Rise To Stardom - Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Rollercoaster
Curious about the plot of the movie, now that Pierce had died unexpectedly, the audience watched as the movie cut to a two-year time skip, the explosions becoming rampant again.

Then came the scene with Sam disobeying orders from his superiors to not investigate the bombings and Abraham banging his hands on the desk as he left, introducing him as the villain of the movie without out rightly declaring it.

This was all predictable stuff but, it was executed so well with stellar performances from the actors in question, the audience couldn’t help but be carried along.

As the movie continued, the protagonist and the antagonist now made clear, the beautifully-choreographed action scenes in the movie that followed, kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

Truly, the directing and the cinematography of those scenes really stood out as there were literally no shaky camera movements, sudden camera cuts or use of stunt doubles.

This, gave the action scenes a very clean yet visceral experience, one that the audience could be excited about and easily follow. A lot of filmmakers in the room were also really impressed by it.

All of these action scenes so far though, had involved a rogue Sam going up against his former work colleagues in the EMF as he also tried to investigate the bombing cases on his own with little to no proper leads.

At times, the leads he got would just suddenly cease to exist, which was a very weird case. It was almost as if someone was beating him to all of it.

The fact that he kept encountering dead ends, made the audience wonder if he would truly be able to solve the mystery behind the case as even they as the audience, were stumped.

And then, after a few more dead ends, Sam finally got a hold of a very good lead that would lead him to a certain mob boss who would shed light on the matter.

At this point, the score of the movie slowly changed as the camera transitioned from the back of a determined Sam leaning on the sink of a basin in his safe house, to the back of a certain individual with perfect broad shoulders walking down a secluded street.

The individual was dressed in all black as he made his way into an abandoned factory, speaking a certain code to one of the workers ‘renovating’ the place.

Following that, he was given access to the building underground, as only people who worked for The Spider should know that code.

However, the people in the underground building, upon seeing him, knew that he was intruder.

And then came the scenes after, involving the dark corridor fight in the trailer, leading all the way up to Alex’s interrogation of Donovan, the mafia boss.

Now, more light was being shed on the story and the audience finally realized; it wasn’t that Sam was reaching dead ends.

No.

Far from that, Alex had been quite the thorn in his path, getting to all the leads before him.

By this point also, the audience whom had already been expecting Kyle to show up at some point in the movie, were instantly taken in by the range of his acting capabilities.

One minute he was all roguish and sly, the next minute, he was all serious and ice cold, a literal force to be reckoned with.

It was a pretty hard dichotomy to balance and yet, somehow, the kid was pulling it off.

But yet, they still weren’t sure what Alex’s actual goals were.

So most people in the audience watched on as the next few scenes of the movie, mostly focused on him and his own investigations, leading all the way up to his eventual showdown with Sam.

This particular scene had been one of the most thrilling in the movie after the elevator fight scene with Sam and the bar gunfight scene with Alex.

The gasps in the audience became audible as the scene with Sam and Alex facing off soon came into play, their excitement at an all-time high as they wondered who would win.

And yet, for some reason or the other, everyone was mostly drawn to Alex in the scene.

The intensity of his gaze, the fluidity of his movements, the viciousness behind it, everything was literal, chef’s kiss.

Jon who was heavily scrutinizing the movie, and most especially Kyle, couldn’t help but slightly nod, an impressed gaze on his features.

And then, after Sam finally one-upped Alex, the big reveal coming just after, the people in the audience, most of whom hadn’t predicted it, were quite surprised by this turn of events.

As they watched the movie go on though, now with Sam and Alex on the same team, they watched as Alex explained that he’d been investigating the case for over two years prior, which was how he was able to make headway much faster once the bombings started again.

This also explained why Sam always seemed to reach a dead end.

Alex also explained that since he got the schematics of the chip, modifying them to be less dangerous was very easy because it wasn’t that the chip itself exploded when it was activated.

Rather, it would trigger all sorts of easily combustible stuff within vicinity through a certain radiation wave the chip itself emitted.

Cut that off and it was just a harmless batch of blinking chips.

After a few more discussions though, both finally decided they needed to attend the Gala The Spider was going to be at.

Considering it was necessary for the Russian Mafioso with the deepest roots in this entire case to meet with his ‘investors’, it was a given that he would attend even if he knew they were coming.

Alex also made sure to remind Sam that since Abraham was heavily involved in all these, they should go completely prepared as they might as well be walking into a trap.

And sure enough he was right because things at the Gala ended up going south very fast when most of the people that attended were mostly Mafioso working for The Spider.

After about another twenty-minutes of non-stop, stellar, action-choreographed gunfight scene, a fight that had taken every single skillset they both had to win, Sam and Alex made their way up the stairs.

“You look tired Sam.” Alex executed a swift magazine reload flip as he did, a hint of amusement on his own tired, sweaty face.

“Focus Alex.” the Ex-Agent simply replied with his usual bluntness, beads of sweat pooling towards his chin.

However, standing at the top of the staircase they were ascending was Abraham, along with The Spider.

Turns out, The Spider actually reported to Abraham and not the other way around.

Even the time, Alex had been threatening the old agent, he had simply been playing along so he could lead him on and secretly kill him off at the Gala.

What Abraham hadn’t expected though, was for Sam and the vigilante to join hands.

He had to admit, he had truly underestimated the kind of lethal powerhouse both would turn out to be.

That was why they both needed to be disposed of right now.

At this point, even the audience weren’t expecting this sudden twist as the previous scenes with Abraham in them, lead them on to believe he was just a minor antagonist in the grand scheme of things.

Truly, this new development, made them very curious to see how the movie was going to end.

As Abraham had a slightly sinister smile on his face after the reveal, a remote detonator playing around in his hands, he began to speak;

“The staircases’ under-tiles are laced with C-4’s. Move and I’ll detonate them.”

“Well, I’ll still detonate them regardless, so, you can either listen or hurry along to your graves. It’s your call.” the old agent added, his expression casual.

The nonchalance in Abraham’s tone that accompanied the expression on his face however, only served to make the audience feel even more on edge.

The subtlety of it, made it quite clear that the old agent truly was black at heart.

Halting their steps immediately upon hearing that though, Sam and Alex realized they were screwed.

Abraham on the other hand, sighed and then began to speak again;

“I should’ve expected this though. You truly were the crème of the crop Sam. Always bulldozing through even the most impossible missions. Truly, you’re a force to be reckoned with.”

“And now you’re even more terrifying with that kid joining hands with you.” he pointed to Alex.

“But you see that’s the thing. I can’t allow you to leave here alive. Not after this.” Abraham gestured to all the bloodied surroundings and dead bodies lying around.

“The bombings? Pierce? Why go that far?” Sam coldly inquired instead, one to which Abraham replied with the same laid-back tone;

“Because they were going to make him the next head of the EMF. Him. Him?”

“What about me? Dedicated 53 years of my life serving the cause and they just wanted to throw me under the bus. Me. Me?”

Listening as Abraham let out a dry chuckle with his response, Sam knew the old agent’s words were true.

Despite having served the EMF for so long, Pierce who had worked with them for a shorter time span of 41 years was still being considered for the post even after his retirement back then.

And most of the time, those positions were given to people who had achieved great things for the EMF in their many years of service, something Pierce had done in spades.

‘Is that why he orchestrated all these? The bombings? Let it happen again two years later so it wouldn’t bear a similarity to Pierce’s case and then, jump in to save the day?’ Sam began to piece the rest of the story together in his mind.

And yet, as the audience began to do the same, their attention was quickly diverted back to Alex whose tone, was as dry as ever as he spoke;

“Are you done? Please be done.”

No sooner had he said that, he immediately shot the chandelier above Abraham and The Spider’s heads, causing both to worry about their safety first before even detonating the bomb.

But Abraham, determined as ever, still reacted quick enough to click the detonator, sending a Sam and Alex whom had almost vaulted over the railings of the staircases’ flying in different directions.

The Spider however, unluckily got caught in the collateral explosion as he too was sent flying towards the ground.

The only person that was relatively safe from it all, was Abraham himself.

Once again, the audience whom were watching all of this happen, couldn’t help but wait in eager anticipation for the next few scenes that would play out in the movie.

Literally, they were on the edge of their seats, the movie, taking them through quite the rollercoaster