Jeurridam Ch. 15: Wastelands FPT2.

"You carry on! You survive this, you here?" He said.

"DAD NO!!" I cried, seeing the life fade from his cold mechanical remains.

"I feel them coming... You survive! They're...coming..." Those were his last words before his machinery stopped working. I began prying apart his armor, trying to get to his life support system. It was still on, but failing. He probably only had a few minutes.

Basil came over to me, collapsing beside me. The site was unreal.

"He really was your father..." He said. I couldn't even come to words, only able to make the ground quake. Rage made my body tremble.

"Zanir..." Alistair said, sounding grim. I looked up seeing two more crab scorpions coming out of the remaining brigates. More and more brigates began to land dropping more reinforcements. A hand fell upon my shoulder. It was Basil, tears welling up in his eyes. He slowly nodded, losing every ounce of hope he hand gained.

"You tried." He said.

"Everyone," I said, "Get out of here while you can... I'm about to make one hell of a crater..."

"Zanir... you know damn well you won't be able to escape the radius of your own blast. You'll die as well!" Beth said.

"...And?" I said back, "I've failed... My dad is sitting here seconds away from dying... His vision is gone... lost. I just want to join him..." Heated tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Zanir..." Zeek said.

"You either can leave now... Or die with me..." I said, looking at him as his buggy came to a halt. His canopy opened, tears streaming from his eyes. His fist fell upon his chest.

"You know what I choose to do..." He said, standing beside me. Beth came to a stop as well, standing beside me.

"A world without you just isn't a world. I'll leave with you..." She said. Alistair was next.

"I've lost my son, my city, my empire, my life's work, my men... Now's no better time to give up the ghost. We all can agree that we put up one hell of a fight, though? Can we?" He said.

"Right..." June said, taking off his helmet, "It's been an honor Zanir. You changed my whole perspective on many things and I know I'll die happy..." He looked back at Heaven smiling as the boy came over. He grabbed his hand, pulling him in for a kiss!

This was a glorious moment, June and Heaven finally coming to terms with their romance for everyone to see! Despite being moments before our deaths, their union put everyone at ease. It was now or never. I was about to let go of these tightly wound emotions and let these powers rein free.

"Spare me the sappiness for a moment... No one's going to die..." A foreign and unimpressed sounding voice said over the air, "Anti-mech squad, you know the drill!"

"Roger, First Wing..." Another foreign voice said. I collapsed on the ground my body weak with relief. All I could do was laugh and cry at the same time, Big Daddy's last words finally making sense now.

"The UCAC..." I managed to get out.

I saw them! Whoever this first wing was, he looked like an angel sent from heaven in that gravitanium clad wingsuit! It was all white with an elegant and streamlined profile. He came streaking in at supersonic speeds, laying waste to the crab scorpion.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" He screamed, "Second Wing and the interceptors... take on the rest. Kites, let's get these survivors out of here. Bring in the ship!"

"Will Heed, First Wing..." A female voiced responded.

They were coming. I could see the white wing suit pilot followed by a number of others gliding in on out stretched wings. The all white one was the first to land, flapping swiftly with his metal wings as he entered a jog to dissipate the speed. Those thick talons sent sparks flying, managing to gouge deep into the concrete.

"I am Elanid..." The man said, taking off his helm, "But you can call me Denver!" I was breathtaken! How he could extend out his hand for me to shake while smiling profusely in this warzone was beyond me. I took his hand, shaking it.

"Hi..." I said back, "Um... my father's in here! His life support is fading! We need to save him!"

"We'll get him some support." Denver said, stepping forth, his wings draped around him like a regal metal cape, "He must have been an important man to be placed within a Big Daddy..." He stroked his chin.

"Yes... He's Dumir Aheem..." I said, warranting a serious look from Denver.

"Well... we need to get him out of here." He said, sounding a bit more serious.

I began prying apart the dense metal within Big Daddy's chassis. I pulled out his life support system handing it to Denver.

"Just take care of him!" I said. Denver looked at me with those warm honey colored eyes.

"You can trust me!" He said, taking my father's remnants in his hands, "El, take him to the ship as fast as you can!"

"Will heed, captain..." She responded, leaping into the air. With extreme nimbleness, she spread her wings, consequently dropping my father's remnants. With quick talons, she grasped him, flying swiftly out of sight.

"How'd you all get into this mess?" Denver asked, looking around at us, "And managed to get this far...!?!?! You all are no joke aren't you?"

"This guy!" Basil said, pointing to me. Denver leaned down to look at Basil.

"They fucked your ass up good, bruh! How bad are you hurt?" He asked.

"I can walk..."Basil said back.

"We'll patch you up." Denver said, looking at the boy from head to toe. He then roughed up his hair, angering Basil. This Denver guy seemed to be quite the daring and bold personality. I've never quite dealt with someone like this before. It was... strange.

Seconds later the ship arrived, its bay doors opening.

"Everyone get onboard if you wanna make it out of here! Medical attention will be onboard as well!" He said, pointing to the ship. Not a single soul wasted any time getting there, "And you all bring your little doohickeys and gadgets along!" He added, looking at the rotor bikes, "They're kinda cool!" He then put on his helm, taking off on those massive wings.

Upon getting on the ship, we were greeted by a surprise face... Dale! He was pleased to see us all in one piece which was even more surprising.

"Glad you all made it out!" He said, having some truly genuine feelings. A thin, dark skinned curly hair woman stepped out from behind him. Beth, Zeek and Heaven's eyes lit up.

"MOM!!" She screamed, rushing over. Zeek and Heaven were close behind, all three hugging her tightly.

"I missed you all so much!" She smiled, muffled under all her children.

"I missed you too mom..." Zeek said.

"I got some news..." She said, their embrace coming to an end, "Your dad and I finally decided... to get a DIVORCE!!"

"Yeah..." Dale said smiling, "We learned we couldn't make each other happy so it's better to split mutually... and just let go of the old."

"Wow, finally..." Beth said.

"That's crazy how you two can be so bombastic about breaking up when we just got out of the biggest fight for our lives..." Zeek chuckled, happy to take a seat after enduring all of this.

"Zanir!" Mrs. Logatti called out, "Come on over here too!" I did so, a bit nervous.

"Hey..." I waved, nervously. She grabbed my face, looking at me intently with those green eyes.

"We're gonna give your father a new body! He's gonna be a new man!" She said.

"Wait what...?" I asked, unsure what she meant, "Like you're building him a new body?"

"More like growing but you can say building." She smiled. This literally blew my mind.

"I need to sit." I said, feeling the blood rushing from my head. She sat me next to Zeek, the boy looking at me chuckling.

"You tired?" He asked.

"Hell yeah..." I responded.

"Your father had this BrainEngine schematic the UCM called me in to work on. A few years ago a severe hack let a portion of the leak get out but we cracked down and build several functioning units in Labrador." Mrs. Logatti said.

"Oh, we're all too familiar with the BrainEngine... There was one built behind the hoover dam and Zeek and I were the beta testers..." I sighed. Mrs. Logatti looked alarmed.

"Really?" She asked as the ship began to lift off the ground. Big powerful explosions tore into everyone's ears.

"Guys, you might want to come look at this!" Sandles said, looking out of a window. We all rushed over to see what was going on.

It was the complete and utter decimation of the remains of the Revivalists fleet as well as the engagement with the freshly arriving fleet. The freshly arrived juggernaut ship had been brought down by the winged fleet. Seeing the wingsuit pilots in action was more amazing than I ever could have imagined.

"Nice to finally meet you Zanir." Someone said. It was Denver standing in the bay of the ship, placing his helmet on, "We were gonna come looking for you anyways but I guess you just couldn't wait on us... And I thought I lacked patience." He took off on those steely wings, powering right into the fray.

He swooped and banked, blasting a number of targets with his pulse beams. They were incredibly powerful but small, small enough to come from tiny opening on his Helm! His suit was on a level of ingenuity I wanted to understand! Not only that, but he made my fearlessness look like child's play. Those daring maneuvers and subsonic speeds were everything to write home about! Someone placed a hand on my shoulder; Zeek!

"If you don't bone him... I will!" He teased.

"Yeen, boning shit!" Sandles said grabbing Zeek, yanking him playfully over to him, "And besides, you owe me for saving that ass so many times out there!"

"Oh please, I handled myself good... for someone who didn't know what the hell they were doing!" Zeek laughed.

"Yeah, I must admit! You're a damn good handler. Makes me curious to what all you can handle." Sandles said, looking at Zeek lustfully.

"Yeah you would want to know..." Zeek chuckled.

"I do..." Sandles said, not hiding his intent.

I had to leave these two swooning lust puppets. I went over to Beth who was having a sit down with June and Julio. The situation seemed tense.

"So... you're gay?" June asked.

"Yes..." Julio responded, unsure how his brother would take this. June sat there, blank... The expression on his face could range from indifference to displeasure. Suddenly, he yanked the boy from across Beth, hugging him tightly.

"You're still my little bro! This doesn't change a damn thing!" He said. His words induced tears from Julio. That was the only thing Julio could do was cry! Julio was a very sweet and innocent kid despite his rough and tumble looks. He was nothing but a softie up under it all and Heaven got him a good one!

"And let me guess..." Dale began, walking up behind Heaven, "You and Julio are partners...?" Heaven turned to face his father.

"Yep..." He shrugged, ready to face his father's wrath. Dale sighed hard.

"Hell if you kids all have the courage to be free, so can I." Dale said, warranting a bewildered look from all the kids, "Your mom and I have something to tell you." Mrs. Logatti came and stood beside him.

"The reason why your father and I are gonna get a divorce is because your father, for so long felt the need to live a lie to uphold a standard of being what he thought a father should be. Somehow, after twenty six long years, he managed to come to terms with the fact that his happiness shouldn't be defined by a standard he feels forced to uphold." She explained stepping back.

"Yeah... I've had a really, really fucked up upbringing. I'm from the Great Ruins of the East where mechs ran rampant and humans had to cling for survival. I had a big family up until a certain point when day after day, they were taken from me. Everyone died and I was left all alone for years... years! I became this wild thing that didn't understand himself. Then by chance, I met your mother and I felt like she was the best thing to ever happen to me. She was freshly in the UCM and her mission was with a rehabilitation team that went to find people like me, damaged and alone. Somehow we ended up falling fast for each other, she getting pregnant with twins and we decided to move to the other side of the nation. This was pretty much the start of the end. She and I never really saw each other and I felt the pressure to become this world class husband of hers and hurt... a lot of people in the process. She'd be gone for months even years at a time and every time she came back, I wanted her to have something new for her empire. I didn't know how taxing this was on my well-being and how one man couldn't just manage it all. What really made me realize I was out of control was having you all walk away from me, saying the exact same thing! If all of you have the same issue, then it is something I need to fix, and I as a man...as your father, must own up to this so I apologize..." Dale explained.

"When did the love stop?" Beth asked.

"When I realized he was doing all of this for the sake of upholding a title... Every time I left and came back, there was something else new arising and it seemed to keep snowballing. He always tried to get me to stay, disregarding my job saying we needed to be a family, to stick together no matter what! He said he didn't want to lose me... It also didn't help that he got me pregnant four times..." Their mom laughed.

"For me, it was never really love. More so a strong attracting, a vision to uphold and a terrible past that led to me doing some of the shitty things I've done." Dale sighed.

"Well you're still my dad..." Beth laughed.

"And you're still mommy!" Zeek said. Both kids got up to hug it out with them.

They shared their good times before things became quiet on the ship. Dale eventually snuck off to the edge of the observation deck where Alistair had been sitting for hours. From up here, he heard the conversations from below. He definitely was the loneliest person on the ship. Dale sat beside him, quite concerned.

"How you feeling...?" Dale asked.

"I'm still waiting for it to hit me." Alistair sighed, making Dale's heart sink low into his stomach.

"I'm so sorry." Dale said.

"I've lost everything now... Everything... trying to protect the city I love... Maybe I should just end this... I've done all I can. Maybe it's my time..." Alistair said.

"You can't be serious..." Dale said, not liking this one bit.

"I am, Dale. Everything seems to be falling into place for you while I keep losing thing after thing after thing... I don't want to lose anymore. I might fall apart. I feel like I'm this close to just losing it." Alistair said, holding up a pinch.

"You know why I gave you such a hard time for so long?" Dale asked.

"Because you're an evil son of a bitch?" Alistair retorted, a crude joke that made Dale laugh.

"No... I never stopped loving you. It was so frustrating knowing you were on the other side of the Colorado but my circumstances kept me from you... And when you get frustrated, sometimes you lash out. I lashed out a LOT!!" Dale chuckled.

"What are you saying... Dale?" Alistair demanded.

"After twenty four years of bullshitting... I've decided I want to be with you." He said. Alistair's gaze slowly drifted back to the giant observation glass pane.

"It's not that that's not good to hear but I kinda wanna grow old and be miserable and just be plain sad. Have you ever had everything you worked for die all of a sudden?" Alistair responded.

"No, but close. Multiple times, I've gambled with my empire. Somehow it's still intact... Except the dam. I can't charge people for power now." Dale laughed.

"Eh maybe you have..." Alistair sighed, realizing that he wasn't as alone as he wished he could feel.

"It's so crazy how I'm currently the happiest I've been in decades, come crawling back to you only to find that you're at your lowest low..." Dale sighed.

"Well... When you lose a child, it'll do that to you." Alistair shrugged.

"Oh god, I couldn't imagine losing any of mine. I want to actually thank you for keeping them alive for me. They're a wild and unruly bunch... I wish I could repay you with the way I have in mind." Dale smiled.

"And what's that?" Alistair asked.

"This..." Dale said, leaning in to kiss him. It was warm and passionate, one with twenty plus years' worth of unresolved issues behind it.

I sat in the rear of the observation deck, genuinely happy for everyone! They found partners to get to the end of time with. It surely felt good but at the same time there still was a giant aching hole in my heart. Then a thin framed, well muscled young man with an enthusiastic gait came walking down the catwalk. It was Denver, that boyish face with those adorable freckles being so easily recognizable. He sat next to me.

"Why are you sitting here alone?" He asked curiously.

"You know, sometimes you need it. I wonder does this brain implant keep me from coming to terms with a lot of my issues..." I sighed.

"They do. It makes you feel like you're standing on top of your issues but you can't quite dive down and deal with them." He said.

"They do!" I said, surprised he knew how it felt! It was good to know I wasn't the only one who struggled with emotions having a brain implant.

"So... it seems everyone here's hitched up except you." He continued.

"Um... my boyfriend died last Saturday..." I said.

"Sorry to hear that! I shouldn't have asked." Denver said.

"You're good! It's just... this week has been the craziest of my life... Like, I haven't had the time to mourn. I don't even know if I can..." I responded.

"Well you seemed to have gotten upset when Dr. Aheem got shot. What was that little thing you do that makes things crumble into nothingness? Can you teach me how to do it?" Denver laughed, grabbing my hand, looking at him. Despite being the same size as me, he had a bigger more masculine mitt. His hand made mine feel...protected. It was strange!

"I don't know how to work the powers. I kept getting shot so my body repaired itself with gravitanium nanites which, for whatever reason decided to give me special powers... It's weird as hell." I clarified.

"Well," He said, embracing my hand, looking at me deeply with those warm and inviting eyes, "What all can you do?"

"So far... fuck with gravity." I chuckled.

"That's damn cool. That means you can like fly and shit! What's the single handed most impressive thing you did?" Denver asked, quite enthused.

"Um... destroy the Hoover Dam..." I laughed. Denver's eye's bucked wide.

"Wow..." He said, "I won't ever piss you off... EVER!!" He made me laugh.

"What about you? You got someone special?" I asked.

"Thought I did but he found someone else. There's nothing I can do about it... he's a world away." He sighed.

"Awe, so sorry." I responded.

"It's okay. I'm used to this frail little heart of mine being shattered to little bits... I have tons of spares." He chuckled, but there was definitely some hurt there.

"Sounds like you've been through your fair share... I got my heart broken once and said no more to it. You're resilient to keep trying!" I laughed.

"I'm a relationship guy. I hate it but I need someone... If not, I can't keep my head screwed on right and end up being a retard." He said. This had me all thrown for a loop. His openness, the way he spoke to me... it made me feel as though I've always known him!

"Are you always this open?" I asked.

"I like to bear it all, especially if it's gonna be with someone I'm gonna be getting to know for a long time to come." He smiled, looking at me with that boyish grin.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah! We're gonna be working together!" He said.