Dante, on the other hand, is just as alive as ever. A trail of blood follows him as he scurries out of the office before I can get a clear shot.
Fuck.
He heard me tell Cat where to go. He’s the only one who knows where her and Oscar are heading. He can’t live, not for a single second longer. This shit has gone on for long enough.
I push myself off the bloody ground and follow Dante’s dark trail through the white lobby. The door up ahead swings on its hinges and I’m pushing through it before it can settle down.
Dante doesn’t greet me on the other side of the doorway, but I can hear his voice screeching orders around the nearest corner. Heavy footsteps approach as my brother’s voice fades in the distance.
I immediately pull a stun grenade from my jacket pocket and unclasp the safety. Before the approaching footsteps can turn the corner, I’ve filled up the hallway with chaos. Bodies hit the floor and guns fire wildly. When the bullets cut through the windows, I jump out from behind the corner and spray the smoky hallway with bullets of my own.
There’s no waiting around for the smoke to clear. Dante’s getting away. All it takes is for him to tell one overzealous goon where Cat and Oscar are headed, and then everything falls apart. Catalina’s already done her part, now it’s time for me to finish mine.
When I round the next corner, though, there’s still no Dante. Instead, a pair of elevator doors stand under an analogue floor counter. Shit. It looks like Dante’s already almost at the ground floor.
There’s no time to take the stairs. I’m going to have to leave the same way I came in.
Up here, the windows are thick, and I have to shoot through the nearest one before it shatters enough for me to slip through. Luckily, the fire escape is close by. A short jump later and I’m winding down the rickety metal construction, ten steps at a time.
Before I can get all the way down, a bright red light fills up the sky above. I look up just in time to see the flare cascading beneath the dark clouds.
She did it!
The final battle has begun...
My feet hit the alley floor just as the first eruption shakes the city. The wind has finally picked up again, and it’s quickly followed by a sprinkling of rain.
I don’t pause to smell the fucking flowers, and it’s a good thing, because it means I turn the next corner just in time to see Dante ducking into an armored black jeep.
... But the door slams shut before I can open fire. I know these cars, they’re impossible to pierce with mere bullets. My only hope now is to make sure they crash. That means Cat is on her own—that’s okay, I trust her; there’s no way she’s lingering around waiting for me, and once she gets to Aldar, he’ll whisk her to safety.
I can’t come for her right now, because if this is all going to end tonight, then I’m going to have to kill my brother.
It’s a good thing I have just the tool to catch up to the motherfucker.
My bike is right where I left it, and soon enough, I’m racing down the alley, parallel to Dante’s car.
Hot wind whips across my face as I go faster and faster. The roar of my engine mixed with the howling wind masks all other noise, but I can still feel the vibrations in the air as the city explodes in a full blown revolution.
The warehouse district quickly ends, and I pursue Dante’s black car as it cuts through the rain ahead, speeding downtown.
In the distance, a huge fireball engulfs a building. It’s enough to make Dante’s driver swerve down the nearest street. I don’t know where they were planning on going before, but now I know for sure that they’re not going downtown. For once, downtown is where the action is and cowards like Dante stay as far away from that shit as possible.
I race after him, patiently waiting for my opportunity. My bike is so much smaller than his armed-car that there’s no point in rushing him head on, but if I can find the right spot, then I might be able to get his driver to crash...
Around the next corner is just such an opportunity. A flat iron buildings splits a fork in the road. I twist down on my throttle and speed through the hellish rain. Each drop smacks against my face like watery bullets, but I’m hardly phased. Not even the wind is strong enough to keep me from saddling up beside Dante’s car.
The second I see that his driver has decided to veer left down the forked path up ahead, I burst up beside them. My bike is unsteady in the storm as I unholster my gun and point it at the driver-side window. At the last second, he veers right, away from my barrel...
But it’s too late. He catches an outstretched medium and the car goes flying.
I barely avoid the front wheels as the upturned vehicle rolls across the wet road, but it’s still enough to make me skid to a crashing stop.
The soaking cement greets my shoulder with an unceremonious smack, and a lightning
strike of pain flashes through my entire body. There’s no time to waste, though, and I quickly, if painfully, push myself back onto my feet.
In the near distance, I see that my brother has had the same idea. He crawls out of the back door of the overturned truck, and stumbles onto the street. When he sees me nearby, he pulls the gun out of his holster and starts firing. I duck behind the flat iron as the bullets whizz through the rain.