8. “I WILL SAVE THIS WORLD.”

"Are you sure you can handle him alone?" Hannah asked as she hugged John. "We just reunited, I don't want to leave you so soon."

"Kayla..." John said slowly.

"I missed you so much." She hugged him even harder

"I need you to find the Vixon star. While I keep them busy."

"Wait..." Hannah stopped hugging him and walked backward. "Isn't that the star thing that keeps you guys alive? What are you talking about?"

"Not that one, the one on this planet. That's the only way we can destroy this fake world. So please I need you to do it for me, I already know where they're keeping it and who's watching it."

"Babe,"

"You have to go fast, Five is coming, he can't know your here or else he'll kill me even quicker."

"Okay okay, here's Annabel, I just fed her so you don't have to worry about her for the time being." Hannah passed Annabel over to John who carried her, along with her napkin and water bottle. "She gets really grumpy without her bottle around sometimes,"

"Babe," John called out and Hannah snapped back to it and ran toward the exit of the sewers.

"Remember, don't exit until you hear a gunshot. We need Index in here and not out there." John walked toward a section of the sewers and sat down on the slightly wet floors, he removed his outer shirt and placed it on the ground so Annabel didn't have to get wet.

He was contemplating murder, he was going to kill his own brother. He wanted... needed to stop what they were doing but killing them seemed like a harsh price to pay. "8 billion to 5," John created a duplicate of Annabel's water bottle in his hand and Annabel clapped. "Oh, you like that? See what else I can do-"

"Where,"

John put his finger over his lip and Annabel looked at him slightly confused but she understood what he wanted from her, he put the water bottle in her mouth and motioned her to drink until it finished. That was all the time he needed, to finish what he helped start.

The function of Index's gun was to overstimulate the senses of anything that it hit using Vixon as the main stimulant this added to his original ability made it pretty easy to use when trying to erase memories, however if Index didn't mix his ability into the bullet all you would get was a gun that had enough Vixon to kill anyone. Overstimulating the body until it turned into literal energy.

Annabel was scared but she didn't make a noise because daddy told her not to, she ran toward him after she couldn't stand being alone anymore. She didn't know what was happening but she wanted to be by her father's side.

Index was coming, this wouldn't be a conversation anymore. John spilled blood and Index would return the favor, even though the only reason he was kept alive was because of his ability he knew that the next shot wouldn't be to erase his memory.

The Alphasted building was probably where the Vixon star was being kept at least that's what John told her. Hannah made her way up the building knowing fully well Four was probably watching, John said she was probably the main guard of the star. Bypassing her would be impossible so it'd only make sense.

"Stall her, distract her, she's easily sidetracked. He says it like it's a fucking Tuesday, I'm going to stall a literal alien for crying out loud."

"You're the alien here brown-haired monkey," A voice said and Hannah screeched.

"Your human bodies are very delicate, come any closer and I'll dissect you." The voice said again but Hannah still couldn't see where it came from.

"I'm sorry is this Four? I've heard so much about you."

"Really? I hope Zero didn't embarrass me-" Four stopped after she realized she was getting sidetracked, "Whatever your trying to do won't work, stay right there and do not move a muscle."

"You have a really nice voice, you should consider making music!"

"Really I've been thinking about that!"

"Now I see what he meant," Hannah thought to herself as she engaged Four in meaningless conversation to pass the time.

"Can you do that for me, baby?" John knelt and Annabel nodded.

Index disliked running but John could hear the rapid moving footsteps from afar, Index was coming straight for the kill. "Hey buddy, you wanna do a little countdown?" John pointed at a wall and Annabel looked at it. "Remember, count up to a hundred! Oh, umm, count up to ten, ten times and don't forget to add Mississippi and once you finish do that thing we talked about okay?"

"Okay!" Annabel ran over to where John pointed cupping her hands and then placing her head inside them. "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, one Mississippi."

"Should really teach her how to count." John checked the number of bullets in the pistol, there were four left so he duplicated it again and put the third one in his pocket. He didn't want it to be this way but he'd already made up his mind, he'd destroy the Vixon stars used on all the planets after he killed his own siblings. "Fuck."

"So you killed Five." Index slowed down his pace and shot at John, his animosity even greater than before.

The shot didn't hit John, it was aimed at the wall directly behind him with the bullet grazing some strands of hair as it passed by him. "That wasn't a memory-erasing bullet." Index shot at John again who quickly dived out of the way.

"You're not going to change your ways even now are you Index, these people might be living this lie your feeding them but this is not their life. This is a fabricated piece of shit! that you shoved down their throat."

"You have any better ideas brother? It's been three years since we came to this planet. You've had three YEARS to think, so tell me. HOW DO YOU PLAN TO SAVE THIS WORLD." Index shot at John again but he jumped into cover evading the gunshot.

"Two Mississippi."

John returned fire and made a beeline for Index. "We don't need to save them, that's not our Job. That's never been our job." John tackled Index who didn't budge even after he used his shoulder to ram him.

"Fucking pathetic, your answer to the destruction of the universe is to take the moral high ground. What a load of fucking crap." Index tossed John away like a rag doll and shot at him twice more.

John kept on rolling to dodge the two shots fired at him, Index was the stronger of the two even after all these centuries. John got up and pointed the gun at Index and the brother returned the favor, with both of them staring down the barrel of each other's gun. "You won't change your stance on this,"

"Changing would mean the destruction of this world, even if you aren't opposed to that. I am. I WILL SAVE THIS WORLD with or without your help."

"Are you really saving them I wonder," John shot his remaining bullets at Index who dodged them as if he could see them coming from a mile away. "Do you think you're a God Index?"

"I don't care how you word it Zero," Index tossed his pistol and pulled out another, "Pull out your other pistol, I know there's one in your pocket. You won't catch me off guard."

"Ten Mississippi."

"Of course, you could see that from a mile away... Index, I really wished we could have worked things out, I really did." John threw his pistol on the ground. "But if it has to be this way, then so be it."

"Ready or not, here I come!" Annabel ran out of the wall and pulled the trigger of the gun John gave her.

Focused on the gun that was thrown on the ground Index let his guard down for a split second and that was all it took for everything to end. "You used, the fucking kid." Index held on to his existence until the very end, spite, hate, anger. These emotions filled his head with a rush that made him want to destroy everything in sight. However, the bullet that he made worked as he wanted it to, Index was turned into energy that dissipated into the wind.

John held his chest as Annabel ran over to him with the gun, he wanted to pat her head and tell her she did a good job but what he had just done was wrong. Was he any different from his brother who used extreme methods to reach a desired end? Was he any different from a murderer? Who is to say that you can murder just because it's for the right cause? "Let's look for Mommy," John grabbed the gun from Annabel's hand and walked toward the Alphasted building, his hand trembling as he bit his lower lip.