Chapter 32

How long was she out? She checked the timer in the corner of her vision. Not that long. Like... maybe 5-15 minutes? Hard to tell, she took a lot of blows to the head in the past hour or so.

 She lifted her head up from the ground to look at Apex, that hit was about everything she had. What kind of cruel joke would it be if he somehow survived that?

He crawled out of the crater, his armor resembling something closer to a bent tin can at this point. Despite being notably damaged and weary, without any of his usual overconfidence, he still somehow managed to stand.

She audibly groaned as she saw he was somehow still alive. Because of course, the universe wasn’t gonna cut her a break anytime soon. She lifted herself up by her hands but couldn’t muster up the strength to lift herself, so she fell back down with a thud. If she were to try to describe her status right now, she’d probably consider herself closer to a regular human.

Apex stepped forward, arms raised, but no energy this time. He stumbled and then fell flat on his face. There he laid for several moments, barely moving. He groaned, clearly in a great deal of pain. “Ya know…” He started. “I think… I’ve had about enough of this farce.” He got on his knees, and stared in Hanabi’s direction. “You… are… without a doubt… the most annoying enemy I’ve ever fought.”

In response, she gave him no clever words or rebuttals, she just flipped him off.

“Yeah well, same to you.” He flipped her off. “But see…” he staggered to his feet. “As much as you’ve wounded me, physically, mentally, and emotionally… I’m still Apex. I’ll recover soon enough. But you, this whole place… yeah… you’re all gonna die.” Energy started gathering around him. “I am 150% done with this whole farce. I should’ve done this from the start, damn the consequences. After all, what the hell can the council do to me?”

“Coward.” Hanabi spat back. “You get your ass kicked by someone you call inferior, and so you try to glass the place? Pathetic.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, complain all you want. But it’s not like there’s anyone around to stop m-”

Shots rang out and Apex stumbled forward as something exploded against Apex’s back, dropping his concentration causing the energy around him dissipating into the ether.

“...more annoyances… if this is another Gatekeeper I’m gonna-”

Ghost stood there, rifle in hand. He fired again, this time hitting Apex three times in the chest. All it did was make him step back.

“And who is this? Another Gatekeeper? No, doesn’t seem like it. Is this just some random guy? Hey, buddy, I’m kinda busy here so if you don’t mind, why don’t you-” Apex was shot in the face this time, but again it did no damage.

Apex sighed. “ ‘Scuse me for one minute, I’m about to go tear the wings of this insect.” He advanced towards Ghost, who returned the gesture while continuing to fire, reload, and fire again.

“N-No… please… get away.” Hanabi begged as she pushed herself up off the ground, but she was still too weak to stand. Repair was still in progress. “Please, no… not again.” This person knew her, he knew her past, he was her only link to the person she used to be.

The two men stood in front of each other, Apex standing noticeably taller. “What’s with the mask?”

In response to his question, Ghost just shot him in the face at point blank range. For all the good it did.

Apex grabbed the barrel, and wrenched the rifle out of Ghost’s hands. He looked at it, the visor making his expression impossible to read. “Seriously?” He tossed it over his shoulder.

Rather than give up, Ghost just pulled out a handgun and started shooting. He might as well have been flinging pebbles at him, might’ve been more effective.

“You know that’s not gonna do anything to me, right?”

He reloaded another magazine, and kept shooting.

Apex closed his hands around the barrel and crushed it with his bare hands. “Are you touched in the head or-”

And now Ghost was trying to cut him with a hidden dagger he’d been keeping in his sleeve. But it obviously wasn’t working.

“This is just sad so… ya know what, I’m just gonna…” He reared his hand back and pierced through Ghost’s chest with his hand, it came out the other end, and Apex lifted him like some kinda giant skewer. “Yeah… I mean, how did you this was gonna go?”

Hanabi wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. Instead, she just felt that same feeling of rage bubbling inside her. Again. Again. Apex had taken something from her. First her friend, and now the only link she had to her past. And just like then, she was too weak and helpless to stop him. Not until her auto-repair functions completed, at least.

“Hm?” Said Apex, tilting his head. “That’s odd. I’ve impaled a lot of people but… usually there’s more blood, more convulsing, this feels-”

The eye holes in Ghost’s mask suddenly caught fire.