Part 466: The Fallen

Penelope Widmore was finishing her day’s work. It had been a long day like most had been. She was looking forward to a nice glass of bourbon, stroking her cat Caesar and listening to some Jazz. It always did get her centered, after fighting to keep her company from going bankrupt. The effects of Mettlewerk and even the saboteur Rachel Blake didn’t help matters. Not to mention the situation with the Jaeger Unit a few years ago. Penelope had hoped to put most of this behind her. She just wondered how long it would be.

Then he thoughts were interrupted by a loud BOOM and the building shook a little.

The CEO then stood up and looked around. She could barely tell from the distance but it almost looked like there were people running across the outside lobby area and there was smoke rising from the bottom. Penelope turned around and quickly strode toward the exit of her office. She opened it up and saw her secretary Karen on the phone with someone. “Karen, what’s going on?” she asked her.

“Hold on, ma’am.” The young redhead held up her hand, “Okay, doctor. I’ll tell her.”

“Karen . .who are you talking to?” the CEO demanded.

“It was Dr. Linus, ma’am. He said . . .he said terrorists are attacking the building. We’re to stay up here.”

Penelope immediately knew something was up. “Why is Dr. Linus telling you this?” she sneered, “Why not the head of security?”

“I . .don’t know, ma’am. He called us up here.” Karen pointed to the phone.

“HE . . .called us?” Penelope scoffed, “That’s it. He’s up to something.”

“Ms, Widmore, we should stay here!” the secretary begged.

“You stay put.” The CEO said as she started walking toward the stairs, “I’m going to find out what is going on for myself.”



Tony fired his guns as fast as he could. The inside lobby was filling up with soldiers faster than he could count. Raven was doing his best to take them out as fast as he could but for every soldier he took out of the equation, two more would take his place. It was like a mountain lion fending off a swarm of red ants. Sawyer fired his shotgun and then quickly ducked in a doorway, when he needed to reload. McKay grunted as he fired an automatic rifle he picked up from the fallen soldiers. John aimed and fired his arrow, puncturing his neck. Natasha fired her gun as well, being flanked by Kate. Ecko fired another few rounds, then one of the soldiers surprised him. The black man then grabbed him by the neck, rolling them both forward.

The soldier grunted as he managed to wrestle the gun out of Ecko’s hand. The Nigerian then turned around and grabbed his Penance Stick slung off his back. He screamed as he caved in the man’s head with it. He then beat another soldier in the face, then attacked another soldier. Ecko then grunted as a bullet managed to strike him in the side of his chest. Natasha stared in horror as the black man grunted and then grabbed a rifle; firing wildly into the group of Liberators. The soldiers then took this chance to fire at him, striking him in the chest several times. “ECKO!!!” Natasha screamed.

Raven saw his friend fall into the white marble floor. The Jaeger Unit then grabbed about eight men and rammed them all into the crowd of men. They stumbled back, falling onto each other. The cyborg then quickly rushed over and grabbed his friend by the arms, dragging him away. “Tony, I’m going to clear the playing field!” John screamed.

“HOW?” Tony replied.

John then pulled out one of the explosive arrows that Hal gave him. He then pulled back his string and then aimed at the large group of men. Then in one fluid motion, he re-aimed his arrow at the ceiling and fired. The arrow struck it’s target and exploded, reigning down metal and concrete on the top of every Libertor’s head. The soldiers screamed as they were buried. Some died instantly, others screamed as they fought to get out from the rumble.

The group quickly regrouped on the other side of the wall. Tony reloaded his pistols and grabbed a nearby soldiers’ rifle. He looked at Ecko, who was bleeding severely. Natasha wept as the black man rested his head in her lap. He coughed a trickle of blood oozed down the left side of his cheek. “Tony, can you help him?” Kate asked.

“Not in time.” Tony said, taking his hand.

“It . . .doesn’t . . .matter . . .”he coughed, “I’m . .unimportant . .you must . . .save the children . . .”

“Ecko, please stay with me.” Natasha wept.

“Always remember, Natasha . . .” the Nigerian coughed, “You will never . . .walk your road alone . . .:”

“Ecko.” Raven whispered.

Ecko held out his hand and the cyborg took it. The two friends stared eye to eye, remembering all they went through. The cyborg had the chance for a second life. Ecko took the same chance and enjoyed being in American. Raven could tell his friend wasn’t afraid of death. The Nigerian slowly curled his lips in a smile. “Don’t . . .let them fall, brother . .” he whispered, before tilting his head in a lurch.

“NO!” Natasha grabbed, embracing her fallen friend.

“Goodbye, Ecko.” Sawyer whispered.

The farewell of their friend was interrupted by a hale of gunfire. The group jolted past the wall, as the bullets ricocheted off the concrete wall. Tony then jerked his head to see where the shot were being fired from. Up on a internal balcony was Leann Belmont with two submachine guns. The two enemies locked eyes for a second, then the Liberator woman fired on him. Tony shifted around and then fired again. Leann then ducked behind two more soldiers who returned fire. The one-eyed doctor then saw them disappear into a hallway. Tony looked around and saw another staircase, leading up to that balcony. “We got to move!” he said, slapping John’s arm.

John then followed Tony’s lead as he ran toward the staircase entrance. McKay quickly followed as did Raven. Sawyer paused when he saw Kate slowly getting up and Natasha weeping over Ecko’s body. “We got to keep moving, Chicago.” Sawyer told her.

“I can’t leave him!” she cried.

Kate then held out her hand. “Come on, Natasha,” she whispered, “Lets go get Jack and the kids.”

The brunette looked up at her, tears sliding down her face.

“Don’t let Ecko die for nothing.” The former fugitive said with complete sympathy.

Natasha leaned down and kissed the Nigerian on the forehead. She then leaned up and took Kate’s hand. The two women then rushed over toward the stairway door with Sawyer picking up the rear. Up in the hallway above, Tony, John and McKay ran down, then ducked after bullets ripped into the carpet. They managed to have enough time to see Leann and her two soldiers disappear into another stairway. Raven looked over at them and got ready to pursue; until Tony grabbed his jacket. “We can handle them, Raven,” he coughed, “You can move faster. Start scanning the other floor for Jenny, Jack and Eddie, then the children.”

“God speed, Tony,” Raven then ran the other way and disappeared in a stream of blue light.

“We got to get to that stairway.” Tony ran toward it.

“Is that the woman who was going to kill you, Tony?” asked Kate as they caught up.

“Yeah, she’s Belmont’s widow.” The one-eyed doctor said, climbing the stairs.

“I can’t believe the stupid bitch is heading up!” Sawyer said, hoofing behind them, “ You think she is going to give us a last stand?”

“No, she’s going to leave the building.”

Tony the stopped as the rest of his group stopped with him. The one-eyed doctor then tucked one of his pistols under his arms and then pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. He quickly un folded it, showing his friend. It was the satellite photo from Google that Karleigh printed. Tony pointed to the large red X on one side of the building. “That is where she is headed.” He grunted.

“A heli-pad?” McKay blinked.

“Son of a bitch,” John whispered, “She’s flying out of here.”

“She blames me for Belmont’s death and ordered my execution,” Tony coughed, “I don’t think it would be a good idea for her to leave here alive. I don’t think . . .she’ll give up on me so easily.”

“Then lead on, Cochise.” Sawyer said, cocking back his shotgun, “It’s time to finish this.”