End Of The Unknown
8 years ago. 2013.
Terra's grandfather Carl, was standing in a fighting stance. Terra was holding the staff she would eventually inherit.
Carl: Now, try and strike me again.
Terra: I won't be able to hit you! I've already tried!
Carl: With that attitude you'll never hit me.
Terra: I don't think I'm cut out for fighting. It's impossible!
Carl sat down next to Terra.
Carl: Do you know why your name is Terra?
Terra: Why?
Carl: Terra is the goddess of the Earth. And her name means Mother Earth. Do you think Mother Earth backs down from a challenge when it stands in the face of her?
Terra: ...no.
Carl: What I mean is. When a challenge stands in front of you that looks unbeatable. If it seems impossible. Stand up and spit in the face of that impossible challenge. Nothing is impossible kiddo. Impossible isn't a declaration. It's a dare.
Terra; A dare?
Carl: Now try and strike me with that state of mind.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Terra was standing on the battlefield. Leon was back, he teleported next to Terra.
Terra: Hey Leon.
Leon: Is it over?
Terra: No. Not yet. I want you to take everyone out of here.
Leon: Including you...right?
Terra: No.
Leon: I'm not losing anyone else today.
Terra: You're not going to.
Leon: ...That's what everyone says.
Terra: Do you trust me?
Leon: ...yeah.
Terra: Okay. Then take everyone out of here. I'll stay and finish this.
Leon looked at Terra with a concerned facial expression.
Leon: Alright. Don't die.
Terra: Planning on it.
Leon teleported everyone out of the area. Leaving only Terra. She felt the soil beneath her start to shake violently. She jumped up to a higher place. On top of the fallen down base. A gigantic machine burst through the ground. It had two gigantic plasma cannons. Two blades in the front. And six spider legs with spikes that would impale anyone unfortunate enough to be crushed by them. It also had a couple small cannons in the cockpit. Which Jilaya was sitting in. She stepped out of the machine and looked at Terra. Who was about on her level because of the debris she was standing on. Jilaya had changed her outfit to all black.
Jilaya: Terra. Waiting patiently to die I see.
Terra: I was waiting for you.
Jilaya: Yes. Because you wanted me to watch as you murdered Ivan and Axel. My only family!
Terra: I'm sorry about your family. But you got them roped into this in the first place.
Jilaya: You're saying it's my fault?!
Terra: No. I understand it was Ivan's choice to hunt me. But involving your children? Hypnotizing and virtually enslaving all those soldiers! That's wrong and you know it! Amelia and Donny-the blue coats didn't do anything to be locked in jail like that!
Jilaya: The world has too many mutants. And now more and more metas and mutants and even Primordials are starting to come out of the woodwork. More than ever! They have to be kept under regulation. And if some innocents have to be taken along the way. Whatever. We're saving more innocent lives.
Terra: At the cost of other innocents! There is a reason the blue coats were created! And because they were created more innocents were probably put at stake.
Jilaya: Do you know the amount of collateral damage that is caused when "heroes" fight bad guys? You saw it first hand at the EOL incident.
Terra: But imagine how much damage would be done without people like the Sentinels to save the day!
Jilaya: You don't understand. I control the media if I want to. I control how the public sees things. And you my child. Are a terrorist. That was a part of destroying most of San Francisco. Go back to Hell's Kitchen and see what happens.
Terra: I'll clear my name or something! I will make you beg to shut down MFI!
Jilaya: And I will make you beg for your life. You can't make me do anything.
Jilaya put on her welding mask and it's eyes glowed blue. Terra felt her head start to ache.
Terra: Get out of my head!
Terra summoned the power of Olympus into herself. And tried a deep breath to bring it to her head. The pain lessened and she jumped onto Integer's mech. She knocked over Jilaya and punched her in the stomach. Her hand went straight through her body. Terra was horrified of what she'd done. Until she realized there was no blood coming out of Jilaya.
Terra: A dummy?
Jilaya: Look who's talking.
Jilaya raised her hands and teleported behind Terra and knocked her off Zion. Terra landed on the ground and stood up. She looked ahead and saw Millie, Amelia, Leon, and Themis. They all had red eyes. Amelia ran in and threw a punch. Terra ducked under and uppercut Amelia. Sending her into the air. She blocked a slash from Leon's sword and kicked him away. Millie clapped her hands together and pushed Terra back a little. Themis morphed his sword into two pistols. He shot twice and shot Terra in the stomach and at her chest. The bullet clinked off her armor. But she took the shot to the stomach. He shot a bunch more shots. Terra fired on destruction and she realized the bullets moved much slower to her. She ran through them and punched Themis away. Holding back. Millie held her palm open handed and closed it. Terra felt something bad happen inside. She ran at Millie. But Amelia grabbed her by the head and pulled her to the ground. Millie got on top of Terra and punched her over and over. Terra blocked some of the punches and took off her gauntlets. She hit Millie clean in the chin and knocked her up in the air. Terra got hit by a bunch of fire blasts from Leon and fell to the ground. She ran through a fire blast and took away Leon's sword. Amelia ran at Terra and kneed her in the stomach over and over. Until Terra stopped her and grabbed her by the arm. She spun around Amelia and threw her away. Hopefully knocking her out. Millie ran up with a superman punch which Terra blocked with Leon's sword. She did a roll and punched Themis away and slammed him into a wall. Knocking him out. Leon teleported behind Terra set her on fire. The fire went away quick because of her armor. And Terra mule kicked Leon backward. Millie let out a blast from the couple hits Terra had gotten on her and sent Terra flying back. She dropped Leon's sword and was knocked out of her destruction form. Terra regained her footing and turned her destruction back on. She ran up and knocked out Millie. Leon approached and Terra did a hook kick and took him out. Amelia ran away and came back. Picking up speed. She went for a punch at Terra. Who held out her hands and blocked Amelia's punch right on time. The instant Amelia hit Terra Amelia's arm seemed like it shattered into a million pieces. Terra's heart sank.
Terra: Sorry, Amelia.
Terra turned around just in time to see one of Jilaya's gigantic blades coming down on her. Terra wasn't fast enough to move. She got crushed under it. She positioned herself at the last second so the blade cut into her chestplate. And not her stomach. However she was knocked out of destruction.
Jilaya: Your poor friends. It looks like they're going to have to see a hospital.
Terra: ...They're more resilient than you think!
Terra started banging on the side of Jilaya's blade violently. Denting it. But not breaking it. Terra positioned her gauntlets under it and pushed it up just a little bit. She slid herself out of it and stood up against Integer's gigantic goliath of a machine. Jilaya fired off a bunch of bombs into the ground. Terra fired destruction back on and jumped out of the way. She ran to the side and punched Jilaya's machine leg. Denting it. The leg raised into the air and followed Terra whenever she tried to move to the side from it. Jilaya brought the leg down. And Terra jumped out of the way. She punched the leg a little more and jumped on top of it. The leg picked up and shook Terra off. She took out her spear and slashed through the leg. Cutting it clean off. Jilaya brought down both of her blades. Terra slid out of the way and stabbed them with her spear. They were very resilient. Terra did a back leg front kick and bent the blade out of shape. Jilaya raised one of its feet and shot a bunch of spikes at Terra. She dodged out of the way. One of the spikes breezing past one of Terra's hip guards. She slammed her spear down on one of Jilaya's blades as it was bringing itself up. Cutting it in half. Terra jumped up in the air and slashed through another one of the machine's legs. Terra was caught off guard and got hit by one of the spikes. She got hit in the chest luckily. She get blasted back from it. The plasma cannons started charging and shot a blast at Terra. She ran in at Zion and hid under one of its own legs. The plasma cannon knocked over even more buildings that were surprisingly still standing up. Terra cut the leg a couple times from under it. She jumped up and literally punched through the leg. The machine started to get lopsided. And it fell on it's side. Terra jumped on it and slashed off both of it's plasma cannons. She started punching it in the middle over and over. Until she broke through the metal. She jammed her hand into it. But before she could do anything Jilaya stepped out of her cockpit and shot Terra with some sort of laser gun. She got hit in the arm. Right on her gauntlet. The gun started eating away at the gauntlet like a virus. And she was knocked out of destruction. Terra jumped up and hit Jilaya off the machine with her spear. Jilaya landed on the ground and stared down Terra.
Jilaya: I killed my father. And I'll kill anyone else who tried to use me.
Terra: You're insane.
Jilaya: No. You are on the wrong side of history. I have over 1,000 soldiers all over the world. I worked my entire life to get to this point! After I died pathetically! My father said this world would be mine! And If he doesn't want to rule with me. I'll rule it myself! And I will start by making an example out of you!
She shot a laser blast from her hand. Terra held up her gauntlets and blocked the shot.. One of her arms got a little bit burnt because one of her gauntlets had a big hole in it. Terra ran forward and fired on destruction. She dodged a bunch of shots from Jilaya. She threw a kick at Jilaya. Who teleported away and shot a gigantic laser blast from both of her hands. Terra narrowly dodged. It left a big hole in the ground. Terra jumped up and punched Jilaya in the face. But her shield was protecting her again. She punched Terra in the chest and shot her away with a blast. She landed on the ground with a hard thud. Jilaya came up and shot a huge blast down at Terra. She took off all her armor and made a shield with it in front of her. She moved out of the way and her armor came back, Terra took off her gauntlet and hit Jilaya with it. And then jumped up and punched her down into the ground. Terra landed and threw a punch at Jilaya. But she shot two blasts into Terra's stomach. Sending her flying into the air. Jilaya teleported behind Terra and grabbed her in midair with her hair. She shot another huge blast, blowing a hole right in Terra's stomach. But instead Terra shot off her gauntlet and deflected the blast. Bursting Jilaya's shield into pieces. And blowing Terra back to the ground from the blast. She jumped through the blast and slashed up Jilaya's stomach and close to her chest. Making a clean cut up her body. Terra punched Jilaya down at the ground and broke the shield. She came down with her spear and stabbed it down. Jilaya rolled out of the way and shot the laser gun at Terra again. Terra dodged out of the way and slashed her spear down again. Jilaya put out her hair and slowed down the spear. Cutting her hair off but giving her time to get up. Terra came up and threw a barrage of punches. Jilaya got hit and blocked Terra's last shot and countered with an elbow in the face. Terra lurched back. Her gauntlet came from behind Jilaya and stabbed her in the back. Jilaya grabbed the gauntlet and threw it violently at Terra. Stabbing her in the stomach. Terra fell backward from the trauma to her stomach. Jilaya lit up her hands with her magic and picked up Terra and punched her back. She teleported behind Terra and let out an elbow to her back. And then teleported again and kicked her up in the air. And ending by teleporting and shooting a blast down. Terra landed on the ground violently. Jilaya got on top of Terra and started punching her over and over.
Jilaya: You killed my family! You killed everyone I love! And for that, you deserve to die!
Terra: I'm doing this for my family. And for future metas and mutants! You should've checked your moral compass before fighting me!
Jilaya: My moral compass?! I was right the whole time! You should be the one to do that! Fucking low-life motherfucker! You came from the woods! You are nothing to me! Just another peasant I'll forget to feed!
Jilaya slammed down. Terra put up both of her hands and blocked the strike.
Terra: That's exactly why you're going to lose. You worked your whole life. But you were still part god when you were reborn. You had a leg up. It's not like you were completely defenseless!
Jilaya: I used that leg up to flourish in this weak society! There's a reason you are below me! I take advantage of what I have to! Use whatever loopholes possible to get to the top!
Terra: People aren't people to you are they? Just pawns. You're your father all over again!
Terra brought her spear around and hit Jilaya backward off of her. She got to her feet quickly. Terra took a second to breathe. Jilaya ran towards her, charging a blast. Terra jumped up and then forward with both of her legs. Hitting Jilaya right in the face. She stumbled back and she started making a bunch of clones all around. She shot the blast at Terra she'd been charging. Terra jumped in the air and took off both of her gauntlets and took out all the fakes. Until she hit Jilaya. She covered her arms with her gauntlets and brought her to the ground. Terra fired an energy blast into Jilaya. Who screamed and broke free of Terra's gauntlets. She punched Terra in the face and kicked her down. Stomping on her over and over. She shot a blast at Terra's face. She moved her face, but some of her hair was blown away. She grabbed Jilaya's leg and threw her off of her. She got up to get to Jilaya. But she was gone from where she last was. Terra turned around and realized Jilaya was holding up one of the plasma cannons from Zion.
Jilaya: Return to the fucking soil where you came from!
Jilaya shot the gigantic laser. Terra didn't move. She stood there. And ran at the blast. She held out both of her hands. And looked ahead. She watched her gauntlets start to melt off of her. Along with the rest of her armor. She broke through the blast. And pushed her hands to the side as it fizzled out.
Jilaya: What? That's fucking impossible!
Terra: Then why did I just do it?
Her armor was trashed. She used the last breath of the armor to lock down Integer to the ground. Covering her hands and arms with her gauntlets and pinning her legs with shin guards. Terra was driven only by her pure adrenaline, and she was burning with rage.
Terra: You'll shut down MFI. Or you'll die here. And you'll lose to the bitch from the woods. Make your choice.
Jilaya: I have nothing else to lose.
Terra: It'll happen no matter what. You'll shut it down. And you won't do anything from your cell! YOU'LL ROT THERE! You've lost already. Think about all the damage you've done.
Jilaya: My dream was to see my father. He was a terrible person. All I've built isn't just for him. It's for my family! Who are all dead…
Terra: I won't kill you. Not now. I want a confession, and I want you out of my life. Forever.
Jilaya: I'll never be out of your life. You will always deal with the repercussions of your actions today. You are setting them free, but freedom comes with a price. Every action has consequence. Some more than others.
Terra: Shut up. You aren't getting out of this! Everyone will be free. My work has to have been worth it.
Jilaya: Keep telling yourself that.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Terra was back in Hell's Kitchen. She watched as the closest slave site to her was emptied. She was wearing new fresh clothes. A white pin up top and green pants. Her hair was completely let down. And she had no shoes on as usual. She saw people being emptied out and scanned by some sort of officer with the letters B.L.A.D.E on the back of his jacket. Some were taken away. The ones who were criminals by law. And others were let free. They met with families and hugged. Terra saw a father run to a couple small children and their mother. It was beautiful. She walked the streets and people seemed more happy. More accepting. She saw someone who was recently released run over and steal a woman's purse. Terra chased him down and pinned him to the ground. She brought the purse back to the woman.
Woman: Thank you!
Terra: My pleasure.
Woman: Hey! I think I've seen you somewhere.
Terra: Must've been someone different. I've never been on TV.
The woman took out a camera.
Woman: No. I know you! I protested for your freedom! You're that girl who was wrongly imprisoned in a meta camp. Right?
Terra: Something like that. What's the camera for?
Woman: Can you make a statement for all the men and women who were freed? Please?
Terra: Uh...Enjoy freedom.
The woman motioned for more.
Terra: -b-because...sometimes it's something that has to be worked towards. And it's the sad truth of the world. I think we all deserve freedom. But there are people out there who want to set barriers...Don't let a barrier block your way. Just stand up and spit in the face of that barrier. You'll make it through.
The woman turned off the camera.
Woman: That was perfect! How did you think of that?
Terra: I dunno. I just kind of spoke from the heart I guess.
Terra walked back on her way home. Where someone next to the apartment came out who recognized her. It was a little kid.
Kid: I always see you never wear shoes! So I got my mommy to get you some! You really made us happy.
The kid gave Terra a box of shoes.
Terra: Uh...I don't really…
Kid: Don't really what?
Terra: Don't really need gifts like this. But it's very much appreciated. Thank you.
Terra walked into her apartment and sat down. She got a call on her phone and picked it up. It was Millie.
Millie: Hey Terra! Come to Bibble and Sip. I wanna talk.
Terra: Um. Okay I guess I will.
Terra traveled to bibble and sip. She slipped on the shoes the kid had given her. She made it to Bibble and Sip and saw Millie. Kris was there and Leon was sitting with them. Weird. Maybe they just wanted to catch up. Terra sat down.
Terra: Hey guys. What's going on?
Millie: We just wanted to see how you were doing. We haven't seen you since the hospital. And we barely saw you there.
Leon: Like what happened to your armor?
Terra: It's gone. But maybe it's for the best.
Leon: I get it.
A bunch of waiters and waitresses came out with a cake. They were singing happy birthday. Terra was surprised when they came over to her table and then said her name in the song.
Millie, Leon, Kris: Happy Birthday!
Leon: You seriously forgot your eighteenth birthday!?
Terra: I guess I did. Thank you all.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The End
(Not really though, I mean like honestly, letting metas free is a horrible idea. Do you know how much unarrest that would cause across the states? Long story short, my next volumes kind of understand where they were going. I didn't expect this Artemis project to turn into something that would span this long. So if you are reading this now, and you read any parts of my shit. I truly commend you. Like you would not believe how much I can thank you. So, um, if you can tolerate any more of my shit, then stay tuned for next Monday. If you want it to end here, and metas and humans just worked it out in your mind and Terra is able to rest. That's fine too. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for getting this far, or for reading one chapter, or for reading just this passage. But obviously the people who read more get the biggest prize. Which is nothing. Congratulations!)