Chapter Nine : Decimation

''In the ruins of New York, Spica runs with a limp to the Heart Of Darkness , pointing one of the soldier's gun at the timer and blasts it , turning off the machine , just mere moments before it hits zero. Both Windy and Dahlia were badly hurt, incapacitated. She helped them back to Adalene's bakery and tucked them into their beds before dashing back to the city on foot. With her objective completed and everyone else dead .....what was next ? Her family was gone, all incinerated. She looked around to see the massive Tripods demolishing what managed to live from the attack. She saw the landscape invaded by the red vines that grew over everything. She saw the titanic Starbeams hovering overhead, glowing beautifully in the moonlight. She won, but she also lost. And now, she was alone ....with no one to be there for her. Brandon, Rigel , Adalene ....they were all gone. Thinking about this brought tears to her eyes as she fell to her knees and began to sob. Crying softly, trying to restrain it , then letting everything out in torrents. She wailed and fell onto the ground as tears streamed down her face. She was alone. Almost everyone she knew and loved was gone ...so what ....what was the point of going on ? Why live when you have no one to live for ?''

''Considering it, she checked the gun in her hand .....two bullets. One for the heart, one for the head .''

''Standing there in the devastated park, surrounded by the red vines that covered every inch of the place , dead bodies all over , a deactivated superweapon , a dead family , husband and a vandalized home , she sucked in her last breath , aimed for her left temple .....and after a wavering few minutes , pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Again ......it showed no sign of working .....it was jammed .''

''" Fuck !! " she cried out. " Fucking bitch !!! " Spica lost her composure and fell to her knees, sitting on the squishy vegetation , crying her eyes out. And cursing vehemently at herself. She struck the gun on the ground trying to get it to work and opened her mouth in haste, aiming in it and pulling the trigger , screaming angrily as the gun clicked repeatedly .The sound was grating. It was fucking annoying; teasing even. It had bullets in it, but the damned thing wouldn't budge at all. Finally, she gave up , crying loudly while her world crumbled around her, shouting up into the smoky , dull night ....''

"Why can't you just let me die ?!!"

''Almost as if the world heard him, Brandon and Misty all ran into the park , stepping in the pungent , nasty vegetation that enveloped everything for miles. Made out of human blood, bodily fluids and organs , it filled the air with an unmistakably awful stench .....still , they were optimistic , or Misty was , anyway ...Adalene was back home , in her bed sleeping. She tried to stay awake, but the toil became too much and she collapsed , knocked out cold by sleep deprivation. So it was just Brandon and Misty. Brandon and Misty searched frantically for Spica, knowing that she was still alive ....they met an unconscious Dahlia and Windy back at the bakery .....however , in this sea of blood , death and smoke , there was no sign of her. The Heart Of Darkness was still on, or so they thought. Just the whispering, fleeing thought of Earth being destroyed again made them even more frantic , running along as they shouted her name .''

''After a few minutes, Brandon came up onto the massive superweapon , seeing that it was deactivated , its timer gutted out by a knife. The rest of the machine glowed slightly, but it was mostly covered in this vile substance .''

''Death and destruction surrounded them as Brandon called out for Spica again, trying to find his wife. Misty held onto some sort of hope as she called out for her friend too. However, in the darkness of night , the two didn't realize when disaster struck. A Tripod's foot landed just mere feet away from Brandon as he was knocked onto the ground. Misty, knocked unbalanced , regained her footing as she helped Brandon up on his feet , the light of the gigantic war machine bathing the two of them. In a hurry, they ran as fast as they could , splitting up ....with Misty going left and Brandon going right. The tripod however went after Brandon, a thin tentacle-like limb reaching out for him. Desperate, he hid in an abandoned car and closed the door while working up enough power to down the machine. Still, it reached in and shattered the window , smashing through the other and lifting the truck a few feet off the ground , then threw it hard across the landscape. Brandon grunted and groaned as the car he was in was being treated as a toy, with him inside , already gaining a headache. He tried to regain focus ....his conscience, his energy. He was so tired ....he just wanted to sleep .....''

" AHHHHH!!!!!!"

''Startled by the gutteral cry, Brandon swiftly turned around and looked out from the cracked windshield , across the fetid terrain and downed trees , up on a small hill. Someone standing there .....it was Spica !! Brandon smiled only for a moment before wondering why she wasn't moving. He looked, peered into her face , it was the pretty face he knew but now , it was blank , unfeeling ......broken. She just stood there as the tripod went into her direction, not doing anything. Almost as if she wanted to be caught ......almost as if she wanted to die ..........''

''"Oh God no !!!! " Brandon shouted as he kicked out the door and got out of the truck. He nearly slipped on the sludge as he ran towards Spica, trying to overtake the 200-foot tall mecha above him. It was still going, using little speed but still much faster than he was .''

''Spica just stood there as the machine looked down on her, crouching low in order to capture her , studying her features and looks. Then the limb extended and went to grab her, encircling around her entire body , almost threatening to crush her with so much pressure , yet she didn't lift a finger. Brandon peaked as far as he could in his speed as he tried to grab at her, missing her by fifty feet. Just then, at that moment , he lost everything .His world , his life ....it was all in the hands of the enemy. Misty was occupied with fighting a Cassiopite, but Brandon had his own fight. He has a Tripod to destroy. Struggling to catch himself, he ran behind the massive machine as it took in Spica , the tiny speck in its arm was no longer there. Leaving the park by its west side, the machine stepped through a low rise building and completely demolished it , stepping away as if it were butter. Brandon leaped through the rubble and dashed behind the thing, finally catching up to it ....but he stopped. Looking around, Brandon gazed at a damaged army vehicle , and went inside , fluffing about in the compartment that was full of ammunition and guns , looking upon a string of grenades and seizing it right away .''

Drenched in sweat from his anxiety, Brandon dashed forward and unclipped a grenade , shouting at the machine ,

" HEY !!"

''-then proceeded to throw the bomb its way. The titanic tripod stopped cold in it tracks as the small explosion rocked at it, blowing up right over its shield .''

''" Oh hell-", Brandon said under his breath. Still, this was his plan .....to see his wife one more time ....to show her that he was in fact , still alive ...and that if they were going to die , then let them die together this time .''

''The tripod crouched down on its flexible legs, moving gracefully and in an articulate manner , much not like others which seemed to move somewhat stiff. It was obvious that whoever was driving this thing knew what they were doing. With a hand over his face, shielding his eyes from the blinding light , the limb circled around his waist with immense pressure and lifted him off the ground , bringing him so high into the air , with him helplessly wriggling against the constraints , then dropping him into a basket clipped under its hood filled with other people .''

''As Brandon reluctantly crawled onto other people, trying to get a foot on the basket's floor ( not someone's hand ) , he gazed around and saw her. Sitting by herself, silent , eyes half closed , Spica just sat there and did nothing at all. She was......defeated .''

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''Juniper, Spinel , Steven and Rigel all helped Misty as backup came up through the devastated park. The Heart Of Darkness was down, but several Cassiopites still wanted to destroy this world , despite their resources draining thin. It was painfully obvious that Andromeda would have to do something spectacular to win this war. Still, the Cassiopites aren't called ruthless for nothing. They know what they were doing .''

Juniper and Spinel relinquished heavy fire using the dead soldiers' artillery, managing to slow down a few , while a few living soldiers threw in grenades and gave it their all , resorting to sniping them out , one - by - one .

''"We need some backup here !! " Steven shouted as he threw his shield at one so fast that it dismembered his target. Recoiling and resorting to hand-to-hand combat, Steven put his training under Pearl and Jasper to good use , cracking one's skull open and tearing another's arm off. Just then, a depression in the clouds formed as two massive arms descended from the sky , one blue and one yellow .''

''" The Diamonds !! " Rigel praised. He helped Misty as she continued her onslaught at the bastards, killing them in great droves. A ball of sorts descended as Yellow Diamond's ship knocked down an incoming Tripod to its feet and proceeded to kill its pilot by slamming the behemoth-sized ship onto it, crushing whoever was inside. It then dropped another orb as the two descended, reflecting the bullets that managed to hit them .''

Juniper shot at a few Cassiopeian soldiers before giving the okay for the Diamonds to come out .White, Blue and Yellow Diamond immediately jumped out and blasted the entire park , incinerating every Cassiopite that was in it , obliterating every enemy on its surface .

''" What the fuck ? " Misty said wide-eyed as Yellow walked before them. Misty looked up, visibly annoyed .''

''" So you didn't think that that thing would've been useful before now ?! " she asked. Yellow looked puzzled as she contemplated her question .''

''" Misty, I think that you're mistaken , we just got here . " she replied. Blue and White both concurred as Steven and Juniper walked towards them .''

''" Wait, so you're saying that .......you don't remember ? " Misty asked. Yellow has truly puzzled now .''

''" I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about . " the diamond replied. Hit with this newfound info, Misty scrambled around to look for Brandon and Spica. but they were nowhere to be seen ....''

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''Walking towards her, Brandon looked at all the other people crying their eyes out , sobbing and wailing and hugging each other as they looked upon their imminent demise ....but Spica , she was just there , not saying anything. Brandon was about to get to her, but was knocked over as the hatch from above opened and a small tentacle protruded from the opening , gazing about on the feast , then choosing a small boy. It wrapped around the little one's legs and ripped him away from his screaming mother's grasp as the child was taken away, crying for his mother. Then the hatch closed back up, almost as quickly as it opened .''

''Brandon still walked towards Spica and hugged her once he was close enough, crying softly as he embraced her , She felt cold and stiff , but she was breathing. And at once, Spica embraced Brandon back , although she still had a blank , expressionless face .''

''" Spica .......what's wrong ? You...you seem distant .." he said .''

''Spica just said nothing as she hugged him, then began to quiver , then a faint sniffling sound was heard. She was crying. Just like him. Over 200 feet in the air, and the two just hugged each other in this death chamber .''

''" I...I'm sorry ...", she said. Spica's voice was rough and raspy from so much screaming and crying. She didn't tell him, but she had a suicidal spell ...one of many that roamed her life .....especially in times like these. She never really wanted to die, but there was nothing left here for her , and she would rather die than to go back to Andromeda .....so she tried to do it herself. Then she told Brandon everything ... how she tried to kill herself, why she was so distant ...she just didn't want to suffer anymore ......''

Brandon cried and embraced his wife as they shared their last moments together, promising to not let each other go as long as they could .

''The entire basket unhinged and swung down, with legs dangling out of the openings as the hatch opened again. Spica pinned Brandon down to the basket's floor as it searched around for another meal, when it grabbed his leg. With surprising strength, it yanked Brandon halfway from underneath Spica , as she struggled to hold on to him. Brandon used his remaining strength to resist, trying to prolong his time with his wife for as long as possible ....but eventually let go after realizing that he had a string of grenades around his neck .''

Spica's vitality slowly came back as she held on to him, but he willingly slipped away , as it was like trying to hold onto melty butter with her hands .

''" What are you doing ! Hold onto me !! " she asked in a pleading manner. Still, he asked Spica to let him go , as he had a plan to take down this machine , so that at least she can live on ....it was severely flawed , but it just might work ....''

''Spica screamed as Brandon was ripped away, getting sucked into the open hatch and taken from her with Brandon grunting as he unclipped the grenades from his neck , getting them sucked into the machine. At the last moment, Spica grabbed onto Brandon's hand , using her superhuman strength to get him back , having caught on to his plan. But still, she thought , she could save him too. She can still have Brandon and take down this killing machine at once. Tugging on him, Spica shouted to Brandon , telling him to never let go. She was beginning to get sucked in as well, but was grabbed on by a person nearby. It was an soldier, as he used his strength to tug her back down , and asked everyone else to help him pull. Soon, mostly everyone held on , using all of their strength to pull , unenveloping Spica and beginning to pull Brandon back down as well , then in one final heave , sent the two crashing back down on the floor of the basket , the limb retracting swiftly as the hatch closed. Spica hugged Brandon tightly, but he pulled away as he spat on the floor , revealing the six empty bomb pins in his mouth. Spica smiled as the soldier stared wide-eyed in shock, before telling everyone to get down on the ground .''

''Right after, the interior of the tripod glowed as it shook , with blood and other fluids leaking out of its hull. The machine jerked about violently as its windshields exploded into shards of glass and the beaming lights blew out, turning off. The basket that held everyone unhinged and fell to the ground, but Spica enveloped it in a nitrogen bubble at the last second as it fell onto a road , still close to the park. Everyone began to get out, with Spica and Brandon helping injured people out of the thing , all the while the massive machine collapsed and crushed a nearby building , lighting aflame and partially exploding .''

Misty and the others ran to the scene wide eyed, as Spica and her husband walked from the scene hand in hand , finally reunited once more .

''" Oh my god ", she said. " You two, you're alive !! "''

''Misty and Rigel ran towards them and hugged tightly, enjoying such a moment , all the while still glancing back at the burning war machine in the background. Juniper walked forward and smiled timidly, calling out for Spica .''

''" My Starlight . " she said uneasily. Spica glanced up at Juniper and stopped cold, smiling broadly and giving her hand out to her , assuring her that everything is okay .''

" Spica ....I ..I'm sorry that I couldn't come sooner ...."

" It's okay, Jay , I know .....I wished that it could've been done differently , but the past is the past " ,

''Spica took her hand and squeezed then gently. " You don't have to call me that anymore ....I've changed . I'm not the woman you once knew . "''

''Juniper began to sniffle as the others backed away slightly, allowing her into the group hug. Her cat ears drooped down low as she cried and hugged everyone else. Blue and White Diamond also began to sniffle slightly at this display of affection, but Yellow was staring at something else. She was staring at the war machine burning in the ground and the onlookers near it. Then, as if a massive boom of thunder sounded , a loud concussive noise originated from the Tripod , alerting everyone. Then another. Then another .''

''" Who the hell ? " Blue Diamond asked as everyone stood, looking on , preparing for the worst. An immense flash of energy illuminated the area as an arm punched out of the damaged machine, grabbing onto the thing to pull itself out. Everyone looked on in dread as they suddenly realized who it was ..''

Adorned in a white cape and elegant suit, Andromeda Vexan arose from the firey debris and gazed onto everyone with a look of unbridled anger and restraint , setting her eyes on Spica , then smiling .......

" You unloyal bitch-"