FINAL CHAPTER OF ARC 2 - 1/3: The Beginning Of The End

Eric walked out from behind Jack, and spotted the big glass room, then rushed to it with Jack right behind him. Angela started crawling with her mouth quivering, thinking that all this was just a dream.

Jack examined the door, which was weird and oddly beautiful, having embedded symbols of Latin texts and crosses at every corner, with curved engravings. “Fuck this!” He shot at the door handle and kicked it open. As soon as the door was wide open, he spotted Angela crawling towards him.

Angela sat on her knees and reached out. He rushed to Angela and embraced her.

“Angela! I’m so sorry!” he shouted, patting her head to try and ease her crying. “There, there. Don’t cry or you’ll make me wanna cry too.”

Angela couldn’t help it. She broke down and clung onto him for dear life, feeling so relieved to be reunited. “Ja-Ja-Jack!”

Jack looked into her saddened, watery blue eyes. “It’s alright now. I’m here sis. It’s okay.”

Angela wiped her face on Jack’s shoulder. “Jack.”

She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and rubbed her face against his. “No… I’m sor-sorry! It’s m-my fault for all of this, but I thought I was never going to see yo-you again!”

Jack smiled and patted her head, then shushed her. “It’s okay, I’m here now. That’s all that matters.” He wiped her face with his sleeve. “Don’t blame yourself. Don’t ever think that anything is your fault!”

While they were celebrating their reunion, out of nowhere Eric grabbed Angela out of Jack’s arms and hugged her. She laughed and shouted Eric’s name.

“Oh baby girl! How I missed you!” He held her, rubbing his face against hers.

Jack didn’t mind, though. He smiled and watched the two catch up. He noticed his old hoodie on her bed, but as he glanced back at her, he noticed all the bruises and scratch marks on Angela’s arms. He bit his lip and got so infuriated that a small stream of crimson dribbled onto his chin.

“Yo Jack, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. The more we stay here, the faster they’ll get to us,” Eric said.

Jack nodded, wiping the blood off his chin. “Yeah, let’s get the hell outta here.”

Before they could leave, Jack quickly rushed inside to grab the black hoodie, then handed it to Angela. “I see you’ve missed me.””

She grabbed it. “Uncle, could you place me down please?”

“Sure, baby girl.” Eric placed her down as she stared at her cherished item.

“Okay! Give me a second!” She put the hoodie on and hugged Jack again.

“Much better. You look adorable as always, baby sis.”

“This time, you can’t complain about me not wearing something long enough!”

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right.” He looked at Eric. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Agreed. I’ll let the boys know once we’re almost out.” He picked Angela up. “Don't worry, I’ll carry you!” He nodded to Jack.

Jack smirked as they left the room.

Finally, both siblings and self adopted uncle were reunited and started running to the door Jack kicked open. Once they were close enough to leave out of the room, a fist flew into Eric's face out of nowhere. He stepped back and dropped Angela by accident. Dr. Cato came around the corner of the doorway, sneaking past Eric’s feet and then grabbed her, making a run for it.

“Angela, no!” Jack screamed.

“Jack! Help me!” Angela screamed, being carried away by Dr. Cato.

Eric shook his head. A huge vein popped out of his bald head. “Who’s the motherfucker who punched me?!” Eric cracked his neck. “Show yourself, pussy!”

Mathew came out from the side door. “Damn you’re a tough bastard. Sorry, I thought you were Jack!” Mathew said, then chuckled.

“You… You son of a bitch!” Jack tightened his face, squinting. He grit his teeth.

Eric didn’t hesitate punching Mathew as he chuckled. He struck his mouth, making him move out the way and drop to one knee. Eric couldn’t wait. He chased after Angela, dashing out of the room at full speed and shouted at Jack “Not to worry!”

Mathew felt bitter. He wiped the blood from his lips and smacked them aggressively as he slowly got up. Jack tried to follow him quickly, but Mathew blocked him with his forearm and pushed him away, making him fall back into the room.

Mathew walked inside and pressed a button. A giant gate slammed down and blocked the exit. Now Jack was stuck inside the room with someone he desperately wanted to avoid. Jack groaned and stood back up, noticing how he was starting to shake a little.

His knees felt heavy and his arms slightly trembled. “Great, now I’m stuck in here with this big oaf!”

Jack’s breathing started feeling heavy too. Am I really still afraid of this guy? After all these years?

Mathew started laughing. “Jack, my boy!” He stretched his arms out, clenching his fists. “Long time no see. What do you think about this place, huh? Pretty great if I say so myself?”

He grabbed his chin. With a smug-like smile, Jack responded with angered silence.

“Oh how exciting! I will finally kill you!”

He began walking circles around Jack, examining his build.

“My my, look how you’ve grown. You’re almost my height! But damn, you’re such a mess!”

Jack clenched his fists. “Shut up, fat pig! What have you bastards done to poor Angela?!”

A faint black mist started forming around Jack’s body.

“Hahahaha! That’s none of your damn business. But that mist around you, though…”

Dr. Cato was right, the two of you must have some sort of spiritual connection.

Jack’s eye twitched out of confusion. “What are you looking at? Fuck this!”

Without warning, Jack rushed at Mathew and tried tackling him. He struggled to even budge Mathew, who was a giant compared to him. Jack kept pushing, but it was meaningless. Mathew didn’t even move an inch. Mathew laughed and wrapped his giant arms around Jack’s neck.

Jack gagged as one of Mathew’s enormous biceps hit his Adam’s apple. “Let… go of me!” Jack yelled, squirming around Mathew’s grip.

Mathew couldn’t help but laugh. “Is this really how you fight? What a joke!”

Mathew tightened his grip and placed more pressure around Jack’s neck, shortening his breathing. Jack tried to break free, but he still couldn’t move. He felt like his throat was about to be crushed.

“No use, my boy! I was a fighting and wrestling champion in my late twenties!” Mathew continues taking this moment lightly, laughing it off on the feeling he’s killing Jack this easily.

Jack needed to come up with something or else he’d truly die from suffocation. Jack quickly thought of something. He reached for his shotgun that was strapped behind his back, then grabbed the grip, and pulled the trigger. It exploded. Mathew immediately let go, but the shotgun blast scuffed Jack’s back.

Jack didn’t care, though. It was enough to make Mathew let go of him and made him catch his breath. Jack coughed. He pulled his shotgun out from behind and tried firing it again. But nothing happened.

Jack got annoyed and tossed it aside. He tried reaching for his handgun but it was gone. He patted himself everywhere and quickly glanced back at Mathew, who had a huge grin on his face.

Jack shrunk because he saw his gun in Mathew’s hand. “Damn you pig.”

Mathew emptied the chamber, tossed it away, then gestured to Jack. “Come at me, boy. No dirty tricks like what you just did!”

Jack’s face tightened and he rushed at him again, then threw his arm back for a running punch. He drove his fist forward, but Mathew grabbed it with ease, then grabbed Jack’s arm and lifted him off the ground, suplexing Jack. He slammed Jack so hard on the cold hard tile ground that it made Jack gag and cough violently.

Do I even have a chance against a guy like him?

Mathew stood up and stretched his back, cracking his knuckles afterwards. “See, my boy. You can’t even lay a finger on me!”

He continued stretching, mocking Jack’s efforts. Jack laid on the ground, coughing as the pain on his back grew.

“Come on, get up. I know that isn’t the best you’ve got!”

Jack grunted as he sat up, still trying to recover from the suplex. “Who-Who would’ve thought that a fat man like you would be this tough?” Jack coughed again while massaging his back.

Mathew flexed, revealing his giant biceps. “I’m not that fat, silly!” He patted his stomach. “This is just from all the drinking I’ve done throughout the years! Hahahaha!”

Jack stood back up, turned around and cracked his knuckles. “Well, you’re not wrong about me. That isn’t everything I’ve got. This is!”

He charged at Mathew again, throwing a couple of heavy right and left hooks, but Mathew easily dodged his sluggish punches.

Jack kept swinging, annoying Mathew from using such a bad technique. “Wow! You’re slow, my boy. Let me show you how to throw real punches!” Mathew punched Jack’s gut.

The two stood still. Mathew’s giant fist rammed inside Jack’s gut. Jack’s eyes shook while saliva drooled out of his mouth. He couldn’t believe how strong Mathew was for someone his size.

The sounds of his moaning were music to Mathew’s ears. Mathew grinned and slowly removed his fist off of Jack, letting him fall slightly until he uppercutted him. Jack flew back, with blood flying off his lip, and landed painfully on his back again.

Mathew couldn’t help himself but kept laughing at Jack’s weakness. “What a fool. What a treacherous, delusional fool!”

He approached Jack and watched him tremble in pain. He pointed at Jack. “That’s what you get for giving me this scar!” Mathew pulled his sleeve, exposing the scar Jack had left him that time he used a scalpel to cut him.

“I’m going to give you the beating of your life, punk!”

Mathew watched Jack struggle to sit up. He chuckled and kicked the side of Jack’s abdomen.

“Not only that, I’m going to make sure you feel pain!” He grabbed Jack’s shirt and started pounding his face. “Pure, unimaginable, insufferable…”

He extended his right arm behind his head as far back as he could. Jack froze while his face got bruised and his nose leaked.

“Pain!” He aimed a shot straight at Jack’s face.

Jack quickly moved out of the way at the last second. Mathew’s fist made impact to the ground instead, leaving a dent and bruising his knuckles.

Jack’s face was bruised. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, and his cheeks were swollen. He wiped his nose and spat out blood. “Th-This is going to be harder than I thought!”

Jack grabbed a nearby chair and threw it at Mathew. Mathew caught it and broke it with his bare hands, and then he ran at Jack.

Jack watched as Mathew, a guy twice his size, came running at him with abnormal speed. “Oh shit… This is gonna hurt!” Jack said with a terrified face.

***

Dr. Cato hid inside the office area where he and Mathew conducted their small experiments on Angela. He was behind his desk and had Angela’s mouth covered as she continued to break free. He forced her head upwards to look at his face, telling her to “Shut up!” Eric busted down the door and immediately started searching.

“Where did you go, punk bitch?” Eric looked around and spotted the examination chair with some scalpels next to it.

There were test tubes and plenty of glass walls everywhere. He spotted the office and walked inside it. Continuing his search, he heard some muffled noise close by. Dr. Cato, who’s face seemed afraid, sweaty, and angry, grabbed a scalpel inside one of his drawers and waited.

Eric had his hand hovered over one of his ears, trying to figure out where the muffled sound was coming from. The closer he got to it, the louder it was getting. Angela managed to grab the scalpel, and now the two started fighting over it, which caused Dr. Cato to accidently let go of her mouth.

Angela yelled, “Help!” which finally gave Eric the hint he needed.

Eric ran towards her cry and spotted the two struggling for the scalpel, until Dr. Cato pushed her off violently, which made Eric very, very angry.

“Hey punk ass bitch?” he yelled, grabbing Dr. Cato off the ground and throwing him through the office glass wall.

He crashed horribly, landing on the scattered glass.

Eric ran to Angela, making sure she wasn’t hurt. “Wait here, okay! Imma teach this fool a lesson!” He cracked his knuckles and smiled, bringing relief to Angela.

Angela stood up and hugged him. “Where’s Jack?”

Eric face palmed himself, realizing the promise he’d made to Jack that he would be the one to fight Mathew. “I forgot! He’s fighting that fatass! Damn!”

“Wait, so he’s alone with that guy?”

Eric patted Angela’s head. “Don’t worry. Even though he’s alone with that redneck, believe in your brother. I’m sure he can beat that fool!”

Angela smiled, believing in Eric’s words and her brother’s actions. Eric told her to stay put while he took care of Dr. Cato. He spotted him trying to crawl away from his new glass bed.

“Oh no, no, no. Where do you think you’re going, punk?!” Eric winked at Angela, walking fast to Dr. Cato. He grabbed the collar of his coat, then tossed him through another glass wall.

More glass scattered over Dr. Cato, leaving all kinds of fresh cuts all over his body. Dr. Cato moaned from the pain of being tossed around like a ragdoll. He couldn’t comprehend how being tossed like that was too much for him. He crawled towards a nearby counter, reached for the top and grabbed a scalpel.

Eric chuckled and let him take the scalpel, feeling confident in himself. Dr. Cato stood up, turned around and got annoyed by Eric’s smug grin. The cuts all over his face only made his angry face seem more villainous.

“Don’t you dare mock me!” He charged at Eric, screaming bloody murder.

Eric caught his arm and drove the scalpel in front of him, shocking Dr. Cato.

“See man? Like I said, you’re just a punk!” Eric punched Dr. Cato in the gut so ferociously that it brought him to his knees.

The pain he felt throughout his body was unbearable. Dr. Cato bent down and tucked his head towards his knees. Eric grabbed Dr. Cato’s hair, then lifted him off the ground to bring him to his level. He looked at Dr. Cato dead in the eyes.

Eric suddenly hugged him. Dr. Cato was confused, but shortly afterwards he felt his ribs crushing, his spine bending, and his arms cracking. He was being squeezed like a leftover toothpaste bottle by Eric’s massive arms.

Dr. Cato screamed for his life while Eric continued crushing him with his huge arms. Dr. Cato could feel his ribs pressing against his lungs. Any more of that then they’d surely pop like a balloon.

Eric squinted. “This is what you get for hurting poor Angela, you bitch!”

Dr. Cato stopped screaming, and trickled out a groan instead.

“Yeah, that’s it. Just die like the trash you are, my guy!” Eric chuckled again.

Dr. Cato’s body bounced every time Eric squeezed harder. Eric opened his mouth to laugh again, but that gave Dr. Cato the chance to spit into it, which finally released him from the death hug.

Dr. Cato gasped, catching his breath and made a run to grab something to hit Eric with. While he was distracted from wiping his mouth, Dr. Cato spotted a fire extinguisher, quickly grabbed it, then rushed at Eric. He used all his leftover strength to hit Eric’s huge muscular back, but sadly to Dr. Cato’s disappointment, he didn’t budge.

“You’ve… You’ve gotta be shitting me…”

Eric turned around, pissed off to the max. Dr. Cato’s face turned white. Eric swung a punch. He reacted immediately before the punch could connect by spraying the extinguisher at Eric’s face. Dr. Cato used the opportunity to toss the empty canister at Eric’s head. Eric caught it.

Dr. Cato grabbed a scalpel from the examination table and crept around Eric, who was still blinded by the surrounding carbon dioxide. Dr. Cato ground his teeth and charged at him, finally stabbing Eric. He managed to stab Eric’s shoulder and quickly stepped back, watching how he’d react, but to Dr. Cato’s surprise Eric reacted to nothing.

Eric grabbed the scalpel inserted into his shoulder, then slowly pulled it out, bringing out a squirt of blood.

He tossed it away and cracked his knuckles. “Shit like that is nothing,” he said menacingly, bringing Dr. Cato to his knees.

“What the hell are you? You’re a monster!”

“Don’t you dare compare me to something of your status, punk bitch. Besides, I’ve been stabbed worse in prison.”

Eric turned around, then swung his arm and cracked his neck. “Prepare yourself for the asswhooping of a century white boy!”

On his knees, Dr. Cato finally broke and laughed helplessly as Eric charged at him with a punch.

Dr. Cato screamed, “You’re not human!” He got up and dodged Eric, then tried to run away again.

But Eric caught him before he could move an inch and started pounding on his kidneys. Dr. Cato gagged as each blow ensued. Eric picked him up and tossed him back into the office. Eric quickly came to him, grabbed him again and threw him over the desk towards Angela.

Dr. Cato looked at Angela and begged for help. She blinked and smiled, waving sarcastically at him. Dr. Cato’s eyes started watering. Eric saw what she did and grinned. Standing above him, Dr. Cato saw Eric come down on him.

Dr. Cato glanced back at Angela and broke down. “Why Angela? Why!”

***

Back in the room where the other two were fighting, Jack was being tossed against walls, over tables, against screens, and slammed against the floor. He was badly hurt, beaten from such impacts. Jack tried grabbing Mathew again, but that only led to his injured back being hammer punched into oblivion. Jack’s face slammed on the ground. Mathew tried stomping the back of his head. Jack quickly got out of the way and tried to rush at him again.

Mathew chuckled, dodging Jack and dashing behind him. He wrapped his arms around Jack and gave him a treacherous german suplex against the glass room wall.

Jack lay against the cracked glass. His face was all bruised and bloodied. He was dumbfounded with how a man like Mathew had the stamina of an Olympic swimmer.

This isn’t a fair fight! It’s extremely one sided!

Mathew grabbed his gut and laughed his butt off as he watched Jack struggle to get back up on his feet. Then Mathew suddenly stopped his senseless laughing, then charged at Jack without warning. Jack grinned. He could only stand there halfway up and watch that fat bastard come at him.

Mathew speared Jack through the glass wall. Jack gagged out blood as the two crashed onto the floor. Jack was severely hurt. He definitely knew one of his ribs had cracked from that intense impact.

Mathew grunted as he stood back onto his feet and brushed the glass off him. He stared down at a broken and hurt Jack, who was grabbing onto his chest, struggling to breathe.

Mathew couldn’t smile at that. He sighed and approached Jack with his arms tucked in his pockets. “I told you punk, didn’t I? This is just the beginning of your immeasurable pain!”

Mathew stood beside Jack. “Don’t start crying on me now, weakling!”

Mathew stomped on Jack’s hand, making him yell out from the sheer pain.

“Poor bastard. You may look tough, but you’re nothing but a stupid weak dog that’s all bark and no bite!” He stomped again, breaking another one of Jack’s ribs.

Mathew kept stomping. Jack’s body jumped as he coughed out blood from every impact. His sounds of pain shortly transitioned into laughter, disturbing Mathew enough to make him stop.

Jack grabbed Mathew’s leg, continuing his strange laughter. “F-Funny you say that, because I-I haven’t cried in ye-years!”

Mathew kicked his hand off his leg and stepped back, allowing Jack to stand back up. Jack grabbed his stomach with one arm, then painfully stood back on his feet and dangled his other arm.

“B-But don’t get it twisted, Mathew. I’m no weak punk. I am to-tough…” Jack coughed out more blood. “You’ll see, ju-just you wait and see!”

Without notice, Jack dashed towards Mathew with whatever strength he had, which surprised him.

Mathew readied himself as Jack came towards him. Jack swung a huge left hook. Mathew chuckled and causally dodged it. Out of nowhere Jack horse kicked Mathew in the gut, catching him off guard. Mathew got mad and threw a punch of his own. Jack figured out his moves and dodged the punch, then ducked and threw a nasty right over hook, making an impact on Mathew’s big face. Jack stepped back and congratulated himself for landing a punch on Mathew, though Mathew calmly wiped the scuff off his cheek. He smiled and started clapping his hands.

“Well done, my boy! Not bad. Not bad at all!” He walked circles around Jack. “But there’s bad news for you, son. Very bad news.”

Jack watched Mathew as he continued walking around him. “What do you mean by bad?” Jack groaned. “I thought shit was already bad the moment you started doing dumb wrestling moves on me. What could be worse?”

Mathew stopped, leaving Jack worrying what he’d do next. The two stood still for a second until Mathew slowly pulled out the cross he’d hidden inside his pocket. Jack raised a brow while Mathew wrapped the holy necklace around his big neck. The cross looked similar to what Jack had seen from the files that he and Eric had confiscated about Angela’s experiments. He felt a bit worried and used the moment to see where Mathew threw his gun at, but he couldn’t spot it anywhere.

Mathew was taking slow deep steady breaths, then closed his eyes. The cross started to glow. Jack was a bit freaked out. He wasn’t sure what was about to happen.

Mathew slowly opened his eyes and glared at Jack. “Since I now have an answer to my speculation, let’s see what this thing can finally do to someone like you, Jack.”

Mathew raised his fists. A faint aura started forming around him, a white holy outline wrapping around the edges of his body.

Jack’s eyes widened with fear. He couldn’t understand why but he could feel something so intense coming from Mathew. An unknown gravitational force made Jack slowly get to a knee.

In his mind, Jack said, “What’s going on?”

Mathew’s clothes slowly floated from the wind beneath him. Jack couldn’t move anymore due to the gravity weighing him down.

The cross’s glow faded. Mathew seemed calm. “Bring it, Jack.”

Jack snapped out of it. He shook his head, trying to regain his confidence to hide his fear, and charged at Mathew. This time Jack barely moved an inch. Something was preventing him from charging at him. Whatever it was, it was protecting Mathew.

Jack stared at his palms. He couldn’t control the shaking. He felt useless. Closing his eyes and clenching his fists, he became more serious, then opened his eyes to glare at Mathew. “What did you just do? Did you do some weird sorcery supernatural shit? Who the hell are you?”

Mathew dropped his arms and sighed. “No Jack. What are you?”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

Mathew circled Jack again. “There’s a reason why this cross glowed.” He grabbed it and raised it in the air. “The only time it would react like this was with my encounters with that damned demon inside Angela.”

Jack gasped. “So what about it? What does that mean?”

“The fact that this cross reacted differently questions your mortality. That’s why I questioned you.” Mathew stopped and pointed at Jack. “That’s why I asked what you are, Jack!”

“Screw you!” Jack gritted his teeth and attempted to charge towards Mathew once again.