Chapter 18: Final Collapse
The Professor explained his theory to Paradox through the intercom as he was moving towards Quantum Collapse's position.
"You said that when you activated the machine in the dark village, the resulting creature shrank down into nothingness as it unleashed it's energy?"
"Something like that, yeah." Paradox said as he rounded a corner.
"That seems to confirm my findings." The professor said. "Quantum Collapse is a being of almost pure energy, which would explain why he's only a blind spot to most forms of detection. That also means that Whenever he uses his powers, the resulting energy has to come, at least in part, from him."
"Are you saying that he uses up a chunk of himself whenever he uses his powers?" Paradox asked.
"Exactly." Forban said. "Not only that, but the data I've been able to glean from Kira's experiments on him shows that He's constantly burning fuel just to keep himself alive."
"How has he survived this long?" Paradox asked.
"On the mountaintop, Collapse was absorbing matter; transforming it into energy." Forban said. "Whenever he does that, it must buy him time. From Kira's readings in the containment unit, I suspect he's also been absorbing energy from the power grid, biding his time until the moment to escape."
"Oookay." Paradox said, starting to get nervous. "So I just have to get in there, keep him from escaping, and keep him from absorbing any more power."
"And try to get him to use as much power as you can." Forban said. "The angrier he is, the more power he's going to try to use, and the quicker he'll get down to a manageable size."
That didn't sit well with Paradox. Just being in the room with the thing was bad enough, but now he had to make him angry on purpose. Then again, Paradox didn't think he'd have to push very hard for that result.
"Quantum Collapse is almost in position." Kira said over the intercom. "Once I activate the forcefield, you'll have to be there within a minute or less, or he'll break containment again. When you get there, I'll open the forcefield just long enough for you to get inside. Then, it'll all be up to you."
"Right." Paradox said. He'd just have to trust that the person controlling the forcefield would let him out once he was done.
Kira came back on. "Forcefield activating in three... two... one."
Lights all along Paradox's hallway shut off and quickly flickered back on. He heard muffled noises coming from further forward. Paradox picked up his pace and soon found himself face-to-face with a translucent blue barrier. On the other side was a large, circular lab area that was mostly empty.
Kira spoke up through the intercom. "I'm giving you your opening in three... two..." The barrier opened just long enough for Paradox to step through it. As it closed, Paradox couldn't help but think; well, there's no turning back now.
Up above, near the far wall, Quantum Collapse got Paradox's attention by attempting to break through to the other side. A few bolts of red energy ripped through the metal plating, but stopped once they hit the forcefield. The wall of energy flickered with the blast, but held for now.
Paradox tried to sound tough when he got Quantum Collapse's attention, but it came out as a timid "H-Hey!"
Quantum Collapse took a look at Paradox and said. "Oh. I might've known. I see you're still doing the duchess's dirty work for her."
Paradox tried his best to keep his breathing steady. A few pieces of twisted metallic rubble oriented themselves in front of him like shields.
Quantum Collapse's smile dissolved, leaving behind a mask of hate. "You're really going to try to destroy me, aren't you?"
A scrape from behind made Paradox look. A jagged, metallic sheet was rising from the ground to attack. Paradox oriented one of his shields to intercept it, but soon afterward Paradox was attacked from the opposite direction by what seemed like a thousand different lightning bolts. Paradox blocked most of them, but a generous portion still got through, throwing him into the air and causing him to lose concentration and drop his defenses.
"What about the person who betrayed you and tried to kill you, eh? Why didn't you kill her when you had the chance?" Collaspe shouted to Paradox.
Paradox was able to lift his face just soon enough to catch the incoming projectile with his powers. Quantum Collapse was still driving it towards Paradox's heart, so it took all of his strength just to keep it where it was.
As Quantum Collapse assembled more floating debris around himself, he shouted to Paradox's back; "What about all the folks who hunted down and executed every last one of your people, eh? Were they just not worth the trouble!?"
Paradox stepped to the side and flung the projectile he was holding past himself, using Collapse's efforts to his advantage. Almost simultaneously, Collapse threw all of his assembled rubble at Paradox in a giant wall. Instead of stopping all of them, Paradox blew a hole in the flying wall just large enough for him to slip through. Almost immediately after that passed, Quantum Collapse ripped up long strips of metal from the floor, causing them to writhe and curl like tentacles in an attempt to grapple Paradox. While Paradox dodged, Collapse shouted louder. "What makes me so much worse than everyone else, here!?"
A metallic curl managed to wrap around Paradox's ankle and hoist him up to Quantum Collapse's level, upside-down. As the edge of the curled appendage dug into his foot, Paradox noticed Collapse was breathing a bit heavy, or something similar. Maybe he was a bit smaller, too. "Your folks weren't so great, either." Collapse said quietly. "Do you know why they made me? Wanna hazard a guess?"
Paradox didn't have time to think of an answer before the iron tentacle holding him threw him against a nearby wall.
"They made me to kill things!" Collapse shouted despondently. Then, his wicked smile came back, like he was reliving a pleasant memory. "And they got sooo mad when I did." Quantum Collapse returned his attention to Paradox as he peeled himself off of the floor. "You all are no better than me! Do you have anything to say about that before I reduce you to a smear?"
Paradox wiped some blood out from under his nose. He took a ready stance. "I hate talking." Paradox said. Then a piece of rubble flew from the other side of the room and hit Collapse in the eye.
The blow itself had done almost nothing, but Paradox thought that Collapse needed the push. It worked; Quantum Collapse yelled with rage and began throwing lightning. Before any could hit Paradox, however, Paradox folded up the metal around him into an egg-like shield that protected him from all sides. Once paradox heard the lightning stop, he jumped out of the egg-shield, folding out the back to let himself out. The egg crumpled under the force of Collapse's will a split-second later. Collapse then began lifting up bits of debris and flinging them at Paradox rapid-fire. Paradox followed suit, intercepting each projectile mid-air. Paradox couldn't quite do it as fast as Collapse, though, so a second before the debris stream reached him Paradox ripped up a section of floor and used it as a shield. Once the thudding stopped, Paradox threw that at Collapse, too. It connected, and Collapse got more angry. More lightning bolts ripped through the floor around Paradox, seemingly at random. Paradox managed to block and dodge until the bolts reduced in size to thread-thin arcs.
Paradox peeked out from behind his shield. Quantum Collapse was beginning to waver. The electricity stopped, and Collapse's breathing became ragged, interrupted sporadically with coughs. It was time to go on the offensive.
Paradox grabbed two metal sheets and smashed them into Collapse's sides, keeping the pressure on as he slowly crushed him. Collapse tried to use some of his power to stop it, but that only made him shrink faster.
Paradox thought now was as good a time as any to say something. "In answer to your question..." Paradox said. "People can change. Kira can change; but you never will."
Collapse's expression went from one of fear to one of anger, and he stopped struggling. Instead, his eyes became filled with a fierce determination a split-second before he channeled the last of his power into a lightning bolt. The energy exploded at Paradox's feet, catching him off-guard and sending him prone. When Paradox looked up, Collapse was gone, erased from existence by his own act of anger.
A few minutes later, Kira frantically wheeled into the room on her chair, followed by a few paramedics who knelt down to inspect Paradox for injuries.
"You all right?" One of them said.
From the floor, Paradox said; "That depends. can I go home now?"
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