UP 3.5

Botter left the dramatic pose he took when we teleported.

"Great. We teleported out of the headquarters."

If it weren't for his smartphone, we might have died, or worse. We were now outside the headquarters in an alleyway different than where we started.

I blinked the feeling of disorientation out of my eyes and sagged against a nearby wall.

"I just...I don't know. She's way beyond us, and she's using that power to kill people." I was still horrified by the fact that she killed two people, and it only got worse after Twilightia just showed how much of an 'angel' she was, literally.

Sure, Botter could shoot out her bullets using his laser gun. I could take advantage of her weakness all day. But those were merely temporary measures to combat her. It was a hard battle... I shuddered to think about what she would be like the next time we met her, when she started actually using her angelic powers effectively.

"We're better off giving up on her. You saw her." I said, looking up to the dark, raining sky, with the lightning blinding me again. I felt unmotivated to continue a losing battle. With my help or without, people were going to die on Twilightia's hands.

Botter had taken on an indignant look behind these goggles, all but shouting at me.

"And let her do what she wants? You already saw her k-killing people very easily! She killed these women just to prove my point about SEC!"

"She's an angel. She took a shot to her heart and laughed it off. By the time she shows up again, she will probably be even worse than before. We're just..."

I took a deep breath and paused, looking at Botter.

"We're just squishy humans."

"That's why we develop tools to help us, Sam." Botter said with a forced smile. "To unlock our full potential, we need tools. Without these tools, we're nothing. That's why you have a gun. As insignificant as it might be to her, you still managed to hold her off with that gun. That was impressive."

"So...become more powerful to tackle her?" I said timidly.

"Yes. With tools."

"Does she look like someone you can assassinate? Tools or not, she's not going down easily!" I said back.

"Yes my dear." he said it boldly.

"H-how?! Tell me how!" What absurd reasons would he come up with to tell me that she can be assassinated?

"Universe-travel." An idea suddenly lit up in my head as he said that.

"I've seen many universes until now, all with different rules on everything. Maybe if we visit them...maybe we'll become even more powerful and be on an equal ground against her." Botter continued.

I see. I had managed to forget all about that. I'm in a different universe, all right. But Theia and Sparkle City most likely weren't the only ones around. Botter doesn't look like he belongs to any of the two universes either! We could take advantage of universe-travel; to become more powerful against Twilightia. I felt a mounting sense of determination as thoughts ran across my head. I must become powerful enough to kill her and save everyone she's going to kill. I certainly don't want more people to die.

But can I really take her on? I'll figure out once I try.

"You're right. It should be possible to destroy her head on. She felt pain, didn't she?"

Botter had a wolfish grin on his face as he punctuated his sentences with his fist. "That's what I wanted to hear. She felt pain. Make it even more painful for her!"

I pushed off the wall, my lost motivation returning. "Right then. We should get out of this universe, then."

"Alright, hang on while I mark the next portal's location. We have to make this count, though, or we're as good as dead."

“Can't we just teleport to the portal anyway?”

Botter winced. “Well...the thing is, my teleport has a cooldown of twenty-four hours. I suppose the answer to this question would be an obvious negative.”

So for 24 hours, we cannot just teleport out of a pinch like how we did a while ago. Looking around the alleyway while Botter fiddled with his smartphone, I noticed that there was nothing watching us. Odd, since Twilightia said there was no privacy in her city. No suspicious looking cameras or anything.

And then I heard the broadcast's introductory bells.

"This is the Sparkle City Broadcast. The time now is 5:00PM, or 17:00, Thursday, Day 10634. Work ends now. It is currently cloudy, with rain and thunder. The Sparkle City Broadcast was brought to you by..."

5 PM? Did we really take this long? Jeez. I can't believe that I was sleeping peacefully in Theia around three hours ago.

"Oh no."

"What is it, Botter?" I asked, looking back at him. He showed me the city's map, pointing towards a concentrated assortment of dots.

"Look at this. These dots are all the portals in this universe, and they're all focused on one spot."

We were royally screwed. The portals were all in the Sparkle Electric Laboratories. Twilightia knew about us, so I wouldn't it put it past her to also know where we're heading next. I doubted she would just leave us alone as we tried to figure out how to outsmart her. But what can we do? We have two deadly choices: her way, or the highway.

"Look Botter, I don't think we can object here. This is her city. We're either going to stay here while we're under her own pressure, or leave. We're confronting her in both cases. But why are the portals in her laboratories?"

"Hmm...now that you mention it, is she the one responsible for opening these portals?"

Dammit. I hope Botter isn't right. But...

"We'll figure that out once we get there. We need to sneak into that lab. I bet you that law enforcement is right behind us."

Thunder roared again. The rain was getting even heavier by now. My clothes were already soaked wet. It was getting cold.

A metaphorical light bulb dinged over Botter's head.

"Twilightia's TV showed some scenery of her city. I even caught the glimpse of an alleyway from above. Surely she must have installed cameras all over the place."

Damn you Botter. My awesome points would be negative soon! He actually paid attention to even this little detail. All I could remember was the deaths of these women.

Botter continued with that train of thought. "And since it's raining..."

"Get an umbrella?"

It was a hilariously simple We could certainly fool the law enforcement this way. Interesting, though; I should have been hearing the sound of police sirens. They're likely waiting for their prey to come out in the open. Damn, we need to move. I'm getting sick of staying here.

"Any objections, lady?" Botter asked as he transformed his smartphone into an umbrella.

I almost rolled my eyes at the never-ending utility of Botter's smartphone. For all I knew, he could do practically anything with that phone.

"We're going to hide under the umbrella. It's dark outside, so we're going to take advantage of that. Make sure your head always touches the bottom of the umbrella! It's a fifteen-minute walk from here. Don't worry about the surroundings, I'll make sure we infiltrate only when the area's clear."

It must be very uncomfortable going with the plan. That might exhaust my body, considering he's taller than me by a bit. However, there's not much of a choice left for us.

Since everyone except for Twilightia saw me in my female form, there's a slim chance I might up our survival chances by switching into male. So I just did that, and went under Botter's umbrella as instructed. Needless to say, there wasn't much to see apart from the ground, which was boring (and wet). We had to stay in this stance for a solid fifteen minutes. One mistake could cost us our life. We didn't know how good her law enforcement is.

Botter started walking, and I followed along.  At certain times, I could tell we were going through other alleyways. We actually did that for the whole seventeen minutes. In the last five minutes, the pavement switched to a (wet) dirt slope. Thunder decided to crack in the background, before I saw Botter's mouth open.

"We've arrived. It's safe to get out now, Sam".

Both Botter and I got out from the umbrella. No police, no workers, nothing. I could feel that the laboratory was devoid of life. This was natural; work let out around this time. However that odd feeling took over me again.

"Hmm, that window was somehow left open. It's possibly a trap, but we'll need to endure it." Botter said.

A trap, huh? Reasoning only brought us that far. Regardless, we entered through the window to a hallway that was barely lit, taking out our weapons. The weather outside and the dark atmosphere inside made the place look creepy, to put it mildly. Following Botter's movement, he decided to go left towards a downwards staircase, ending up in a room with three doors.

It looked as you might expect; one on the left, another on the right, and the last one straight ahead. There was a strange buzzing noise in that room. Carefully observing the doors, Botter chose the left door, sweeping the room with his laser pistol. The noise's source came from that room, and it turned out to be the many assortments of portals we were looking for. Unfortunately, they were all locked inside glass containers, held up by pistons which extended from the ceiling downwards. The containers were as tall as I am, if not taller.

It was one huge room, comparable to a warehouse. Electricity generators surrounded the room, as did empty workstations, and of course the portals with their glass containers. The dim light made it hard to make out anything else in detail.

"Nice thinking, SEC." Botter said quietly, as he went deeper into the center of the room. Following him, chills ran up my spine as the room suddenly lit up. And it was definitely not the lightning outside.

"How lovely. Welkome."

I spun around to that familiar 'aksent' that only Twilightia uses. There she was, her left hand on the light switch while the other pointed her gun at my direction. She had only two wings on her back, but something about her malicious smile scared me. Botter spun around on the spot, startled. I immediately shot one of the glass containers for good measure, but the glass was bullet-proof. Dammit!

"How did you know?!" I asked, looking back at her. Twilightia cackled right away. I wanted an actual answer.

"Didn't I say that you have no privasy in this sity? There are sekurity kameras installed all over the sity in both publik and private areas! You were talking about your plans to leave my universe in the alleyway you teleported to!" Her smile widened even further.

There were no security cameras in that alleyway! And yet...she knows that much! Is that a result of her angelic powers? I guess when you're fighting a freaking angel with thirteen wings, who has been sealed at least twice, and also uses telekinesis, it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine that she could learn of our whereabouts with mind reading.

"Why do you have these portals in your lab?" Botter asked nervously. The fallen angel stared at him, that same creepy smile on display, and said nothing. Looking at Botter's face, I could tell he was agitated by her response.

"My time is so preshious, moreso than your worthless existense. My wounded wing and heart would love to see the two of you turned into flesh and blood, the only good thi--"

I heard a gunshot first, and only then did I realize she was aiming in my direction.

"--ngs about you humans!"

I had fully expected to die right then and there, but there was no pain like I had expected. Botter had just shot the surprise bullet out of my way.

I felt even more grateful to the old man. He had never failed to impress ever since I met him. On the other hand, my hatred of Twilightia had reached a new level. She used to be an angel! And yet she's this rotten? That felt all sorts of wrong.

She followed up by shooting a bullet in Botter's direction. Botter responded by shooting with his laser gun, but he missed the...what the? The sparks appeared on the ground right to him? I could have sworn she was pointing at Botter's stomach! So then, what if she was using telekinesis to alter the course of her bullets? I think she paused intentionally.

"Botter, she's using telekinesis on her bullets!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Nise observation, Sam. This old man bores me, though."

Twilightia used her telekinesis to lift Botter and force him on the top of the wall behind her, leaving behind his laser gun! He howled in pain and terror. Dammit!

Twilightia rolled her eyes contemptuously. “Kould you skream any louder? You are ruining the mood.”

She picked up his laser gun and forced it against his mouth, obscuring his voice.

"As for you. I've taken a liking to you, Sam. You're so good for sutsh a genderless freak!"

It's me versus her. Sam versus Twilightia. My legs were shaking at the thought. But regardless, I must do something even if I, a mere squishy human, was matched up against a fallen angel!

She aimed her distinctive pistol at my head. Not even a minute into the fight and she wants me dead. I rolled away before she could pull the trigger, seemingly dodging the bullet. However, I was forced to stay on the ground as a terrible sight beheld me.

A bullet was floating directly in front of my eyes. It then went backwards, and flew all over the lab at a visible speed! What is this insanity?! This bullet sure as heck could be fatal if I wasn't careful, so I tried to eye it as best as I could while still moving. It sped and slowed, flew up and down, and turned left and right. Something is off...I rolled out of instinct, only to find that had Twilightia shot another bullet. I dodged it, but then that flying bullet decided to fly down on me. It was speeding up too, and getting in level with my head!

It was a very near thing, but I bent my body backwards to avoid getting gibbed by the bullet. It struck the ground with a tinny 'ping', and I was unharmed. Jeez, I was getting hammered and nobody even scratched Twilightia! Four bullets so far. I'd need to do this to learn just how many bullets she can shoot per clip. The pistol seemed to sound more like a Brave Lion from Theia, which has a slower firing rate, but a much deadlier caliber of bullets.

I remembered that the glass containers were bullet-proof, so I darted behind one. Suddenly, the angel tossed her gun into the air while looking to a spot left to mine. The gun was now floating just in front of me, trapping me in-between. She was looking to her left, while the right spot was empty.

I reflexively went to my right.

Bad move.

I felt immense pain in my leg.

"Gaaaahh!!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!!"

Ughh. She just shot me in the leg, and had the audacity to belt out an evil laugh on top of that. Dammit, this pain...but I need to endure it! I have an ace up my sleeve now. There was a table with glass panes on it. I need to toss one of them at her, before she would ever think of lifting up on me! I wrapped my hands around them, making sure I didn't grip them until this angel believed my weakness. What was that you said again, Botter? 'Make this count, or we're dead?' This couldn't possibly be any more relevant than it was already was; she was walking in front of me, taking pleasure in my screams of pain.

"You genderless freak! You disappointed me. How pathetik. But fear not, you kould please Twilightia! Just twitsh in suffering as I of-"

I tossed the pane at her. She was even closer to me. Close enough for the pane to damage her, but not too close to damage me as well. It all went according to plan. I suppressed my screaming for the time being.

Her wings disappeared. The pane broke into shards as it collided with her head, and they pierced into her skin. Blood flowed freely from the wounds as she screamed in immense pain. I couldn't savor the irony, because at the same time, I also heard a hard thud on the ground...B-Botter!

"Owwwwww!" Botter fell into the ground! I hope he's still okay! Suddenly, Twilightia's screaming ended...no, not that laughter ag-

"KYAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Her face morphed into a horrible smile. The fact that someone could laugh with their own blood all over their face and yet smile this way...she's gone beyond the worst we can do as humans!

"Exsellent. Truly exsellent performanse, Sam. I'd love to reward you."

As she said that, she materialized the two of her wings and lifted both of us with her telekinesis, and materialized two light particles in front of her, flying right into Botter's and my body.

"You need to fight me in thirty days. If you don't fight me, hmhmmhmm...first, your feet explode, then your legs, then your stomakh, then your shest, then your nekk and finally your head! THAT, is your REWARD! Kyaaaaaaaaahahaha!"

Thirty days and we'll dissolve into pink mist. In that exact order. Fun.

"Now, I'm very sure you two have one question on your minds right now. 'Oh hey Twilightia, why don't you just kill us off and be done with it?' And to be honest, why would I? If you fail, your slow, delisious deaths would delight me for years to kome! And if you don't fail, you may end up unsealing more of my powers! Both are desserts that I kan't wait for!”

Twilightia suddenly tilted her head and looked confused, as if she was waiting for something. She smacked her head once with the back of her hand as she suddenly remembered, pushing a glass shard even deeper into her head and restarting the flow of blood.

“Oh, boy, I got kaught up in this monologuing and almost forgot one important thing. Sam, I have a speshial prize for you."

Another light particle materialized in front of her. This one went towards the gunshot wound on my left leg. Agony embraced me tightly, and I was unable to stop screaming.

"Nise, very nise! Your wound kannot be healed for the thirty days! Now, I think you should be on your way to find me. And don't even think about komitting suiside. No matter how you die, you will still be eviskerated, and you'll feel every sekond of it! Kyahahahahahahaha!"

She seemed to smash all the glass containers around using telekinesis, and then she tossed us into one of the portals around...I was so close to blacking out from the pain.

Damn you, Twilightia.