It was all Xander could do to keep from urinating in his pants. His gut was slowly closing itself as a final gift from the now absent Black Womb. His clothes were splattered in blood and vomit. His eyes were filled with tears, but more than that, they were full of hatred.
“Now you understand, boy. The cycle is complete. And I can finally offer an end to your suffering.”He snapped his fingers.“Spider, do with him as you will. Genblade, you’re with me.”
Genblade paused, clenching a fist and stepping closer to Xander, before finally turning and obeying his master.
Spider stood over him, smiling.
Xander was fully content with letting her kill him. He had done enough damage. It was time to let him rot in hell, in peace. He lay on the floor and stared upward at Spider. He closed his eyes as she drew her sword and waited for sweet, sweet oblivion... until he heard that harsh, rough voice cut through his ears.
“You know,” Genblade said as he walked toward the door. “You can’t start a new, more powerful civilization without wiping out the old one. Out with the old, in with the new, and all that crap.”
Alpha snapped his fingers, and Genblade followed him out the doorway.
Xander stared at the door for a moment, then let his head fall again. He clicked his burned, bleeding tongue against the roof of his mouth as Genblade’s words sunk in, ignoring the pain it caused.
“So that Spider and Genblade can produce a new era in humanity, they’ll have to obliterate this era,” Xander whispered to himself.
There were still so many people alive that he cared about. Mike, Cathy, his Mother and Father, Derek.... They would all be wiped out. Along with everyone else on earth.
“And I just gave Alpha the power to do it.”
Spider swung her sword down.
Xander felt something twitch within his brain. That tiny spark he’d kept hidden from the world from long before Alpha entered his life, the part of him that kept him after Sara and telling himself that tomorrow would be better. Even though Sara was gone and tomorrow would never be better than yesterday, that part of him was still alive. He clapped his hands together and caught the blade with his palms. “Sorry lady, but no more blood goes on my hands tonight.”
He flipped up onto his feet and turned to face Spider, pointing her sword at her. She reached behind her and pulled out her second blade, then lunged forward, slicing at the air around him.
He looked down and saw she had cut the fabric of his shirt above his heart. He allowed himself a small sigh of relief, then swung back in retaliation.
She did a back flip to avoid the hit, landing on her hands. She pushed off with her palms, doing another flip and landing on her feet again, making the whole thing look effortless. Xander stood his ground.
He remembered all of the times he had fought Mike in Marble Mutant Super Heroes. He’d pick Obsidian (because he’s Obsidian, of course) and Mike’ d always pick Stone Spider. Obsidian had the claws and all of these cool moves like ‘dark rage’ and ‘abyss x’... but he’d never get a chance to use them. As soon as he got anywhere near Mike’s Stone Spider, he’d start to cream him using ‘ultimate spider’, where Stone Spider just whipped around the screen, hitting Obsidian hundreds of times as he went. Stone Spider’s strength always relied on the fact that he was so fast and so agile, that anytime you got anywhere near him, he’d have you. Just like Spider. If he went near her in this weakened state, she’d slice him up like a sausage. He’d have to use a tactic he learned while fighting Mike: wait for the opponent to come to you.
He stared at her and she stared back, both of their swords ready to draw first blood.
She jumped at him again, but this time he was ready. He lifted his arms and let her pass by him. Her sword nicked his side and he cringed. It was so much more painful now, with the knowledge that without Black Womb, that one slice could be lethal. He turned around and stabbed at her. His sword punched through the skin of her thigh.
“Ahh!” she cried, buckling a little to one side. “You can’t do this. You are an impotent dog waiting to be put down.”
He hopped backward, widening the space between them. “In case nobody ever told you, Spider... every dog has his day.”
She glared at him, applying pressure to her wound for a moment. There was hatred in her eyes as she realized he had gotten the better of her. She stood straight, raised her sword, and in one swift motion she threw it at his head.
It missed, zooming past his ear and digging itself into the pavement. He turned to watch it go and when he turned back, she was almost on top of him. He quickly raised his sword to deflect her attack, but it was too late.
Her fist smacked hard against the side of his face, causing the skin to split.
He fell to the pavement, skinning his joints. As the flesh pulled away from his knees, he ground his teeth so hard that a chunk of his left molar snapped off and bounced down his throat.
She picked up his sword and lunged at him with it. He rolled to the side, her blade slicing into the pavement. When she tried again, he
