End Of The Line // Ralph Dibny

Chapter 35 - The Grim Reaper

I let out a cry of frustration and slammed my fists down against the table, "Where are they?!" I yelled and scrambled to another computer screen to see if anything had popped up. This stupid facial recognition software wasn't working! I had to have done this right! I've seen Cisco do it at least a hundred times over.

I backed up and glared daggers at the screens, this was so useless, I was useless. I crumpled into a nearby chair and let my sorrows flow freely. I couldn't save her once, what made me think I could do it again? He was so strong, so menacing. He knocked us down like we weren't even trying. How in the world was I going to pull this off?

Bing!

My heart leaped out of my chest when the sound echoed throughout the barren room signifying that the computer found a match. I shot out of my seat and pounced to the computer that produced the acute noise.

"Ba ba ba bingo!" I cheered and snapped a picture of the location provided by the superintelligence. I pushed myself out of my chair with a smirk laced across my lips, it was time to get my revenge and save her. Maybe even see what's up with my father- No. Steven. He'll be my father when I know he doesn't want to kill me. For now, I feel more comfortable referring to him as his first name.

On my way out as I passed Cisco's lab, I found my eyes catching the glimmer of light reflecting off a little device on his desk. I halted in my tracks and couldn't help but be pulled in by it. I remembered Cisco telling me about during one of his rants, the Extrapolater? I think that's what he called it. "It, like me, creates breaches.." I recalled him saying.

I could use it to get to the location.

Feeling slightly guilty I clutched the small mechanical device in my palm and dashed out of the room in a hurry. Time to do this thing.

'What could go wrong?' I thought to myself while activating the device.

...

Everything. I changed my mind, this was a bad idea. Scratch that, it's a horrible idea.

The building that loomed before looked like the typical supervillain base; old multiple story warehouse with broken windows and graffiti molesting the walls. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and took one step forward before once again stopping and regretting my decisions.

"You need a plan," I thought to myself while gazing at the trembling exterior. Why couldn't it be a Starbucks or Trampoline park?

"I could just wing it," I said under my breath. GOD NO! What am I thinking?!

A shriek cried out from one of the higher stories and cut off my train of thought. There was no time. I had to go now or never. If I don't act she'll die.

I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed at myself before opening them once again and heading straight into the danger of the unknown inside the tower.

I sprinted through the main story of the desolated building, each quick step carrying me closer to my inevitable fate. I heard the echo of my strides and used an old trick to mask the sounds I continued up an old staircase.

It was the same trick I used on Dibny all those months ago... I wonder if I'll ever see him again. This couldn't be the end right? At the hands of the man who used to be my father, Steven Blake...

With the illusion spreading across the room and cloaking the repetition of my shoes on the cement I could hear the faint chatter of a conversation going on a couple of floors above me. My heart fluttered and I pushed myself further to run faster.

I reached the top of the staircase on the eighth floor and held my breath when I saw two figures in the far corner having a confrontation. One, recognizably Ann, tied to a chair, and the other, assumably Steven, looming over her like a demon ready to kill. I stopped myself from crying out and quickly applied a now simple cloaking illusion to hide me while I observed them.