Ch 918 - The Final Battle

Alex whipped his head around. Riley stood in the massive corridor, silhouetted by the light of the hallway. He pressed a button on his watch, and a foggy mist billowed out of the smoke machine by the door, adding to the melodramatic ambiance.

Riley wasn't a domineering man. He was small, with weasel-like features. Nothing about him was intimidating. However, Alex knew he was a deranged lunatic, and that made him dangerous.

After fighting countless super soldiers and a cyborg, Alex was ready to face his psychotic nemesis. He managed to save his friends and help them escape from Riley's lair. Now it was up to him to save the world.

Despite being an excellent combatant, Alex wasn't eager to jump into any fight that came his way. He would much rather settle conflicts with words, never having to raise a fist. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't seen many peaceful negotiations over the last few days. Even though he figured it was a waste of time, he tried to plead with Riley.

"Come on, Riley. I'm tired of fighting. Let's end this stupid rivalry once and for all. At the end of the day, where's it getting us?" Alex asked.

Riley scoffed. He sauntered further into the room, waving his hand in front of his face to push away the smoke. "You're tired of fighting, huh? Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to expose my business."

"What you were doing is unethical, Riley. You and I both know that," Alex said.

Riley rolled his eyes. He was sick of Alex's do-gooder attitude. "That's how you get to the top, Ambrose. Not all of us can screw our way there."

Alex didn't even reply to the snarky remark.

Riley glared at Alex. Hatred and disgust pulsed through his veins. "I want to rule the world, Ambrose. I want it all under my control. I want people to hear the name Riley Naysmith and drop to their knees out of both respect and fear. You want to help the people in this world. What good is that going to do? People are tiny, foolish cretins. I want to heal the world itself, and the only way to do that is to take over and give the world a fresh, new start."

Alex knew he had to tread lightly. "I am sorry that the world made you feel like that was your only choice, Riley, but there has to be another way. What about your family? What about Kylie?"

Riley lolled his head back and laughed. "Kylie? That bimbo isn't worth a second of my time. As far as I'm concerned, I have no family. I'm a lone wolf."

Alex cleared his throat. He was reaching the end of his rope. "So, what now? You're going to kill me?"

"And everyone else in the world," Riley responded with a smirk.

Reluctantly, Alex took a step forward. "You're going too far, Riley. This needs to end."

With a cocky grin plastered across his face, Riley shrugged. "The only way this could end is if you kill me, and even then, I'm positive this vision will come to light. There will always be people like me to bring people like you down a peg."

Alex let down his guard. He raised his arms to his side. "Fine then, Riley. You want to kill me? Go ahead. I'm right here. Do your worst."

Riley raised his eyebrows, then broke out into a hysterical laugh. "You think I'm going to fight you, now? Oh, Alex. That would be far too easy. You haven't suffered enough yet. You didn't let the super soldier with the flamethrower burn your flesh off, and you think I'm going to sit here and let you off easy? No, no, no. I have so much more in store for you."

Alex lowered his arms. He glared at his foe. "Let me guess, another monster you concocted in your lab."

Riley clapped his hands together. He tapped a finger to his nose. "Bingo. But this time, I am positive you won't make it out alive. This is my most fearsome super soldier yet. You see, months ago, my dear friend Dr. Ozzy McManace, whom you killed, worked side by side with another renowned outcast scientist, Dr. Tom Swanson."

***

Three months prior, Dr. McManace and Dr. Swanson led Riley to their main laboratory. The research facility bustled with scientists, all working to develop state-of-the-art technology, new pharmaceuticals, and, most importantly, experimental, genetically modified creatures.

As the three walked through the facility, everyone stopped at the sight of Riley. He grinned from ear to ear. "Back to work, the sorry lot of you." He turned toward the doctors. "Now, what was so important you had to pull me away from my surveillance room?"

Dr. Swanson led Riley to a restricted-access research room. He scanned his ID card, and the door unlocked. The three men entered the room.

"Two things, update on the creature and update on the AI system," Swanson said.

Riley rubbed his hands together manically. "Lay it on me. Save the best for last."

McManace smiled. "We finished the development of the AI system to help maintain and build the super soldier army. In the event something happens to Swanson or me, this is a backup system. However, we also programmed her to help with security. We took the models you sent us of Ambrose's AI and improved them."

"Excellent!" Riley responded. "Turn it on."

A huge, black rectangular box sat in the middle of the research room. It was surrounded by a control panel and monitors. Dr. Swanson pointed to the monitors. "It's called the Hyper Advanced Long-range Laser Exterminator, or HALLE for short. Just say, 'Hello, HALLE,' and the system should activate. She's programmed to obey your every command."

Riley liked the sound of that. "Hello, HALLE."

All of the computers in the room switched on. A code flashed across the screens. Then, a feminine, robotic voice responded. "Hello, Mr. Naysmith. How may I help you?"

Riley stared at the computer monitors, mouth agape. "Amazing."

Proud of his work, Dr. Swanson smiled. "I agree. By using HALLE to help further our research, I believe we have maximized the potential of the serum. Per your request, we have enhanced all of the genes to their maximum ability. It was a difficult process, and I doubt most humans would survive it, but we finally found one who did. If we combine this research with McManace's, I think you'll have an undefeated army on your hands."

McManace grabbed Riley's shoulder. "We're talking a super soldier that is nearly ten feet tall and about four-point-seven-five stronger than the rest. He's an absolute behemoth."

Thrilled with the news, Riley grabbed the doctors' hands and shook them. "Well done, gentlemen. So where is it? Where's the perfect super soldier?"

Dr. Swanson pointed at the black box in the middle of the room. "We built this containment area to detain the creature. He's in that box, but HALLE has the windows tinted. The super soldier gets spooked easily, and he only recognizes McManace and me. He can't really speak, but the two of us have figured out basic sign language in order to communicate with him. We are still working out the kinks. We figured we would bring you down here to show you the data and the progress. We had HALLE prepare a presentation with images, videos, and models of the creature since he isn't quite ready for human interaction."

Riley didn't like the sound of that. He was excited, and he wanted to see his new weapon immediately. "Are you kidding me? Show me the creature."

Dr. Swanson shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but he isn't ready."

Riley waved off Swanson. He turned toward HALLE. "HALLE, release the super-super soldier."

Dr. Swanson's eyes widened. He suddenly regretted programming HALLE to obey Riley above anyone else. "HALLE, no. HALLE, disengage."

The computing system hummed as it processed the requests. Finally, HALLE replied. "Yes, Mr. Naysmith. The creature will be released effective immediately."

The walls of the black box descended to the floor. A colossal beast of a man stood in the middle of the room. It looked like the other super soldiers, except it was bigger and more fearsome in every way.

The creature stared through Riley. It licked its lips as if it were looking at his next meal.

Dr. Swanson slowly positioned himself between the two. "No, Steve, back off."

Riley laughed wholeheartedly. "Steve? You named the creature Steve?"

Riley's boisterous voice alarmed the soldier, and he went into attack mode. He lunged toward Riley, but at the last second, Swanson threw himself in front of his boss, and the super soldier ripped the doctor's head off with a swift flick of the wrist.

***

Alex watched as Riley paced in front of him, recounting the story of the death of Dr. Swanson and the creation of the super soldier. "How did you make it out alive?"

Riley pursed his lips and shrugged. "Thanks to Dr. Swanson, McManace and I were able to run. HALLE locked down the research room, and she was able to train the super soldier. You know, that's all thanks to you. I would have never thought to create an artificial intelligence if you never made SPOT or whatever."

Alex glared at the man. "It's SCOT."

Riley waved off Alex. "Like it matters. Thanks to your research, we were able to build HALLE and make her stronger. She was able to complete the training of the most powerful super soldier of all time. And now, that super soldier will kill you."

Riley pressed the button on his watch, and the smoke machine started back up again. He stepped to the side. "Hey, HALLE, release the beast."

A robotic voice echoed throughout the chamber. "Yes, Mr. Naysmith."

The super soldier sprinted through the fog. Riley wasn't kidding when he said it was the biggest super soldier of them all. The creature was enormous.

When the beast spotted Alex, it let out a huge roar.

Alex let out an exasperated sigh. Yet another monster to fight.

He raised his fists up to his face, determined to take down the monster.

The super soldier charged toward Alex. Each footstep on the ground sounded like the clap of thunder.

Alright, Alex thought to himself. One punch. One single punch, and that's it.

He squared up, cocked his fist, and when the super soldier was at just the right angle, Alex jumped up and slammed the super soldier in the chest. The blow was strong enough to send the creature reeling back, but it wasn't enough to destroy the beast.

Riley watched in shock. He couldn't figure out how Alex was capable of knocking down the huge super soldier.

Noticing the creature was still alive, Alex rushed toward it. He didn't want to give the soldier any time to recover. He climbed on its chest, then landed a series of punches to the creature's already deformed face.

Alex had hit the creature with so much fury and strength, its head fused into the metal ground. Alex did not relent until he watched the creature take its dying breath.

Riley truly expected Alex to meet his demise at the hands' of the super soldier. He didn't have a plan of what to do next. He frantically glanced around the room. "How did you beat him? What kind of serum have you been giving yourself, Ambrose? What's going on here?"

Alex pushed up his sleeves and wiped the super soldier's glistening blood off on his pants. "I don't know how I got this strong, Naysmith. All I know is, you're in trouble now."

He hopped off the super soldier and lunged toward Riley.

The madman let out a perilous scream. But, right as Alex was about to grab his nemesis, cyborg John the Executioner came to his master's rescue. The robot pushed Riley out of the way, and threw Alex to the ground.

Riley stumbled backward. "John the Executioner! I knew you'd save me! I never forgot about you!" He, however, did forget that John the Executioner ever existed.

Alex rose to his feet. He faced the robot. "You know, I ripped off your friend's head a couple of blocks away from here."

The cyborg's metal hands transformed into sharp knives. "As a cyborg, I cannot feel emotions, but if I could, I would feel upset."

The robot shot toward Alex. It tried to strike him with one of the knives. Although it failed to stab him, it successfully nicked Alex's arm.

Alex looked down at the little scratch on his arm. "Somehow, I think I'll survive."

The robot swung down again, but when it did, Alex ripped off the cyborg's arms.

"NO!" Riley shouted from across the room.

Alex stabbed through the center of the robot with its own arms, and when he did, John the Cyborg's computing system cracked in half. The cyborg was dead.

Alex pushed down the robot. "Well, Riley. Are you still willing to fight, or are you ready to surrender?"

Riley put on a fake sense of confidence, but he couldn't hide the fact that his body was shaking. "Surrender? Me? You must be kidding. I would never surrender. You think I don't have a plan for this?"

Alex smirked. "I know you don't have a plan for this."

Riley didn't have much of a choice. He looked around the room one last time, and then, he remembered. They were in his torture chamber. All he had to do was slip a switch, and he could trap Alex.

Riley slowly shuffled to the wall filled with switches and buttons at the side of the door. It was the same wall that Alex had fiddled with earlier when he helped his friends escape. Riley flipped a bright red switch. Then, he dashed out of the room.

As he ran away, Riley did not forget to taunt his nemesis. "Ta-ta Ambrose! Better luck next time!"

Alex stood still. He had no idea which switch Riley flipped. He glanced around the room to see if anything was dropping from the ceiling. Then, he heard a static sound.

[SFX: Laser Sound]

Red, glowing lasers appeared throughout the room, blocking Alex's way to the exit. He threw his hands down to the side. "You've got to be kidding me. Okay, well, maybe if I'm super strong, I'm also super flexible and nimble. That's how it works, right?"

He stepped over the first laser, and as he did, he could feel the heat emanating from it. "Okay, I have to be careful."

He took a deep breath, then carefully weaved in and out of the lasers. He basically had to bend his back at a ninety-degree angle. "This is fine. It's just like limbo. Just a deadly game of limbo."

After a series of squats and an episode of hopping on one foot, Alex made it to the other side. However, once he did, Riley was long gone.

Alex stood in the hallway where he had killed all the super soldiers before.

Suddenly, the voice of HALLE rang throughout the facility. "Evacuation Sirens effective immediately. Please evacuate the facility now."

Red lights flashed around Alex, and an alarm blared throughout the hallway.