COMMANDER LI CHI WAS STILL WITH the rest of the suicide-squad rebels, who were trapped in a morass, with the blazing miasmic ballroom that separated them — from the advancing Secret Service agents. The conflagration was uncontrollable with building’s water-sprinkles down, by the earlier AOG mortar strikes — leaving the rebels and their injured Preacher now, cornered in the ballroom...

The exits were well covered by the firing Elite-soldiers, trapping them inside.

Li Chi crawled over and obtained the RPG from the hand of a dead rebel. He fired it at the nearest door, and the blast killed some of the machine gun firing Elite soldiers. Li Chi knew — that they were running low on bullets — and called for his retreated side to save their ammo...

‘One bullet, for One bitch.’

A rebel soldier was tending — to stop the bleeding of Doran's gunshot shoulder wound.

Doran was feeling light-headed with the loss of blood — and dehydrated in the fervour blazing ballroom. He sensed something was wrong — with both himself and the surrounding...

He felt that half of his body was numbing fast — and also, there was something above, that was casting shadows — that was distracting his blurry vision. He finally realized that the two bots were reactivated...

The two red and blue robots were sliding down the cables. Each was carrying an H-beam steel between their three clamped fingers.

Somewhere nearby, Ken and Suki were operating them...

The Japanese entrepreneur business partners were seeking to deliver the dead Preacher to President Cory — as a sign of goodwill — so that they could secure further contracts for their robotic technology. Kenaki had plans for his next business proposal of devising archetype enforcer robots — for Cory’s military to fight her future adversaries.

Before the medic-rebel could react — the blue-robot first struck by hurling the H-beam, like a spear towards where Doran was lying wounded. It missed the Preacher — but it incised the medic in half, in the midsection.

Ken laughed at Suki's bad throw — and now he moved in with the red-robot for the kill...

Li Chi thumped a mortar — but the blue-robot avoided it, with its acrobatic skills.

Below, the injured and appalled Doran started crawling away — from the grievous spot, leaving behind the blooded cadaver remains of the medic, who tended him earlier...

Ken who was controlling the red-robot, moved in on the target, to terminate the mired Preacher...

Li Chi was loading his last RPG grenade...

He knew that the crafty robots were too agile to be shot down, as they were skillfully monkeying on the cables above — the cables — Li Chi noticed a support point in the ceiling that was converging all the cables together...

Ken wore a goggle device that scanned — and calibrated for an accurate throw, to eliminate his ineluctable target. Both the Asians — Li Chi and Ken were now like two Western quick-draw gunslingers — the fastest finger on the trigger will put the other's scheme out...

“Backblast — area clear!”

Li Chi fired first and the explosion crippled the support point at the ceiling. Simultaneously, Ken suppressed his trigger button — but the slacking cables caused the falling red robot's throw, to miss by a few degrees. The zigzagging web of cables soon looped down fast — with both the Japanese robots, crashed on the ground into the inferno, below in the centre of the ballroom.

The hurled H-beam thrown had missed Doran — but it spear-broke a hole, in the wall behind.

The Preacher crawled to safety behind a pillar, and he then passed out from the gunshot wound — nearby, Li Chi celebrated with Sanchez with high-fives. Across the room, Ken threw the remote control down in anger and trampled it.

Suki too was now laughing — at her overconfident cousin’s fiasco.

***

Ramirez and Hajja and the God’s Army commandos descended to the foot of the burning hill — to team-up with the Chupacabra and the Army of Dogs, who were fighting the behemoth tanks and Hummers, with their perennial counterattacks.

They heard chanting down the road, with an imponderable number of youth rallying over from the stadium, destructing public property as they advanced, chanting the chorus of Gillian's anti-Cory song...

“Kill the Snake-woman” — just like British soccer hooligans, heading to a match-darby.

***

Cory's double was panting hard, but she kept running down barefooted, on the exit stairs — which led towards the car park in the basement. The three Secret Service agents were covering her — from the baleful Oswald Wu Leong and a few pursuing triad members, who were shooting at them from above...

Wu Leong was trying to snipe the President — but Agents Green and Knight kept the Chinese at bay by counter firing up at the spiral passage...

The Secret Service agents reached to the corridor that opened to the car park. A rifle shot rang from the rear — the Cory's double flopped forward — with a shot above the shoulder blade near to her neck —Wu Leong had finally got his clean shot...

Agent Knight grabbed her fallen POTUS, and both exited out of the door...

The intrepid Agent Green remained back — she lobbed a hand grenade back, while the other Secret Service agent with her fell dead, with hits from the enemies’ machine gunshots. The sight of grenade caught the Chinese by surprise — and they turned to scramble for safety...

The grenade rolled lengthways on the concreted floor, along their escaping feet...

Outside the door, Knight had the Cory-double on her shoulder, and she ran into the sheltered car park. Agent Knight heard the explosion — and she stopped to notice that Agent Green was separated, and was not behind her.

Inside, Agent Iris Green spotted a sole Chinese ahead, who had survived the blast. He was injured and was trying limping away, but she shot him down with her pistol. Green moved forward with vigilance, towards the fallen shemales at the blast site...

Oswald-Wu Leong was barely alive — his left arm torn-off and leg had been mutilated. He was lying face-up, with blood bubbles, forming in his misshapen mouth. Green pointed her pistol down, at maimed Wu Leong's sputtered face...

The dying Chinese was seen using his phantom-limb of his stumped arm, to shield his face — Iris Green fired at point-blank.

***

Gillian was the only one, on the empty stage.

He wiped off the makeup with a towel. He noticed that Samantha was still looking down from the top floor of the backstage. He walked up towards her — but Lana came from behind, and grabbed him and they kissed. Samantha saw him telling Lana to wait below — and he proceeded, walking over the metal stairs to the woman...

“Mother, I am going to Europe,” he told her — and her immediate response was, “How?” Gillian extended his hand to point...

“Lana has her own private plane. The rest of my band will be leaving with her. Come to London with me now, and we can live our lives over there!”

“No dear, I can't go — even if I do — Madeline will come after the both of us.”

“Why Mother? But I want you to be with me? I know you are not happy, living in the White House.”

Samantha Cory then smiled weakly back at the boy...

“I don't have a choice but you do. I watched you just now, and you were so happy and alive — playing your music on stage. This is your life, Gillian — you go for it — and please, never come back...”

The tearful Gillian came over and hugged her...

“You must come and visit me, Mother — and promise me from today onwards, that you will call me every hour.”

“Yes Gill, I will — I am your number one fan...”

He kissed her a few times before he ran down the stairs. Lana grabbed his hand — and they both ran down the tunnel.

Samantha stood alone and heard the chanting in a distance outside the stadium.

The long throng marched away from the venue to storm the battlefield — they chanted the chorus of her Gillian’s song...

“Kill the Snake-woman! O, Kill the Snake-woman!”