Act X

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   I still couldn't believe that we were monsters. I mean, it's pretty obvious in retrospect, but the way he just... Kept that from us, and waited until we found out on our own... What else is he keeping from us, from me?! Monoko's no better... He keeps just as much from me, if not more. When everything settles down, I want to talk to him. Air out all our dirty laundry and clear some things up. Today is going to be one of the hardest days of my life, but I refuse to back down. War is coming, and I'm going to do my best to help Henry.

~~~
 

 "Citizens of New New York woke up in a panic this morning when a parade of strange creatures began their march through the streets. According to one of our sources, these monsters came from the Genesis Asylum on the other end of town. No one knows where they're going or what they want, but the police have advised everyone to stay indoors and wait for this to pass. We'll report more on this topic as it develops. I'm John Johnny Johnson with Channel 648 News." Henry shut off the TV just as the report finished. There were a few grumbles from the other people in the waiting room, but Henry just tossed the remote aside and left them to fight over it. He walked past Liam, who was standing near the exit. "This doesn't look good... My superiors told me to get in my lab and stay there because the building's going into lockdown. You've gotta get out before everything locks up." He warned.

   "Alright. Listen, you stay safe, okay? If anything goes wrong, I need you, Monoko and Signus to finish what we started." Henry replied in a very stern tone. "Nothing's gonna happen to you, got it?" Liam replied. "There're are literally hundreds of them, and from past experiences, we can predict that I'm gonna somehow screw this up and probably die. If that happens, you can't let the Kult let out the Krystal King. Protect those keys with your life." Henry said. "Fine. I will see you back here. If you don't come back, I'll kick your ass." Liam replied. Henry smiled. "Alright." He said. With that, he walked out of the hospital. "Oh. I... I forgot I don't have a car." He muttered to himself. Suddenly, Liam was standing next to him, holding a car key. "C'mon. Dad'll drive you to soccer practice." He said. "What?" Henry asked. "I'm trying that... Humor thing you do. Am I doing good?" Liam explained. "Yeah. Sure." Henry said encouragingly. "Don't quit your day job..." He added under his breath.

   Liam unlocked his car and sat in the driver's seat. "C'mon. We have a day to save." He said in an attempt to sound cool. "What about the lockdown?" Henry asked as he pulled himself into the passenger seat and buckled up. "Every heist needs a getaway driver, right?" Liam replied with a sly smirk. "You make it sound like we're doing something illegal." Henry said. "Under any other circumstances it would be." Liam remarked. He backed the car out of the parking lot and sped off towards the city limits. They had to take back roads to avoid the parade of Outliers and the police that were patrolling to make sure that the citizens were staying inside where it was safe. To pass the time, Henry and Liam took turns telling stories and sharing their thoughts with each other. Within an hour, they made it out of the city just as the military had begun to set up a quarantine. At first the soldiers weren't going to let Liam and Henry out, but when they mentioned their service in WWIII, the soldiers saluted them and allowed them to pass. Henry and Liam gradually grew silent as the city melted away into a beautiful countryside. Henry was starting to fall asleep, but he was suddenly shocked awake when Liam jerked the car to the side of the road.

   "Dude! What the hell?!" Henry grumbled. "We're gonna walk from here. I'm not getting my car screwed up for this." Liam said. "Of course... We should try to find a way in that DOESN'T involve wading through the sewers." Henry said. Liam grabbed a lever attached to the base of Henry's seat and yanked it back, reclining him as far as possible. "What are you doing?!" Henry exclaimed as Liam reached over him. He remained silent as he opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small shotgun. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?!" Henry yelled. "I've had it for a while. I'm not in the mood to talk about it, we've got stuff to do." Liam replied as he stuffed the shotgun into a knapsack. Henry pulled his seat back up and shuffled out of the car. Liam followed suit, and together they crept up to the huge wall that surrounded the New York City Ruins. "How do you suppose we get in?" Liam asked. "Um..." Henry trailed off and turned around, looking for an entrance. He stiffened when he noticed the army of Outliers dotting the horizon. "Was Genesis working on anything for like, mind control or anything?" Henry asked. "No, not as far as I know. Why?" Liam turned his attention to where Henry was looking and went quiet.

   "How do you think they got control over the Outliers?" Henry replied. "Probably with lies. That's one of Alcott's specialties." Liam said dismissively. "Yeah, probably." Henry said absentmindedly. They turned their attention back to the wall before them. "There's no way in hell that we're climbing that." Henry muttered. "We don't have a battering ram, or any way to cut the wall..." Liam added. "What, you don't conveniently have some cool and flashy sci-fi laser for just this occasion?" Henry asked sarcastically. "I was working on one a while back but I couldn't legally get some of the supplies I needed. Not in America anyway." Liam remarked. "Well, do you have any ideas?" Henry asked. "If I didn't have the salary of a teacher, I'd say ram the thing with my car." Liam muttered. "Looks like we've got a date with the sewers..." Henry groaned.

~~~
 

 Monoko pushed a slim piece of metal into an object that resembled a lance until there was a positive sounding click. "Okay... Now if we turn this..." He sighed as he turned the hilt of the lance. The blade suddenly retracted into a cylindrical tube. "There!" Monoko said pridefully. He looked to Signus for at least a mutter of praise, but instead of the pure, childish little brother he saw a rough and tumble edgelord. It was obvious that the trip to the Genesis Asylum had changed him in ways that Monoko never could have predicted. Signus was whittling his broken horn into a dagger absentmindedly. "Uh... Signus? The lance is done..." Monoko said. Signus looked up at Monoko for a second before murmuring some nonsense and returning to his own project. "Maybe we should add some like... Multi-tool functions? Y'know, really give him some options." Monoko added awkwardly. Signus only shrugged nonchalantly and kept his attention focused on his dagger. Monoko took it as a hint to shut up and he went back to work on the new weapon.

   The brothers worked next to each other in silence for about a half hour before Signus spoke. "Are you hiding anything from me? Like Liam?" He asked abruptly. A thousand different answers shot through Monoko's mind. Visions of a strange black machine and bright explosions of light flashed before his eyes. "You remember the time I went to the other Genesis building in the center of the city? During the new tech expo they held last year?" Monoko asked. "Yeah?" Signus replied. "Well... This is something I haven't even told Liam. They had this big machine in one of the 'off limit' rooms..." Monoko began.

~~~
 

 "Keep that shotgun handy. There're some very grumpy gators down here." Henry warned. He and Liam were inching their way along the thin stone platform that kept them just inches above a chunky stream of waste. "There'll probably be Krystal Beasts swarming topside too, so be ready for that." Henry added. "Geez, you might as well write a book on this place." Liam gagged and scrunched his face up as the acrid stench of the sewers caught itself in his throat. "Maybe I will. I heard it's beautiful in the spring." Henry remarked. Suddenly there was a splash from the water, and a blue, pink and green blur shot out from the waste. Before Liam had a chance to mentally register the predator, Henry sliced it clean in half with a single flick of his sword. "What the hell?!" Liam exclaimed. He nearly fell into the water, but Henry managed to grab him and pull him up. "What?" Henry asked simply.

   "You literally moved as fast as lightning, Henry. It was INHUMAN." Liam said. "You tend to get faster when everything wants to kill you." Henry replied with a stupid smirk. "When we get back, you should do some reaction time tests. Just to see how much faster you are." Liam suggested. "Yeah, uh, let's worry about that when death ISN'T just around the corner." Henry said. As soon as he said that, a group of crystalline alligators scrambled around the corner, snarling and snapping their jaws. Liam only got two shots off before Henry dashed forward. "I can't shoot them if you're in the way!" Liam exclaimed. Henry kicked one of the gators straight up and cut the top part of its head off, leaving just a lower jaw attached to the body. Then, Henry slammed his sword directly into the head of one of the other gators, and when he removed the blade, he had a crystallized brain attached to the cold steel. "Oh, God that's gross!" Henry exclaimed. He shook his sword rapidly, and the brain flew off. It hit the wall with a disgusting splat sound.
   Henry turned around and gave Liam a goofy smile. "See? It's easy!" He said. The water behind Henry began to bubble, and another Krystal Gator jumped out. Liam instinctively ran forward, slid past Henry and fired several shots into the gator. The gator's corpse landed pathetically in the water, which splashed Henry and Liam with a disgusting wave of waste. "Oh, JESUS!" Henry and Liam groaned in unison. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, and suddenly began to laugh hysterically. Their laughter was suddenly interrupted by a woman's voice. She was singing a gentle lullaby far off in the sewer tunnels.

If the Darkness must take you,
Tie yourself to Light,
If the Wind has to rock you,
Please,
Try to hold on tight.
The sun will rise,
And the night will fall,
A cycle that'll guide you forth...

   "What the hell?!" Henry whispered. "Whoever's down here has to be crazy... This isn't a time to be singing..." Liam added. "C'mon, we better go find her and see if she needs help." Henry said. They started to follow the woman's voice, and it grew louder. Her song was as formless as the ocean, starting as a lullaby and changing into several different genres.

Oh,
They tell me I've gotta throw,
You down the river,
But they better believe,
That I'm the queen,
And you're my precious heir!
I'll die before I let you go,
I'll burn down this damned city!

   The woman's voice boomed down the tunnels, which began to stir the creatures that lived in the walls. Liam and Henry looked at each other and kept moving forward.

Henry:
I don't like where this is going,
I've always hated musicals...

Liam:
What's the point of burning down a town,
That's already been reduced to ashes?

Henry:
Major plot points are always reduced,
When people have to sing them,
You know this is going to be bad,
If you need to keep someone's attention with music,
And quite frankly I hate it when,
This crap is done in a book,
I mean,
How does anyone know how it goes,
When it's just a bunch of text?

   "What the hell are you going on about?" Liam asked. "I dunno man, it just fit with the music that's not there, I think. Improv's hard..." Henry replied. "At least the song's over. We'll never ever have to do that again, I'm sure it was a one time thing." He added. The second he spoke, the woman started to sing again, and Henry let out a frustrated grunt.

I'll protect my child at any cost,
Against intruders,
I can hear you in the halls,
Begone,
Before I end you,
Begone before it's too late,
All this time I've tried to warn you,
But now,
No one can change your fate.

   Suddenly, the walls began to shake, and a few of the bricks slid out onto the floor. "We better get out of here..." Henry said. The walls gave way to an ocean's worth of water, and Liam and Henry were swept away by the sudden tide. "THIS IS WHY I HATE MUSICALS!" Henry yelled as they fell into a huge disposal room in the center of the sewers. Above them, echoes of shouting and fighting shook throughout the entire sewer system. "Oh cool, the war st-" Henry was suddenly interrupted by the shock of freezing water engulfing them. Henry fought his way to the surface and took a deep breath. "Liam? Liam?" Henry called. No answer. "LIAM!" Henry shouted. He dove under the water just in time to see Liam, unconscious and sinking towards the bottom. Without thinking, he shot down and grabbed Liam by his collar. He tugged Liam to the surface and dragged him to the shallow end. "Liam! Liam!" Henry yelled. He shook Liam and slapped his face a few times, which warranted a few spluttering coughs from Liam.

   After a few excruciatingly long seconds, Liam sat up and promptly vomited into the water. "Great, you're not dead. That's good." Henry said, as if he wasn't worried at all. Once Liam had completely expelled all of his stomach contents, he staggered to his feet. "Please tell me we're not stuck down here..." He muttered. "Um..." Henry looked around and spotted a convenient ladder on the far wall. "Ah! Looks like creepy-singing-wall-breaking lady helped us out!" Henry exclaimed. "Great. We just gotta swim across the crap filled vomit lake." Liam said with a sarcastic cheeriness in his voice. "Alright... Do you want to go first, or should I?" Henry asked. "Oh by all means, go ahead." Liam replied instantly. Henry gave Liam a look and after a deep breath, he jumped into the water. He paddled across, and at first everything was okay. Deep beneath the surface however, a large creature had begun to stir. Henry made it to the center of the lake, when suddenly, the water began to grow violent beneath him.

   "LAKES SHOULDN'T BE SHAKING RIGHT?! THIS DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT BE SHAKING?" Henry screamed. "Uh... Henry?! There's something in the water!" Liam shouted. Henry looked down, and he was met with an enormous alligator, swimming directly towards him. "I swear to God, this is getting stupid. As long as there's not going to be another musical number, I think I can manage..." Henry grumbled as he began to splash towards the other side frantically. He pulled himself out of the water just as the gator broke the surface of the water. "Lemme guess, you're the mama?" Henry asked the crystal covered beast.

   A bouncy and malicious sounding instrumental started to drift through the sewers, causing Henry to curse loudly. "Where is that crap even coming from?!" He exclaimed. The mama gator swung around in the water to face Henry. "So... You're the one that's been slaughterin' my babies, hmm?" She growled in an oddly fitting Louisiana accent. "Um, well... T-to be fair, they tried to eat my face, multiple times." Henry stammered defensively. "You've been TEARIN' my FAMILY away from me, and THAT is somethin' I simply can't let happen!" Mama Gator roared.

   Henry tried to talk his way out of the situation, but Mama Gator ignored him, and she began to belt out a song, much to his dismay.

Mama Gator:
I've been hearin' whispers,
Floating through these halls,
That a man with a sword,
Has been killing my young,
Without an ounce of remorse.
Now,
I've heard tales of a hero,
Meant to save these lands,
But the only thing I see,
Is a monster with bloody hands.

Henry:
I swear,
I never meant any harm,
I really want to help the world,
But I can't if I end up dead,
If you could kindly tell your family,
To,
Not try to rip off my face,
I'd be more than happy,
To take violence to some other place.

   Henry scrambled away as Mama Gator swung her tail onto the ground, completely destroying the floor where he was standing. "C'mon, I'm willing to be nice here!" Henry yelled. "Oh, so ya wait till your life's on the line before tryin' diplomacy?!" Mama Gator shot back. "Well I didn't expect you to TALK!" Henry exclaimed. He drew his sword defensively, and Mama Gator let out a deep, rumbly chuckle.

Mama Gator:
Look at this little man,
Acting like he's the King,
Are you really tryna tell me,
That it's not murder without sentience?

Henry:
That didn't even rhyme-

Mama Gator:
Just shut up an' fight!

   Mama Gator slammed a meaty, clawed hand onto the ground in front of Henry, causing him to be launched upwards. She licked her chops and her jaws creaked apart. "C'mere boy!" She growled hungrily. "No! Wait! I taste horrible!" Henry yelled. He landed on Mama Gator's snout and held on for dear life. "H-hey! We can work this out! I-I'm sure there's SOMETHING I can do to change your mind?" Henry stammered. Mama Gator's eyes narrowed, and an angry growl shook Henry around.

Henry:
Please,
I'm actually quite bitter,
Without the proper seasoning,
I really don't wanna fight with you,
Can't you hear that a war is starting?

Liam:
About your kids,
I'd like to add,
That they started the fire.
We've no quarrel with you or them,
But we can't save you from the end,
If we happen to expire!

Mama Gator:
Shut up,
Neither of you are in a place,
To make any demands,
I'm the queen of the underground,
And down here things go my way!

   Henry struggled to prevent himself from falling into the unending pit below, all while yelling random pleas for forgiveness. Liam had snuck around the perimeter of the lake while Mama Gator was distracted, and he had discovered a small group of red barrels. "Hey... Maybe these can help..." He whispered to himself. Liam gave Henry a look, and he responded with a nod of understanding.

Henry and Liam:
You're totally right,
We're still in the wrong,
We're not trying to say that we're not,
But you can say you've enlightened us,
And we've seen the errors of our wa-

   "ENOUGH!" Mama Gator boomed. Her roar was enough to send Henry flying into the water. "Now you listen to me! I'm gonna give you a bit of a chance here. You and your little friend promise to get on outta here, and never come back to my sewers, and I'll consider letting you go. If you ever come back here though, I'll make sure you get torn to shreds by my babies." She growled. Liam forced one of the barrels open and looked inside. A smile crept across his face as he turned to Mama Gator. "Or we could just blow this place to hell, and ruin your entire ecosystem." He threatened. "LIAM WHAT THE HELL?!" Henry screamed. Mama Gator whirled around in the water and held her huge face inches away from Liam's relatively tiny body. A warm blast of disgusting air shot from her snout, and Liam did his best not to gag. "Now, what makes you think that you've got any pull here, hot shot?" Mama

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