Chapter 34

Bobby

9:25 PM

"Dean!" Ming screamed. She struggled to escape Gregory's grip, yanking her arm up and down, fury giving her extra strength. She turned back to the big man and kneed him in the crotch.

"Dammit!" Gregory bent over, releasing Ming's arm and holding his package. The shadows from the failing light fell on his face, hiding his eyes and making his scar stand out. Ming scrambled over the broken furniture, climbing towards Dean.

Ivan stood over Bobby, teetered and rocked backwards. There was a small light peeking out from his fist. Bobby looked at Ivan's face. There was a smile. The first one on Ivan's stone face he'd seen in twenty years.

"Did you want this?" Bobby whispered, his eyes wide.

Ivan mouthed 'Free,' and he fell backwards, crashing into the middle of the penthouse. His pent-up energy exploded into the wood in a shower of fire and splinters.

"No!" Gregory snarled through the pain and dove for the main door. He made it out as the floor under Ivan buckled, dropping him into the room below. The floor rebounded, sounding like a dozen jackhammers all pounding at once and shaking the rest of the penthouse.

"Ivan's going to explode," Bobby shouted to Ming over the noise. "He built up all his energy but didn't release it. We have to get out of here." The ceiling sagged further downward. Vlad had destroyed the pillars, and with Ivan destroying the floor, there was nothing to support the penthouse anymore.

"Not without Dean!" Ming climbed over the rubble, holding her chest.

"Fool! What can you do with broken ribs!" Bobby mumbled to himself. His computer was at twelve percent power. There was enough to get Dean out and maybe seal up the wound. "Reality is going to kick me in the head for this," Bobby grunted. Entering the commands, he hit run and watched the light burst from the screen. It was smaller than the light for time travel, but still blinding. "Ten percent. Maybe Fate won't crush my balls today." He closed his computer and ripped the power cord from the outlet, sparks shooting up the side of the wall.

The heaving floor caused the rubble to fall away from Dean, and he slumped to the ground. The piece of wood still pierced his side, but the bleeding had stopped. Ivan's power continued to course through the structure, sending wave after wave through the building. Ming screamed as she tried to get the Detective over her shoulders.

"What's going on?" Ming tried to shout over the humming noise. She started hacking as the dust rained down on them.

"Carry this," Bobby thrust his computer at her and hoisted the detective in a fireman's carry. "You can't carry this Hunk'a Donuts with that rib," Bobby grunted, shifting the big man over his back. He stumbled to the side. His foot had finished healing, but he was still weak. The fight with Vlad didn't help. "Don't lose it. Come on. We don't have enough time." He stumbled to the door. "Ivan's going to blow."

"How bad will it be?" Ming asked, fumbling with his computer.

"You remember my trailer?" Bobby said.

Ming nodded.

"Think three times that and maybe add a mushroom cloud," said Bobby. "His humming ties him directly to nature, and he can access all the energy stored in it."

"Shit!" Ming glanced back at the hole. She put her hand on her mouth. "Grandfather! We can't leave his body." She turned back to where Yichen's body was, but rubble blocked the way. "Where is it?"

"There's no time, and I can't carry two," Bobby shouted.

Ming reached out. Guilt flooded her face. She nodded and lowered her hand. Tears flowed down her face. They pushed through the heaving waves. Bobby stumbled once, but Ming was able to keep him from dropping Dean.

At the emergency door, they met Wu. She was covered in blood, and one eye was a puffy mess with a large splinter jutting out. She was carrying Yichen's body in her arms and said nothing.

Bobby stared at her and nodded.

She nodded back.

Ming rushed forward and hugged Wu. "Thank you," she said.

"I owe him this much," she said, unsmiling. A mix of fire and regret filled her remaining eye.

Bobby smiled. Gregory couldn't run from this one. If they got out of here, he'd be busy for a while. Bobby recognized the look of revenge when he saw it, even when Wu's face didn't show any emotion.

"Follow us!" Bobby said, yanking the door open. "We'll get you out of here."

Wu said nothing and got in behind them.

Outside the main penthouse, the stairwell flowed up and down like a river on crack. "Down!" Bobby shouted, shifting Dean on his back. Ming and Wu followed behind him, stumbling.

They made the first turn, and the waves stopped. Cracks formed on the roof. "Fuck!" Bobby started taking the steps two at a time.

"Where's Barbie? I thought she was with you?" Ming yelled, panting behind him.

"I sent her back in time. She's going to kill herself to implant the counter virus to prevent Vlad from taking over my brain," Bobby replied. That still hurts. Just saying that sent shivers of disgust through him.

Sasha's going to kill me.

"What? Why the hell would you do that?" Ming stared at Bobby, her hands twitching.

"I'll give you the exclusive later!" Bobby yelled. Small pieces of concrete started pelting them. Ming yelped as tiny pieces hit her. She stuck the computer over her head to deflect them.

"Don't do that," Bobby shouted. "You'll break it!" Bobby raced down the six flights of stairs. If he'd let himself get an American body, he'd be dead on the first turn.

The building started shaking like an earthquake, the alarms going off in the hallways and people running to the stairs. Most had probably left when the fight started, and the building across the street imploded. There were always a few stragglers, convinced they could survive anything. They burst into the stairwell from the third floor, slowing everyone down, pushing and shoving their way to the ground floor.

"Move it, fuckers!" Bobby yelled. The wave of people exploded into the lobby. Cracks appeared in the stairwell. Concrete and blocks fell from the sixth floor, crushing a helpless guest. Bobby turned away from the gory sight and glanced at the ceiling. Dust fell into the lobby as the ceiling shimmered. "Hurry! Ivan's building to a crescendo. The building's going to blow!"

A few gamblers were scooping coins into bags around their shoulders, but most of the guests spilled out through the front doors, falling over each other.

"They can't stay there!" Ming yelled, twisting to help them.

"Leave them," Bobby said, dragging her outside, losing sight of Wu. "You can't fix stupid." He thrust Ming out the door, into the sunlight, weaving past the fire trucks already stationed there. The bright light was blinding everything. He ran across the street to the restaurant a hundred yards from the Shujing and looked back. There were already scores of police around, directing the evacuation, but even they were starting to rabbit. The pink windows had shattered earlier, raining glass on the cars passing out front. The building seemed to flow up and down like a boat on a storm-tossed sea. "Hurry!" Bobby thrust them towards a wall around the restaurant. "Get inside!" A noise, like the scrunching of paper, followed them through the wall. There were three customers and a skinny waitress who looked like the large woman he met outside the Shujing. They ducked away from the window.

Then the noise stopped --- filling the area with an oppressive silence.

Bobby looked over at the Shujing, and it seemed to shimmer.

"Cover your face!" Bobby screamed, ducking down, pulling Ming and Dean into a huddle. He flipped open his computer and scrolled down to the last line.

"Where's Wu?" Ming shouted. "And Yichen?"

"Forget about her. She's smart! She won't be here," Bobby yelled, erasing the memory block code and entering a shield into the final line. He made it bigger to cover the part of the restaurant in front of him and the other four. It would drain the battery, but he couldn't let the waitress die. She was too skinny for him, but a woman could always get meat on her bones.

The building sank into itself and exploded, sending pieces of itself over the street. Cars flipped in the shockwave, and chunks of pink crashed into the Hilton at the end of the street. One large hunk of concrete landed near where the three were huddled, bouncing off the shield and crushing the side of the restaurant. Ming screamed, covering Dean with her body. The street rocked back and forth from the force of Ivan's explosion. Dust spilled down the road, covering the Hilton. The powder swept over them.

Slowly, the shaking settled down and stopped. The dust continued to fall, blocking out the sun. Bobby heard a few panes of glass from the Hilton shatter down the street, then everything was quiet. The restaurant was a total loss. The waitress was standing up, pulling another customer who looked like Curt Reynolds if he had less chest hair from the wreckage. Both of them were covered in food, but unhurt. He blanked. Who was Curt Reynolds? Something tickled at Bobby's memory and he groaned. Reality was playing a little trick there, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

He dropped the shield, and dust covered them. They spat out the dust and stared into the sky. A blue haze covered everything.

"Is it over?" Dean coughed from under Bobby and Ming.

"Dean! Are you okay?" Ming grabbed his face and gave him a big kiss. She drew back, turned red, shrugged and kissed him again. Dean's eyes were wide, but he didn't push her away.

"I'm fine." Dean's face was turning red. He looked around. "There's Dhara. I'm not hungry for the hash now. Where's Barbie? Is she okay?" His voice was unfocused.

Bobby bit his cheek and checked his computer, doing anything to not answer the Detective. The screen was cracked, though still usable. He still had about six percent power left. The shield had eaten up the rest of his reserves. There was enough left to get rid of Vlad's virus. He could purge some of their memories, but it wouldn't get everything. He could use life energy to power the code, but without the proper beat from the music, it could kill them all. Blood magic was the strongest, but the sacrifice wasn't worth it.

He pulled up his saved music and selected Crüe's 'Misunderstood'. It wasn't perfect, but he needed something to act as the catalyst for the code to work, and it let him ignore Dean's question.

The music eked out of Bobby's speakers and sounded tinny. His computer no longer had the power to send the beat far. He couldn't put off the answer any longer.

"I had to send her back in time to kill herself," he said again, wincing. He didn't want to talk about this. Typing in some commands to the final prompt was easier than dealing with his guilt. Forgetting everything was much easier, but he didn't want to finish it. He watched the power drop to five percent as his fingers hovered over the keys.

"You said that before. What do you mean?" Ming asked, hugging Dean. "I thought you could only send a spirit through time."

"She's special," Bobby said, looking up. Anything to stop him from hitting the final button and erasing everything. He'd seen what happens when people know about the code. If they had training and a lifetime to perfect it, there was little chance of it getting out then. But that was impossible here. Gregory would be after Ming as well.

"She was born outside the time stream and can travel to any point within it with minimal cost more accurately than I can," Bobby said.

"How do you know that?" Dean asked, pushing himself up. He didn't remove his arm from Ming's shoulders but winced at the piece of wood sticking out of his gut.

"She's my daughter," Bobby said, looking at Ming. "When Sasha disappeared, reality dropped her in the future. It was an extreme reaction to my manipulation, and a measure to stop what I'm going to do. She almost died, but the people there were ready for the code and could help Barbie control it."

If he erased everything, then he'd forget her, too. Bobby bit his lip. "She's already returned a few times, but I made myself forget each of them." It hurt a little more every time he said goodbye.

"Why do you have to say goodbye?" Ming asked.

Ming and the Detective weren't going to let go of each other. He recognized when love had taken hold in a couple. It reminded Bobby of him and Sasha. "Because it's too dangerous for anybody to have the code, including you." He stared at the couple and went back to the computer. It was at four percent. Maybe it was better if he remembered this time. He adjusted a few commands. "I'm sorry for this." He hit enter and raised his fist to destroy the machine. The light still flashed out, and the beat continued, but it sounded further away, like through cotton.

"What are you doing?" Ming asked. She reached for Bobby and fell over.

"Ming?" Dean toppled over as well, sending more dust floating into the air, settling with the rest, covering them.

"If it was meant to be, you'll find each other again." Bobby turned to the sky. "Forgive me, Sasha." He brought his fists down on the computer and snapped the

driver in two. Stiffening, he fell over.