The portal transported Jacqueline to the bridge. She soared over numerous desks and terminals, coffee cups and papers being flung aside, before crashing down at the end of the roof with a resounding clang. Panting, she swung around and bellowed, "FLY TOWARD THAT ISLAND! NOW!"
Her order was obeyed immediately. The airship began to lurch forth, the muffled noise of the engines roaring. Jacqueline folded her wings before looking down at herself. Her suit, her beautiful suit, was damaged. Cuffs, dents, and scratches lay across it, some of them sparking wildly. Her gatling gun was gone, crudely ripped away. And worst of all, one of her optics had been destroyed, exposing her eye to the world. Those freaks...those fucking metahumans!
She roared with rage, sweeping at floor. She smashed through it, sending hunks of pipe bursting and flying around her. HOW?! She screamed internally, spitting flying inside of her helmet. How had it all gone wrong?! They had overwhelming force and power! The five of them at once should have slaughtered those fucking brats! But instead, they had BEATEN them! It was a fucking curb stomp! Not one...NOT ONE...of those stinking, wretched metahumans was dead! Not a single one! Instead, Web, Incisor, and Scream had all fallen! And she...SHE...had been forced to retreat! Even Akihiro had proven to be useless!
"Useless!" Jacqueline howled, grabbing a hunk of the floor. "ALL USELESS!" She grabbed a hunk of the floor, ripped it loose, and viciously dismembered it, imaging she was killing one of the metahumans. Panting, she then heard a slurping noise behind her and turned.
A glob of paint flopped off her jetpack and splatted against the floor. It writhed for a few moments before Akihiro's shape arose from it. He stumbled and flopped against a nearby computer, looking winded. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up with one arm and turned to her. Jacqueline saw a knife rammed into his shoulder, blood and paint oozing around it.
"So strong..." Akihiro muttered, seeming more to himself than her. He stroked the handle of his knife before gripping it. Slowly, with a grimace, he pulled it free from his shoulder and stared at it. "My own blood..." He clenched the knife tightly, his face contorting angrily. "My own blood...he hurt me. Again. He disrupted my creation...he ruined my masterpiece...again." The last word came out as a snarling hiss.
Jacqueline gritted her teeth. "Your masterpiece?! That's all you can think about?! What about me?! They humiliated me! They DAMAGED my suit!" She slammed a fist against her breastplate. "Focus on that! That's important!"
Akihiro looked at her and he raised an eyebrow. He then looked her over and whispered, "My dear...nothing is more important than my masterpiece. I hope you're still going to help me complete it...? Otherwise..." He spun the knife idly. "Well, otherwise I might have to turn my passions elsewhere..." He looked meaningfully around the bridge as he said that.
Jacqueline glared at him. He was threatening. This stupid man was threatening her. Again. This time...he didn't have a knife to her throat but still. Jacqueline clenched one fist tightly but swallowed and barely restrained herself. She knew that Akihiro wasn't to be messed with. This whole blasted ship was coated with paint. And she...she still needed him.
So instead of indulging him further, Jacqueline turned away from the maniac and stomped across the bridge. Wormhole sat in his usual chair, his helmet firm on his head. He rubbed his eyes, groaning. "Ma'am..." He started to say but Jacqueline looked down at him and cut him off.
"Shut up!" She barked at the old man. Wormhole pursed his lips but raised his hands in surrender before flopping back against his chair and did as he was told. He shut up. Good. Jacqueline marched onward, until she was at the very front of the bridge.
I don't need those metahumans, She thought. They proved themselves useless. You know, it was their fault I got humiliated so badly on that putrid fucking island. They failed to work together, they failed to kill the metahumans, quite simply they failed to do anything! Useless pricks. I'm actually glad they're dead. They can got to Hell with the rest of my incompetent subordinates. I don't need them to finish this.
Jacqueline clenched her fists. Rage built inside of her. Absolute fucking rage. She wanted to destroy. She wanted to hit something. It was getting hard to think. She could hear a pounding noise in her ears and the sound of her own breathing, sucked in through her nose, sounded so damn loud!
She took several ragged breaths, trying to control herself. Focusing hard, she managed to start thinking clearly again. Jacqueline licked her lips, staring out at San Francisco below. That city...that blasted city. Why was it still there? Why hadn't she destroyed it yet? Why weren't the metahumans dead? She had to fix this. She could still win. She was stronger than anyone else. Smarter than anyone else. She always had been, its just they couldn't see it and she was going to win and prove them wrong right here, right now. Everything would come together, it just needed some extra shoveto get it in motion. She was going to win. She was always going to win.
"Is the coilgun prepared?" She snarled through clenched together, surprised at the raspiness of her voice now. A technician by her side gave her a salute.
"Yes ma'am!" He barked to her. "Its fully charged and ready to be fired."
"Excellent," Jacqueline pointed a finger through the viewscreen. She spoke slowly, enunciating each snarling word she spoke, drawing them out like she was speaking to a child. "Target Alcatraz..." She squeezed her fist for emphasis. "And blow it to Hell. Target San Francisco too! Start firing on everything! Kill them all! KILL EVERYONE! We'll bring this damn city to the ground and let the metahumans burn in it!"
The technician nodded and flipped a switch on his computer terminal. Warning lights began to bleep all over the ship, alarms ringing. Jacqueline shuddered and hissed, "Shut those damn things down!" Another technician hurriedly moved to obey, silencing the blasted alarms.
The airship began to rattle and Jacqueline a string of excitement rush through her. This was the first time the coilgun was being deployed. It's first test. And it would perform perfectly. The Inferno wasn't going to be subjected to human error. It would come through where her subrodinates had failed. Her machines were perfect. The Inferno would cleanse this putrid city.
But as the ship rumbled, Akihiro slid up next to her. He didn't look happy. He raised a finger, idly continuing to twirl his knife and said, "Jacqueline...my dear..." Jacqueline bristled and turned to her, clenching her fists.
"What?!" She barked, a twinge of fear grasping at her, wondering if he was suddenly upset. Not that she cared but...
Akihiro smiled, that damn predatory smile of his that sent shivers across her spine. "What do you think you're doing?" He gestured out the window. "Not to say I'm not in favor of what you're about to do...why the prospect of seeing what this ship can truly unleash as make my dreams flourish for many nights. I'm ready to see destruction, death, violence on a scale I've only been forced to imagine before..." He tapped the edge of the knife against his palm. "But...I can't abide by you attempting to wipe out Jason and his sweet friends. My masterpiece is nearly complete and wiping them out in an explosive finale, rather than an intimate one, would greatly displease me. I need to be close to them, to see my knife buried beneath their skin and watch the light die in their eyes, slowly..."
Abide? Jacqueline clenched her jaw. She jabbed a finger at Akihiro, forgetting her fear for a moment in her anger. "Are you forgetting where you are, Akihiro? This is not your ship. It's mine. I'm calling the shots! And this operation is mine to finish! We're blowing up that island and all the stinking metahumans on it!"
Akihiro narrowed his eyes. Jacqueline saw the paint writhing on the walls. Trickle down menacingly, dripping onto nearby desks and terminals, some globs even dripping onto some of her guards. Akihiro took a step closer and despite being so much shorter than her, Jacqueline felt like an ant in his presence. She unconsciously took a step backward.
"What..." Akihiro say, his voice low and dangerous. "...Did you say?"
Jacqueline swallowed. She realized that had been a mistake. The memory of Akihiro holding a knife to her throat in her own office passed through her mind. She took a breath and said, "...I...no..." She stammered, struggling to think again. Akihiro stared at her, his hollow eyes dark pits. "...I think you're right. It would be...better if we, ah, killed them personally."
"Mmm," Akihiro looked around at the ship. "The Inferno will make an excellent stage for the showdown. Don't you agree?"
Jacqueline found herself nodding. "Y-yes..." She muttered, angry and scared all at once. She registered that all her men were watching her, watching her getting humiliated, even threatened. But she rationalized it.
I'm going to kill them all soon anyway. They don't matter. I just need them to perform one final time before I purge myself of their toxic presence.
"I'll prepare to fire the cannon," Jacqueline said, her jaw twitching in rage. "But I won't fire on the island for...several moments. Until those freaks are off of it. Then they can come to us and we can butcher them personally. Alright?"
Akihiro smiled. He stepped back, idly creeping through rows of desks, guards hurriedly getting out of his way. The paint on the walls stopped moving. He waved at Jacqueline. "...Acceptable. Please, continue. I'm eager to see the destructive potential of this war machine first hand."
Jacqueline glared at him but she silently turned around, fuming inwardly. But she kept a stoic face, even though inside she felt ready to explode. There was too much happening. Too much pressure, too much, too much! But she raised one arm, which shook as she pointed at the window.
"Prepare to fire on Alcatraz," She growled. "Maximum power. And as for the puny city beneath us...destroy it! Shoot everything that moves! No mercy, no quarter! At the end of this dead, the only thing that will be left of San Francisco will be a smoking crater! Remember what we did to the Agency! Remember what we did to Quincy! Let's make those efforts seem like child's play tonight!"
The bridge crew all echoed her shout, albeit not that enthusiastically. Jacqueline turned on her playlist and began blasting rock music. She watched, ready to see San Francisco explode. What she wasn't ready for was a potential round two with the metahumans. Hopefully, the coilgun would wipe them out by 'accident'. Otherwise...she would have to face them again. And for some reason, she didn't feel confident about her chances...