The End

[kawalskyeffect]

[[OOC: Read this before taggingShiva was about to scream some more at the council’s representatives when he heart the sound of his devices powering down. The force field flickered and shut down, which meant the power dampener was also inactive. The “god” had suddenly become very much a mortal, very much vulnerable

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Detonation

[magnetlips]

With Cowabunga’s guidance, Cassie had removed all of the ignition sources and passed them onto her partner to move to a safe distance. All but one. The area was surrounded with lead, preventing Cowabunga from seeing it, and the wires were not only tangled together, they were welded. Still, Cassie was sure she could get it out. She just needed a little more time.

That was when several lights came on, a bright red, and she could hear the inner mechanisms of the bomb whirring as it came to life. She knew immediately what was happening, and she knew she had only seconds, if that, before it exploded.

Everything slowed. She could feel her blood rushing through her, feel her heartbeat almost double, pounding against her ribs. There wasn’t enough time to get away, even if she grew the explosion would take her out. There was only one way out of this.

«GET OUT NOW!» She screamed at Cowabunga through the comms.

This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t die. She didn’t get to see her father come out of the pods. She hadn’t finished any of her engineering projects or showed Luis she could do more than just clean test tubes. She hadn’t proved herself yet. Hadn’t done anything.

There were too many people who needed her. Her friends, Kate- she was her best friend. And Nate- oh God, Nate needed her more than she could imagine. What was he going to do? He had gone through so much all ready, needed something stable to keep him from becoming Kang. That couldn’t happen. She loved him too much, had worked too hard to keep him grounded. It couldn’t happen because of her. It just couldn’t.

And then there was Jonas. Jonas, who had always been there for her. Who held her when she had been shot, found her after she had fought the Ohm, kept a close eye on her when she was drinking. Who’d put up with so much from her from getting too drunk. Who she’d pushed away because she didn’t want to think about how much she needed him. How much she actually did-

No. No! It couldn’t end like this. But there was only one way out of this and she wasn’t ready. There was only one way out…

So many thoughts were going through her head in seconds, possibly milliseconds. She didn’t have much time left but she used it to reach out to the one person she needed at the end. «Jon-»

Re: Detonation

[magnetlips]

The bomb exploded. The two pods closest to it shattered and were consumed in the flames.

Re: Detonation

[vision_ya]

Jonas had been checking for anything the crew and command could possibly have missed when Cassie's voice came through over his comm ring.

«Jon-»

Then silence. Then Stacy's announcement. Jonas did not actually have blood, but he felt it run cold none the less.

«Cassie? Cassie?! CASSIE!»

Stacy did not like it when Jonas used his phasing abilities to travel between levels, she had made that very clear the first few times he had tried. But right now the amount he did not care about what Stacy preferred was so indescribably vast that it could contain the entire multiverse. He dove down to the Pod Caverns, dodging Stacy's tentacles until he reached the site of the explosion.

"[CASSIE!]"

Re: Detonation

[cow_abunga]

Humar had already been at a safe distance when the bomb blew, but his owner hadn't been quite so fortunate. Luckily, the forcefield had taken the brunt of the damage, leaving Cowabunga with fairly manageable injuries. Though he could bandage them himself, he was presently propped up against one of the undamaged pods, still in some shock.

"S-she was inside the bomb. We were almost done. Just one last ignition source and it would've been inert."

Re: Detonation

[vision_ya]

Stacy's tentacles finally caught up to the synthetic teenager, slamming him against the wall of the Pod Caverns and informing him that he had earned a couple more Violations. He paid her no attention, frantically scanning the area for a sign -- any sign -- that Cassie could be alive.

She could not be dead. He refused to believe it. She was just hurt, injured, unconscious. Anything but dead.

Please. Please let her not be dead.

Re: Detonation

[cow_abunga]

"It's my fault. I should've told her to pull them out first. We might've had enough time." The Tauren said, guilt lacing his voice.

Re: Detonation

[vision_ya]

Stacy released Jonas after a moment or two, and he slid to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. He heard Humar talking, but the words washed over him without registering.

There was no sign of Cassie. No sign at all.

He scanned the area again and again, with the same results each time. For an eternity of several minutes, he did not even move. Then, finally, slowly, he rose to his feet.

"[Are you all right?]" he asked the Tauren as the first tears began to spill from his eyes.

Re: Detonation

[cow_abunga]

"I can manage." said Cowabunga, as he pushed himself up the pod and pulled a strip of cloth out of his pack and began to bandage himself.

Re: Detonation

[vision_ya]

At least someone could.

Jonas turned on his heel and flew toward the Hub. He needed to get to the City quickly, and he would get there faster if he did not break Stacy's rules.

He and Shiva had business.