My eyes slowly open as I regain consciousness.
Through the fog of pain, I see Travis standing at the Bunkercrush's controls.
"I'll admit, you were no pushover," he says over his shoulder. "If it weren't for my snazzy battle armor, you probably would have won. But hey, I didn't have to kill you, so that's a plus."
I struggle to my knees.
I mean, why wouldn't we? Trav and I are both proud fighters, so neither of us had held back an inch. Trav's armor is dented and cut half to pieces, and he's bleeding in more than a few places. Though clearly it held up well enough for him to hold the advantage in the end… damn it.
My gauntlets, strangely, are still in good condition, though I can't muster the energy to activate my vibroblades.
My gauntlets…
"Hey, Trav," I grunt. "Have these gauntlets. As, like, a trophy."
"Really? It was just a friendly," Trav replies, turning to me. "Once I take us back to the hangar, we can go and get you patched up. I bet you'll take the deal now that you've seen what the armor can do."
"Not… agh, not a bad idea. The armor, I mean," I reply. "Maybe you can steal me a set."
"Nah, if I just steal it, you can't get it customized," Trav says. "You liked my minigun, right? There's more where that came from."
I struggle to my feet and limp towards him, pulling off my gauntlets. "Ow," I wince. Then I hand him my gauntlets. "Try them on, at least. Your thing is lightning, isn't it? I wanna see your blades."
"Oh, good idea." As he slips them on, I begin charging what little energy I had left. "Now, how do you activate them? Is it like how I—"
SHABOOSH!
With Trav distracted, my full power force blast catches him off guard and launches him out of the Bunkercrush, sending him several hundred meters past the shaft.
"Hmph. Idiot," I weakly sneer, flying the aircraft back into the shaft. "Alright, almost there… drop all the bombs, then we're done…" My vision begins to blur as I flip the levers to prime all of the remaining bombs – five racks' worth. This place's total destruction is assured.
"Finally time to finish this." I rest one hand on the throttle, and another on the drop lever. "They're counting on me… wait, I should see if Marc and Zoë are still…"
As I move to activate the outercomm, my body gives out, and I slump onto the Bunkercrush's dashboard.
I can't feel my hands anymore, but I know I'm still holding on to something. The throttle? The drop lever?
The feeling then fades from my legs, but somehow I'm still standing. Erm, am I? I can't feel the rest of my body either, all of a sudden.
Which hand is on the throttle? Which lever was the throttle? Nothing seems to be working anymore. Perhaps that force blast I did was too much after all.
As I slip off the dashboard, my death grip on the lever remains, pulling it all the way back.
Back… that closes the throttle, doesn't it?
The bunkercrush begins to fall.
Ahh, I can't believe this. I didn't fail right at the end, did I? Is this how Roy felt?
My grip slowly loosens.
What… what is this feeling? Kind of melty and… sad-feeling.
It's like I suddenly remembered I still had stuff to do, but now that I can't do it anymore…
Oh.
It's regret.
Status update: ninety percent of my internal systems are dysfunctional. Recovery is unlikely.
At least the bombs are all primed. No way this facility will survive. Maybe this counts as finishing it? I dunno. I just hope my pals all make it out alive.
Maybe, though… I should get out of here just to make sure…
At that moment, the Bunkercrush crashes into the loading zone, detonating all fifty of its bombs at once.
The massive explosion sends shockwaves through the Qinn facility, destroying all of the facility's sublevels with an earth-shaking noise. Then the shaft collapses, imploding in a massive torrent of earth and metal that sends a plume of dust and smoke high into the sky.
Afterwards, all that remains is silence.