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Chapter Ten: Edge of Destruction, Part Two

Then nothing happened... Twilight felt the pressure of the water against his skin disappear and as he opened his eyes that entire room was froze. He looked around and saw that the entire room and its accesses were frozen, wondering what happened Twilight stood off the table and instead walked towards the back of the room.

"Ok who did this?" Twilight asked as he checked to make sure that no one was holding out powers on them.

"No idea, but this will melt quickly we need to get to the next room, keep this frozen long enough to block them for our escape." Captain Helen said pointing to the door on the other side of the medbay.

"Easy enough, I can try ice." Twilight said as his hands glowed and he compacted the ice even further, forming an opening to the next room. Jackson walked forward and opened the exiting medbay door as they walked into the next "sealed" room, everyone quickly got through and Twilight relocked it by forming a wall of ice in front of the door.

"Ok, that should hold for maybe an hour, but then we need to get to the shuttle and activate the self-destruct." Twilight said making a command as he tried to look out the window and viewed the shuttle, they appeared to be on the right side of the station, so hopefully.

"Let's wait a minute." Nikolai said looking around at Twilight, "You have the ability to control water, why couldn't have you brought the virus. Slowly infect us one at a time, so that no one figures it out and knock us down so that you can take over the station."

"Yeah, when you arrived all of this started; Bob and Drew dying as you took control of their body and then took over Malcom. You not a hero, you're the parasite." Mia said as she joined the list of accusations, Captain Helen looked at Twilight, wondering if they were right as the only two left of her own crew started to go down to their irrational human roots.

"No... that isn't it. I can control water but that's way Afternoon did this just to taunt me as I barely hold the water back." Twilight said as Nikolai and Mia walked forward approaching the Kagen shark as he backed up against the wall. They looked at him as if he had committed the murders of their friends.

"Oh, so now there is someone called Afternoon, multiple people causing multiple outcomes." Mia said as she grabbed Afternoon. "Now then only one way to figure out if your right, throw you out of the airlock."

Nikolai had stopped and Mia looked at him before shunned him off for his ideals. She grabbed Twilight and picked him up in the air.

"No, no, no you've got me wrong. I didn't do this, Afternoon did; I teleported here to stop this!" Twilight said as he tried to escape from Mia's grip. She looked around the room, looking for something to suit her purposes.

"Now then, maybe we'll throw you out of the window, let the toxic air destroy your lungs and see what happens." Mia said as she walked towards the windows. "Get ready to go into the next room guys."

"Mia stop that, he wasn't here. There was no way he could have caused the virus; he was outside the base when Bob and Drew were taken over." Captain Helen said as she delivered the final command. Mai put Twilight down on the ground and walked over to the ground, starting to weep.

Captain Helen walked over to the wall and sat down next to Mia putting her arm around the lizard as she comforted her. Mai sat down and cried as she dealt with a bit of emotional baggage.

"I'm sorry I have no family or friends down on Earth, I just didn't want to die alone." Mia said apologizing as she realized that she might have overreacted a bit much. Twilight looked around and Jackson stood around wondering what was going to happen.

"Well then, how are we going to get out of here?" Jackson asked as he looked out of the window and through the red atmosphere, looking down on his planet. A tear came to his eye as he realized that he might not be able to return to it. Jackson felt like crying; to never again see the Earth's beautiful seas and expanding land; and to never see Eric again. He didn't want that.

"Hope that we can get to the shuttle and return to Earth, destroy the virus and give Afternoon one last post-mortem defeat." Twilight said as he looked out at the space shuttle that would be their only hope out of the hell spaceship. Suddenly Twilight felt a bit shocked as his breath fogged up on the mirror, he looked around and standing still he felt cold.

"Did they shut of the heat pumps?" Twilight said as he saw the room darken as the sun disappeared behind the Earth. Suddenly without the light of the sun, the station seemed a bit scarier. He walked around and tried to find a source of heat around the room. They were two rooms away from the main station but the atmosphere of the station seemed different.

"Why would they do that, they would freeze themselves." Mia said as she stood up closing her arms around herself, trying to keep the heat in. "Do you think it is because of this big ice chuck, maybe?" They looked out the door and it didn't seem that the ice had changed much.

"No they must have frozen the heat pump, they're trying to slow us down and kill us by stopping our metabolic cycles. They must be near a window so that the sun can heat them back up, they're getting smarter, learning to kill in different ways." Captain Helen said as they stood up and she walked towards the back door.

...

"Any sign of Jackson or Twilight, Koji?" Eric said annoying the hell out of Koji as they drove down the streets of Las Vegas. Confused as to what was happening. Koji groaned a bit as Afternoon tried to figure out how to work the car.

"Are you all right Koji, you nearly stalled the car three times coming out of the parking lot?" Eric asked noting something strange with Koji, he wasn't going to put a dollar on it but he could have sworn that Koji was a better driver.

"It's late at night, I'm not used to driving this late and I can't really focus, sorry. Hey don't we have a device to locate Jackson with?" Noon!Koji said as he remained Eric of something that Noon had seen in his observations. Eric looked confused for a few seconds as he tried to figure out what Koji meant.

"Ah you mean the GPS tracking implants installed in your body that could work, oh but it's in the warehouse I'll go get it." Eric said as he stepped out of the car and looked at the many tire stalls on the ground. He walked into the warehouse; and as soon as he wasn't in Eric's line of sight Koji put the van into park.

"Damn this horrid car!" Koji yelled as he beaked and put the car into drive, going off at full speed as down the Las Vegas highway, and going towards his interest group. As the smoke barreled behind Koji, disappearing with the van; Eric walked out of the warehouse wondering where the van was.

"Oh, dear this isn't going to be good if Jackson comes back now." Eric said looking around as he grabbed the GPS tracker. He turned it on and Eric turned the tuner as he selected Jackson from a list. The map showed a computerized Earth and instead showed it zooming out to a point in space.

"That is really not good, wait Koji's eyes they were grey he has blue eyes. Shit! How did I not realize that?" Eric said as the adrenaline now rushing through his blood finally woke him up and made him realize that he was played like a violin. "I am going to knock the Afternoon out of Koji!"

Eric's body twitched and grew as he realized that he didn't have any options for cars. His body grew green scales and muscles grew on over his as he took a distinctively green color. Sharp and large teeth grew out of his extending muzzle and his pupils turning sharp.

He ran out into the street running after Noon!Koji as he tried to keep speed with the van. He knew that he could at least keep up with Koji as he drove presumably towards Ruby's gang, where ever they would be located. Eric roared giving a warning to Koji as he ran down the street at complete and full speed in chase after the van.

...

"Ok, so we're trapped up here in the void of space surrounded by a toxic atmosphere. Ok, so let's think of plan that is going to let us get to the shuttle on the other side of the station, clear it of water and ice, melt the ice put into once location, escape from the station and blow it up." Twilight said as he talked to the group pointing to the ice behind them. Looking through the ice all three of water beast were stupidly trying to go through the ice.

"Well first water and ice, we can solve two birds with one stones; the gravity controllers and shuttle access are on the other side of the station and need to be used. There is a system of tunnels under the station for emergency air transfer." Captain Helen said walking over to the wall.

"So we go through like air vents and get to the other side." Jackson said as Captain Helen entered the door and turned on a computer access screen with in the room.

"Yes and no." Mia said as she walked through the door looking around through the room.

"Someone needs to operate the vent system, from this room in order to make sure that air transfers correctly, because there are multiple paths for it to take, its actually quite inefficient." Nikolai said as he walked through, pulling the hatch open and looking down to make sure no alien parasites were in the pathway.

"Ok, I am going to stay here. You four get to the other side of the station, I'll have to close the hatches behind you to make sure that water doesn't get into the pipes as well." Captain Helen said as she started up the system, banging it a few times to help it speed up.

"Ok, sounds easy enough, once we're there we'll use the gravity wheels to melt the water and get it all into biodome and then you can cross it." Twilight said as he figured out their final solution to the problem. "Well then Captain, I will see you on the other side."

Twilight went in first, ducking his head and starting to crawl forward as Jackson, Nikolai and soon enough Mia jumped into the vents as well. Fresh air blew behind them as they started to make their way down the vent.

"Ok, you four you can hear me through here and first off at the next bend turn to the left and wait for the gate to rise as I make sure that the next area is vented." Captain Helen said as Twilight heard her and nodded; he turned and a large metal plate was shaking as it started to slowly rise.

"Well we're going to be here for a while, anybody have any regrets or feeling they would like to say?" Twilight said as the gate opened up and the smell of a freshly oxygenated tunnel awaited him. He ducked under the raised gate and passed into the next section.

"Let's continue onwards." Twilight said as he walked into the next section him, Jackson, Mia and Nikolai continuing onwards silently as they continued forward into the next section. They paused as they came to a three way junction, and the previous section closed behind them.

"Go on the left path." Captain Helen said as she opened all the gates. She had to in order to prevent a calculative error. Twilight groaned as he waited for the door to open, he waited for a few seconds and ducked under gate as it became available to him. Everyone passed under with him and then as they continued down the left path, suddenly light refracted in a similar pattern in what appeared in water.

Twilight stopped and turned around as a small flow of water entered from the other side of path. Twilight's eyes widened and he started to flag people forward.

"Run they're behind us!" Twilight yelled as he pushed his body to the side, and forced the water back into past the second steel wall. "Close the gate! Helen close the god dammed gate!"

The steel gate started to shake from its fully extended position and slowly started to fall. Twilight keep the water back as he saw Malcom behind the slowly closing gate.

"Mia get back!" Twilight yelled as he gave a command to the lizard, trying to save her life.

She turned around and nodded at him. She pulled out two guns and handed on to Twilight, taking the other one and starting to shoot at the water beast trying to slow him down and keep the water behind the second steel gate. She kept him behind as she passed into the junction.

She fired into the water beast and Twilight keep him behind and his waves of water as she fired her gun into the beast's body. Holes formed and water flooded out, Mia saw this and grabbed the steel gate, pulling it down and helping it as she continued to fire with her other hand.

Finally with a steam blast the gate sealed and Mia rested against the gate as water flooded up against her feet. She twisted and contorted as she put the gun against her chest and fired, trying to prevent them from getting another solider.

"Nikolai, Twilight, Jackson; when you get back to Earth, enjoy your loved ones and think of me every once and a while and vaporize them for me." Mia said as her voice started to oscillated and then she disappeared as Twilight, realized that there was another soul lost.

"Are you ok Twilight?" Jackson asked as Twilight returned to the front to the group, looking particularly angered as he attempted to deal with the fact that more than half of the people on the base would haven't die if he was more careful.

Twilight stood silent as they continued on the path that they were taking. Jackson put his head as he realized that they were even with that number of people that the station had. He looked at Nikolai who realized that he was a lone again. Jackson continued on knowing that every life he saved was for the better.

"No you aren't don't give up, we can still save two people and that is a victory, prove Afternoon wrong and prevent him from killing the last two people on the station then we still win, I believe in you." Jackson said as he continued down the corridor. "You see you saved Eric for me, now save them just like him."

Twilight sighed and continued on finally his poking his head up and exiting the series of pipes. Twilight twisted his head to make sure that no water was in the room, lights turned on and Twilight looked at the consoles of the gravity turner as he assumed control of the room. He stood up in the room and climbed out of the latter silently assuming the position.

Twilight walked to the console and activated it. The console glowed with heat and Jackson said nothing as he helped Nikolai up the latter. They looked around the room's exit was frozen with ice over the door.

"We're trapped in here whatever you're going to do make it quick." Nikolai said as he put his hand against the window. He looked around and saw Twilight playing with the consoles.

"Hold on, to something we're about to force our atmosphere all together melting the ice by heat and then spinning it into the biodome and refreezing it." Twilight said as he activated the console. Suddenly the gravity of the station increased, Jackson suddenly falling to the ground and lying down as he let the gravity take him.

"Is this it, is it almost over?" Jackson asked as he saw the red of the window, it started to condense and the ice outside started to melt. Twilight viewed the ice, making sure that it was melting but not forming gas. A vapor virus would be horrible and even Twilight couldn't regenerate to that.

"Suddenly there was the sound of breaking." Nikolai ran over to the window and suddenly there was water outside of the biodome a layer forming over the planet. The gravity pulled it in and suddenly the atmosphere turned back to normal and froze.

"Ok a few problems, here we won't be able to take off." Nikolai said as Jackson took off and looked at the outside. The entire planet was covered in a layer of ice, the atmosphere had broken the biodome and then it the atmosphere disappeared, bouncing off the planet and cooling it down to freeze the ice.

"What do you mean we can't take off?" Jackson asked, surely a shuttle would be able to melt ice on takeoff.

"Ion engines, thrust of the future. We can continuously generate thrust but only if we keep moving, and the first burst won't generate a engage heat, power or anything for liftoff." Helen suddenly said over an intercom.

"Also, we can't get to through the ice without hitting water." Jackson said suddenly hitting his head against the wall. "We're not back to square one we're back to negative five, we can't go back because of Mia, we can't exit through there, we are trapped in this room."

"It's hopeless; we'll all going to die here, dead of food or brunt of regeneration energy." Twilight said as he suddenly had an idea. "Wait when I regenerated on Earth, I had to change my face but if I release a small bit, I can melt the ice and my powers will be stronger, remember?" Twilight said bringing to mind the point of time when he controlled a sewer of water.

"Hang on Helen, I'm coming for you. Jackson open the door then stand back." Twilight said as his hands started to glow orange. Twilight walked forward as the sealed door, unsealed and descended into the floor leaving the ice exposed. "Get ready, stay close."

Energy blasted forward and regeneration energy blasted against the ice, melting it and pushing it out against the water. Twilight stopped and put his hands forward, keeping the water at bay as he pushing out of the way. Twilight took calm and manageable breaths as he pushed the water outwards and through the rooms.

The water exited out of the second room and flooded out through an unsealed door. Twilight walked forward as waves of water exited the room, no droplets getting left behind, the room would be left dry. Twilight continued pushing and their were no water pools left in the area.

"Jackson get the door." Twilight said as he held the water outside of the room, Jackson walked over and closed the door, taking a breath as the room sealed and they were safe, as some of the water refroze on the other side. Nikolai sealed the door and keeping them safely trapped in the room.

"Ok, then now into the shuttle, if it is ion powered, perhaps we could move to the other side and dock there." Nikolai said adding to the conversation that there were two docking ports that could be used. Of course they would just have to start up the autopilot.

Twilight entered the opened shuttle door and walked in through the airdock. Twilight walked in and looked around their didn't appear to be any water around and he continued on into the area. Jackson followed and so did Nikolai.

Jackson looked around and wondered how Twilight would free the shuttle, all he needed to do was separate the ice from the shuttle and they could take off, orbit around the rock and save Captain Helen. Twilight climbed up into the shuttle and looked around trying to find an area, a console with anything that could work.

Nikolai looked around the shuttle and looked out the airlock, he wondered why the door was already opened. Looking around he saw the vent open, the evidence standing before them. He looked around and ran into the shuttle, Nikolai looked around knowing that it would be better to find the beast and trap it.

Twilight looked around the shuttle seeing if he would try to find something that would be useful to them. He opened the door and suddenly it was there a water beast standing before him, waiting for him in the closet and waiting there. The beast opened his mouth and water flooded out of its mouth.

...

Eric looked around as he was forced to continue after Koji, he had no idea where he was going he just needed to continue on just like how Koji, saved him, and now it was time to return to the favor. He stopped and walked as he turned back his normal clothes reappearing after being quantum stored. He looked around he was in the ever expanding warehouse district of Las Vegas, one for every villain and or illegal activity.

"Come on Koji, give me a signal your so much stronger than me mentally, maybe you can give me just one message, just one sign." Eric said as he walked off in the distance, and then it was there. A sign, an advertisement with a large ice cream cone, for Sun Sun Ice Cream. He looked at it and there appeared to be a large van sized hole in it.

Eric through back and suddenly he remembered his first day in Las Vegas, when he moved here for the program for kindergarten. He remembered Jackson and a strange shark and the more he mentally thought of it the more it reminded him of Koji. He remembered that Koji was older than him by at least twice and it made sense, multiple memories of Koji that he forgot or that Koji made him forget with his mental manipulation.

Eric figured that Koji broke through for a second and was at least influencing Afternoon's thoughts. He turned back into a werecroc running with joy towards the Ice cream store as he thought Koji had set up the meeting there.

Eric arrived and turned back into a wolf, hiding behind a bush and waiting as he saw the missing outsider's van. He saw Koji sitting at the table with a hot fudge sundae eating it slowly, savoring it, Eric wondered that if it was Afternoon enjoying what must have been his first ice cream.

"Sorry Afternoon but you can't finish that." Eric said walking out of the bush, making himself known to Afternoon as he decided to capture the shark before any more damage could be done. "Now you now I have been captured by a Kagen before so, for right now you have nowhere to go your mind is trapped."

"Well look who showed up finally it's the peanut section, I was here for about fifteen minutes, I don't even know why I'm here I'd just thought I'd try some Ice cream." Afternoon said, confirming Eric's thoughts that Koji was fighting from the inside to get free from the beast.

"Well then I guess I'll have to hold you in a forcefield until Twilight returns." Eric said as he confronted the shark, who looked confused as he processed that information.

"Wait, Twilight is gone. Well no fun if I can't torture him, but if I fire a pulse through the black book" Afternoon said as Koji's hand glowed and suddenly the shark's eyes changed back to blue. Koji shook and something fell on the ground.

"Run out of the shuttle!" Twilight yelled as he closed the door on the water beast, holding it back in the closet, and keeping its water from flowing down into the shuttle. Twilight slid down the latter, Jackson opening the door and Nikolai running out as they made their escape.

"Where is it?" Jackson asked as he looked at Twilight exiting the shuttle and locking the airdock. Suddenly water splashed down through the shuttle, electrical equipment getting ruined sparks flying as their last, last hope was destroyed.

"We have nowhere left to go, we can't leave this room, the shuttle is blocked and Helen is trapped on the other side of the station. If we do anything more with the gravity generators, then ice will fly out of this station's orbit and risk hitting Earth, we done, everything is over." Twilight said as he realized that everything was done, they only had on option left to take, the final solution.

"Captain Helen, set the self-destruct for twenty seconds, I'm afraid we failed. If I may say last words then Koji, I am sorry that I can't train you any further, but you will still inspire generations on ends of generations." Twilight said as the screens left on started to flash red with the countdown in white text.

"Eric you know..." Jackson said as he decided his last words.

"Brother, I am sorry." Nikolai said as he walked over to the wall and sat down.

Suddenly Twilight's pocket exploded engulfing them in a white light. Twilight cleared out his eyes and wondered if he was finally dead, if his reign had come to a defined end. Suddenly he saw Koji, Eric and they were at some kind of ice cream diner.

"Is this the afterlife?" Twilight asked as he contemplated his life.

"No, but check Koji, Afternoon was in his head!" Eric said as he looked at the dazed Koji, who looked as confused as Twilight and Jackson. There was also a draconic, which looked oddly strange.

"On it!" Twilight said as he put his hand onto Koji's head and mentally scanned the shark. He took a sigh of relief, when Koji would come too everyone in the outsiders would have survived a mental infection by the Kagens and would be from that point on immune.

Suddenly a large fiery explosion appeared in the sky. Twilight looked up and suddenly the sound and shockwave hit, blowing around trees and sounding like a tiny barking.

"No, Captain Helen, we could have saved her." Twilight said as he looked around. Jackson patted him on the back and looked up as the virus was destroyed ending the reign of Afternoon finally. Koji looked up confused and Eric transformed back into his normal form.

"You people are mad!" Nikolai said as he ran away from the diner, Twilight felt like chasing after him and making him forget but it he may come in handy in the future.

"Well that's at least one victory for today, but let's stay on Earth for a while." Twilight said to Jackson as they walked away, Twilight felt angry inside that he couldn't save more people, he would remember the souls of Malcom, Mia, Bob, Andrew and Helen, who sacrificed herself to save them.

...

Sometime later when the diner was deserted, a shadow appeared looking down at the table and seeing the one piece of black book that Noon!Koji left for him. He laughed.