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Chapter 26

Ultratech Brazil: Reactor Room

     Jeremiah sidestepped a set of short, plasma storm attacks, advancing with each step.  He drove his fist forwards, straight at the cyborg known as Fulgore-X.  Fulgore-X ducked the attack, and threw a punch of his own, sending Jeremiah reeling backwards.  Fulgore-X sprung forwards, striking Jeremiah in his head with two or three forearm attacks, then kicking him away with a sharp turn kick.  Jeremiah fell down to one knee.  He threw his right arm forward, shooting out a bundle of his tentacles at Fulgore-X.  They restrained his left arm.  Jeremiah began to pull back on them, but Fulgore-X fought it.
     “That is really starting to annoy me.”  Fulgore-X said.  He sent a bolt of plasma energy down his arm, which traveled down the tentacles, up Jeremiah’s arm, and striking him in the head.  Fulgore-X charged, with a punch.  Jeremiah regained himself just in time to get out of the away.  Fulgore-X’s punch hit the wall, denting it.
     Jeremiah straightened himself, and smiled.  “My.  You have improved since we last fought.  However, I’m afraid your very best still isn’t good enough to beat me.”
     “We’ll see about that.”  Fulgore-X snapped.
     “Please, don’t kid yourself.”  Jeremiah grinned openly now.  “You may be feeling a little bit better, but we both know you’re losing power by the second.  It’s only a matter of time before you become much weaker than I, and not much of a challenge.  If I were you, I’d enjoy this now, while you can.”
     Fulgore-X growled, but he knew Jeremiah was right.  He was running out of time.

_WARNING!  SYSTEM POWER AT 83% AND DROPPING

     In more ways than one.

     Fulgore-X turned back towards Jeremiah.  “I can’t beat him like this.  Even if I could, I don’t have the time.  I need to take him out with one big attack.  But what?”
     Before Fulgore-X could finish his thought, Jeremiah charged at him.  Fulgore-X blocked the incoming high punch, and the following middle punch.  Without warning, Jeremiah’s tentacles shot up, smacking Fulgore-X in the face.  He staggered backwards, a little stunned.  Mildly enraged, he threw a raw energy blast at the human-cyborg hybrid.  Jeremiah barely ducked it.  As he rose, he saw Fulgore-X rushing in towards him.  It was so quick, there was little he could do about it, except throw his arms up in defense.  Fulgore-X barreled into him, sending him flying against the wall.  Still moving forward, Fulgore-X unsheathed his right claw, and drove it towards Jeremiah.  Jeremiah rolled out of the way with no time to spare as the claw embedded itself in the wall where his head has previously rested.  Still in a low position, Jeremiah foot swept the cyborg.  Fulgore-X dropped backwards sharply.  Jeremiah sprang up, and attempted to stomp on his fallen opponent.  Fulgore-X caught his foot however, and with one simple push, he sent him back into the wall.  Fulgore-X quickly rose to his feet.  He stepped in and started a flurry of punches and kicks.  Jeremiah was forced to defend at first; Fulgore-X’s attacks were so quick, he couldn’t do anything other than block and dodge.  However, he soon found some openings and started weaving in attacks of his own.  Fulgore-X blocked them all easily.
     A few feet away, Orchid sat on the staircase against the right wall which lead to the second level.  She watched as Fulgore-X and Jeremiah exchanged blows.  “Impressive.”  She thought.  “But Jeremiah is no ninja.  A black belt maybe, second degree at best.  Fulgore-X should be wiping the floor with him.  He must still be too damaged to utilize his full arsenal.”  Orchid bit her lower lip.  She had to admit, part of her liked the prospect of Fulgore-X getting beaten to death.  However, in the current situation, her life depended on the cyborg she despised so much.
     “If Fulgore-X doesn’t win this fight soon, we’ll all be dead.”  Orchid sighed, cutting her eyes towards the floor.  She rubbed her bandaged and badly burned right hand.  “I don’t care what he says, I have to help him.  My life depends on this fight.”
     Meanwhile, Fulgore-X continued to throw everything he had at Jeremiah.  The cyborg hit his opponent with a back kick, sending him flying a few feet back.  Before Jeremiah could stand, Fulgore-X unsheathed his right claw.  Plasma energy began to swirl around his fist.  Just as Jeremiah was getting to his knees, Fulgore-X pulled his right arm back, and charged.  It was the plasma punch; about halfway before Fulgore-X reached Jeremiah, he retracted his claw, thus charging his extended fist with the plasma energy.  Jeremiah looked up with just enough time to spare; he leaped backwards and out of harm’s way.  Fulgore-X was dismayed at his miss, but thought quickly.  He plunged his still charged fist into the floor in front of him.  The energy from the plasma punch shook the entire room at least, and perhaps the whole building.  The floor seemed to ripple from the power.  Jeremiah looked up to see the oncoming wave, but there wasn’t much he could do.  He was violently shoved backwards, with the front wall abruptly stopping his momentum.
     On the staircase, Orchid struggled to hold on as she was being jerked around.  “What the hell was that?”  She wondered.
     Jeremiah picked himself up from the floor.  He looked up at Fulgore-X, who still had his fist buried into the floor.  The cyborg returned the glance with an eyes narrowed glare.
     “It’s okay.”  Jeremiah thought.  “The more power he uses, the quicker he loses it.  But still, I need go on the offensive before he overwhelms me while he still can.”
     Away from the fight, Orchid crawled up a few more steps before sitting down again.  “I’d swear the floor buckled with that attack.”  She thought.  “I just don’t understand, why would Ultratech make something that’s so damned powerful?  These Fulgore cyborgs will be the end of humanity.  Unless, they’re destroyed here and now, forevermore.  Fulgore-X is the last one; with his death, the Fulgore menace will cease to exist.”  Orchid looked up to see Fulgore-X attacking Jeremiah again.  They exchanged blows at an incredible pace.  “If the reactor blows, it’ll take Fulgore-X and Jeremiah out, which is a good thing, but unfortunately, I’ll be caught up in the middle.  Maybe that’s the sacrifice I need to make.”  Orchid half smiled.  “Heh, maybe this really is my last mission as an Agent.  Maybe I will get to go out in a blaze of glory after all.”
     Suddenly, a blur of images raced through her head.  Everything she had been through starting from the Killer Instinct 7 tournament.  Going to the preliminary rounds and meeting Jago and Chief Thunder for the first time.  Refusing their help when everybody found out what Ultratech was really up to.  Fighting against and defeating Eyedol.  Ultratech shifting 2000 years into the past.  Meeting Kim Wu, Tusk, and Maya.  Finding out that Jago was her brother.  Learning the truth about what happened to her parents.  Fighting with Maya to defeat Gargos.  Going back to the present, only to find out that Ultratech had returned as well.  Seeing Fulgore-X for the first time.  Surrendering to Jago so that he could fight against Fulgore-X in the final round.  Having to fight against Jagos.  Surviving the plasma bomb explosion.  Finding out that Jago had miraculously survived as well.

     “I’ve lived through so much, learned so much.”  Orchid realized.  “Jago…..my brother.  Chief Thunder…..my friend.  I can’t die now.  Not like this.  Not after everything that’s happened.  But what can I do?  What should I do?”  She looked back towards the fight.
     Jeremiah was beginning to go on the offensive.  He tossed a sidekick at Fulgore-X, which was dodged.  With Fulgore-X moving the way he wanted him to, Jeremiah hit him with a perfectly executed jumping roundhouse kick, which sent the cyborg stumbling back against the reactor.  Fulgore-X looked up to see Jeremiah’s tentacles rapidly approaching.  Fulgore-X sidestepped out of the way.  He took a swipe at them with his claws, trying to cut them off, but they were withdrawn quickly.  Fulgore-X rushed Jeremiah quickly, striking him in the face with an elbow.  Jeremiah staggered backwards but did not fall.  Fulgore-X continued his attack, going into another flurry of attacks against the hybrid.  It became increasingly evident that either Jeremiah was getting better at defending against the attacks, or Fulgore-X was getting slower at executing them.  Jeremiah caught a right jab thrown by the cyborg, and twisted his arm.  Jeremiah buried several shin kicks into Fulgore-X’s exposed and wounded right side.  It hurt incredibly, but Fulgore-X didn’t let it show.  The last thing he needed to do was show Jeremiah another weakness.  With his right leg, Jeremiah executed a reverse turn kick, slamming Fulgore-X in the chest and forcing him down to the ground.
     Jeremiah was about to advance on the fallen cyborg when Orchid suddenly interjected.  She shoved both her forearms into Jeremiah’s midsection, sending him reeling backwards.  Orchid quickly moved in on him, launching a flurry of her own.  Her attacks were faster than Fulgore-X’s, and Jeremiah couldn’t defend as well as he could with the cyborg.
     Fulgore-X stood up to see Orchid fighting his battle now.  He was tempted to snap kick her on the spot, but he held himself back.  He realized that he could use her interference as a chance to end the fight with one large attack.
     “Fine.”  He thought.  “I’ll let her play with him for a while.  Maybe she can distract him long enough for me to take him out in one fell swoop.  Now, what attack can I use?  A plasma flare?  No, that would take too long; my weapons systems energy allocation is way down.  Whatever attack I choose, I’ll have to build the energy up for it.”
     Orchid continued her flurry against Jeremiah.  However, she too was losing steam.  She had been beaten up, and she was tired.  Her attacks were quickly losing speed and power.  Jeremiah was starting to edge his own attacks into the exchange, and some of them connected.
     “There’s only one thing I can use.”  Fulgore-X said to himself, still watching from aside.  “A super plasma storm.  However, it’s going to take no less than two minutes to build up enough power for a good shot.  That’s a small eternity in the middle of a fight.  But I don’t have any choice.”  Fulgore-X took a few steps back, standing almost next to the reactor.  He brought his right leg back, turning his left shoulder towards the action.  He cupped his hands at his sides, and plasma energy strands began to swirl around him.
     Orchid caught this out of the corner of her eye.  She looked back at Fulgore-X, and he returned the glance.  It was a powerful form of communication; a non-verbal exchange which spoke volumes.  Instantly, Orchid knew what Fulgore-X was planning, what he was thinking, and she knew what she had to do.  She turned back towards Jeremiah.
     “It’s my turn to play with you now.”  She thought.  She rushed in at Jeremiah, and threw a roundhouse kick at his head.  Jeremiah ducked, then spun around and foot-swept Orchid.  Orchid rolled up to her feet and was quickly in Jeremiah’s face again.  She attacked with a quick set of punches, all of which were blocked.  Orchid backed off, but Jeremiah had other plans for her.  He shot out tentacles from both arms, which wrapped themselves around Orchid’s arms.  Orchid struggled, trying to move backwards and escape his grip.  Jeremiah sharply yanked her forward, and head-butted her when she stumbled close enough to him.  With an almost effortless motion, Jeremiah flung her to his left, where she sailed in mid-air for at least five feet before roughly hitting the ground.
     Orchid stood slowly.  Her vision was beginning to blur, and her head was pounding.  Her burned right hand was beginning to ache beneath her makeshift bandage.  It had been a long day already.  This fight wasn’t helping.
     Jeremiah showed no compassion for her.  Once again, his tentacles shot out, wrapping themselves around Orchid’s legs.  She tried to struggle, but couldn’t do anything meaningful.  Jeremiah yanked his arm up, flinging Orchid up into the air, where her back slammed into the second level floor grate.  She fell down quickly and flatly struck the ground on her stomach.
     “Aw, you’re no fun.”  Jeremiah mused.  “At least Fulgore-X put up a fight.”  He turned away from her and back towards Fulgore-X.
     “No, no!”  Fulgore-X thought, as Jeremiah turned towards him.  “I’m not done yet!”
     “Wait.”  A weak voice said behind Jeremiah.  A little surprised, the hybrid turned around to see Orchid, standing.  Barely, yet still standing.  Her left eye was closed, and she held her left arm with her right hand.  “I’m not finished yet.” She announced.
    Jeremiah grinned.  “Well, I can fix that.”  Once more, his tentacles extended from his arms, wrapping themselves around Orchid’s body.  Jeremiah began to apply pressure, squeezing her tighter and tighter.  Instead of trying to escape, Orchid began to reach for something with her right leg.  It was a small piece of metal that had broken off from the reactor.  One of its edges was particularly sharp.  She managed to make contact with it, and using her foot, she brought it closer to her.  With her arms constrained, she dropped down to both knees.
     Jeremiah interpreted this as a sign that Orchid was getting weaker.  Sensing victory, he squeezed even tighter.  Orchid let out a grunt from her throat.  She was in immense pain, but she couldn’t let that stop her.  She picked up the metal shard with her burned right hand, and somehow, managed to dig it into her boot, with the sharp edge facing the same direction as her toes.  She slowly forced her way back up to her feet.
     Orchid was now breathing heavily, and hurting almost to the point of tears.  Ignoring all of that, she screamed, and started to run directly at Jeremiah.  This caught him by surprise; he had no idea what to do.  Only a few feet away from Jeremiah, Orchid jumped, and twisted her body to the right.  In mid air, she kicked with her right foot.  The metal shard in her boot made contact with Jeremiah’s tentacles, cutting them off at the base of his hands.  Orchid landed on her hands, looking backwards as Jeremiah fell to his knees, clutching his hands in pain.  The tentacles that used to be wrapped around Orchid fell down besides her, flopping around aimlessly.
     “You wretch!”  Jeremiah screamed in pure rage.  “I’ll kill you for this!”
     Orchid stood, half smiling.  “Now who’s no fun?”  She took a quick peek back at Fulgore-X; plasma energy was surging across his body, and even the air around him was turning blue.  “Almost done.”  She thought.  Not wanting to cut Jeremiah any breaks, she marched over to him while he was still on his knees.  She raised her right leg high up and hit him with an ax kick.  This forced Jeremiah down to the floor on his face.  Orchid reached down and grabbed a handful of his wiry, oily black hairs.  She yanked him up to his feet and buried a spinning back kick into his midsection.  He stumbled backwards, towards the front wall.  Orchid walked up to him and simply hit him in the face with a left roundhouse.  She then hit him with a right cross, carefully avoiding the burnt portion of her hand.  Orchid continued her punch assault, slowly driving Jeremiah backwards.
     As Fulgore-X watched Orchid’s offensive, he began to grow anxious.  “C’mon, keep it up, just a few more seconds, and I’ll nail that bastard.”
     Orchid had finally pushed Jeremiah’s back up against the wall.  She continued punching anyway, now continually driving her fists into Jeremiah’s gut.  She looked up, smiled sweetly at the hybrid, then shot her left elbow into the bridge of Jeremiah’s nose.
     Suddenly, Fulgore-X called out from behind her, “Orchid, move now!”
     Orchid quickly dove to the right, as far away from Jeremiah as possible.  Jeremiah slowly looked up, not quite sure what was going on.
     In front of him, Fulgore-X screamed, his body shaking with power.  He thrust his arms forward, with both hands open and palms connected.  A colossal beam of plasma energy shot out from his hands, which seemed to rip through even reality as it ignited the air around them.  There wasn’t anything Jeremiah could do.  His eyes grew wide and he watched the super plasma storm quickly advance on him.  The energy beam slammed into his position, and the entire building was rocked from the impact.  Fulgore-X, still screaming, continued to feed power into the beam.  Fire and smoke jutted out from the point of impact, to the extent that it filled the room.  Finally, perhaps mercifully, Fulgore-X stopped the beam.  There was an additional explosion as the tail of the attack made its way to the target.  Smoke continued to billow outward, making it impossible to see.
    Sensing that the attack was over, Orchid stood up slowly.  With the intense smoke cover, she had no idea where she was in relation to Fulgore-X, the reactor, or Jeremiah, perhaps whatever was left of him.  She waved her arms in front of her blindly.  The smoke and dust caused her to cough violently.
     What seemed to be a great deal of time passed in silence.  Orchid still waved her arms around, trying her best to see.  She caught sight of a faint blue glow in front of her, and to the right.  As the dust settled, and the smoke cleared, it became evident that it was none other than Fulgore-X.  He stood still frozen in pose; his hands extended, palms connected.  Orchid could tell that Fulgore-X couldn’t see either.
     Taking her eyes away from Fulgore-X, she followed a straight line of sight to where Jeremiah should have been.  There was still way too much smoke for her to see anything.  She shifted her gaze back to Fulgore-X, who hadn’t changed.  But then, his eyes suddenly widened, and his arms dropped slightly.  There was a strange look on his face that Orchid had never seen him display before.  Although it was new to her, she knew that it could only be pure horror.  He had seen something.  Orchid followed his sight, until she laid her eyes upon the same target.  Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped slowly.  “No…..oh God no…..” she whispered.
     Jeremiah sat upright against the front wall.  He looked to be thoroughly stunned; his eyes were large, and his lips slightly parted.  He breathed very heavily.  From his body position, it was evident that he had rolled to his left, to avoid the blast.  To confirm the suspicion, there was a large, gaping hole in the wall, caused by the super plasma storm.  Judging by his singed and burned right arm, he had moved at perhaps the last possible moment.
     Still spooked, Jeremiah stumbled to his feet.  He let out a few more heavy breaths before composing himself.  Fulgore-X’s display of power was humbling, intimidating, and fearful, to say the least.  However, given his current state, it probably drained him completely dry.  He was more than likely harmless now, and not much of a threat.
     “Well, that was quite an attack.”  Jeremiah said softly.  “Whoo.  Yeah.  However, I don’t think you’re up for an encore, am I right?”
     Fulgore-X arms dropped pathetically to his sides.  He straightened himself.  “That was my trump card…..and it missed.”  He thought.  “It missed.”
     Orchid stumbled backwards, past Fulgore-X, eventually hitting the reactor.  She glanced backwards at one of the video screens.

     “That’s it then.”  She whispered to herself.  “It’s over.  We’re dead.”
     Jeremiah smiled.  “You two look unhappy.  Is something wrong?  Fulgore-X, don’t tell me that was your last attack……”
     Fulgore-X’s eyes narrowed.  “Of course it wasn’t.”  He spoke in an uncharacteristic, almost small voice.  “Anytime you’re ready.”
     Orchid had managed to make her way back to the staircase, where she collapsed.  “There’s no way he can win this thing.  He knows it too.  He’s just committing suicide now.”
     Still smiling, Jeremiah marched straight up to Fulgore-X.  He threw a right roundhouse, which the cyborg barely managed to block.  Jeremiah then threw a low left punch, which connected with the cyborg’s midsection.  Fulgore-X doubled over in pain.  Grinning now, Jeremiah squeezed his hands together, raised his arms high over his head, and brought his hands down sharply into the base of Fulgore-X’s neck.  He dropped to the ground almost instantly.  Jeremiah walked over to Fulgore-X’s right side, and began kicking him directly in his wound.  The cyborg jerked with every blow.  After about twenty kicks, Jeremiah grabbed a handful of Fulgore-X’s hair, dragged him to his feet, and kicked him directly in the face with a standing sidekick.  Fulgore-X arched backwards; Jeremiah straightened him with a front kick to the midsection.  Fulgore-X took a weak left punch at Jeremiah.  Jeremiah grabbed his arm, twisted it, then turn kicked Fulgore-X in his exposed side.  He then grabbed a handful of Fulgore-X’s jumpsuit, and flung him into the front wall.
     “My God, this is a slaughter.”  Orchid said, paying attention, but still somewhat detached from reality.  “Fulgore-X has nothing left, nothing at all.  It’s only a matter of time now.”
     With Fulgore-X slumped against the wall, Jeremiah moved in for an easy kill.  He stood over the disabled cyborg and choose his shots; a right fierce punch, a low turn kick, maybe two, a knee to the throat, a strong left punch to the face, and so on.  It was slow, cruel torture.
     Unable to watch, Orchid focused on one of the reactor video monitors.

     “That’s it, huh.  A minute left to live.  Give or take.”  Orchid lamented.  “Well, it was fun.”
     “Was  it really?”  A familiar voice asked.
     Orchid turned to see Fulgore 2 sitting next to her on the staircase.  “Damn it.  It’s you again.  Can’t you just let me die in peace?  Leave me alone.”
     “I’m afraid that’s quite impossible.  You see, I’m a part of you.  Nothing more than a visual manifestation of a part of your brain that’s just crying out for help.”
     “That figures.  Well, I guess the good thing about dying is never having to see you again.”
     Fulgore 2 gasped.  “My!  I’m shocked.  I come just to say goodbye, and this is the thanks I get.  Sometimes I wonder why I ever bother to try.”
     “Me too.”
     “You’re hopeless, Orchid.  Say, why aren’t you watching the fight?”
     “It’s not a fight; it’s a massacre.”  Orchid responded.
     “Perhaps.  But still, why aren’t you watching?”
     “I don’t want to, okay?”
     “That’s funny.  I thought that, of all things, this is what you wanted to see.”
     “How do you figure?”
     “The complete, and painful, dismantling of Fulgore-X.  The death of a villain, and the all time end of the Fulgore cyborgs.  This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
     “Not like this.”
     “Oh, so you wish you were the one beating up on him.”
     “I didn’t say that.”
     “Maybe, but I know.  I know better than you do.”  Fulgore 2 cut his eyes towards her in smile.  “Ever since you saw him, you’ve wanted him dead.  You came all the way to Brazil on just a suspicion just to kill him.”
     “Shut up!  Maybe I wanted him dead before, but things have changed.  This isn’t right.”
     “You know that’s not true.  The only thing that’s bothering you is that you’re not the one who’s killing him.  That’s all there is to it.”
     “I told you to shut up!”  Orchid almost screamed, before she realized that she wasn’t alone.
     “You wanted to kill me so badly, you could taste it.  But you never got the chance to.  Jago killed me.  And that bothers you to no end.”
     “Shut up!  Shut up!”
     “You thought you could murder Fulgore-X, as a consolation prize.  But now, you don’t even get that.  After he saved your life so many times in this past day, all you can think about during his death is how you’re not the one who’s finishing him off.  Pathetic, really.”
     “Shut up!”  Orchid screamed this one.  Still standing over Fulgore-X, Jeremiah batted an eye towards her, then continued to kick Fulgore-X in the head.
     Fulgore 2 continued his merciless assault.  “You try to deny it, but it’s true.  If it wasn’t, why aren’t you down there helping him now?”
     “Because it doesn’t matter!  It doesn’t matter, dammit!  Nothing matters right now!  We’re as good as dead!”  Orchid could hardly finish her words as she cried openly.  Tears flowed freely from her eyes.  She shook uncontrollably.
     Fulgore 2’s eyes widened, then he took a look over at the reactor video monitor.

     “Oh well, it was only an estimate.  Even Fulgore-X isn’t perfect.  But you can just look down at him now to see that.”  Fulgore 2 remarked.
     “Shut up.”  Orchid said weakly.  She continued to cry, although she hated doing so.
Fulgore 2 looked down upon her condescendingly.  “You really are pathetic.  Break down those stone walls you’ve erected around yourself, and there’s nothing left but a small child.  A small, crying, pathetic, child.”
     “Shut up.”  Orchid whispered.
     Fulgore 2 stood.  “I really must thank you Orchid.  I have never been witness to the complete defeat of a human mind before.  It’s really quite interesting.  Anyway, I bid you farewell.”  He took a mock bow, then simply disappeared.
     “…..Shut up…..”  Orchid continued to cry.
     Away from the staircase, Jeremiah was finally becoming bored with throttling Fulgore-X.  He picked him up by the jumpsuit again, and flung him across the room.  Fulgore-X slid a good four feet until finally crashing into the reactor.  The reactor which was going to explode at any given moment.  Despite his beating, Fulgore-X still knew this.
     Jeremiah walked up to him, but did not attack him, for once.  His own hands and feet were starting to hurt, and despite the beating, Fulgore-X was no closer to death.  An instrument of destruction would be needed.  Jeremiah quickly spotted something interesting.  He pulled a long steel rod from the mainframe of the reactor.  It was about six feet long, and maybe an inch thick.  Crude and simple, but effective nonetheless.  He took his new weapon and struck Fulgore-X across the face with it.  The cyborg writhed in pain.  He rolled over, turning his back to Jeremiah; his last defense.
     Jeremiah laughed.  “Ultratech’s mighty champion.”  He scoffed.  He raised the rod and then brought it down hard across Fulgore-X’s back.  And again.  And again.  Fulgore-X didn’t even have the energy to jerk with each hit.  Dissatisfied with the lack of reaction, Jeremiah decided to end the fight once and for all.  He gripped the rod tightly with both hands, and drove the end of it straight into Fulgore-X’s exposed right side.  He managed to bury at least eight inches of the rod into the cyborg.  Fulgore-X arched backwards, and let out a cry that pierced the heavens above.  Jeremiah flashed a sadistic smile.  He let go of the rod, leaving it in Fulgore-X.  He then kicked it a few times; surely a painful act.  Fulgore-X tried to crawl away from Jeremiah, using the reactor as support.  Jeremiah watched him, enjoying every moment.  He let the cyborg get as far as the right side of the reactor, the side which faced the staircase, before kicking the rod again, getting Fulgore-X to stop.
     This was, by far, the most painful experience Fulgore-X had ever had.  Despite the pain, he tried to get to his feet by crawling up the side of the reactor, but he couldn’t even get to one knee.  He noticed that he was holding onto some sort of electronical latch.  It was more or less a door to the reactor.  Using the right equipment, a hose, or another storage tank, plasma could be properly drained from the latch..  Fulgore-X weakly looked up at the reactor video monitor above him to see that his countdown had come to an end.
     Before Fulgore-X could have any more thoughts, Jeremiah grabbed the rob sticking in his side and twisted it sharply; a final insult to grievous injury.  The pain was excruciating for Fulgore-X.  Plasma flowed freely from his wound, and a good-sized puddle had already formed underneath him.  Jeremiah continued to twist, managing to drive the rod further into Fulgore-X by at least another inch.  Giving the rod a final, evil shove, Jeremiah finally let go.  He looked down upon Fulgore-X, feeling thoroughly superior.

_WARNING!  SYSTEM POWER AT 6% AND DROPPING
_SYSTEMS FAILURE IS EMINENT

     “No, not yet.”  Fulgore-X thought.  “I need…..more time…..”  Somehow, he had devised a plan, his last one ever.  His fate was sealed, but he could still defeat Jeremiah, and save Orchid’s life, as well as many other South Americans.
     Anna included.
     Fulgore-X turned his back completely towards Jeremiah, hiding his hands in front of him.  He began to play with the electronic console on the reactor latch.  He moved slowly, and his fingers were shaking, but he somehow managed to press the buttons he wanted to.  Somehow, he lifted his head and looked up at Orchid.
     Orchid had been forcing herself to watch.  It was hard not to.  She had totally detached herself from the whole situation, as if she were watching it all unfold from a theater chair.  That’s why, when Fulgore-X looked directly at her, she was a bit surprised.  It took her a moment to bring herself back into reality.  The cyborg was giving her another silent message.  Once again, without one single word, Fulgore-X was able to communicate his thoughts, plans, intentions, and orders.  Orchid understood perfectly.  Her eyes widened, and a look of professional respect spread across her face.
     “Amazing.”  She whispered.  She turned around and quickly scrambled up the stairs, to the second level.  Once there, she darted across the grate to the edge of the railing, and peered down at Fulgore-X and Jeremiah below.
     Standing above him, Jeremiah sighed.  “Well, I guess the fitting thing to do now would be to kill you and put you out of your misery.  Yes, that would be the nicest course of action.  That’s why I’m not going to do that.  I’m going to leave you here to die.  Maybe you can think about how exactly you lost to me before the end comes.  Farewell, Fulgore-X.”  He turned around and started to leave.
     “…..Wait….”  Fulgore-X called out weakly.
     Jeremiah stopped moving, but did not turn around.
     “…..Wait…..please…..”  Fulgore-X said.
     Jeremiah turned.  “What could you possibly want?”
     Fulgore-X said something, but it was so soft that Jeremiah couldn’t hear.
     “What?”  Jeremiah said, a little annoyed.
     Fulgore-X spoke again, but it was still too quiet to hear.
     “I can’t hear you.”  Bothered to no end, Jeremiah went back, standing directly in front of Fulgore-X.  “Can you speak up?  It’s getting harder for me not to finish you off right now.”
     Fulgore-X grunted, and a small stream of plasma spurted out from his forehead.  “…..Obviously…..you’re new…..at this…..so I thought I’d…..share my……expertise…..with you.”
     Jeremiah laughed.  “You…..giving me lessons?  Pardon me, but given our positions, I think I should be the teacher.  But, I’m game for a good laugh, so please, enlighten me.”
     Still unknown to Jeremiah, Fulgore-X continued to work the latch console.  “F…..first…..never underestimate your opponent.  My…..my predecessor did that…..and now he’s dead.  Second…..n…never reveal your…..your plans…..to your enemy.”  Fulgore-X entered in a final button combination on the latch console.  There was a quiet beep, and the console turned red, then green.  Fulgore-X smiled to himself, as he grabbed the handle to the latch, and turned it sideways.  “Finally…..but mo…..most importantly…..when you have your enemy…..where…..where you want them…..you kill them.  Otherwise…..”
     With whatever power he had left, Fulgore-X yanked open the door to the reactor latch.  The liquid plasma within burst forth from the reactor, with an incredible force.  Jeremiah could only watch in total horror as the plasma shot out, directly at him.  He was pounded by the incredible force of the gushing plasma, which slammed him into the wall above the staircase.  A faint scream could be heard as the sight of Jeremiah was lost, conquered by the blue liquid.
     The last of the liquid plasma spilled out of the reactor, onto the floor.  There was at least a quarter of an inch of standing plasma on the floor.  A great deal of it was trickling into the hallway, through the hole in the wall created by Fulgore-X’s super plasma storm.
     Fulgore-X slumped over a little bit more on the reactor, still holding onto the open latch.  If he could, he would smile.  “…..Otherwise…..they’ll kill you.  But…..I guess that’s why…..you’re still a reject.”
     Within the reactor, the small amount of anti-plasma was eating through the last of the inner casing.  Having shown incredible resistance thus far, the casing finally disintegrated, allowing the mischievous liquid to fall through.  A moderate-sized anti-plasma droplet fell, and made contact with a thin sliver of plasma; remains from what was in the storage tank.
     Instantly, the most violent explosion in nature occurred.
     Thanks to Fulgore-X’s efforts, the reaction was only a fraction of what it would have been if the tank was full.  Nonetheless, it was an impressive blast.  The inside of the reactor was consumed with pure white light, which expanded outwards with destructive force.  The reactor was almost instantly torn to shreds.  Caught up in this was Fulgore-X, whose body simply disappeared into the deadly light.  Suddenly, a bright, tremendous burst of flames overtook the light, tumbling forward at an incredible speed.
     The force of the explosion was truly incredible.  So much so that it extended its influence to Orchid, who was still watching from the railing.  She was thrown backwards, where she hit a wall behind her, then dropped to the ground.  Upon impact, her head had bounced off the wall.  She looked up; although her vision was blurry, she could see a column of fire racing up what was left of the reactor.  That was the last thing she saw; her eyesight faded as she passed out.
 
 

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