The room began to tilt forward. Chunks of destroyed computers, terminals, anything that wasn't bolted down began to slide forward, bouncing along the floor as they sped forward, gathering speed. Jason caught a quick glimpse of Audrey, the beetle girl stopping her pounding and zipping out of the way of the now falling airship.
Jacqueline froze, hovering there in midair. Jason took the opportunity to leap to the wall and stuck there, holding as a loud groan echoed through the ship. Gravity began to feel looser, objects falling upwards and bouncing about the bridge as its falling mass continued to succumb to the pull of the earth below.
A chunk of a desk bounced off Jacqueline's chest. That seemed to snap her out of her stupor. She shook herself, her helmeted head craning as she watched desks, rubble, and even mercenaries bodies slide under her. She then whirled around and jabbed a finger at James. "YOU!" She roared, her lips audibly smacking together. "You bastard, what did you do?! What did you do to my SHIP?!"
James looked up at her, his expression not happy for once. He calmly, almost somberly said, "I'm afraid Ms. Prescott Jacqueline if you'd prefer that the only way to stop your destructive weapon in time was to shut down the entire airship so I did now we're falling and likely going to crash quite hard into San Francisco Bay I suggest you yes you hold onto something!" James then gripped the ends of the computer, his knuckles going white.
Jacqueline screamed, raising her grenade launcher. But Jason turned and braced himself, as the airship slammed into the dark waters of the bay. The entire airship shook from the violent impact, shockwaves rippling through the bridge. Debris was thrown too and fro, Jason twisted about as chunks of stuff crashed around him. Several portions of the ceiling came loose, crashing to the floor. The wall shuddered beneath Jason before the entire room seemed to twist. Jason held on for dear life, screaming, as sparks exploded about the room.
He caught a glimpse of Laureen sliding forward, flailing about as she tried to grab onto something. He caught her by the arm as she went past and gripped her tight. Laureen jerked to a halt and looked up at him, her eyes red and streaming.
"Don't let go!" Jason screamed, as another section of the ceiling collapsed.
"I wasn't FUCKING planning on it!" Laureen howled back. Jason looked about, searching for Hiroshi and Tuatara but didn't spot them amidst the chaos engulfing the bridge.
But he did see Jacqueline, half-buried under a huge block of metal, not far away. The woman was struggling to rise, the block keeping her pinned, her wings whining in protest as she tried to raise them. Her exposed eye met Jason's and Jason physically flinched. He saw cold blooded murder in her eyes, a primal ferocity like some sort of animal. Her eye narrowed into a dark slit and with a snarling wail, she forced herself up. One fist struck the block and finally knocked it off.
"Fuck..." Jason hissed. He pulled Laureen against him, as she craned her neck. Jacqueline's jetpacked roar back to life, another portion of the wall bursting behind her. High pressure water spewed in but she didn't notice or didn't care. She flew at them, claws brandished.
Jason jumped, an ungraceful leap thanks to his bad leg. Jacqueline struck the wall, tearing through it. Water spewed through the damage, ramming her in the chest. Jacqueline's chest sparked madly and she spun around, her gaze fixed solely on Jason.
Jason hit the floor and he yelped as a flash of pain went through his leg. He dropped Laureen and they both rolled down the floor, which was beginning to get slick with water. The world became a blur around Jason as he tumbled, grabbing at nothing, unable to find a grip.
He finally slammed into something, something hard hitting him in the ribs. Jason gasped, sputtering and raised his head. He saw the window looming before him, affording him a look outside. There wasn't much to see now. The window's lower view was obstructed with water, the upper half sinking into the depths fast to join its bottom part. The city skyline in the distance was obscuring by smoke, violent waves, and the dark of the night. But the main fact that Jason realized was that the airship was sinking and fast.
He looked around for his friends. But that was interrupted as Jacqueline came flying at him. Jason rolled aside and Jacqueline plowed through the pile of desks, smashing them to pieces. She kept flying forward, nearly crashing into the window but swerved at the last second and spun back toward Jason.
She dived at him. With no time to dodge, Jason snatched up a chunk of debris and brandished it like a shield. Jacqueline's claws slashed through it and the blow send him flying backward. Jason managed to flip in midair, skipping along the stairs leading up the bridge. His legs buckled but despite the pain, he managed to stay upright.
Jacqueline didn't give him a chance to breathe. She was on him again, flying straight for him. Jason somersaulted over, Jacqueline zooming underneath him. This time, he managed to land on his hands and scuttled backward, eyes searching for his friends.
Jacqueline spun around. She howled like a banshee, her cry reverberating across the destroyed bridge. "BASTARD!"She screamed with fury at the top of her lungs. "YOU FUCKING CIRCUS FREAK! STAY STILL, DAMN YOU! STAY STILL AND JUST. FUCKING! DIE!"
Jason responded by grabbing a piece of a sparking computer and chucking it at her. It smashed into Jacqueline shoulder but bounced off harmlessly, the psychotic woman not even bothering to deflect it. Jacqueline snarled and gathered herself, about to fly at him again-
Then, blue light engulfed the bridge. Jacqueline paused, her thrusters grinding to a stop in midair. Jason flipped behind a surviving desk, his feet splashing through water gathering on the floor. He craned his neck past her and saw Wormhole standing before one of his open portals. He appeared to have survived the crash no worse for wear but was hobbling as quickly as he could toward the open portal.
"WORMHOLE!" Jacqueline screamed at him. "WHERE THE FUCKDO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"
Wormhole stopped before the portal, turning back to her. He regarded her with an open expression of contempt and said, in the voice of someone speaking to a very young child, "I'm leaving. I think that would be obvious. This whole mission has gone down the toilet. You've lost. I'm getting out before I go down with this sinking ship." He snorted. "Metaphorically and quite literally."
As if to enforce the old man's point, another section of the wall caved, more water flooding in. The airship loudly groaned. Jason began to scuttled slowly backward while Jacqueline was distracted, looking around desperately for his friends. His eyes widened as he saw Laureen, her face buried beneath an overturned desk, at the back of the bridge. He skittered toward her and began to pull the thing off. Surprisingly, there was no sign of James, despite his desk still being intact. Had he been thrown clear?
As he pulled the desk off Laureen, he heard Jacqueline scream. He twisted up and saw her fire off her grenade launcher at Wormhole with a wild cry of "TRAITOR!" Wormhole quickly opened another portal in front of himself and the shot was dragged inside. Without hesitating a second longer, he disappeared into the larger portal and vanished from sight, the portal blinking closed.
Jacqueline screamed to the ceiling, throwing her hands up. Jason finally tossed the desk aside and pulled Laureen up. She groaned, blinking through her bloodshot eyes, letting loose another ragged fit of coughing.
"Ugh..." She groaned, squinting her eyes as she looked up. "Bro...we...we...gotta get out of here..."
"Yeah," Jason replied, gritting his teeth. "Any, uh, suggestions?"
Laureen rubbed her temples. "Audrey..." She muttered, hacking up some spit. "Bleck...need her...fly us...all out of this fucking deathtrap..."
"Right," Jason said. He again started to look for the others but Jacqueline whirled around. She gazed down at them and pointed her grenade launcher down at them. Laureen cursed and Jason tensed. He prepared to spring-
Jacqueline fired. But the barrel spun and there was a loud click. Jacqueline paused, blinking in shock. She raised the grenade launcher and stared at it, her screams of rage falling to silence.
Jason blinked in surprise. Then his mouth twisted into a grin. She's out of ammo! He resisted the urge to wipe sweat from his brow. Jesus Christ...fucking lucky break.
Laureen laughed, wheezing slightly as she did. She pointed at Jacqueline and said, "What's the matter, fuckface? Performance anxiety? Don't worry, happens to the best of us..."
"I don't a gun to kill you freaks-" Jacqueline started to shout down at them, her thrusters whining for another dive. But as she did, an energy blast struck the side of her helmet. Jacqueline was knocked off balance, yelling as she was knocked back a few inches.
Jason grabbed Laureen, hoisting her onto his back. "Go!" She yelled, pointing ahead to where the energy blast had come from. Jason ran across the room, his feet splashing through water. He leaped over obstacles in his path, Laureen bouncing on his shoulders before crashing down at the far side of the room.
There, half buried beneath some rubble, was Hiroshi. His helmet had been knocked loose, exposing his face. The poor kid's lip was bleeding but he otherwise look unhurt. He smiled at them and said, "That was...some landing."
"Talk later!" Laureen cried. "When we ain't on a sinking ship and got a crazy bitch on our tail! Jason, bust him out."
Jason nodded and was about to, when Hiroshi pressed his hands to the rubble and fired. Twin concussive bursts of energy knocked chunks of the rubble aside, just enough for him to squirm loose. The kid floated up, his mangled scarf flapping. More water continued to pour in, sweeping chunks of debris around them. The water had risen to Jason's ankles and was continuing upwards at an alarming rate.
"Look out!" Hiroshi cried. Jason immediately jumped to the side, just in time to avoid a thrown desk. The desk smashed into the wall and Jason spun around, Laureen yelping from the sharp turn. Jacqueline flew down at them, diving over the flooding chamber. She crashed down in front of Jason, water bursting around him and splattering him.
"No escape this time..." Jacqueline snarled, spreading her arms, her claws flashing. Her wings cast a shadow over him, blocking his path. Hiroshi raised a hand but Jason shook his head 'no'. Hiroshi reluctantly lowered it but Jason knew his energy blasts only could do so much to Jacqueline. Plus, he didn't want her focusing her attention on the kid.
Jacqueline then lunged at him. Gripping Laureen's legs against him tight, Jason jumped several feet in the air. But Jacqueline twisted at the last second and her hand grabbed his leg. Jason and Laureen yelped as the Urban Spider was dragged down and Jacqueline caught Jason around the torso with her other fist.
Jason squealed as her metal fingers squeezed into his ribs. He fought to get loose but it was impossible. Even his strength couldn't pry her mechanical fingers off. Laureen spat a globe of smoke in Jacqueline's face but she hadn't held her breath long enough and a blast of harmless mist wafted over Jacqueline.
Jacqueline grabbed Laureen by the throat, yanking her off Jason. She cackled in glee and ranted, "See?! SEE?! You little freaks are annoyances, pests, causing me no end of grief! But like all scuttling little rats, you can't outfox your better. Oh, you think you've won. You think by destroying my ship, my men, my technology...you've beaten me. Idiots! I've lost everything before...I'll rise again! Stronger! Better! But not until I've finally DEALT with all of you...at long last...oh I wish I could enjoy this but in truth, I'm tired of this! So very tired...so now...you fucking DIE!"
Laureen thrashed in Jacqueline's grip, her good leg kicking ineffectually at the air, gasping for air as Jacqueline strangled her. Jacqueline looked between the two of them before her murderous glare settled on Jason. He gritted his teeth, meeting her eye, feeling her fingers begin to tight. Hiroshi fired numerous energy blasts at Jacqueline but her wings enveloped her, the shots bouncing off them. Cackling, Jacqueline's grip tightened, preparing to crush Jason into paste.
But as her fingers squeezed, there was a loud crash from overhead. Jacqueline's grip loosened and she looked up. Jason managed to look up as well, breathing air into his aching lungs.
Audrey crashed through the ceiling, chunks of debris exploding around him. She dived right down at Jacqueline and yelled, at the top of her lungs, "Get away from them, you BITCH!" Her fist slammed right into Jacqueline's helmet, so hard it cracked the frontal beak. Jacqueline was thrown backward, the force of the punch sending out a small shockwave that churned the waters. Her hand slipped free of both Jason and Laureen. Jason was flung forward. He twisted in midair, legs going limp. Audrey flew below him and Laureen, catching them both in her outstretched arms.
"Hey..." Jason croaked, smiling up at Audrey. He pressed a hand against her upper chest. "What took you so long?"
Audrey smiled back and looked between them. "You guys okay?"
"Ugh," Laureen rubbed at her eyes. "I got a fuck full of my own smoke and I nearly got strangled to death. But yeah, I'm swell as shit otherwise. But glad to see you, girl. You saved my ass again and your boyfriend's."
Audrey flushed deeply. Jason swallowed and laughed. "Laureen...we're not...I mean...she's not..."
Laureen rolled her eyes. "Save me the high school bullshit. Only a dumbass wouldn't notice the simmering tension between you two. But let's save it. For now, we got a ship to escape!"
As if on cue, the ship groaned and a huge section of the wall suddenly collapsed. Pipes exploded in bursts of steam, bathing one side of the room in a cloud of mist. More water flooded inside and the water level rose further, consuming ruined computers and other pieces of the room. Jason looked around desperate, the roar of the water filling the bridge, and cried, "Max! James! Where are they?"
Hiroshi zipped around the bridge, scanning desperately below. Audrey began buzzing in the opposite direction, her antennae waving as she too looked about. Jason looked below, searching the rising water for any sign but he didn't see...
Wait. He squinted his eyes and saw a shape burst from the water next to a floating desk. Tuatara pulled himself onto the chunk of furniture, spitting up water. Lying on his back was James, the man's arms wrapped around the lizard boy's scaly neck. Tuatara pulled himself free, balancing himself unsteadily on the desk.
"There they are!" Jason cried, pointing downward. Audrey dived toward them, Laureen waving a hand in greeting. James looked up, his curly hair now flat and grinned at them, waving a hand.
"Hello hello hello!" James cried as Audrey buzzed next to them. "We better get out of here and fast by my estimate this airship's structural integrity won't last much longer wasn't designed for a dip in the sea no no no not to mention its elephantine weight will drag it down-"
Tuatara grabbed James off his back and tossed him to Audrey. Audrey caught the man in the crook of her arm and he gave a small cry of 'Oof!' cutting himself off. Laureen patted the guy's soaked arm and said, "Yeah dude, we know! All aboard, Max!"
Tuatara jumped off the desk, leaping over Jason's head and landed on Audrey's backside. He hung on tight, his tail wrapping around her shoulder for added support. Hiroshi zoomed over them and looked up, dodging a good sized pipe that fell from the ceiling. He pointed at the hole Audrey had made.
"That way?!" He yelled. Audrey nodded, her wings buzzing faster. Hiroshi nodded and took a breath before he thrusted his arms forward and shot upward into the hole. Audrey zoomed after him, as fast as she could.
Jason risked a look back. The bridge below was half-flooded now, bodies and debris floating about in it. He caught a glimpse of a large shape at the back of the bridge, next to the window. Jacqueline.
The Skeleton Crew commander burst from the water, appearing to struggle slightly. Her claws spear through a chunk of the wall and she secured herself in place. Her helmet was cracked, the frontal beak partially snapped off. She looked up, her massive wings cutting through the water like knives, and her gazed alighted on them flying away.
Jason practically saw her whole body shake, noticeable even through the giant suit. "No!" She cried and Jason didn't hear it in her usual booming, baritone voice. Her voice sounded...normal now, carrying the high pitched shriek of a woman. Audrey's blow must have broken her synthesizer too. He smirked at that.
Jacqueline's jetpack came back to life and she shot upward, a plume of smoke spewing behind her as she chased after them. Tuatara looked back and cried, "Contact! She's still alive!"
Audrey immediately swerved to the side, just before she flew through the hole. Jacqueline roared past, her claws wildly tearing at thin air. She hissed before flying in front of the hole and spread her wings.
"Nobody is going fucking anywhere!" She snarled, pointing a clawed finger at them. "Not until you little fucks are dead!"
Audrey hovered in midair, not attack. Jacqueline did the same, her claws curling into fists. They watched each other there, for a minute before there was another groan. Behind them, another section of the ceiling collapsed, splashes echoing through the bridge as debris rained down. James looked down nervously and gestured emphatically at Jacqueline.
"Er I don't think this is the ah appropriate time for this the entire airship is sinking collapsing in on itself we really should leave and fast you don't want to drown do you it's a very unpleasant way to go or so I've read I've never ah experienced it for myself-"
"SHUT UP!" Jacqueline screamed, flying at them. Jason hung on tight as Audrey flew backwards, barely avoiding Jacqueline's violent slashes. James yelped as Laureen sucked in a breath, her black hair flapping this way and that.
"I DESERVE THIS!" Jacqueline howled, continuing to slash wildly at Audrey, who weaved around her erratic blows. "YOU HEAR ME?! ALL MY LIFE I'VE BEEN STEPPED ON, SPAT ON, TREATED LIKE I'M NOTHING! BUT THE TRUTH IS I'M SMARTER THAN ALL OF YOU, BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE! I DESERVE TO FULFILL MY DREAM! I DESERVE TO WIN! SO FUCKING DIE ALREADY! LAY DOWN AND LET ME FUCKING GUT YOU INSOLENT SON OF A BITCH BASTARDS!"
Jacqueline lunged at Audrey, going for her vulnerable belly. Audrey twisted to the side, Jacqueline flying past. Jacqueline flew around for another pass but Laureen suddenly open her mouth and blew smoke into Jacqueline's face. Jacqueline spun around for control, screaming at the stinging smoke assaulted her exposed eye. As she flew blindly past, Audrey kicked her in the side. Jacqueline was launched across the room and slammed hard into the wall, hard enough she left an impact in the metal around herself. She lay there, her suit sparking, her thrusters switching off.
Laureen leaned against Audrey's arm, panting. "She is crazy," Laureen said, wiping her brow free of sweat. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
"That won't stop her," Jason growled, glaring at Jacqueline's body. Her fingers were already twitching. The blow had merely stunned her and soon, she'd be up again. "We need to finish her. We need to end this, like we promised."
The ship groaned and a cracking sound echoed through the bridge. Jason glanced forward and saw large cracks beginning to form on the giant window. It appeared even that tough glass was beginning to succumb to the mounting pressure of the bay. The water, meanwhile, was nearly upon the ceiling.
"Agreed," Tutatara growled from behind Jason on Audrey's back. "But we need to find a better battlefield." He looked up. "Audrey, you crashed through the top deck to get here, yeah?"
Audrey nodded. "I went through several levels before bursting in here. But yes, straight down from where we entered."
"Now that's badass!" Laureen grinned. "Okay, I agree with Max. Up, up, and away Audrey. Let's get up and fight the bitch topside. She'll follow us, she wants us dead."
Jason nodded. He gripped Audrey's burly arm. "Let's go. This has gone on too long...she needs to be stopped. Together...we can stop her. I know we can."
Audrey smiled broadly. James nodded vigorously, the movement shaking water out of his mop of hair. Laureen smirked and patted Jason's cheek. "How sweet. But yeah...you got a fucking rad ass point. Teamwork and all that shit...we've already beaten her army and her team of metahuman assholes. Its time to face the Final Boss. Let's go Audrey!"
Jason hung on, as Audrey twisted herself straight up and zoomed into the hole looming above. Behind them, Jason heard another furious scream then the familiar roar of Jacqueline's jetpack. She was chasing after them, just as Laureen predicted.
He steadied himself as Audrey flew upwards through the tunnel she had met. He was ready. Jacqueline had already lost. Now it was time to make her pay for her crimes. For all the innocent people she had murdered. For Robertson. For the Director. For the Metahuman Agency.