage.

"I realize a few rocks won't hold you forever, Mr. Ossland... Though I must admit, despite our unfortunate enmity towards each other, that you fight courageously and skillfully. You hold nothing back, certainly nothing against me, at least. You are more than a soldier; you are a true hero to your cause. And I can see that it's due to not only your own resolve, but the constant support you receive from your friends..."

But then the metahuman's focus shifted away from me and instead rested on the spectating Kyla. He pointed to and smiled at her sickly, making my second girlfriend take an involuntary step back. "Unfortunately, however, they are very capable of providing extra support for ME as well!"

His hand opened up into an empty grasp, and before either of us realized what was happening, Kyla flew from the far side of the room towards Stryker. He forcefully caught Kyla by the neck, gripping her tightly enough to quell her abrupt scream of fright.

"KYLA! LET HER GO, STRYKER!" I shouted.

"All in good time, Mr. Ossland!" Stryker laughed as Kyla squirmed in his grip, uselessly trying to pry his vice-like hand off of her neck so she could breathe. "But first, I believe she has something I need."

"N-No! I w-won't let you! I won't l-let you hurt G-Greg with MY powers!" Kyla choked as she stopped struggling and brought her right hand back, fingers balled up into a tight fist. Instantly, her hand began to glow its familiar bright shade of blue as ice built up around her entire fist and forearm, getting larger and larger and ending just before her elbow. It was nearly the same giant ice-fist that she used against her fight with Isaac moments ago, but appropriately more focused on up-close punching this time.

"You want ice? YOU GOT IT!" she shouted defiantly.

Her fist swung forward, aimed right at Stryker's smug face. But much like both of the previous rage-driven attempts on the CEO's life, this one was effortlessly subdued at the last possible second. Stryker raised his free hand in line with Kyla's fist, seemingly trying to catch her attack in his palm. In actuality, he used his telekinesis to hold her arm right in place, ending the attack and leaving the leopardess completely at his mercy. Shocked and potentially seconds away from passing out from a lack of air, Kyla prepared a small frozen blast in her other hand.

But having gotten enough enjoyment out of toying with his prey, Stryker finally did what I had feared by giving us a first-hand demonstration of how his own superpower worked. His hand clenching Kyla's neck began to glow a sickly green color, with a hollow sound that I couldn't even begin to describe. Kyla screamed, whether from terror or pain, as Stryker's absorption ability worked to its horrific effect. The ice encasing her still-floating fist rapidly cracked apart and fell off, leaving her arm bare, as the ice blast in her opposite hand dwindled down and eventually faded out of existence.

Tears in her eyes, she weakly turned her head towards me, reaching out with a trembling arm. "Nghhh... Greg... It hurts. It... hurts..."

NO! NOOO!!!

"Fire and ice, now" the madman snickered as Kyla's moaning quieted and stopped. She went limp in his grasp; arms falling to her side, as the last of her powers were drained away. And without so much as a second thought, Stryker tossed the unconscious girl aside, allowing her to crash into the ground in the most unceremonious of ways. Cali rushed over to her fallen friend to help, shouting something panicked yet unintelligible.

I couldn't protect you this time, Kyla... I'm so sorry...

I wanted to curse, I wanted to shout, I wanted NOTHING more than to get out from underneath the pile of rubble and slice the skinny man in the suit in half.

But then... something strange began to happen. With an aura of the same sickly shade of green engulfing him, the skinny man in the suit suddenly wasn't so skinny anymore.

Starting with the torso and gradually spreading to the arms, Stryker's entire physique rapidly began growing bigger and more muscular, to the point where his suit jacket and shirt began to rip open and fall apart. The cuffs that he was so used to adjusting lay as shredded fabric on the floor, giving me a glimpse of the tree trunk-like arms he now possessed. His chest, stomach, EVERYTHING was suddenly completely jacked in a way that would make any body builder jealous.

His pants and shoes, however, remained mostly intact. Though now that he was about a foot and a half taller than before, his pants' ankles rose up like highwaters. I could see the muscles in his legs were now also significantly bigger, suggesting he could potentially kick just as hard as he could punch. Or worse, run just as fast as I could, even without absorbing my powers.

He's... not human! I mean, he IS, but... he really isn't...

Stryker gently removed his glasses and carelessly let them drop to the ground. One of the lenses fell out of the frame from the force of impact.

"Three down... and one to go." His voice eerily remained the same as it was before his transformation.

"You... HOW!?" I stammered, too much in shock to bother trying to escape my concrete trap.

"Impressed?" the intimidatingly muscular man sneered. "Upon absorbing enough power, my body itself must change in order to accommodate it all. An unintended side effect, mind you, but a very helpful one indeed."

As he held both huge arms to the sides, a shining ball of ice appeared in Stryker's right hand and a murky ball of napalm appeared in his left. Though despite its intended feeling of overwhelming dread, it was also an awe-inspiring sight to behold; that any being in the world could have so much power in one body. Awe-inspiring, but for all the worst reasons.

"This is my power, Mr. Ossland. You've come a long way to try and stop OGD's ambitions, but this is where it comes to an end." His face narrowed down into that smirk all of us had quickly grown to hate. "And what better way to finish you off than with the combined abilities of your two companions?"

He slowly brought the orbs in his hands together, fusing them into one giant, destructive sphere of pure energy. And it was aimed right at my head.

This... Is this really the end?

I weakly gazed to the side and saw Cali running as fast as she could towards the two of us, trying desperately to stop Stryker's attack before it left his hands. Unable to teleport anywhere, she tried over and over in vain to conjure an attack of her own, but the power suppressant was still in effect and quelled her every effort.

She won't make it... Not without her powers...

I could see the tears in her eyes as she ran; she had reached the same conclusion I had. That there was nothing either of us could do to escape this situation alive. By demoralizing us, trapping us, and taking everyone's powers, Stryker had won.

This is the end after all...

"Farewell, Mr. Ossl---"

But a sudden explosion from overhead robbed me of the chance to have my life flash before my eyes, or any of the other crazy things my mind lately tended to put me through when it seemed like I was going to die.

"Somebody call for backup!?" a familiar, energetic voice rang out.

"Arty! HARRY! Oh, thank GOD!" Cali cheered as our two comrades descended down from the hole in the ceiling to our rescue, using their own fire and ice abilities to slow their fall. Instinctively, Stryker fired his giant energy blast at them, but it traveled too slowly to hit either. While Smith distracted his former employer with an impressive barrage of ice spears, Harry teleported over to where I was and hastily dug me out from underneath the concrete debris.

"Jesus, Greg, are you okay!? We must've found you guys at the last minute--- no, the last SECOND! Any more and you would've... FUCK, man! How'd you get yourself trapped like that!?"

He was worried, and rightfully so, given what had happened to our third teammate the day before. I grabbed his shoulder as he pulled me out, wincing at the pain radiating from all over my body. "Stryker's smart... or I'm just too predictable... But come on, I've been buried alive before, remember?" I wheezed, trying to lighten the mood just a little bit. More so for myself than Harry, since I had been ready to accept my dire fate a moment earlier. "I thought... I thought I had him a few times, but he dodges everything I throw at him! I only got in a single lucky shot so far!"

"I don't get it! He can do what your girlfriends can do! And more!" Smith shouted, having fended Stryker off to a standstill so both could have a moment's rest.

"No, that's EXACTLY it!" I replied. "If he touches you, he'll absorb your powers and completely wear you out. He's already got Evan, Cali, and Kyla's attacks and they're INSANELY strong!"

"Heh, take our superpowers just by grabbing us? That's laaame" Harry jeered as he readied a fireball in each hand. "I was expecting something more like 'psionically cutting our scalps off and eating our brains' to get our abilities. That sounds way more effective AND unnecessarily violent!"

"Dammit, Harry, this is NOT THE FUCKING TIME!" I shouted. "This is for REAL, so PLEASE take this more seriously!"

"Dude, we've GOT this, don't worry!" Harry countered. "If Hulk here grabs me, I can just teleport away before he does his absorption-thing!" He shifted his gaze to Stryker, completely un-intimidated by the towering superhuman, whether out of sheer overconfidence or sheer stupidity. "Whaddayou say, big guy? Think your powers work faster than mine? I say we find out!"

Stryker chuckled, though not as darkly as before. Chuckled in more of an amused sense that suggested Harry was a spunky kid with a green belt trying to pick a fight with Chuck Norris. "I suggest you listen to your surviving teammate, Mr. Morrison, and take this fight seriously. Need I remind you that thanks to Miss Greenlaw's generous donation, I can teleport as quickly and efficiently as you? Nothing in this room is out of my reach, not even you."

"Harry, listen to him! He's not bluffing!" Cali shouted from across the room. "He took my powers and already used them on Greg and Isaac! My teleporting's way better than yours; he can out-maneuver you!"

My reckless friend's expression, however, remained completely confident. "Oh, I haven't forgotten about that, Cali. I know, because I myself helped you learn how to control that ability before we came here, remember? And looking back, it was... really fun helping you with that" he said with a fond smile. "But what Georgie here is forgetting is that a better power comes with a higher price, meaning he can't spam his ability like I can spam mine. 'Cause he'll wear himself out if he does!"

"While I may not agree with your improper use of the word 'spam,' Mr. Morrison, I believe I understand what you're saying" Stryker retorted. "And while simple logic would substantiate your claim, you may find that I am a rare exception..."

Ugh, Harry, I see what you're trying to do, but I already KNOW that, and I'm pretty sure he does, too. Doesn't even make a difference; Stryker hasn't shown any signs of exhaustion! I REALLY don't think it's the best idea right now...

While it was a welcome relief to have someone remind Stryker that he wasn't completely invincible, I was desperately wishing that Harry would stop stalling our enemy and---

Wait... wait a minute, that's it! Harry's not being his boisterous, annoying self to play mind games with Stryker, he's doing this to stall and buy me some time to recuperate! And... and it's kinda working, actually... My chest still hurts like hell, but I feel like I have enough of my stamina back!

Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm ready for the next round. It's 3 on 1, and the odds are MUCH better now. But... will that be enough to beat this guy? He tossed me around like a ragdoll, so who's to say he can't hold all three of us back equally? The girls can't fight anymore, so that just leaves---

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Isaac had retreated to a lone spot against the wall, now that Cali was tending to Kyla and couldn't do anything herself to treat Isaac's burns. Smith, however, saw my intention as Harry continued goading Stryker, and nodded in agreement to my new plan. If three hybrids against one metahuman was a decent matchup already, then four hybrids would be more than enough to win.

Hopefully...

Harry said something insulting, Stryker said something unpleasant back, and I decided I had had enough time to recuperate.

I made my move and ran over to Isaac, but Stryker made his own at the same time. Without skipping a beat, he teleported and intercepted me halfway through with a readied ice attack, wasting no time firing it right at my chest. Though unlike the last projectile attack he had hit me with, this one would never hit its target. From halfway across the arena, Harry shot a fireball that hit Stryker's ice blast, neutralizing the attack and causing a harmless explosion of steam instead. With his single window of opportunity, Smith dashed towards our enemy with the mist cloud as his cover, creating a thick, massive ice lance in his hands.

And Stryker didn't see it coming at all.

"Take THIS!" he shouted, thrusting his weapon as hard as he could. There was a sudden grotesque sound, a familiar one in our line of work. And when the dissipating mist completely faded away, Harry and I could see that, much to our simultaneous joy and shock, that Smith had pierced his weapon_clean through Stryker's pathetic excuse for a heart!_

All of us were motionless. Me, Harry, Smith, even Stryker himself as he slowly gazed down and saw the gaping wound in his chest. Blood was leaking out from the sides, dripping onto the floor and even flowing down the spear onto Smith's hands. But he didn't even notice.

"Yeah, Arty! You got him!" Cali cheered from a distance, breaking the thick silence and reaffirming that we had just dealt a potentially fatal blow to the madman trying to wipe us all out.

"Drop dead, Stryker" Smith muttered.

A second passed.

Then another ten seconds.

But Stryker didn't fall, like Smith had demanded... he remained completely still and slowly began to chuckle.

Wait a minute... this can't... NO!

Fast as a venomous cobra striking its prey, he grabbed the ice spear with one hand and teleported himself and Smith away.

"Where did they..." I started to ask, but Harry quickly answered my question:

"Right above us, look out!"

Everything happened in one swift motion. Still with a firm grasp on the spear, Stryker kicked Smith away from him as they re-materialized near the ceiling, making the husky hybrid release his grip on the weapon and fall towards the ground faster. Without so much as a single grunt of pain, Stryker pulled the rod through his own chest and immediately threw it at Smith as he crashed into the ground with a yelp. The spear would've impaled his head into the ground, but Harry reacted fast enough to grab it mid-air and melt it with his abilities. At the last second, Stryker teleported to avoid slamming into the ground himself, sticking a perfect landing while he was at it.

I could see the clean-cut hole in his chest healing itself as well, as veins, muscle and organs shifted and expanded, realigning themselves to their natural positions in his mutated body. "A superior healing factor is just another welcome addition after absorbing so much power" he taunted.

Harry had narrowly saved Smith's life, but they were both off-guard long enough for Stryker to dash back over with a literal handful of new attacks. He fired a fierce barrage of fire and ice at my friends, but my rekindled speed allowed me to deflect every single attack with my sword.

"Greg, go! We'll hold him back for you!" Harry shouted, motioning me to continue with my desperate plan to recruit our indisposed foe. He quickly helped Smith off of the floor, and both rapidly resumed holding our seemingly invincible superhuman enemy at bay. I watched briefly, with a sense of admiration for Harry in particular; being fearless and efficient in fighting Stryker instead of his usual annoying self.

Dammit, Harry... I never give you enough credit, do I? You're boisterous, irritating, and a bunch of other things, but here you are, going at this like a true soldier...

I promise that if--- WHEN we get out of this, I'll be a much better friend to you.

Isaac, however, looked terrible by comparison once I finally made my way over to him. Drooping against the wall, he looked absolutely dazed and lifeless, as if he was in a completely different place altogether. I knelt down and grabbed the wolf's shoulders, trying to shake him out of his hazy stupor. "Isaac, come on! We need your help! I don't know how much longer I'm going to last, and he's countering every attack Harry and Smith are throwing at him!"

"Heh... I can see that... I'm not a COMPLETE idiot, you know" Isaac mumbled lazily while slouching into the wall against my grip. "This... all of this was never part of the plan... I had so many ideas, so many little fantasies of how all this bullshit would turn out in the end... and yet I never in a million years thought things would end up like this..."

"Isaac, this isn't---"

"Go ahead, Greg. Say 'I told you so,' get it all out of your system" he groaned. "You know you wanna, so just do it."

Dammit, I'm getting nowhere with him...

Against my better judgment, I leaned in and punched Isaac right in the mouth. Rather hard, actually.

Sorry about that...

The broken hybrid didn't even flinch, though. He only glared at me through half-lidded eyes and slowly brought a hand to his jaw to ease the pain. "Was that payback for slapping your schizophrenic gal-pal earlier?" he asked calmly, as if treating it like the first of many punishment blows to come instead of the wake-up call I had intended it to be.

Regardless, it was irritating me nearly up to my breaking point. "Is that REALLY the only thing you're thinking about right now!?" I shouted. "That's not even what schizoph--- never mind. Call it a coincidence, call it poetic justice, call it whatever you want because that's not the POINT right now!" I grabbed his broken collar piece and pulled him closer, less than an inch away from my face. "I'm TRYING to get you off your defeatist ass and back into this fight! Because we NEED you! I need you!"

Shoving Isaac back against the wall, I quickly glanced over my shoulder and saw Stryker swing at Smith, making him lose his posture and firing one of his readied ice attacks right at Harry's head. Luckily Harry saw it coming and teleported out of the way, reappearing with a fist full of fireballs to hit Stryker with. But they only seemed to bounce right off of the superhuman and merely slow him down.

Shit, I'm running out of time!

I turned back to Isaac and rapidly picked up my impromptu inspirational pep-talk where I left off. "Look, you said some things; I said some things. You did some things; I did some things... fuck it, we both said and did a LOT of things and thoroughly kicked each other's asses over and over these past two days. But that's NOT important right now. Right now, getting out of this room alive is more important. We can still fight, and we can still somehow beat this guy, I know it! And THEN we can sort everything out between us. Maybe I can find it in my heart to forgive you, or at the very least, maybe we can part ways on equal terms."

"How can you even say that so easily?" Isaac moaned. "I hurt people... I killed your friend; I killed your girlfriend's friend... all for no reason..." He clutched his head in his hands, whimpering softly. "The more I think about it, the more I realize you should've just let me burn earlier. I deserve to die right here, right now. I'm evil. A monster..."

I dropped Isaac's sword on the ground right next to him, such that the hilt landed within grabbing distance. "Isaac, you don't HAVE to die as a monster. Stand up and fight with us, avenge Elizabeth, and REDEEM yourself. Or at the very least, fight and die as a hero with a clean conscience."

The wolf hybrid's gaze dropped to his sword on the ground, studying it intensely as the sounds of battle echoed around us. I was still getting increasingly anxious, wishing that he would make up his mind faster so we could join Harry and Smith as their reinforcements. But I understood that re-evaluating one's life wasn't something that anybody could do in the blink of an eye. And considering Isaac's case, there were still plenty of demons for him to confront.

"Isaac, come on."

No answer.

"This is the right thing to do, and you KNOW it!"

Still no answer.

"ISAAC!?"

Please! I told you, I can't do this on my---

"Is there... is there really a chance we can put all this behind us one day?" he finally murmured after a painfully long minute of silence. "Or are you just lying to me so I'll help you, like Stryker did?"

I stood back up and smiled, offering my hand to my fallen friend. "Despite everything, Isaac, one thing I did not do today or yesterday was lie to you. Even now, all I've got is brutal honesty."

He looked me in the eye. "So... about us..."

"There's a _slight_possibility" I replied, in my infamously sarcastic tone. But it was all the encouragement Isaac needed, whether he read my words as plausible or sincere. With one hand he grabbed his sword off of the ground, and he grabbed my outstretched arm with the other as I pulled him to his feet.

Now it's my turn to pull you from the depths of despair, old friend, just like you did for me so long ago...

"Just like old times? Even though we never actually fought any zombies in the field together?" he joked while inspecting his weapon for any problems.

"More like... making up for lost time" I responded. "In more ways than one. Stryker didn't just fool you; he fooled me too, in a way. Right now, I'm still pissed and still grieving because of what you did... But all I really want is to have my friend back."

Isaac clutched his weapon tight, with the renewed, burning resolve I was hoping to see in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Greg. For everything... But you're right; that can wait for later."

"Exactly. Now let's go beat the final boss."

Swords in hand, the two of us raced over to the fight, ready to end the threat of OGD once and for all.

~~~

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~

Next chapter, people. Next chapter is the GRAND FINALE!

I know I said that last time, but I realized that this fight was too big for one chapter, since I like to keep all of them within the 7-8K word range. Plus if I had written them together instead of separately, you, the readers, wouldn't get your LITA fix for a looong time... and I won't deny you THAT :D

Hold on to your hatz, people. This story's going to end with a BANG! Or several...

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