Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake

Chapter 27 Share, Comment, Subscribe 2/3

"Jessica!" Babel called.

A droning ring tore through her blurred vision as she pressed the ground. Despair and the boom of an engine were one. Despair had an agent. Despair's white hero entered the top floor from an incinerated entry point. Malvis advanced by leaps and bounds.

David anxiously crawled out of the mad Azarean's path. But the red glare in the alien's embattled and scarred mug vied for Jessica.

She looked down, noticed a piece of glass wedged in her abdomen, and felt her strength waiver. Malvis nearly reached her when Raptor stepped in. The Lieutenant paved his approach with several shots from his handgun. Jess used that time to pull the glass out, biting her lip and inwardly screeching for the sharp pain. It took everything to remove the edge from flesh.

Effectively stalled, Malvis slammed the pistol out of Raptor's grip and lunged. Raptor accepted the blow to his cheek and reprised the strike with a furious jab. Malvis parried, and the ensuing blow-for-blow exchange passed in a cruel instant.

Sheer determination kept Raptor in the fight and Malvis at bay as they traded fists to the chorus of the city breeze, but Malvis had a defined knowledge of martial arts. He was quick, agile, and automatic; in the middle of his maneuvers, Raptor still managed one good punch. Jessica heard but failed to notice the fight until Raptor hit the ground, unconscious, while Malvis clenched his own abdomen. 

The agent panted, his hand revealing blood.

Denied reprieve, Malvis dodged a flying knife. The knife heralded Beelz, who advanced with a kick to his wound. With a groan, the Azarean shoved her back. Beelz closed her fists and assumed a fighting stance almost as tense as her glare. Hatred festered in those eyes, dedicated to the alien before them.

Malvis seemed familiar with that look, slumping into a similar stance as the commander of Dissent spoke.

"I would kill you again and again for all the days Amon and I suffered."

"You deny the hand of your maker over pettiness," spat Malvis. "The trait of a devolved species. A shame we could not remove certain inhibitions."

"I'll remove you before I burn this place to the ground." She lunged.

Jessica was on auto-pilot, crawling. Crawling her way to the terminal, past the pain in her fresh cut, she struggled for focus over the chaos. Reaching out, her fingers fell on the cusp of the Goliath node, but the overbearing fatigue—the disorientation and the fear—at long last toppled. She collapsed.

"Come on, Jess," Babel urged.

Her eyes closed to a slit, and the world went dark.

"Jessica..."

...

"Yessica..."

Why do I hear your voice?

"Yess."

It's all flashes. Like a dream at the speed of light, I see him.

I'm sitting on his lap, in his office. He's reading Nietzsche out loud. I can see the Rubik's cube, an R2-D2 bin, a Viola vase, and the brace he's been working on. Babel... I turn around. Dad's smiling.

"Jessica..."

I can hear mom. See her reading on the patio. Black hair falls, and a vanilla scent surrounds her sundress. I used to think she couldn't see me, understand why I subbed tees for everything sequined. Yet, like now, her smile accepted me.

In the end, I'm in their arms, happy they're still alive.

Jessica's hand shot up, crutching her to the final goal. She reached for the nexus node and found the giant Azarean gunship above the toppled ceiling. The beak and the arsenal of its wings opposed her direct line of sight. She grabbed the ornate pistol in stasis above the node, David's discovery. With nothing to lose, she gripped the weapon, aimed at the flying behemoth, and pulled the trigger.