Being crammed into one of the Branch Tower elevators was a common occurrence for Dr. Faraday since arriving at the tower, yet this time was different. While not the first time that fear overcame her, this time she was crammed into the elevator with Vera, Stuart's brother and the Crusher. To say that Crusher took up the entire elevator would not be an exaggeration; he took up the entire elevator, and it was a miracle that the elevator still crawled its way up to the penthouse carrying all of that weight. She could have sworn that the elevator lurched and crawled its way up, but it also could've been in her head.

The heat alone was enough to feel oppressive, but being crammed up against the door while Crusher's pock-marked and bloody body pushed them all out made it almost unbearable. When the elevator dinged, and the door opened, she tumbled to the floor, landing hard on her injured arm only to look into Branch's penthouse suite. The gilded doors ripped off of the hinges and bullet holes lining the walls. Branch was behind a bar while Tom was hunched over, bleeding, with Viktor standing over him.

"Look at you, you are hurt, TK," Branch's tone turned sullen while he stared down into the bottle. The madness was wearing off, like him coming down from a high, only to realize that it was temporary. They weren't in public anymore. There was no more bravado to be had, just a sad understanding of their collective mire. "I never wanted things to end up like this. In fact, your arrival excited me. You were to be the crown jewel of our society; Hollywood's favorite action hero, no, my favorite! But then it all just went to shit, didn't it?"

"You've gone mad. The signs are all around you, or maybe they aren't and you were always mad."

"One man's madness is another man's brilliance, sadly, and you can't see that, can you? Very short-sighted."

"This is over, Branch," TK pulled himself up, pushing aside Branch's bodyguard and trying to step around a dark leather couch.

"Viktor," he turned to his bodyguard with the gun. "I'm sure you have a score to settle with Mr. Gabriel here? Please, take care of this and let me brood in peace."

Viktor advanced towards TK, unclipping the rifle from his shoulder and tossing it down onto the bar in front of Branch with a thunk. TK had a pistol in his hands, but Viktor advanced barehanded, pulling his shirt up over his head and tossing it aside to reveal his chest full of scars. There was a crazy in that man's eyes that went beyond just someone broken by the apocalypse. This was a man who was unfit for any civilized place or time, someone who had seen the horrors of the world and embraced it. He was the most dangerous kind of crazy; he was the kind that saw Branch's madness and embraced it. Stuart had some humanity left in him, which was why he wasn't in there with the two of them, the last true lunatics in what was left of the world.

"Are you going to gun down an unarmed man? I thought you still had some honor left in you," Branch said. "I guess that I was wrong."

"Not all wrong," TK said, pointing the gun towards Branch and squeezing off a few shots, sending Branch crashing to the ground behind the bar. Viktor lunged at him, their bodies colliding and the gun flying from his hand onto the carpet. The blonde maniac had pinned his knees against TK's shoulders and began raining down strikes on his face with blind fury. TK tried to kick both his legs up, pop his hips, but Viktor wasn't budging. TK continued to writhe on the ground, trying to move his head out of the way of Viktor's fists but failing miserably. His left eye blurred, and his head felt light.

"We need to help," Dr. Faraday said, only for Farrington to shush her. She looked back and saw Vera with Demoreo, talking to him, trying to make sense of the situation, but the monster sat there, a dull look in his eyes.

TK bucked his hips in one last ditch effort to throw the Russian psychopath off of him, which made Viktor lose his balance but only find himself higher up on TK's shoulders, his knees on either side of TK's head. Viktor looked down at him and smiled a sly smile. Blood splattered on his face and his fists raw from pounding on TK. This was the opening that TK needed, but he looked weak still, his head heavy, and any little movement pained him. His shoulders were still pinned down, but were under Viktor's ankles, meaning that his arms were free. Once again, he popped his hips up and this time was able to slide his head out from underneath of Viktor, sending his assailant flat onto his face.

TK was free from the Russian's grip, but still too hurt to spring to his feet, having to drag himself up. By the time he had stood up, Viktor was dashing at him headfirst, ramming TK's back against the wall, a painting of a Nevada sunset tumbling to the floor next to them. Viktor pulled back, jamming his shoulder into TK's midsection again, sending the air out of him. Viktor wrapped his arms around the back of TK's legs and was trying to wrestle him to the ground, TK spreading his legs out and doing his best to keep on his feet. He clasped his hands together and hefted them high over his head before pounding them down onto Viktor's spine. The grip on his legs loosened a bit, and TK once again pounded his fists down onto Viktor's spine.

One more time. This time, he reached down and wrapped his arms around Viktor's midsection. There wasn't much left in the tank, but he knew he had to stop Viktor in any way that he could. With a groan he mustered up what was left of his strength and hefted the scarred man up onto his shoulders, staggering forward before slamming him down with all of his might onto the glass table, the sound of glass shattering under the weight of the impact and a howl rising from Viktor. TK dropped to one knee, fighting to catch his breath. His side was bleeding more heavily now, a dark red flowing now, his shirt sopping wet with his own blood.

"Stay down," TK said.

Viktor groaned, rolling into the glass while it crunched underneath the weight of his body. Shards had covered him, were cascading off of his scarred chest while he rolled to one side, planting his hands down and pulling himself up. His back was shredded, small bits of glass embedded into his skin, a large shard stuck inside of him near his right shoulder blade that was oozing out blood. TK muttered under his breath and picked himself up, checking the charge on his battery to see that he still had a few blows left in that archaic weapon that Vera had designed for him. With his left foot planted, he motioned for Viktor to stand up, for him to come into range for a kick and to end it.

"Come on, you motherfucker," TK muttered, only to look back and see Dr. Faraday on the ground, Farrington standing over her. That brief distraction was all that Branch needed. The billionaire pulling himself up, bright red eyes bugged out and that vein in his forehead throbbing. Branch's hands gripped onto the rifle on the counter, and TK's eyes widened. TK dove to the ground just as the bullets started to fly, and Branch was screaming at the top of his lungs. Farrington draped himself over the doctor and tried to pull her from harm's way, glass and bullets dancing in the air. The bullets tore through the room and Viktor, who had just fought back to his feet. Pressed up against the cool leather of the couch, TK scanned the room to see if the doctor was okay, before focusing on the bloody pulp of a body that was Viktor's hit the ground, pools of blood expanding out onto the white tile floor.

Branch had lost it. TK did his best to get his footing and pressed on the couch, pushing it back towards the bar while bullets were still flying throughout the room, piercing through the couch while TK pushed it. Gaining momentum, he gave one last great push; the couch crashing into the bar and tipping it over, the gun clicking against the tile, laying there like a smoking reminder of the surrounding chaos. TK dove for the gun, hitting the ground hard with his shoulder but getting a grip on it, turning to face Branch, who was pinned up against the window, snarling at him.

"You miserable wretch of a man," Branch said. "You really think that you can destroy all of this? Do you think that you can fix it? Nothing can be done, it's all over, no one can be saved."

"Fuck off, Branch," TK said, pointing the gun up at his head and pulling the trigger, only to be greeted by a click. Again. Again. "Fuck!" He said, tossing the rifle aside while Branch lunged at him from over the bar, his shoulder crashing into TK's sternum and knocking the air out of him. Branch was desperate, grasping at anything that he could grip onto on TK, while TK fought for air, trying to kick Branch off of him. The roar from the elevator caught them both off guard, only for the doctor to turn to see Crusher bust through the elevator. "What the..." TK started, only for Branch to scramble off of him and stumble towards the bar. Crusher crashed into the suite, smashing both of the doors off of their hinges with Vera in tow. He glanced over at her, completely lost while she shrugged and pointed at Crusher, who was stalking his way towards Branch. Branch was hurling full bottles at Crusher, only for them to smash against his body and for him not to stop before Branch found a handgun, pointing it at the behemoth.

"Y-y-you stop right there! You stop!" Crusher kept advancing, the gun shaking in Branch's hand. "Stop! I helped you, I only wanted to help I... Oh god, Gabriel, do something or he'll kill us all!"

"What?" TK looked up at Branch, who was waving the gun at him, pointing him towards Crusher.

"You heard me, I'll do whatever you want, just please, stop him!" Crusher was charging at him, Branch started squeezing off shots that weren't phasing the giant at all, he raged towards Branch like the bullets were bouncing right off of his tough skin. "No! Stop! Plee-"

It was too late. Crusher leaped in a mighty bound at the bar, crashing into it and splintering it into pieces, Crusher's body slamming into Branch's, pinning him against the glass. Branch's "please" escaped him in an exasperated sigh, as if the life were being wrung out of him like a wet towel before the glass gave, cracking at first, then smashing, both of the bodies flying out of the window.

"Demoreo!" Vera called, rushing through the room and over the broken glass before TK could catch her. Farrington let go of the doctor and rushed over to Vera's side.

"What are you doing here?" TK asked.

"He... He," she was staring at the broken window, tears streaming down her cheek. "He was aware, TK. He knew."

"What?"

"That shouldn't have been possible, those windows... My god," she wriggled free of his grip and over to the window. "TK, these windows survived the goddamned apocalypse. A direct nuclear explosion didn't break them."

"Fucker was strong," Farrington muttered.

"Jesus," he said, joining her by the window, the wind whipping at them and making him only more aware of all of his wounds. The drop was huge. All that he could see when he looked down was the hulk of a body that was the Crusher's and the brown-red stains of blood on the sand.

"It worked. He recognized his son, saw him in danger, just..."

"Doc," TK said, looking back towards her on the ground.

"Oh, Tom."

"I'm pretty banged up," he said, collapsing back onto the couch.

"Oh, gosh," she looked at him, pulling herself to her feet. "You are a mess."

"I know," he said.