Chapter Fourteen
Anna felt a shiver pass through her body, which was unusual. Her system only allowed such feelings when danger approached. She hadn’t felt such a thing since before she remade herself into a more powerful being. Her metal hands were holding a screwdriver to her abdominal. Oil dripped from her stomach. The puncture wound from Soul stabbing her. Anna had left her tools on the barge and decided to repair herself there before going to dismantle Hiro. The shiver up her spine warned her and she knew what was going on.
“Crystal Crier,” said Anna, wiping the oil and blood off her hands onto her pants. She left the cabin, hurrying on deck and looking towards the village. Against her will she caught her breath at the sight before her.
Through the darkness a beam of light shot out of the center of the island like a beacon. Anna held up a hand to shield her eyes as she watched the ground cracking open and the large chunks of earth rising slowly into the air. She stared as the fake village she had created rose into the air, higher and higher. She saw the steel doorways and halls of her lab rising with the dome. It went higher and higher until it looked no bigger than her fist.
The whole thing exploded in a massive eruption. The chunks flew in all directions, crashing into the ocean and causing huge waves that rapped against the barge and shook it. Anna lost her balance and grabbed hold of the railing. She glared angrily at the sky when she saw the light was still in the sky. Shining against the black clouds like a rebellious star. It began to sink towards the ground and Anna saw in the center of the light there was a figure. He was coming towards the beach and Anna knew it was Hiroshima coming to get her. She ran into the cabin, grabbing her replacement pistol and two rifles which she strapped to her back. She then ran back to the barge. With a running start she leap from the barge, across the water, and landed on the beach.
“Nice light show,” said Anna loudly as Hiro stepped down onto the ground yards away. The light was so bright Anna couldn’t see clearly what he looked like. The armor was shaped different than it had been before, and it was clearly no longer black. “Hiding in your glow, huh?” Anna scoffed, snapping a bullet cartridge into the pistol and aiming. “How nice.” She fired.
The bullet ricocheted off the armor and fell to the ground uselessly. Anna didn’t fret. She instead watched as the light died away and Hiro looked at her with hostility in his eyes. His armor was pure gold with silver on the sharp edges and black deep inside. A helmet came down over his forehead to a point over his face and shot out at the back like spikes. On the top were two cat ears that added to the golden armor in an odd way. A black mask with gold spikes attached to his face covered his mouth and nose. Hiro’s golden eyes glowed from deep within and he held out his hands that were black gloves with golden armor coming down the back of his hands. His feet were armored and still looked like clawed paws.
“Lower the gun,” said Hiro, his voice echoing between them musically.
Anna snorted. “New armor and you think you’ll beat me,” she said with a laugh. She fired at the weak spots on the armor, but the bullets hit nothing when Hiro vanished and appeared next to himself.
“For all you’ve done to me,” said Hiro, slowly approaching Anna who hastily reloaded her gun while moving back. She fired again, but Hiro vanished and appeared closer, still walking slowly. His steps left no mark on the sandy beach.
“For all that you’ve taken from me.” Hiro reached out to Anna, but she whipped her hand back, a knife shooting into her palm. She sliced at him and Hiro withdrew his hand sharply. Blood dripped from his fingers. It shimmered as if small specks of gold were inside it. Anna retreated as Hiro looked at his hand. His eyes narrowed and his gaze snapped to Anna who drew a rifle, tossing aside her useless pistol. She fired at him again and again, but the bullets left no dent. Hiro vanished and appeared in front of Anna who gasped in alarm.
Hiro seized her by the throat and lifted her into the air, then slammed her to the ground so hard the earth cracked at impact. Anna’s rifles broke in half and she cringed, blood filling her mouth from biting her tongue. She took her knife and slammed it into Hiro’s stomach. He jerked back and Anna kicked him off of her. She staggered back, getting up and holding out her hands. Two long knives slid out her palms and she grabbed the handles. Armor tore through her skin, shredding it as it covered her whole body. The armor was stained with her very own blood and she gritted her teeth.
“Be lucky I had mercy on you when I created you!” She screamed, blood spewing from her mouth. “You could have been like I am!” She ran at Hiro with the two knifes. She slashed at him back and forth. Hiro brought up his arms, deflecting the attacks emotionlessly. His eyes held no pity for the monster before him. He spun on the spot, kicking Anna in the head. She shot to the side, crumpling to the ground and lying still. As she pushed herself onto her elbows she shook her head. She picked up her knives and moved to get up, but suddenly Hiro slammed his foot down on her back, making her collapse again.
“For all the damage you’ve brought to the earth.” He said, reaching down and grabbing the back of Anna’s armored neck. She was fully metal now. Her hair was gone from the jagged steel skull and the bandages had fallen away from the steel visor that covered her eyes. When Hiro grabbed her she began to struggle and kick, but Hiro held her at bay. Her attacks couldn’t reach him.
“For everything you’ve made me do.” Hiro held his hand over his knee. A gold and silver knife shot up into the air and he caught it. He wrenched it back to strike, but Anna suddenly screamed.
“I was doing as I was told!” She cried kicking and struggling while grabbing Hiro’s hand and trying to make him let her go. “The scientists made me this way! They created me to destroy! Yes, I killed them, but it isn’t my fault I want to destroy everything!”
Hiro looked on at her coolly. He slammed the knife into her back and she shrieked in pain. Oil spat at Hiro whose eyes were narrowed.
“For Soul,” he whispered. He wrenched out the knife and tossed it aside, dropping Anna who twitched and spasm on the ground. Hiro rolled her onto her back with his foot then slammed his knee onto her chest. He seized her throat and tore the visor from her eyes, forcing her to look at him. She stared, but there was still no fear. Her words and actions were a fake.
“You’re not human,” Hiro told Anna darkly. “Begging for mercy is part of your programming. You chose to do everything you ever did and if you were set free you would never stop. You’re a disaster waiting to happen. You’ve been at this for hundreds of years, Anna. But it ends now.”
“Crystal Crier,” said Anna, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him off, but his grip was like iron. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Don’t kill me, Crystal Crier!”
Hiro’s masked slid open so Anna could see the grin on his face. “Crystal Crier is gone,” he told her. “I’m no longer a monster like you. I am the Golden Protector. And I will protect the earth from you.” Hiro took her head and snapped her neck in half before she could say anymore.
Anna’s body went limp and her eyes rolled back. Hiro let go of her, but then moved his knee from her chest. He had left a deep dent that had cracked open her armor. It opened up to the heart that had a throbbing purple light. Hiro looked in at it, then slid his fingers into the crack and peeled the steel open. He peered inside at the heart, but as he watched it cracked and then shattered into dust.
Anna was gone for good.
Hiro stood up, stepping away from her corpse and looked around the island. It was still dark out. The air smelled of smoke, and the ocean was unsettled from the rubble of the laboratory crashing into it. The waves slapped against the beach, leaving chunks of metal and wood behind. Hiro looked at his hands, but then shut his eyes. With a gentle breath the armor faded back inside him and he stood dressed in jeans and boots with his black hair wind swept and a smile on his face. His metal torso was unharmed and had a golden tint as if his new heart had repaired every injury he had obtained.
His eyes scanned the beach until he sp
otted a small object lying in the sand. He had seen it go flying when Anna changed into her second form and Hiro went to it, picking it up and dusting sand off it.
It was the key to his heart.
“Okay, Soul,” Hiro said, looking towards the sky. “I’ll protect this world for you.” Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought he heard Soul’s laugh and he lowered his head, placing his hand over his heart. Soul would always be a part of him. He understood that now. Every time he transformed into the Golden Protector it would be him and Soul fighting together. Though she was gone, she would forever be with him.
Hiro looked back at his island and let out a gentle sigh. He had a lot of cleaning up to do. All the messes he had caused, all the labs with fake cities and villages that Anna had made. Hundreds of years of work for him to hunt down and destroy. Who knew what else he would run into?
“This will be fun,” said Hiro, smiling gently. “Right, Soul?” He looked up, knowing Soul would have agreed with him. She would have been proud that he had found a new purpose for his life, a new name for his existence. Hiro was leaving the past behind and creating a new future.
The world would someday tell wonderful stories about the Golden Protector and all he had done for them.
~ The End ~
Thank you for completing the Hiroshima Collection. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did and you want other’s to read it as well I hope you will write a review at your favorite retailer and tell your reading friends about it. This series will remain a free download, so please enjoy it and share it with others.
Thanks again! Happy reading!
~E. L. Mendell
About The Author
E. Mendell was raised in a large family of nine. Being one of seven siblings she found inspiration all around. As soon as she could put words together she began writing stories. Starting with tales of her imaginary adventures, Mendell’s future was beginning to unfold. She started writing more and more. At the age of fourteen she was given an old computer on which she began over thirty stories, and completed more than fifteen. She also took an interest in art, using her gifts to create her own cover art and designs in her stories. However, writing remains her first love.
“I write to escape reality,” says E. Mendell, “and I hope everyone who reads my stories will see them as an escape as well.”
E. Mendell published her first book in 2012, at the age of 21, through Fifth Estate in Alabama. The Eysheus Saga, Book One, Blood River. Mendell reports that most of the series is complete and she is anxious to publish the next book before 2014.
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