Final Escalation

Silence is often defined as the absence of any sound, or anything that is loud. However, for the city of Manhattan, nothing could be louder than the silence. A city that was known for being immensely populated, and busy, was now completely abandoned. Buildings that once stood tall and proud, were now nothing more than the rubble that they left behind. Janktrons walked around the city, randomly slashing at buildings, and attacking anything that moved in their vicinity. A  man wearing a black cardigan, with a white t-shirt underneath it, and brown corduroy pants marched through the empty streets of Manhattan. Janktrons that were around him, looked at him instinctively, growling in his presence. A tiger-like Janktron that was chewing on the flesh of a corpse smelled the man walking by. It bent their back legs, pouncing off of its front legs towards the man. The man looked towards the Janktron, as he extended his right arm outward, and suddenly a green flash appeared in his arm. The green flash materialized into a compact bow, with it’s strings being made of small carbon fibers to assure dexterity when firing. He pulled back on the bow, as a green arrow appeared on the strings. He let go of the strings, propelling the arrow forward, the arrow split itself off into three different arrows, firing straight into the Janktron attacking him, pinning it to the wall with the three arrows.

The Janktrons began to drop what they were doing, as they began to slowly walk in circles around him, growling as acidic drool dropped from their mouths, burning a hole into the barren concrete. He looked at them, noticing their increasing hostility and aggression, aimed his bow upward, firing off five shots into the air. The arrows, like before, split off into different arrows, before they came raining down around him, hitting several of the Janktron that towered over the others. After killing those Janktrons, he looked at the others, getting ready to kill them in a similar fashion to how he just did. The Janktrons looked at one another, before a Janktrons with horns that looked similar to a minotaur, stepped out and did a slight bow, followed by the other Janktrons. The man did a small nod to them, before retracting his bow, with it vanishing away. He continues his walk, as the Janktrons begin to slowly walk behind him, marching behind him, leaving large footprints with claws behind them. 

They approached the statue that sat in the middle of the city. The statue towered over the entire city, even compared to the empire state building, which stood at 1,454 feet. The statue depicted a person who was a combination of an average woman, with angel wings. She appeared to be weeping, with her face covered by a veil. She had four arms that extended outward in opposite directions, with four wings that accompanied each arm. As the man approached the state, he noticed another person who was sitting by the statue, fiddling with a coin on his finger. The person that was sitting by the statue noticed the man walking, as he looked up.

“Took you a while to get here, I’ve been waiting for ages now” the person sitting on the steps spoke, breaking the silence as he stood up, dusting his pants off. 

“Rey…what are you doing here? I thought you would be busy making sure everyone got evacuated? Didn’t take you for a coward” he responded taking a glance around, only to see that the only other people present were other Janktrons that were munching away like the mindless beasts they were. “Are you alone?” he asked.

“Arthur, always to the point…but fine. The others are making sure everyone escapes the city on time” Rey informs him of the whereabouts of the others. 

“Is that so? Then what are you doing here? Trying to save your mom again?” Arthur asks Rey, questioning why he wouldn’t also be helping with the evacuation 

“Well…yes, I am here to stop my mom from being used as a puppet to produce Janktrons, I have another reason for coming” he said, taking a look at the statue, before changing directions and taking a look at Arthur. “To stop a friend from making a horrible decision,” Rey said.

“Friends? Is that what we are, because for a couple of friends…we sure throw each other around, a lot” Arthur said, giving a small chuckle under his breath.

“Isn’t that what friends are for?” Rey asks, as he pockets the coin he had, as he walks closer to Arthur. “What’s a mere stabbing or two between friends” Rey asks.

“Very funny” Arthur deadpanned, as he looked at the statue. “Are you here just to annoy me, because I have something important I need to do” Arthur said, attempting to walk past Rey

“Do you remember our first mission in the tournament? The museum heist?” Rey asked, causing Arthur to freeze in his tracks. 

“The time we were supposed to steal the jewels from the museum, and get out without being caught by the authorities? That was one of my worst experiences. If I recall, you took the jewels and won that round with a flawless record” Arthur stated. 

“Your brain must have turned to mush with all the brooding you have been doing, because that’s not what happened. What I remember was a fire breaking out in the museum. It was a big event, and no way we were able to make a difference. One contestant had the jewels, but decided to abandon it to save people. Despite how futile it was going to be. He told me that he didn’t care if he saved everyone, just as long as…” 

“He saved one person” Arthur finished his sentence, as he looked back at Rey. “Yeah, yeah…I remember, what about it?”

“Do you remember the words I said to you afterwards?” 

“Yes, Bull tried to chastise me for losing points and called me naive. But you told him off, and said that while I was naive…” 

“You were still a better man then all of us” Rey finished his thoughts much like Arthur did before. “Are you still the same person?” Rey asked Arthur.

“That was a different man. We were both different people, from a different time. Bull was right, I was naive, if I had been serious about this all from the start, none of these people would be gone. So many people died because we let things such as desires drive us to go too far” Arthur said.

“At the sacrifice of a single person? You would kill a person, just to fulfill your own desire? What happened to saving whoever you can?” 

“If I can save all of these people at the cost of a single life, is that not the pragmatic thing to do? Is that not the smart thing to do?” Arthur asked.

“It is, but it’s not what the Arthur I know would do. You ask me not to save my mother, regardless of the circumstances” Rey told him, as he clenched his fists. 

“You’re right. Because I’m not asking you. As far as I’m concerned your mother is as guilty as the Janktrons for their role in all of these deaths. Sacrificing herself to save everyone else is a worthy penance for her” Arthur said as he turned around to face Rey, as his bow materialized from his hand.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, can’t say I’m surprised” Rey said, holding out his gun, twisting a knob on it as a blade extended from its barrel, as he held it up. The two faced one another, Janktrons walked behind them, ready to pounce at their command.