The bright blue sky fades in shades of darkness as the night settles over the city. On the rooftop, the big expansive space envelopes me as I lift my chin high, blocking out the chaos below. The view is better up here. The sky blushes in rose gold and lilac. Untouched by the chaotic graveyard of crumbled stone, lifeless red remains and grey dust, floating like mist wherever you look.
Even from up here, the hoarse cries of people are impossible to ignore. The high-pitched cries of anguish travel up past the collapsed buildings, broken cars and splattered bodies. Inhaling the copper smell, I blow out a breath. Steadying myself. A trick he taught me. It leaves me torn between gratitude for his lessons and regret for his betrayal. I shake it off. I didn’t know. No one knew the monster he kept hidden.
I spot him in the distance. This is one of his favourite places to store supplies and recharge. He thinks no one knows. I do. I followed him once, back when I thought we were fighting for the same thing. He’s in his usual armour. A dark purple helmet, torso and back shield cover all of his exposed skin. The rest of him is light blue aluminium cyborg through and through. The same as me. I creep closer in small, quiet steps. I’m hoping to catch him by surprise but even if he sees me, there’s no way I can let him leave here. He’s mine. I need to be the one to put him down. It’s why I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Not even Teach. Especially not him. I want the glory of catching the bastard who’s been terrorising us for the last 200 days.
With his back to me he doesn’t see me approach but I must have made some kind of noise because he spins to face me. We stare at each other.
“Are you here for me, friend?”
Growlinga response I take a step closer. “I am not your friend.”
He scoffs. “You are emotional. Mayhaps we should spar.”
It’s hard to read his face under the helmet. It’s easy to see my snarl as I rush him, aiming for his middle. I need to get him to the floor. It’s where I am strongest. He sides steps and swings a right hook straight at my exposed face. It knocks me back a step, makes me drop to my knee. I don’t have time to recover my breath as he comes for me. I stand hurriedly. Spitting out the blood I cant taste, I just about avoid another punch. I aim one of my own to his thighs and upper arms. His head is protected by that helmet. The shield protecting his chest and back will hurt my hands more than his body. I’m going to try and wear him down so that I can land strategic hits on the armour when he’s weaker. Right now, I have to avoid getting punched in the face.
I finish the thought and he catches my chin with another one. More blood fills my mouth as I fall to my knees again. I struggle up, slower than I want to do. But I’m not going to take this lying down. My head is spinning and I’m seeing two David’s. He catches me in the stomach and my breath leaves my body in a whoosh as I sink down to the floor. Holding my tummy doesn’t help the pain but I do it anyway.
I have to focus on getting out of this. He defiles things, moments, memories. David prefers to be right instead of kind. His ego is too big. He cannot fathom someone being hurt by his actions. I wonder if the carnage of our world is enough of a visual for him? Probably not. He thinks himself untouchable. An imagined god amongst us secondary cyborg fleets. He wants the whole world to pay. But I am here to stop him. I have to. There is no one else. I often wonder if his madness has tainted that part of me. In the end, I wanted nothing more than to see the suffering end.
On his knees behind me, he attempts to grab me around my neck. I manage to lower my chin. He holds on, still blocking the blood going to my brain. For a moment, I swear my face tingles. Probably a side effect of losing oxygen. My limbs feel detached from my person, as if I’m floating. As If I’m detached from this world. Is it over for me? I gulp air, almost accepting that this is how it will end.
The image of the destruction fills my mind’s eye. Fury for all he has done builds like a fire in my chest, expelling the hopelessness, invigorating my almost depleted body. I dig my hands into the space between in the gap by his elbow and my chin. He huffs annoyance, but I know I can get out this way. I pull down his arm and push my heel against his hip, kicking back. The motion sends me flying forward while propelling backwards.
I stumble up, putting distance between us. Standing I watch him struggle up too. Exhaustion permeates off him. I imagine the weight of murdering millions is heavy. He doesn’t let up though. We eye each other wearily, chests heaving. He rushes me and flings flurry of blows to my torso and face. Maybe it’s the fatgigue but I notice a pttern in his combo. If I time it juts right, I can ste him off balance when he throws a left hook.
I wait. I have one chance to make this work. It coes a santicipated. I step into the punch and spin on my heel. Intercepting his arm I deliberately put him behind me. With the force of the rotation I get him off balance and flip him over my shpuldr, straight onto his back.
His wrist in my hand, arm bent at a weird angle, I hold onto it. I pull hard. He grunts on the floor on his back, feet kicking aimlessly. My hold is secure. Lifting my foot, I slam it into his helmet. It doesn’t break the thing, but from the groan out of Davids mouth, I can tell he’s disorientated. I do it again. Twice more. I’m aiming for incoherent thoughts. He needs to see two of me if I’m going to get this right.
His feet slow down their moving and I know, now is my chance. I plant my feet and yank on his arm until I feel the wires stretch. I repeatedly pull until they start tearing away from the flesh of his upper body. He lets out a screech. The cybernetic arm comes away in my hand. I use my index finger to initiate a spark and stick it into the exposed circuit to shock him. That should keep him down until I can find Teach to come see that he’s done for. Relief floods me as he lays there immobilised. I did it. I got him. I should have take his helmet as of proof that the monster was gone.
Excited to share the news, I decide against it. Straining my ears, I focus on Teach’s heartbeat. I know it as well as I know my own. I could pick it out of a crowd. It’s reassuring to know, that death and violence, I can still track him.
The familiar sound reaches me, but its faint. Alarm flood me as my feet stumble as I push myself off one crushed building to the next. What were once homes lean onto each other, the only support they have left. Furniture and doors hang on at odd angles. And so do I as I leap from one grey hazardous building to the next. Concrete crumbles beneath my boots. Broken edges scraping my exposed skin. For a moment I’m suspended in the air before crashing down, knees buckling. The buildings beneath me groan. I keep going. I need to find Teach.
He is my reason for existing. I cannot give up on him. Frantic, heart galloping almost as fast as I’m moving, I skid to a stop when I find him. A scream rips out of me into the night air. He looks towards me, lifting his hand. Pleading. I remain stagnant. Appalled at seeing him like this.
A partial slab of grey concrete with exposed wires and metal prongs lie on his back. Like a weighted blanket covering him before bed. He looks sleepy. As if he cannot keep his eyes open for a second longer. He barely manages to move his fingers, beckoning me closer.
I stumble next to him, folding in half, taking his hand in mine. His eyes widen in surprise. His fingers squeeze reassuringly, then inches its way slowly to my wrist. Eyes locked onto mine, I wait for him to say something, anything. He’s alive. For now. I smile at him softly, letting him know it’s okay. I am here.
His eyes fall close but his lips move with soundlessly. A ringing starts in my head. Sharp. Loud. Incessant. My vision darkens on the edges. like the sky I watched earlier, it happens in stages. The sharp noise rises on a crescendo and then it goes blissfully quiet. I lift pained eyes to the man laying under the building that fell on him. The one cut in half. The one who used the last of his energy to shut me down. My Teach.
Betrayed, I ask, “Why?”
He whispers, teetering on the edge of death. “Because David, you’ve killed us all. ” His voice wavers, heavy with grief.
Jerking back, I start to protest, to tell him I’m not David, when I see my face reflected in his cracked glasses, lying next to his shoulder. The fight with David plays back in my head. I didn’t escape. David let me go. He activated face swopping when he had me in the chokehold. And now the world thinks he’s dead, but he looks like me. Eyes wide, I open my mouth to tell Teach.
His voice breaks as he whispers, “Die, you monster.”
The words echo in the suffocating darkness. My last thought is a dagger of guilt for the people about to perish. David has won and my pride is the weapon I placed in his hands.