Countd0wn

Chapter 36: Unfinished Business

I couldn't believe it. I hadn't even seen her come in. There was no way I could hit her or knock the gun out of her hands without possibly hurting Sparrow or Ivy. She was using the both of them as human shields. 

But why was she even here? Even with Tobias being incredibly weakened, and almost out of power, there should have been something that was still keeping Mossberg on our side. She should either be running from the morphs, or dead along with the rest of the soldiers. Yet here she was. She stared at me and smiled as if she knew what was happening was impossible. "Don't act so surprised Wren. Did you really think you were the only person I was able to infect?"

Then, everything clicked into place. The nosebleeds, the strange behaviour, the refusal to fight against the hypermorphs...somehow, Gerrard had managed to take over Mossberg's mind. Most likely through her dreams, like how he was able to communicate with me. Unfortunately, Mossberg's mind was much more weak-willed than mine.

I stared down at her, knowing that behind those eyes was Gerrard, who had managed to break this poor woman's mind just so he could continue his plan. All of the anger I had felt for Mossberg slowly began to fade away. "Listen to me. Gerrard, let her go. She did nothing. It's me you want. Do whatever you want to me, but just let Mossberg and everyone else go."

Gerrard straightened Mossberg's glasses and laughed. I could see Sparrow's eyes fidgeting towards the gun that was being held at her head. She was no doubt calculating if she could move herself and Ivy out of the way in time. "You misunderstand, Wren. She wanted this. As soon as Mossberg found out she was being used, she let me take over her mind, with one certain caveat. She had to be the one to kill you."

Then, Mossberg seemed to start twitching, like she was having a seizure, then whipsawed her head to the side, her glasses half-flying off her face. Then, she stared at me with her bare eyes. I could tell that it wasn't Gerrard anymore. It was all Mossberg. Her nose was practically flowing with blood as she spoke. "Hello, Wren. You know...now that I finally get to see you without the old man controlling me, I finally understand. All of you are dangerous. This world needs to be cleansed. Starting with you."

I saw her cock the hammer back on the pistol, and aimed it right at Ivy's temple. My heart stopped before I spoke up, trying to distract her for as long as possible. "Wait! I understand that Tobias controlling you was wrong, but this isn't the way! Gerrard is gonna wipe out not just metahumans, but all forms of humanity, including you! You're just helping him kill you!"

Mossberg seemed to lose her focus and stagger, but she soon gave a wet chuckle, and wiped her nose, leaving a long red streak of blood across her sleeve. "Do you hear yourself? You're calling that old fool Tobias? How do you know that he's not controlling you too? You're just his errand boy!"

Then, I saw something move in the corner of my vision. I saw Sparrow doing something with her hand while looking straight at me. It looked like that she was twitching her hand randomly at first, then I saw she was just moving it super fast, and she was making several gesture to signal something. First, she made a throwing motion, then clenched her fist, and then a cutting motion.

She did this a few times before I managed to pick up on what she was saying. She was going to throw Ivy over to me, then knock out Mossberg and take her gun. I gave the slightest of nods. This was going to be dangerous. I had to keep Mossberg focused on me. "Don't let Gerrard control you. You don't want to do this."

Mossberg kept staring at me and holding the gun to Ivy's head. Sparrow was still staring at me, not keeping her eyes off me. "You're not in control of this situation, Wren, so don't act like you're the negotiator. And besides, of course I want to do this. Call this your ultimate punishment."