Chapter 23: The Battle at Purgatory City Begins

The plan begins and everyone goes to their respective positions. We start off with Christian and Teddy staying in the alleys of the city to get closer to the main tower, while Cpt. Jackson waits for his move. Harrison and Lt. Campos start proceeding straight through the city taking out each thug they can see. 

Eventually Christian and Teddy arrive in the vicinity of the main tower.

Teddy starts speaking in his mind, "Can everyone hear me?"

They all hear Teddy through Eve's ability.

Teddy continues, "Good. We will arrive at our initial destination about 30 seconds from now. Cpt. Jackson you can start."

Cpt. Jackson smiles and puts in a cigarette, "Roger."

Lt. Campos speaks in her mind as well, "He's only a kid you don't have to be so formal captain."

Cpt. Jackson started laughing a bit, "It's not a big deal, this kid is a wiz. He has a bright future ahead of him."

Harrison chimes in, "Do we have any idea where Ace is?"

Eve has her eyes closed trying to concentrate, "No, I can't locate the assassin anywhere."

Harrison then thinks to himself, "That is a bit concerning, I wonder what you're planning."

Teddy speaks in his mind again, "It will be fine alright everyone set your timers...3..2..1..NOW!"

We transition from this scene to where Ace is hanging out with the Colonel as he is stuck in his cell.

"It seems your subordinates are on the move."

Colonel Johnston continues to not say anything.

"Nothing to say, how boring. Well, a promise is a promise I won't kill them for now. But it seems like a lot of interesting things are about to happen."

Colonel Johnston decides to finally talk, "I don't get it..."

Ace curious as to why he finally decided to speak, "What's that? Did you say something Colonel?"

Colonel Johnston looks up to Ace, "What is it that you want?"

Ace thinks for a second, "Hmmm... good question?"

Colonel Johnston with an angry look on his face, "Is it all about the money, or do you just enjoy killing?"

Ace continues to think, "Probably a bit of both."

Colonel Johnston gets visibly frustrated, "Tsk, you're unredeemable, people like you are a plague to society."

Ace after hearing this started laughing, "You may be right Colonel, but seriously colonel isn't that a bit hypocritical."

Colonel Johnston responds still but angry but also confused, "What do you mean?"

Ace continues, "I'm sure you're aware of the horrors of war, but despite that, you chose to work for the tyrannical world government. I can tell you are a nice guy but isn't that a bit counterproductive? Honestly Colonel how many people have you burned with those flames?"

Colonel Johnston doesn't respond.

Ace continues, "Violence is everywhere, Colonel. But it's up to us to either embrace it or let it consume us. I don't know about you but I pick the former rather than the latter, how about you colonel."

Colonel Johnston shows a shred of sadness but looks up to Ace, "You may be right, and I might be a bit idealistic in my beliefs. However, that doesn't mean I can stop I will keep doing what I have to. I will change this world for the better and I'll burn anything to do so."

Ace chuckles a bit, "You are interesting Colonel, very interesting. I'm curious to see how much your flames burn until they eventually flicker out." Then Ace leaves.

The 30 seconds is up and the plan has officially commenced.

Teddy's plan begins and everyone starts the mission. First is Cpt. Jackson, he starts off teleporting throughout the city and causing disruption and chaos with all the smoke. All the guards try to figure out what is going on, but because of the smoke, they're lead towards the direction of Lt. Campos and Harrison.

Christian and Teddy are together waiting for all the guards to leave. At the moment it did seem that most of the guards were gone enticing Christian to start going. However, Teddy told him to hang back because it wasn't time yet.

"Just trust me, Christian. We don't know where the assassin is and we can't risk running into him. Once we determine his location then we can make our move."

We transition to Harrison and the Lieutenant navigating their way to the middle of the city looking for Colonel Johnston while taking out the thugs with ease.

While they are moving Lt. Campos asks what the priest's plans are. Harrison is confused because they were both following the same plan by Teddy. That's when Lt. Campos continues saying,

"That's not what I mean. I got the report from Lt. Neo. You took out a captain to protect that kid. This is unusual for you, and this is considered a serious crime. Why did you do it?"

Harrison responds, "It's simple, I want to help the kid."

Lt. Campos stops walking and points her gun at Harrison. Harrison stops as well and puts his hands up. "Woah so aggressive, I don't think this is the time for this."

Lt. Campos responds, "That wasn't an explanation. What are you planning? Why is that kid so important?"

Harrison looks away from Lt. Campos and continues saying, "You know lieutenant I'm sure you want to help the Colonel a lot too."

Lt. Campos confused at what he is eluding too, "Uh, well of course he's my commanding officer."

Harrison continues saying, "I'm sure that's not the only reason Lieutenant. There's something about the Colonel that draws you to him. Not only you but Cpt. Jackson as well. I can tell from meeting both of you that you are both more than capable of rising in the ranks, but you both choose to stay by the Colonel's side."

Lt. Campos doesn't respond and thinks about it for a second.

Harrison continues, "The Colonel is important to you and you believe he will do something to change this world. Well, it's the same for me. I believe that kid will be the one to change everything."

Lt. Campos looks back at Harrison, "You're comparing that boy to the Colonel? The Colonel is a prodigy even amongst the entire military his ambition and talent is unmatched. There's no way that boy can do anything to change this world."

Harrison then adds, "Maybe you're right and that boy is pretty simple-minded. So why don't we make a bet?"

Lt. Campos confused asks, "What kind of bet?"

Harrison looks back at Lt. Campos, "I bet before this ends you'll see something in Christian that surprises you." Then Harrison smiles.

Lt. Campos thinks to herself that the priest is being ridiculous and she's wasting time here, so they continue walking.

"We must be getting close, to the Colonel's location."

Lt. Campos looks at the map Teddy gave them, "Yeah from Teddy's description this should be the general area of the underground prison."

Harrison then starts stretching, "Alright then let's get started shall we?"

Lt. Campos is confused and then she sees Harrison preparing himself. He grabs a sword from one of the thugs and at the same time tells the lieutenant something.

"I want you to go look for the Colonel on your own."

Lt. Campos is surprised because the plan consists of them staying together.

"It's best if you meet him on your own, he would have fewer questions if you were to greet him by yourself."

Lt. Campos still confuse thinking that reasoning wasn't good enough decides to look for the Colonel, but she decides to leave anyway.

As the lieutenant finally disappears Harrison says something.

"Okay, you can come out now."

That's when Ace steps out of the shadows. "I guess I couldn't hide from you."

Harrison responds, "It's been awhile Ace, or should I call you the fourth most wanted person in the world."

Ace while throwing a knife up and down, "It's been a while, what brings the Wandering Priest here?"

Harrison laughs, "Well, I just came to say hi to an old friend is all."

Ace replies, "Always with the jokes. Well, I hope you haven't lost a step. Old friend."