Kapitel 73: A Fool in a Box

"Hahaha... What a touching reunion," said Nikolai.

Barry was holding Jill at gunpoint. An expression of disbelief could be seen on Edward's face, as he couldn't wrap his head at this revelation.

"W... Why? Barry, put down the gun and release her!" yelled Edward.

"I'm sorry, Ed. But I have no choice," answered Barry. He didn't have any courage to look at Edward's eyes and keep evading them.

Edward turned at Nikolai and shouted, "You bastard! What have you done, Nikolai!?"

"Well, let's just say he was very useful." smiled Nikolai. He walked toward Barry and wrapped his arm at the latter's shoulder. If someone else saw it, they might think that this two was a quite close friend. Nikolai continued, "He was used once, so why not use him again?"

"Shut up! I've done what you want, so release my family!" yelled, Barry, shrugging Nikolai's arm off his shoulder.

"Jeez, calm down. Can't we have a little bit of decent communication here? Let's be civilized and stop yelling at each other." muttered Nikolai, while rubbing his ears.

Edward never put down his guns, not even once. He glanced at his new wristwatch before asking, "Since... when?"

"Good question," replied Nikolai. "Do you remember who asked you to go to school in this city?"

Edward was surprised, "Don't tell me..."

"That's right. I was the one who proposed it to our dear friend over here. I must admit, I was surprised when I coincidentally met him. It must be fate, isn't it?" Answered Nikolai. He walked forward and continued, "Since you never came out of your hiding hole, I have to force myself to get you outside. Not only that, I used him to monitor the Police Department's and the army's movements. Even the truth about William's daughter's pendant was spread by none other than him. I even wondered who's the real villain here."

"You are the one who made me do all of it, Nikolai!" protested Barry.

"And yet you did it perfectly," replied Nikolai. Barry couldn't mutter any word and put in silence. He admitted, he did everything that Nikolai asked him to do. He could have told Chris about it, or the FBI agents at the Police Department, and yet he didn't. All of it was for his family.

"How does it feel, Edward? Betrayed by the one you put your trust at," asked Nikolai.

Edward didn't answer, he couldn't. He dropped on his knees, facing the cold metal ground.

"Yes. That's it. The only one you should have put your trust in is yourself. Everyone was just a card, a tool to be used. Never forget this feeling." smirked Nikolai. "You have all of those power, you shouldn't be the one that could be ruled. Only in Alex's hand, you would find a bright future within this dark, cold world.

Silence permeated through the thick metal walls. No one could say anything. Even Jill was only listening without saying her thoughts. Although she was shocked to find out the real identity of Killswitch, it didn't shake her. Barry's betrayal was also something that could be accepted. He was just a family man that was put in a tight spot, left with no choice.

Suddenly, a beeping noise broke the silence inside the huge hall. Nikolai looked around, searching for the source of the noise. It was actually coming from Edward's wristwatch. There was a SHIELD symbol carved inside it.

"Haha..." chuckled, Edward. Nikolai found the situation odd when Edward didn't stop laughing.

'Did he lost his mind?' he thought.

When Edward stopped laughing, he took out a communication device from his pocket and turned it on. He then asked, "Any updates?"

After a buzzing noise, the voice of Nick Fury could be heard by all of them. "Right on time. We found them, you can do whatever you want."

"Good, it's too tiring listening to this man's yapping. My face even felt cramped from acting surprised and aghast all the time," complained Edward.

"Uggh... I can imagine that. Well, good luck with that. I'll see you later." said Nick, turning off the channel.

Nikolai was still confused after hearing the odd conversation. And it was not only him, Jill and Barry were also taken aback.

"What was that?" asked Nikolai.

"What else? My ticket to shut your fucking mouth, of course," replied Edward, rather coldly. He then glanced at Barry and said, "You don't have to worry about your family anymore, Barry. We already take care of it."

Barry was stunned by Edward's word, he couldn't process it for a moment, but he didn't hesitate to turn his weapon toward Nikolai, instead. Jill, who was now free, took out a hidden knife from her heels, covering Barry's back.

"What's the meaning of this?" muttered Nikolai.

"I must admit, your story was a bit interesting, until you start yapping, proclaiming yourself as a genius. But thanks to that, we could have more time to finish the rescue mission," explained Edward. Before Nikolai could say the thing inside his mind, he interrupted, "You must be thinking, why I knew about Barry's circumstances and betrayal."

Just like how Nikolai believed he could read Edward's thought, the latter could read the former's train of thought as well. It even much simpler when you could observe every little gesture he made.

"It's too damn easy. Barry is a family man, he would tirelessly boast about his children. But that same man, never introduced his family to me. I lived in this city for more than a month already, but never did I saw or meet his family, not even once." said Edward. ' And I also had the knowledge of the game. This same shit already happened once, it's not that hard to predict it to happen one more time.'

But he didn't say the second part out loud, keeping it inside his mind. He didn't have any plan to share the knowledge he knew with anyone, especially to a slithering snake like him.

"That's all to it. Unlike you, I don't have a hobby to share my thoughts and I don't have the time for it either," said Edward.

He walked toward the wall on his right. He already observed everything around him when Nikolai started his never-ending monologue. Although he still didn't know the purpose of them, he knew how to use them. He pushed the tube inside, turning the red light on top of it from red to green. He calmly did the same for each tube, even the one on the opposite wall.

"You've lost, Nikolai. This time, I came out as the winner," said Edward while moving toward the last tube.

Nikolai gritted his teeth, suppressing the rare anger inside his chest. He then asked, "But how did you found his family, I believe that no one knew where they were being held."

Edward paused for a second before answering, "You're right. Normally, roaming this damned city, looking for a family that no one knew of might be too damn hard." replied Edward.

"Normally?" muttered Nikolai.

"All I did was ask. Ahh, that's not the right word. I made a bet with him. The winner will be the one who picks the right place." said Edward.

"You asked someone to make a bet with you?" muttered Nikolai. It was simply absurd. He didn't believe it at all. There must be a mistake in his plan.

But Edward only smiled, and then replied, "No. I only asked him to win."

Somewhere in the facility, John Wick was sneezing. "Hmm... Is it just me or this place is really starting to get colder."

Behind him were corpses of HYDRA's members, stacked on top of each other. While in front of him, Winter Soldier was bleeding profusely with the team leader laying unconscious on the floor. He was trying so hard to stand on his feet. Although John was also injured, if compared to the man in front of him, it looked just like a scratch.

Returning to the great hall, Edward was slowly pushing the last tube into its slot. Activating the weapon in the middle of the wall on his left. He calmly walked toward it while instructing Barry and Jill.

"You two, can you take 10 steps backward?"

Jill and Barry were confused by the sudden instruction, but they immediately step back without asking.

"Who is that man you made bet with!? Is it Albert Wesker!? Is that man is still alive!?" yelled Nikolai. The only man who would be smart enough to predict his plan would only be Albert Wesker. There was also HUNK, but that man was only good at fighting, not planning. His curiosity was taking over his mind.

"I told you didn't I, I don't have any time to talk about it," replied Edward while pulling out the huge weapon. It turned out to be Ferromagnetic Infantry-use Next Generation Railgun" (FINGeR). He muttered, "Damn, this world really love to make abbreviation into words."

It was a portable rail cannon developed by the NEST 2 Lead Researcher and the U.S. military to eliminate bioweapons in case of an outbreak. Hooked up to the Nest 2 electric generator, the cannon draws energy from the 10 large tube-like batteries, inserted into the generator. Although the weight was not a problem, it was just too big, causing Edward to spread his arm to properly hold it. The barrel alone was the size of an adult.

Nikolai thought that Edward was purposely taunting him, causing him only to focus on the latter. He didn't felt the occasional vibration from the tremor. And when he did, it was too late.

BOOOMM!

The wall behind him exploded as a gigantic monster appeared. It used its protruding claw and stabbed it at the floating Nikolai, piercing it through his stomach before he was flung away to the wall. Jill and Barry, were completely unharmed as they were at a safe distance. They immediately offered help to Edward, but the latter refused it.

The huge four-armed and four-legged G-Tyrant/Nemesis roared and jumped down. But Edward was already prepared. Regina notified him of its arrival, long before he appeared.

"Reinforce."

"Goodbye, you persistent bastard," muttered Edward.

Just when the huge monster touched the hard cold ground, a huge white beam swallowed its body. The blast penetrated the walls behind him. It didn't stop as it dug a long tunnel so long that it even reached the outskirts of Arklay mountain.

5 Seconds later, the bright light slowly dimmed as the rail gun exhausted its power. The 10 batteries on the wall were pushed out, and the light on it turned red. What was left from the monster's body was a floating ball that was slowly gathering and growing flesh, but it was so slow that it would take a whole day to recover. Edward slowly walked toward it and took out Blackbeard.

The identity of that small floating ball was the core of Genma. It was usually destroyed when an Oni Gauntlet user destroys it, but Vanessa didn't even know of its existence as she didn't know the biology of Genma, allowing the G-Tyrant to consume it and turned into a Genma as well.

"Dark Blast."

Bloom Booom Boom Boom Boom!

A series of explosions completely obliterate the core as the marble of souls bursting out of it, floating on the dry air. The Oni Gauntlet started absorbing the soul fragments, and when it finished, a notification appeared in front of Edward's face.

<+500.000 EXP>

Not only did he got a hefty sum of EXP, now that he had enough amount of souls, he could also upgrade either the Gauntlet or Blackbeard. But for now, he put it aside as there was something more important to deal with.

Edward jumped to the half-broken platform where Nikolai stood before. Nikolai who was bleeding profusely tried to crawl his way outside.

"Even with such a wound in your stomach, you seemed abnormally healthy." commented, Edward, sarcastically. He stepped on his elbow, breaking every single bone in it.

"Aaarrhgghh!!!!" screamed Nikolai.

Edward grabbed him by his neck, dragging him toward the hole that the mutated G-Tyrant made earlier. There were emergency stairs that would lead them to the surface. He slowly climbed the stairs, followed by Jill and Barry behind him. They wanted to ask why Edward brought that bastard along with him, but they just stay quiet, thinking that he might have a plan.

"Where... are you... taking me..." said Nikolai. He tried as hard as he can to mutter each word even though he was grabbed by the neck. Hindering him from talking properly.

"Somewhere that suits you," replied Edward, shortly.

"Aren't... you... afraid...?"

Edward knew what he meant, but he just roughly took out Nikolai's communication device, hidden inside his wet jacket.

"You mean this thing?" asked Edward.

"If... I didn't... contact her... your family would be..."

Click.

Edward turned it on, after a buzzing noise, a woman voice could be heard, but it wasn't the voice of BERTHA. She asked, "Is this Nikolai?"

"No, it's Killswitch." replied, Edward.

"Ohh... BERTHA's dead. You were right, she planned to betray us. Although it was a surprise to find out that he was a double agent. How did you do that?" asked the woman.

"Calm down, LUPO. I'll contact you later after this," replied Edward.

From the beginning, LUPO was never hurt by the explosion at the tunnel. She purposely acted unconscious after Edward told her that her teammate would betray her. Although she was hesitant, she still follows through and found out about BERTHA's odd behavior the moment she was left in charge.

Edward knew that in the game, the Wolfpack would be split in half and forced to kill each other. But this time, it seemed it was only BERTHA that became the traitor among the group.

Nikolai who was listening to the conversation was baffled. One by one, his plan to blackmail Edward keeps falling through.

And soon, they arrived at the Hospital's rooftop, where a helicopter was waiting for them. John and Wade were already inside, preparing to pilot it. There was also Carlos, but he seemed to be wounded from a scuffle. He could guess that it was Barry that caused it.

Edward kept walking, but his direction was the opposite of the helicopter, it was the edge of the rooftop.

"You're still alive?" asked Edward, toward the pale-faced Nikolai. Even after covering the wound with cloth, he would be dead if someone didn't take care of it as soon as possible. But Edward didn't plan to do that, not even the slightest bit.

"At least, you're still breathing." muttered, Edward. He lifted him and turned Nikolai's face downward. There was a horde of zombies, drawn by Nikolai's dripping blood. "Now hear and look, you pathetic bastard. Killing you with my own hand was my plan, but now, seeing how low you actually are, I don't think I would disgust myself by taking care of you by myself."

Edward pointed at the horde of zombies below him. The hospital only had two floors, it was not too high for you to instantly die, but not low enough to allow the zombies to climb up. "That... is your end."

But somehow, Nikolai laughed with all of the power that he had.

"Did the shock of you losing this fight fried your mind?" muttered, Edward.

"Haha...ha... I lost? Don't joke... around..." replied Nikolai. He puked blood before forcing himself to spoke, "I already won! I took everything from you, those that you hold dear! I carved the feeling of helplessness, suffering, ...and agony within you. Even if I failed in killing your family, others will take my place."

Nikolai didn't even pause, and keep talking, "Don't you know...? The missile will be launched earlier than scheduled... in a few minutes... this city will be blown up... erasing it completely from the map. I've won, Edward. And you, are the one who lost."

Edward's expressionless face was turning even colder, there was some truth in Nikolai's word. Even if he was defeated, even if he already dead, it didn't mean that everything that had happened could be omitted and forgotten. In this fight, the one who had lost was... Edward.

He released the grip on Nikolai's neck, dropping his body toward the horde of zombies that were holding their hands up to the air, competing for Nikolai's body. However, before he met his ends, Nikolai mouthed a sentence that could only be seen by Edward.

He repeated Nikolai's word with a low voice, "Have you ever wondered... what lies inside your body?"