I wasn’t sure if minutes or hours had passed when the first slivers of burning torchlight lit up my face. My party had quickly stashed most of the rock from around my position, digging a very dusty and half-deaf Mark free. The incredible war machine lay buried nearby, no longer a threat to Lake’s legal litigants or ourselves. Spidey scuttled from his temporary prison inside the vent shaft and I popped him back into my inventory with a snack. Sun ran to the steel shutter and began carving a sizeable hole through the thick metal.

“Here! Let me get that for you!” Lake simpered over the speakers.

Even when the barriers started to part, Sun continued to hack away at it until the mangled edges sheared off in the wall. She was beyond angry, and only my look prevented her from sprinting to find Lake and begin the dismembering process.

If I’d thought our boss fight cavern was big, the second chamber was twice the size. It was one gigantic machine shop, with robotic arms like those which had been fitted to the tyrannosaur. They were linked to a series of steel hangers that allowed them to move freely around the space in which our enemy had previously stood. The equipment was currently unmanned, the gantries empty of the engineers who had helped build this abomination in the bowels of Isla Sonada. Nobody on the floors above had given us warning, which told me an entirely separate team were responsible.

“I guess that’s how he brought stuff down,” said Cris, pointing at a freight elevator set within the rock wall. It’s dimensions weren’t big enough for the tyrannosaur itself, but could certainly fit the equipment used in its construction.

“And that gives us another way out if we need it,” I replied.

Cody picked up his pace, almost jogging. “Speaking of ways out, we’d better hurry up and find Lake before he runs.”

“No need, mate. He wouldn’t have bothered opening the door if he was going to run.”

Cris frowned. “But he must have a way out of here?”

“We can ask him in a minute,” I replied, ignoring the large wall erected at the back of the cavern. The volume of pipes and cables passing through told me that was the power station, which wasn’t our target.

A solitary smaller door sat to our right, and we headed towards it. Seeing the palm scanner, I pulled out my box of tricks, but before mini-spidey could hack the system, it was already swinging open to reveal a passage.

“Be careful, Mark,” warned Sun. “He could be leading us into a trap.”

Ordinarily, she would’ve had a point, but I’d heard total defeat in his words at the door. There might be wall scythes, spikes beneath our feet, poison gas by the gallon, but he wouldn’t dare use it on us. He was in survival mode, even though there was no surviving. Lake was Steven from my school days, surrounded by pitiless monsters who were immune to his pleading. The bully’s treatment was as much about the subsequent beating as the preceding self-debasement.

Take off your glasses and drop them on the floor.

Crunch!

Give us your school bag.

Laughter as the books were poured out and kicked around the wet playground.

As much as I hated to say it, I was beginning to smile as I stalked the rocky tunnels, searching for my prey. Lake was no Steven. He wasn’t an innocent, just trying to make it to the home-time bell with as little abuse as possible. Lake was as far from innocent as it was possible to get.

We reached a fork in the tunnel which gave us only one way to go. To the left was the elevator door from which we’d arrived. I moved with purpose towards the last remaining barrier that stood between us. Lake dutifully opened the sealed door and I saw the ratty little fuck in the room beyond.

He held his hands up, hoping for a mercy that Steven had never been gifted.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” he cried.

I was no different as I marched up to him, ignoring the pitiful whimper as he cowered from the coming blow. Instead of beating him to death there and then, I grabbed him by the baggy sweatshirt and lifted him from the floor. “Where are the kids?” I demanded, shaking his frail form. “If you’ve hurt them, you know what I’m going to do to you.”

“Set me down and I’ll show you,” Lake croaked, the neck of his top choking him.

I let him strangle for a few more seconds before putting him down. He tried to move towards an awe-inspiring computer setup that rivalled my own Bart-supplied system. I held him firmly, tempted to apply a bit more pressure to his scrawny neck again.

“I need to reach my keyboard.”

I allowed him to move. “If you pull anything…”

“I won’t, honest!” he blurted, twisting in my grip to reach the keys. His fingers rattled away, and a short clip from a movie played on one of the screens. The children were hiding from a monster that we never saw, but their cries were those of the first broadcast.

“You’re telling me you don’t have any kids down here?”

He tapped away, bringing up the second clip which he’d used to hoodwink us. The way he smiled, I think he convinced himself this was an act of good that would earn him some mercy.

I let my firm grip ease slightly and nodded at the machine. “Ok, good. Is this the system that controls all the perimeter defences and the rest of the island?”

“Yeah. I kept it all secure, just in case someone would try and take control.”

“Wise move,” I said, tossing him to Sun.

He staggered and almost fell at her feet, but she caught him by the floppy hair and dragged him upright. He yelped shrilly, clutching at her powerful grip. She lifted more than required, causing him to dance on tiptoes as strands started to tear free at the root.

I held out my device near the server hub and it lashed out with its tendrils, jumping from my hand to latch on the casing.

“What is that thing?” Lake gasped, twisting in Sun’s grasp to get a better view, ignoring the pain.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” I replied. “Where are the engineers who built that thing?”

“They’re in their quarters below this level. You can access it via my elevator. I can get it open for you if you’d like?”

I shook my head. “There’s no need. I control everything now. I’ll free them once I’ve dealt with you.”

The helpful demeanour vanished and he broke down into long, pathetic wails. The only reason he didn’t collapse at my feet and begin kissing my boots was because Sun refused to let him go.

“Please! Please don’t hurt me! I’m sorry for what I did! It was never meant to go this far!” Snot was running freely to join the tears dripping from Lake’s chin.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I replied, drawing some fierce looks of reproach from my group.

He cried even harder with relief, becoming almost hysterical. “Oh, thank you! Thank you! I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”

“Why didn’t you run when we’d killed your robot pet?” I asked, ignoring the furious glares from my party. “Don’t you have an escape route?”

“I do,” he admitted eagerly. “But it only takes me as far as the surface of the lake. I’d have to fly from there, and you’d released the Pteranodons. I was trapped.”

“Show me,” I said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Sun released him into my care, with great reluctance I noticed. I couldn’t blame her. We’d been through the ringer.

Lake grinned up at me, puffy faced. “Yeah! Of course! This way!” He wiped a sleeve to clean off the vile gunk under his nose and guided me out of the control room. “This way!”

We passed rooms that only limitless money could buy. A huge kitchen, catering for one. A vast indoor cinema, with only a single seat in the middle of the room. A swimming pool that looked like a hot spring, set within the carved rock itself, serviced by a single recliner. A marble dining table, with one place set. An Alaskan king bed covered in gleaming silk sheets, with a single pillow under the headboard.

“Through here,” he said, guiding me further into his luxurious quarters.

An archway took us into a much larger space, with another elevator set in the middle made of thick glass. It was large enough to accommodate the one person helicopter within.

“You say this takes you up through the lake? How does that work?”

“The shaft and cab itself are water sealed like a submarine. When it gets near the top, the sections pressure stabilise themselves and the pod is pushed to the surface. It’s really cool! I’ll show you some time!” Lake’s manic excitement was understandable considering that I’d promised not to hurt him.

“Show me around it now. Do you need keys to start the little chopper?”

He pulled free of my guiding arm and waved me over. “Sure, come see. It’s all controlled by my system. I just hop in, give it a voice command, and away I go. No keys needed.”

“Nice!” I replied, following him inside. “How far can you get with this thing?”

“The battery cells give a range of about one hundred and twenty miles. A bit longer if you don’t use too much power and aren’t in a rush.”

“And the cab itself? How do you control that?”

“It’s all linked to the system. The voice command sets everything in motion.”

I moved to the pilot’s door and pulled it open. The twin transverse rotors were tucked against the rear body, and I assumed they would open when they reached the outside. “Jump in. I want to see how it looks.”

Lake hesitated for a fraction of a second, but his need to please me overrode everything else and he climbed aboard. Pointing around at the equipment, he started to babble about the levers and pedals, but I didn’t hear a word of it. I pulled out a small bottle behind my back and twisted the cap off.

“What’s that?” I asked him, pointing at something on the other side of the cockpit.

He leaned across to check and I doused him in Jessop’s pheromone. Lake sat bolt upright, wiping at the liquid which streamed down his head. “What’s this?”

“Just water,” I said, stepping down from the pad.

He dabbed a wet finger to his tongue and winced as I moved away. “It doesn’t taste like water.”

“Flavoured water,” I replied, stepping out of the elevator completely. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I need a towel,” Lake moaned. “This stuff stinks.”

“I’ll get you one,” I lied. This was the point where I’d see how much control I had over the systems. “Take it up.”

Lake stared at me, not quite understanding what one line had to do with the other. The computer and my device did, though. With a hiss, the unseen mechanics started to drop the door within the watertight grooves.

“What’s going on?” Lake shrieked, jumping out of the craft and running towards me.

He made it under the lowering panel, and I grabbed him before he could flee further. Grasping him by the collar and belt, I gave Lake the old drunk-toss and threw him back inside the elevator. He landed painfully, crying out. Scrambling to his knees, he tried to shuffle out to safety, but was too slow. The glass sealed itself into the floor and Lake climbed to his feet, staring at me in shock. Beating on the glass, he begged for me to let him out. I heard neither through the toughened material. When the hydraulic system started to raise the cab, he went berserk, screaming and crying.

I gave him a cheerful smile and wave as the pod disappeared from view into the cavern’s roof.

“I was going to strike you in the danglies if you let him go,” said Sun as I hurried past her.

“I’d have punched myself,” I replied.

My party quickly followed as we made our way to the computer system. The cameras were already on the lake’s surface, as if it could read my mind.

“Maybe it can,” said Cris as we all lined up to spectate.

After about a minute, the serene surface started to shimmer. Seconds later, the top of the cab came into view, spilling water from all four sides. Lake was running around inside his glass prison, getting nowhere fast. The sudden realisation of where he now was hit home and he jumped inside the helicopter and slammed the door. This escape plan wasn’t meant to be repeated judging by what came next. The equipment on rear of the elevator lifted the roof off and dropped three of the four panels into the water before splashing backwards too, leaving only the base behind. The waves washed away from the centre of the lake, settling into a ripple that gradually calmed.

Lake was feverishly trying to get the machine to respond to his commands. I could almost hear his screams as he beat at the equipment.

Cris burst out laughing when he hit something awkwardly and nursed a damaged wrist. “That’ll teach you.”

“No,” I replied. “That will teach him.”

Even closed off inside the cockpit, the strength of the pheromone was enough to draw in the surviving birds. They circled at first as Jessop’s chemical agent lit up their primal olfactory systems.

“Now he knows real fear,” said Sun as the creatures dived.

Lake’s terrified face was lost to the crush of flapping bodies. I felt cheated and turned away with a grunt of anger.

Cody’s hand turned me around. “They aren’t done yet, Mark.”

The light aircraft had been ripped open and Lake dragged out. Taking flight, the Pteranodons snapped and fought each other over their prize. Lake screamed, flopping like a ragdoll as the bills darted in and tore at his flesh. I watched with macabre fascination as the lunatic’s body was picked apart. The hands and feet were first to go, providing easy targets and weak joints. Then the limbs themselves, right up to the hip and shoulder. There wasn’t much left of the head except for a screaming, crimson mess. The fight over Lake’s torso was lost to sight.

“Justice is done,” I said.

“It was swift, which is more than he deserved,” said Sun. “But the manner was quite pleasing.”

“What now?” asked Cody.

Something pinged and I checked my HUD. “Now, we head back up to the others,” I replied as the last piece fell into place and the world timer started to tick down.