It’s been a few weeks since I killed Kessler. Since then, I’d cleared out the Neon, the Warren and the Historic District of all it’s enemies. The city is relatively safe now.
While I’m walking through the Empire City, a helicopter flies above me and starts to descend.
When the helicopter lands infront of me, a woman steps out.
She speaks to me.
“Hey, Cole,”
“Uhh, hey. Who are you?”
“I’m Lucy Kuo. I’ve come to help you,”
“Yeah, heard that one before. How can you prove it?”
Kuo hands me a file. I open it and it contains information about The Beast, something called the “Ray Field Inhibitor” and a photo of someone named “Dr. Wolfe”.
She must’ve seen my realization because she starts talking again.
“I’ve come to help you prepare for The Beast. Dr. Wolfe developed the Ray Field Inhibitor. It’s designed to reverse the effects of the Ray Sphere,”
“Really? So I can beat The Beast and go back to a normal life?”
“Pretty much,”
“Then I’m in,”
“Glad to be working with you Cole,”
“You too,”
I reach out to shake her hand.
I speak again.
“You should meet Zeke,”
“He’s a friend?”
“Yeah. More than that actually, he’s like a brother to me. We move as a unit,”
“Nice. We’ll need that kind of teamwork,”
We start to head over to the rooftop.
When we arrive, Zeke is watching tv. I call out to him.
“Hey, Zeke!”
“Yeah, brother?”
He gets up, and looks towards Kuo.
“Who’s the chick?”
Kuo starts to talk.
“I’m Lucy Kuo, I came to help you guys with The Beast situation,”
“Nice to meet you, Lucy. We need all the help we can get,”
I turn to Kuo and ask her a question.
“Do you happen to know when The Beast is supposed to show up?”
“It should show up in about a month. We have time but not much,”
“What’s your game plan?”
“We head down to New Marais, amplify your powers, and defeat The Beast,”
Zeke chimes in.
“New Marais? Hell, we could amplify Cole’s powers and have time to spare,”
I chuckle.
“Heh. I’d enjoy that,”
Kuo speaks.
“You guys can do whatever you want after the Beast is defeated. But we should leave next week, it’s the best time for Wolfe”
“Alright,”
-1 week later-
Kuo arrives on the rooftop.
“Alright boys, time to leave,”
Zeke, Kuo and I all head from the roof top to a southern pier.
While were on the boat, Kuo goes to alert the captain to prepare to depart.
I look off into Empire City from the boat.
Zeke walks up to me.
“Man, I tell you, Cole, that Agent Kuo? She doesn't mess around, huh. First boat outta town? Chick's got some connections,”
“Yeah. But we gotta be quick. We have to get in, get me some new powers, and come right back,”
“Come on, man! You deserve to relax! We're going to New Marais!”
“Yeah, but I need to be back here and ready when it shows up,”
Kuo arrives and starts talking.
“Trust me, Cole, you will be ready when you're done working with Dr. Wolfe,”
Zeke laughs and speaks.
“Work? Ha! When we get there, we're gonna be about the ‘Three Bs’ That's beer, boobs, and mechanical bulls,”
I smirk and chuckle at his remark.
Kuo starts to talk.
“Mh hmm. Gentlemen, I don't think that you understand the scope of what is going on here,”
I look off into the city and ruminate about how much my life changed. The people that I met along the way, and those I’d lost.
I haven’t went to the hospital in a few days. No one’s been able to run it since Trish died. The patients were fine with that though, having the “city hero” visit was enough for them. Maybe I should stop by before we leave. Don’t know how long I’ll be gone.
Suddenly an explosion erupts from Archer Square and startles all three of us.
Kuo speaks.
“What is going on?”
My heart drops and I start to mutter to myself.
“No.. no, no, no!”
Visions of the Beast flash through my mind.
I look at Kuo.
“I thought you said we had time!”
“I thought we did!”
“Damn it!”
I run and jump off the boat onto the pier.
Kuo calls out to me.
“Cole, we had a deal! This boat is leaving soon!”
“We won’t need it if I take him down now!”
I run down pier at full speed.
A giant molten-looking figure stands in the center of the Archer Square.
I aim and shoot rockets at the distant figure.
As they hit, the figure turns towards me. It tears the statue from its foundation and throws it in my direction.
I try to dodge but I get blown back by the force of the statue.
When I come to, the large molten figure towers above me.
In complete disbelief, words slip out of my mouth.
“The Beast..”
I yell towards The Beast.
“Kessler told me about you! I’m not gonna let it happen!”
The Beast emits a powerful aura and blasts me upwards. It emits another aura and makes me float in the air. I use my static thruster to maneuver in the air.
The Beast puts its hands together and creates a point of gravity. The point quickly drags me towards The Beast and when I’m close enough it grabs me.
When it grabs me I start to feel drained. I shimmy one arm from its grasp and shoot blasts at The Beast.
I have to give it all I’ve got.
I lift up my free hand and blast a powerful rocket at The Beast. The rocket makes contact with The Beast’s head and blows half of its face off.
I get dropped and The Beast falls down into the water.
Zeke yells to me.
“Yeah! Good shot, man! Now get back to the boat. The pier's breaking up!”
I get up and start running towards the boat. Kuo yells out.
“That was... impressive,”
The Beast definitely isn’t dead from that, but that should keep it down for a bit.
Once I get to the end of the pier I run and jump towards the boat.
While I’m in the air I suddenly get yanked backward and grabbed by The Beast.
I lift up my arms and use all my strength to summon a bolt from the sky onto The Beast.
The blast blows The Beast backwards and I fall towards the water.
As I’m falling I hear Zeke yell.
“Cole! Cole!”
Shortly after I hear that, I blackout.
I open my eyes and sit up. I look around and notice that I’m on the boat that was scheduled to leave Empire City.
What happened after I blacked out? How did I survive?
I look over and see a video on repeat.
Shortly after I had fell into the water, The Beast emerged from the water, put itself back together like it was nothing and completely destroyed Empire City.
Everything is gone.
I fall to my knees, dumbfounded. I had fought it with everything I had. It wasn’t even slowed down. I barely even scratched it.
I slam my hand into a locker a dent it.
I decide to sleep on it. The travel is going to take a while since we have to travel from New York State to Louisiana.
The next day I get up, get dressed and head for Zeke.
When I find him I talk to him about an idea I had.
“Hey Zeke. I was thinking about a new weapon for me,”
“What’d you think up?”
“Some type of pipe or something along those lines that I can channel my power through,”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do brother,”
“Thanks, man,”
After that I head towards Kuo.
“Anything I need to know?”
“Agents are reporting that The Beast is travelling along the coast and destroying all the cities he comes across,”
“Damn it. I couldn’t stop it,”
I clench my fist.
“It’s alright, Cole. None of us were expecting this to happen,”
Kuo continues.
“Besides, that’s why were heading to New Marais. Our schedule just had to happen faster than expected. We have to get a smaller boat, though. While I work on that, you should rest. That fight with The Beast was brutal,”
After that I head back to my room to think.
After a few minutes, I head to sleep.