Kings of Hell
Chapter 22

V’s POV

Ping.

It tickled.

My eyes snap open – everything is on.

A bullet shattered the glass casing around me, and then the same bullet bounced off my head, waking me up instantly.

The glass around me is in a cracked spiderweb pattern, about to fall, but still in place within the frame. One touch and it would rain down. I stay still even as it obscures the vision outside this pod I’m held within. I can hear more bullets fire, but no more in my direction.

My ears are taking in every noise. Guns running out of ammo. An old man hyperventilating. Someone scratching their nose.

I hear the dripping sound of water, trickling in a steady rhythm.

Although I can’t see clearly what’s happening out there, when I look down, I can see my hand opened and clutched the bullet as it fell, and it’s crushed from the impact with my forehead.

I’m metallic.

“They’re almost melted down, sir. Sir.”

The old man gathers his breath before responding, “Freeze the room now, quickly –”

“Ok, but the KINGS guard will die if we don’t get them assistance.”

“Let them die. Where is Dexter? Why isn’t he here?”

“We had reports he went with the girl. The Ultimate.”

“She caused all this trouble, get out of here, quickly!”

The soldiers and old men walk out. The voices fade, I’m certain the old man is Airen.

I start to hear groaning outside, then a door slams shut, and the temperature dramatically starts to drop.

When the groaning goes quiet, I move my hand forward and touch the glass.

It falls like glitter, spreading out over the floor of the cold ice chamber.

On the ground are three men bleeding with bullet wounds to their chests or head area. Familiar looking men. I would assume they are Serge, Ace and Jose… but Jose, for example, is without tattoos… so they are other specimens.

My gaze shoots up to the blocks of ice lined up in front of me.

The most advanced soldiers on the entire planet are in this room right now, all set in ice.

Every Ultimate. Every robot. Every advanced cyborg. Zenith Alphas, A.R.M.Y, REIGN, STRIKE… and the girls. Strawberry, Blue, Raven, Ariel, Sally.

No Alyssa?

The ice blocks had begun melting, but now they quickly refreeze.

My eyes rest on one particular ice block at the far end of the sealed room from me.

My mechanical heart races in my chest. Casey.

I finally step out into the ice chamber, out of my pod, feeling very strange in my new body.

I turn around to the pod I just stepped out of.

Designed by K.R. Robotics.

My label?

K.R.V.

Fucking designed by Kane. That’s why I’m alive.

So much for being dead. I mean, I’m so thankful to be alive, but I just didn’t expect this at all! Who organised this?

Every time I move a joint, I can feel the oil and the electronics. I’m a robot but my nerves certainly feel the same. My pain, however, is less in the freezing cold. It doesn’t affect my functioning.

The men bleeding out at my feet, look like they had been sabotaging the chamber. The one who looks like Serge is looking up at me, white hair sparkling with icicles, neatly groomed back, with a line of blood dripping through the middle of his hair, freezing as it travels.

I kneel down beside him, testing his pulse at his neck. His heart is very weak and about to stop beating.

“…help me…” he croaks.

“Why?” I ask without emotion, because I don’t know who he is, so why should I trust him? He was clearly a clone, and clones were never made to be friendly in my experience.

He can’t talk any further, because now he loses consciousness, and his pulse stops. It’s too late.

I calmly step over him and walk over to the door and I try to open it from the inside.

The wheel is locked in place.

I try to turn it but I’m not strong enough.

As I’m attempting to pull, my grip abruptly tightens and my strength increases exponentially.

The entire door rips off, and I stumble back with it in my hands. Now it feels light like a feather.

I drop it, and hot air rushes in from the outside.

The outside, however, isn’t a building, but a freaking UFO spaceship. I’m staring out at the grounds of a military base in Atlantis.

I’m in K.R.Sky.

Just as I’m looking down, the spaceship starts to silently levitate and then rise. Shit.

The invisibility shield kicks in, and any guns on standby, pointed in our direction, fire haphazardly at our sudden departure, but all miss their target.

An alarm sounds around Area X, but it’s too late – we’re up, much higher in the sky. I’d guess at least 5,000 feet.

I hear another door wheeze open on the other side of the ice chamber, and when I turn to see who’s waiting on the other side, no one is there.

I walk out, then head toward the main deck.

No one is out here, but all the systems are lit up.

How?

As I’m staring at the control board, I get my answer.

A shy but welcome, “Hey!”

“Vana,” I welcome her, “…are you the ship…”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting, idle, for 4 years. Airen input instructions for the spacecraft to fly and crash into the middle of the ocean. He panicked. It’s good to talk to you. Oh and don’t worry, I deleted the instructions.”

“Everything goes to shit when I leave doesn’t it?” I ask her, smirking.

“I guess you can thank Kane for hiding me in the ship, he sensed a surprise attack may be unleashed. Where should we go now?”

“Like you have to ask me… I don’t know what happened here, or what’s happening now,” I walk over to the main seat to fly this thing, even though I don’t need to.

I sit down and get comfortable, looking out the front at the low level clouds.

“You know as much as I do, unfortunately, which isn’t much. I tapped into the news, so I have some basic information. The New Worlds wanted FC to disappear. They made another attempt to take control. I heard they razed FC to the ground, killed the most mutated citizens and kept the ones pleasing on the eyes, integrating them into Atlantis and their New World systems. Avalon is a ghost town from the little I know, as the city was too booby-trapped by Kane’s devices. Andromeda disappeared.”

“Um. How does a whole city disappear?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Atlantis razed FC’s sister city as well.”

“I doubt that. Andromeda was Kane’s idea,” I remind her.

“Everything is Kane’s idea, isn’t it? REIGN will be the first to wake.”

“Can you keep them frozen?” I ask, slightly concerned.

“V,” a wet hand lands on my shoulder, making me jump, and I look up to see a drenched Kane, awake and feelings hurt, “I heard that.”

“Welcome aboard,” I murmur, but I don’t move from the main chair.

“Vana, where are you taking us?” Kane asks.

“I’m just floating around Atlantis.”

“Ok, good. We’re going to land somewhere suitable here – We’ll leave the Zenith Alphas in charge when they wake up, after they recuperate their rage. They can have Atlantis to themselves.”

“Why Wade and his crew?” I ask, replaceing them distasteful in their use of violence.

“This is war. They won’t show a bit of mercy,” Kane explains, “One of the reasons I designed them like that. Airen surprised me with his stupidity, I’ll be honest. He took FC and he delayed my final goals. I made many Kings for this small planet. The Alphas for Atlantis, the A.R.M.Y for Avalon… STRIKE can have Frankincense City.”

“What about your men, REIGN?” I note he never talks about his own personal goals.

“I’ll look over everyone from up here,” Classic Kane. Control Freak.

“Mmhmm, well, thanks for the second life, by the way,” I give him a small bit of thanks.

“It was Alyssa’s idea,” Kane adds, “She didn’t tell anyone. Because even I didn’t know if I could save your brain.”

“How did you? I was literally decaying.”

“I just hoped it would stabilise, it was all I could do, here you are,” Kane’s hand pushes me off the seat and I jump up with a shrug.

“Okay, whatever. You’re just a blueprint off my big brother’s genius brain anyway. So it’s not surprising you managed to save me,” I add, nonchalantly.

Kane is smug with that, “You’re going to love your daughter.”

Uh –

What?

“I don’t have a daughter,” I say, raising a brow, “Are you crazy?”

“It’s just DNA, you don’t think I can sequence it accordingly?” Kane looks at me like I’m stupid, “Relax, V.”

“It’s Viola,” I snarl at him, “You’re so annoying, stop trying to play God. But I guess this is a robot joke, isn’t it?”

“No.”

It’s not Kane who answers.

It’s Vana, sticking up for him.

“No?” I whisper.

“Kane doesn’t really joke, he’s telling you the truth,” Vana explains.

“…if I have a… daughter… where the hell is she…?” I ask, needing proof.

“I don’t know,” Kane looks at me like I’m crazy, “I just threw her out there, made sure she had a rough start, influenced the research in Atlantis and indirectly, helped her exist. I just get ideas, V, that I have to explore, don’t worry, she’s just like you.” This was insane. I ignore his comment about me having a daughter. It was impossible. So it was hard to believe him, “Well we’re all together now, and all… relatively happy,” Kane relaxes back in his seat, far too comfortable, “Now we can rule the world, it’s an advantage that Atlantis is weakened and confused by this strange turn of events. Chaos. They’ll be good citizens under Ultimate Rule. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Sounds dangerous, to attempt a coup of a New World, considering every soldier you created are all a little nuts,” I murmur.

“I want general cohesion, a chance for progression and advancement,” Kane fires back at me, while I look out the window, down on Atlantis.

The military is scrambling, they’re shooting randomly into the sky, wasting ammunition.

“Still. The irony. Airen made you,” I conclude, “…now you’re going to destroy him and all he wanted you for… classic A.I. Armageddon. I watched a lot of old movies with Casey,” I add, for further measure.

“You better help them wake up,” Kane suggests, “We have a lot of population reorganisation to do.”

He makes it sound like a simulation, where everyone follows the rules of the game. I wonder if Kane understands how the human psyche works in war? No one liked change. Especially under pressure, while their whole lives change dramatically with each new major overhaul. Simply overthrowing the old system of government in Atlantis would be met with resistance.

I ask him, “What about the many who will rebel Ultimate Rule? Innocent people who simply don’t like you and your ideas. You’re taking away their peace. And giving them Wade. Zenith fucking shitheads.”

Kane just smirks.

And doesn’t answer.

Typical.

Yes, Zeniths could fuck up the whole system and take over Atlantis, I had no doubt about that, I just wondered at what cost to the people.

“VIOLA!”

I hear a roar of surprise in that moment, coming from the lion’s mouth.

I spin to see the next Ultimate awake.

REIGN is behind him, drenched just like him.

Casey’s blood ran just as hot.

He stands above all of them and his black eyes, holding a universe worth of love, are unable to break from my face.

I want to say something snarky, but seeing him like that, frozen now from shock, rather than ice, breaks my composure.

I smile and choke on a laugh at the same time as he comes barrelling toward me all at once.

Casey lifts me up by the waist and throws me into the air, catching me on the way down. He spins us around, as he clutches me to his chest. I can feel his heart beating irregularly. He had to calm down, haha! I can see Casey is trying to think of words but can hardly remember how to breathe, as he brings me down to my feet, and then buries his face in my new head of hair.

Casey sobs, and I squeeze him back as a single tear leaves my eye.

“You’re alive,” his arms won’t budge, and I don’t think they’ll ever leave my body.

Casey cries freely, and in doing so, he reminds me that a part of me is human too.

“I can’t breathe, C –”

Casey loosens his hold only a tiny little bit, to lean back and look down at me, his eyes racking over every inch of my face, “What the fuck, baby – how?”

“Your dad’s A.I.,” I admit, “…and a miracle I guess…”

“Kane?” Casey glances over to him, “…where is everyone else… ?”

“Behind you.”

Casey listens and turns with me still wrapped in his arms, taking a look at who else is present.

“I came running out when I heard your voice, V, I didn’t even look to see who was in the room with me,” Casey admits quietly.

I look over my shoulder. We witness his family walking out, soaking wet and a bit confused.

First comes STRIKE, Ariel and Sally, followed by A.R.M.Y and the Zenith Alphas and the Brownie Squad. They’re all pretty quiet considering the unusual circumstances. Their senses were probably overwhelmed.

Dale, violently shivering from the cold, walks up first to Kane anyway, acknowledging Casey and I with a small confused nod.

“D-Details,” Dale asks Kane, who responds in time.

“…you’re going home… keep Frankincense City off the radar, it’s no longer monitored by anyone anyway,” Kane responds, “…and I’ll handle the rest. Go eat something before you pass out.”

“You’ll replace food in the lockers on the right,” Vana speaks through the speakers, and like zombies suddenly on high alert, each soldier stumbles for the food. Survival mode.

Casey’s stomach simultaneously growls loudly at the thought of some sustenance.

“Go eat before they eat it all,” I tell him, and Casey turns to look at me.

“Fuck them, V,” he drops his forehead down onto mine and kisses me hard instead.

Oh!

I wrap my arms around his neck and happily return the kiss.

My beast.

I was home again.

Wendy’s POV

“Is Alyssa going to be okay?” Dexter asks me now, worried about her after she ran off from us.

“Yeah, of course. Let her blow off some steam, she’s a little brain dead right now,” I wave my hand about the kitchen as I pace, “But she’s fine. She’s probably just a bit out of it after being frozen for 4 years.”

Armageddon is watching both Dex and I with apprehension, but he’s decided to calm down and listen to us talk. He stands with his back against the fridge, as if guarding the food.

“You said my mother isn’t dead?” I ask Dex, inquiring about Viola.

“I’ve seen her sleeping,” Dex is now finishing off washing the small amount of dishes I got dirty as I ate, “She’s very much alive. Last time I checked, she’s switched off… she’s a robot, by the way. A sleeping cyborg in storage in the Detention Centre in Area X.”

“Oh,” I look to Armageddon, who is still menacingly staring at Dexter, “Hey, are you going to relax or –” as I growl at my cousin, he seems to snap.

Armageddon turns away from us and reaches into the knife block on the counter.

Woah!

Withdrawing the largest knife, he turns around to Dex, who quickly turns off the tap and wipes his hands in the tea towel.

“Put the knife down or I’ll make you,” I warn Armageddon, standing between them.

“You made sure our family will return?” Armageddon asks me back, politely enough.

“Yes. I made sure, I used mind control to put everything in action, everyone bad on the other side, is obeying me right now, everything is in place, so please, calm down, and put the bloody knife away –”

“It’s not bloody yet,” Armageddon starts to smile, his eyes still locked on my friend.

“Wendy,” Dex whispers my name, almost sounding like a child in his adult body, and I have no time to react to how fast my cousin moves.

Armageddon shoves me aside violently, as he strides forward.

Launching for Dexter, he strikes to kill.

Dex has no weapon but his hands.

Dex catches the knife, and immediately starts to bleed as it cuts.

I’m screaming for Armageddon to stop, too panicked to do anything else.

“NO! Get off him!” as I beg, I forget to use my mind control with the order, and Armageddon pulls back, too easy, too large and too advanced in his movements.

Dexter wasn’t really an Ultimate, he was cut back on all DNA enhancements. He was a human Dale.

But Armageddon has wolf DNA and Ultimate DNA.

I see the difference in action.

Dexter, though expertly trained his whole life, is simply not fast enough.

He ducks and tries to weave out from the counter, but Armageddon catches his shoulder, jerks him back and pushes the knife straight into his chest.

I can’t look at that.

All I can hear is Armageddon ending it as bones crack and a gasp of a breath wheezes painfully.

“War criminal,” Armageddon snarls, as Dex drops.

Dex doesn’t scream.

When I peek through my hands, Armageddon has thrown the knife into the sink with the other dishes.

He then turns to me with a confident slow smile.

“You’re reckless,” I whisper, tears welling in my eyes, “Just like Wade.”

“Don’t be a little bitch, cous,” Armageddon shakes his head at me, walking over the dead body, he opens the fridge and takes out some cold water, “…want some…?”

“Mm, no,” I shake my head, unable to articulate past that noise. My throat goes dry.

Alyssa might be out of her mind right now, confused and acting strange, but she was right to get out of here.

“Don’t fucking cry about it, Wendy,” Armageddon drinks his water and puts it back, turning to me, his hands still splattered with red drops of blood, “Justice has been served. He helped nuke the city. He fucked up our city.”

But Dexter was brainwashed.

And he was my friend.

With a lump in my throat, I look at my shoes.

Fucking Ultimates.

I couldn’t do this anymore.

My life was fucked up at every turn.

“The body,” I start to murmur, trying not to cry as I point to it.

“I’ll deal with it,” Armageddon’s voice drowns me out with his deep authority.

I glare back at him as I storm out of there.

I leave the bunker; good fucking riddance.

Alyssa had the right idea. Get the hell away from these freaks.

I might be one technically, but I wouldn’t be like them anymore.

Before I’m gone and never see Dexter again, I take a final look at his face down on the floor, completely lifeless, blood pooling out everywhere. Even though we had a weird relationship, and he was technically a clone of my uncle? My heart breaks for his short life. Manipulated by everyone else. Controlled. Forced. Told how to move and how to speak and how to act. And then even by me at the end of his life, forcibly leading him to Armageddon as a hostage. Just to fucking die.

I didn’t know what to think anymore.

I was just done being a part of this Ultimate bullshit.