Wolf stood there, frozen, his core still glowing in the dark liquid. He could only stare at the floating skulls, at the bones of his people.
"Look at you," Supreme's voice boomed. "No words, huh?"
Suddenly, a voice cut through Wolf's mind, the cold, calculated tones of the AI. Wolf, calm down. Focus. You cannot win this without focus, without care.
The AI filled his vision with images from Mars—not of the machines, but of the faces of the children he had known. The AI was trying to remind him of his purpose, but it only brought a fresh wave of grief. The images of their laughing faces made him sad, reminding him of what he had failed to protect.
"Wolf, you're so cool! You help everyone! You're like a real superhero!" A memory of a kid, maybe a little older than forty, with a bright smile, played out in his mind. Then another, and another—all of them looking at him with adoration.
The image cut back to the present. The skulls floated all around him, bumping against his legs.
Boom! Supreme slammed into the pool. Without hesitation, he went for the attack, moving with the force of a wrecking ball. He swung his massive clawed arm, a single, decisive swipe that tore into Wolf's side.
Bang! The claw ripped clean through, and Wolf's arm was severed in an explosion of sparks and ruptured metal. He hit the wall with a sickening thud. He didn't move. His red eyes, once burning with the fire of a sun, went black. There was no light. He just lay there.
Supreme walked towards Wolf, his laughter echoing in the hollow space. "What's the matter? You've finally accepted defeat, huh? You half-humans always give up when it gets hard."
Wolf just lay there, not speaking, his body leaning against the wall. From his point of view, he saw Supreme approaching slowly, but in the forefront of his vision, the AI pleaded with him to fight back, to stand up.
Will you die for this? Will you die without getting justice for the Marsians? Will you let Joe, the kids... will you let their deaths be for nothing? Will you let this monster take you, too?
Then, boom!
Supreme's claw went deep into Wolf's chest.
"Look at that," Supreme sneered, twisting the claw. "At the end of the day, you trash will always lay down when it gets hard. You're worth nothing and never will be."
A low growl rumbled in Wolf's chest. "No."
Supreme paused, surprised. "Huh? Did you say something?"
Wolf's eyes, still dark, suddenly flared with a terrifying red light. "I said, no!"
He looked down at his core, and the light flared, building to an impossible intensity. Before Supreme could rip it out, a blinding torrent of energy erupted from Wolf's chest.
Boom!!
The blaze cut through the roof of the power station and shot into the sky like a supernova, hitting the clouds with a fiery shockwave. The force was so strong it ripped Supreme's arm clean off.
Wolf, his face a mask of rage, looked up at Supreme's surprised, bleeding face.
"Look at that," he growled. "Now you're a half-breed, too."
Wolf looked down at the floating bones, a look of grim realization on his face.
"We're so useless," he said, his voice low and bitter, "yet you need us to power your cities... to power that suit."
Supreme threw his head back and laughed, a cold, dry sound that echoed across the vast chamber.
"Hahahahaha! You're right. So right. You're so useless, I had to invent a whole new power system just to give a good use to them!"
The laughter stopped, replaced by a chilling calm.
"You know why I want that core? Not for power... but to destroy it. You think I want this world to have infinite energy? No, no, no, no. Why would we need clean infinite energy when we have you half-breeds?"
A sudden silence fell over the vast chamber. The AI's pleas had stopped, and Supreme's cruel laughter had vanished. Wolf just stood there, his red eyes burning with a cold, righteous fury.
No words were needed. Boom! He launched himself forward.
Supreme smiled. Wolf jumped back just as something slammed into the glowing fossil oil where he had been standing. He looked again. It was a new, huge clawed arm, gleaming and pristine.
"Take a great look," Supreme's voice boomed, calm and menacing. "This will be the last time anyone sees me being down."
He bent down, and the new arm connected to his shoulder with a hiss of pressurized air and the grinding of gears.
"Look at that," he said with a smug grin. "Now you're back to being the only half-breed again."
He spread his arms wide, the new one moving with predatory speed, like the arms of a praying mantis.
"Come," he roared. "Come to your death."
Wolf put his remaining arm up like a boxer, his stance one of grim defiance. Supreme went for a big swing, a crushing blow from his new arm, but Wolf ducked under it.
Bang! Wolf countered with a hard hit to Supreme's leg.
Rip! Supreme landed another massive hit, a blow that sent Wolf reeling. But Wolf didn't stop. He came back at him, striking Supreme's armor again, yet it did nothing.
Rip! Supreme landed another devastating hit, sending Wolf flying back with a deafening crash.
Wolf lay there, broken and battered. "Hey, AI girl?" he called out.
There was no reply.
Supreme loomed over him, his towering 24-foot mech suit dwarfing Wolf's mangled body. "What's the matter?" he sneered. "Even the AI abandoned you?"
He looked down at the battered hero. "Why keep fighting? Look at yourself. You stand no chance."
Wolf, his body broken and missing an arm, looked back up at the giant with no fear in his eyes. His sun core still burned, a defiant, angry light.
Wolf, ignoring his shattered body, went on the offensive. He charged, a furious whirlwind of metal and rage, and slammed into Supreme.
Bang! Wolf landed a hit. Supreme swung, but Wolf went under the blow. He went for another hit.
Bang, bang, bang! Wolf landed multiple hits, pummeling Supreme's side.
"You may be big," he grunted, "but you're not fast!"
But just as he landed another hit, BOOM! a massive swing from Supreme's new arm connected squarely with Wolf's face.
Wolf fell on his back, the momentum sending him halfway into the glowing fossil oil. His face was half-destroyed, a mangled mess of torn metal and shattered circuits.
Supreme walked up to him, looking down at the broken figure. He stepped on Wolf's chest, pinning him.
"Haha! Bye bye," he taunted, raising his arm for a final, decisive swing.
BOOM! A sudden flash of light, and the sun core blaze erupted from Wolf's chest, blasting through the roof of the power station. But it was for nothing. The blaze missed Supreme, only getting a little under his arm.
Supreme let out a triumphant roar. And with a single, big swing, he tore through Wolf's remaining arm, severing it from his shoulder. He then grabbed Wolf's head and lifted him into the air with a single arm.
Supreme's laugh, "In the end, you'll never save them. You'll never see them again. They're dead. You could have run away in space, yet you came to us." He raised both of his massive arms in a final gesture of dominance. "You see, you trash always needed us. We don't need you."
But just as he spoke, his suit's lights flickered and died. The mechanical hum of the suit stopped. With a groaning sigh of metal, Supreme fell to his knees, his massive arms hanging uselessly at his sides. He was powerless.
He looked back and realized Wolf didn't aim for him at all. The last sun core blaze had cut clean through the pipe that was feeding his suit fossil oil from the main power hub. Without the connection, the suit was dead.
Supreme could not move. His 25-foot frame collapsed to a mere 10 feet, hanging uselessly on his knees. The once-towering suit was now just a crippled hunk of metal.
Wolf stood there, looking down at him now. "What happened to you don't need us?"
Wolf's sun core began to get bright again, the fiery glow pulsing with a silent, terrible heat. Supreme's head was now perfectly level with the core, a single, final target.
The men, now exposed on the bridges high above the glowing oil, turned and ran.
Supreme saw them go. He smiled, but then the smile twisted into a snarl of rage as he realized they were running for the exits.
"You motherf—!" he screamed. "I'll kill you! I'll kill your own families! I built this world, and I'll be damned if I die today!" He turned his furious gaze back to Wolf. "And you! You think you're some hero, killing me? You're no hero! What kind of hero are you when you can't even save a single soul?!"
Wolf's face was a mask of grim finality. "I'm no hero," he said, his voice cold and flat.
Then, BOOM! The sun core blaze erupted, a furious blast of pure energy that went right through Supreme's face. The blast tore through the power system behind him, rupturing pipes and causing a cascading explosion of light and sound.
Supreme's headless body fell backward, now completely into the glowing green pool. The massive suit, once a symbol of his power, was now just a crippled, useless hulk sinking into the oil.
A low, mechanical ticking sound began to echo across the chamber, growing faster and faster.
Tick... tick... tick...