Last Resort

00:15

-The elevator doors slammed shut behind them. Max and Maeve leaned against the wall, chests heaving, lungs burning.

-“We're gonna make it,” Max wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

-“Yeah, yeah, we’ve got like, fifteen minutes.” Maeve said, wiping sweat from her brow.” What more could you need?”

-“Maeve… if we die—which we’re not—I just want to say—”

-“Go on. It’s not like we have time to waste.”

-“No, forget it.”

-“Oh good, you always do this. You’re such a little bitch.”

-“Oh, fuck you.”

-“That’s what you wanted to say? Honestly, I was expecting more.”

-“UGHH. I know you know that’s not what I meant.”

-“Don’t worry. We’re fucked either way—if we die or not.”

-“Aren’t we always?”

Ding.

The elevator stopped. Silence pressed in.

-“Showtime,” Maeve muttered.

The doors open wide, revealing a familiar scene playing out once again before them—Blackbeard relentlessly challenging the captain, to no avail

-"I'm not the only one having a déjà vu moment, right?"

-"No, it’s not like this exact same thing happened ten hours ago." Maeve nodded

Blackbeard and Richard locked in a brutal clash, fists and fury flying.

-“God, I hate my life. Somebody’s just having a piss, aren’t they?”

-“No no—this is slightly different. There’s a Nazi-looking motherfucker and Santa Claus, beating the ever-living shit out of a console over there”. She gestured, "So... that’s definitely new.”

-“Wonderful.”

A voice bellowed from across the room, furious and echoing over the madness:

-"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO STANDING AROUND FOR?! KILL HIM!"

"Jeez, it’s as if he’s the one dying in there," he looked at the toll. "13 minutes."

Maeve yelled, "One head coming up!"

The metal claw came crashing down, locking onto Richard’s forearm with brutal force. He gritted his teeth, barely withstanding the pressure as the steel groaned against his bones.

-“Why do this? Why help them? Why throw your life away for a bunch of fascists?” Blackbeard questioned.

Blood dripped around his metal hand as it pushed deeper into his skin yet he persisted. “The last time I checked, you were the one planning to end the world.”

“Yes, as we know it today… I’m sad to see you go, Captain.”

The weight intensified. Richard was pinned—immovable. Then, with inhuman grace, Blackbeard’s leg snapped upward, slamming into Richard’s left side. A sickening crack echoed as ribs gave way. Blood filled Richard’s mouth. The world spun. His balance gave out.

He hit the ground hard.

-I'm sorry. He spoke softly to the captain

Gunfire cracked. Bullets pinged uselessly off Blackbeard’s armor, ricocheting from his claw as he turned.

Max quickly followed, slamming his multi tool toward him. Blackbeard’s legs blocked the hit, denting it slightly in the process.

-“Ah yes, you two. Didn't have high hopes for you, if I’m being honest.”

Maeve darted wide, moving fast to flank him.—“Remember, keep the pressure!” she shouted.

-Blackbeard laughed “How cute. You think I’ll fall for the same trick twice.”

A familiar high-pitched whine filled the room—

-“MAEVE!” yelled out Max,

The blast fired from Blackbeard’s claw, a jagged beam of raw energy tearing across the room. Maeve barely had time to react—she threw up her hands, the heat scorching her palms, melting through the sleeves of her suit. The force launched her like a ragdoll, crashing her into a wall with a painful thud.

Before he could even smirk, a hard slam shook his entire contraption. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fully enraged Max.

-“Cat got your tongue?” he mocked, stepping back, winding the claw again.

Max ignored him, keeping up the pressure—slamming with every hit, slowly denting his suit.
As each leg took a hit, Blackbeard’s attacks were futile. Max gave him no breathing room, swinging with one hand and firing his shotgun with the other.

Max didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

He was already swinging, slamming into Blackbeard with the force of a freight train. Blow after blow dented the armored suit. Max’s shotgun fired between each strike, ripping through joint plates and chewing at the metal casing. Sparks and oil sprayed with every hit.

Blackbeard swung back, desperate, but Max gave him no ground—just fury, grit, and relentless violence.

There was no room to breathe. No room to win. Just Max, pushing forward like a man who’d already decided someone was going to die.

“You have to realize this is for the greater good,”

Max, light the torch on his multi-tool, The blue flame hissed to life. He dragged it across Blackbeard’s armored leg, metal screaming under the heat. The bastard lunged—Max ducked, rolled, came up swinging. The torch carved another glowing line.

Over and over, he struck. Sparks flew. The air burned with heat and adrenaline. The steel began to glow red, veins of molten light crawling through Blackbeard’s frame.

He dodged a strike, repeated the motion again and again. The heat rose. Sweat dripped off both men. The metal frame was slowly glowing hot red.

-“Enough! She’s not even dead—what’s wrong with you?”

“You better hope so,” Max growled, cutting straight through one of the legs, plunging his shotgun between the seams and pulled the trigger.

Blood sprayed everywhere as a shattering scream filled the room.

Blackbeard’s leg barely held together, with a hand-sized hole torn straight through it.

Pain twisted into rage. Blackbeard clamped down on the shotgun, breaking it in half. For a moment, he pulled Max toward him—just long enough to return the favor, as a loose robotic leg stabbed deep into Max’s thigh.

Max roared, stumbling back, the world tilting as pain flooded his vision.

And still—neither of them fell.

Not yet.

Blood dripped down onto the floor.

-“Staring won’t kill him, you know,” a bullet ricocheted off Blackbeard’s metallic suit.

Shot by shot, he emptied the chamber. “This ends here. Whatever it was you were planning to do with this insane idea—it stops now.”

The building shook, everybody paused for a moment.

The tremor continued, Max finally noticing Twinkle Toes' voice over the loudspeakers.

-Oh Shit

BOOM.

A massive tentacle slapped against the glass.

The President turned slowly toward it, bored.

Staring it down like it was nothing but a nuisance.

-“You fucking hippies,” he muttered, blasting his Desert Eagle at it, cracking the glass.

The tentacle slithered away, leaving cracks etched across the reinforced glass.

He adjusted his tie.

He scoffed. “Now, where was I—”

A shadow fell over him again

The tentacle came back.

The creature’s limb the size of a train car erupted through the glass with explosive force, shattering it

Dropping down on top of the president, slamming into the floor eviscerating him in a moment like he was nothing but a bug. It launched upward, ripping through the roof, revealing the star-filled sky—which slowly faded into dusk.

As they all shared a moment of silence, stunned by the sheer shock of what had just happened,

Then the floor rumbled again—deep, guttural, like the Earth itself was groaning.

The room shook the tentacle slammed across, tearing through the remaining walls and ceiling.

They all ran, ducking, looking for something—anything—that remotely resembled cover.

Deckard lunged for the President’s fallen Desert Eagle, the pistol skidding across the slick, trembling floor. The building groaned—tilting dangerously, teetering on collapse.

Then… silence.

The singing stopped.

The entire skyscraper froze mid-collapse, held impossibly in place.

From beneath the sea, the monstrous creature wrapped itself around the tower’s broken skeleton holding it up by sheer force.

Maeve slowly got up as things calmed down, her hands burned, suit torn, catching her breath for just a moment—

Then her name rang out.

-“Maeve!” Max shouted.

The multi-tool buzzed and flashed.

The time was up.

It counted down.

Mere seconds left.

It was over.

Three.

Two.

One…