novelraw Chapter 32: The Cleansing Flame
Chapter 32: The Cleansing Flame
As narrated by the event keeper
Captain Agatha arrived at General Flick’s house in Miami under the cover of night. The residence was encircled by agents, their presence a silent threat. Undaunted, she scaled the back fence and slipped past the guards, entering the house undetected.
“Agatha! How— What are you doing here?” General Flick’s voice cracked with surprise as he spotted her.
“What’s happening?” she demanded, her tone sharp with urgency. “Why are there agents surrounding your house?”
He guided her swiftly to a secure room, lowering his voice to a whisper. “You shouldn’t be here. They’re watching my every move.”
Agatha’s mind churned with questions, each one edged with dread.
“Why are they watching you? And why has General Marcus suddenly taken charge of the Planetary Defense Cops?”
“They believe I stole the serum and handed it to the organization on Raspberry Island,” Flick confessed, his shoulders slumping.
“That’s absurd!” she snapped. “You sent us to expose the island and retrieve the device. General, what is that device? What did Dr. Necro create to cause this chaos?” She held back the question of how he’d known about the island, sensing deeper secrets.
Flick’s gaze grew distant. “That man unraveled the serum’s power in weeks. He built a Quantum Field Condenser—a device capable of replicating the serum, potentially producing an army of superhuman soldiers.”
“A machine that makes the serum?” Agatha’s voice faltered as the implications sank in. “And Drake—he killed Loid Anderson. I think he’s working with someone.”
“I ordered him to destroy the device and all traces of it,” Flick admitted.
“What?”
“He’s a good man, Agatha, fighting for peace. Anderson’s death was a tragedy, but Drake was following my command.”
“If they trace it back to you, it’s over,” she said, her stomach tightening.
“It’s already over,” Flick replied, his tone resigned. “Whoever backed Dr. Necro has the power to snatch the serum from under me. You need to run—save yourself. I’ve lost my son; I can’t lose you too.”
Few knew that Captain Agatha was General Flick’s stepdaughter. He’d adopted her, molding her into a soldier to uphold their family’s legacy of service. Now, stripped of his rank, he felt powerless. But Agatha’s resolve burned brighter than ever—she’d sworn to shield humanity from any threat.
“I owe you everything,” she said firmly. “You taught me to fight for the defenseless. I won’t turn back now. No matter who stands in my way, I’ll forge a peaceful world.”
“It’s too dangerous,” he warned.
“I will do it,” she cut in. “I’m not alone—I have friends who’ll stand with me. You’re not powerless, General. You have me and Class-X Squadron. But we can’t stop Wardak—or any enemy—without you.”
“Wardak?” Flick’s brow furrowed.
“We believe he’s behind the massacres in Central Asia. We’re going to go after Wardak ourselves.”
“Thank goodness,” Flick exhaled, relief softening his face. “I feared it was Victor.” He paused, then asked, “How ready is your squadron? Can you take him down?”
“We’re prepared,” she assured him. “We’ll stop him, no matter the cost.”
With that, Flick shared the names of trusted contacts to aid Class-X in their mission.
Reaching the base, Agatha found the selected twenty, led by Commander John Grey, had already departed to apprehend Wardak. Undeterred, Class-X mobilized.
With Flick’s support, they secured three jets, special-grade swords, and combat suits for the fight ahead.
Wardak had fallen into darkness, his heart consumed by a singular, lethal purpose. Once, they dismissed his aloofness as a mercenary’s shield. Only after his rampage did they realize how little they understood him. Who was to blame?
Class-x reached the city awash in blood—another of Wardak’s grim masterpieces. The selected twenty were missing, likely taken by Wardaks’s wrath. As per their plan, William and Cipher advanced on foot, spotting Wardak beside a pyre of burning corpses.
Shirtless, the word “CLEANSING” carved into his back, he stood amid a landscape of skulls—thousands of men, women, and children reduced to ash. The sight seared itself into Cipher’s mind, a harbinger of apocalypse unleashed.
Cipher’s body trembled, torn between terror and fury. The flames consuming the innocent sparked a tempest of emotions—anger, grief, fear—swirling together in a chaos he couldn’t name. However, he stood rooted, the weight of the horror pinning him in place.