Greeting readers and writers, and welcome to what is most likely the first player v. clan battle recorded on the wRHG (or at least to most people's knowledge it is). I myself had issued a challenge to the Blade Mercenaries, at the time only consisting of Haru, Chaotic_Penguin and PitchEnder to bring a bit of a spin to the otherwise traditional battle formula of the wRHG. I could go into depth as to why this took many times longer than expected, but that is not really relevant, what is, is that it's finally here.
Important to note is that officially this battle is a SPAR. Due to what happened with one of their former members, Shadowolf, I have proposed to turn the battle into a spar in case they had lost their spirits. They picked up my offer, and thus no official points will be handed out for this battle (sorry voters!). We, and in particular the Blade Mercenaries, would still appreciate your CnC though! But most importantly, we sincerely hope that you'll enjoy!
Without further ado, here are the fighters :
Vern's 'Agent Gamma'
vs.
The Blade Mercenaries :
-Haru's 'Kiro Sarr' (Leader)
-Chaotic_Penguin's 'Deam Catena' (Co-leader)
-Shadowolf's 'Maxar | Shadowolf' (BANNED)
(Apparently Shado's original character profile got torn down together with his account. Luckily for those who haven't read it, I had taken a copy of it with me in a word dox so that I could work on the story while on my travels. The story and demo have not been incorporated, however).
And here are their battles :
The Blade Mercenaries
Spoiler for Spoiler Format:
Show
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The ringtone broke the silence in the dimly lit room. As Beethoven went into another repeat of the opening staffs of Fur Elise, The Shadowolf snatched the worn plastic handheld off of its base.
“You know who this is if you have the right number. If not, you will want to hang up.”
A voice that would not have sounded out of place coming from a cobra oozed out of the speaker and into Shado’s pricked up ears.
“Oh indeed I do know. It just so happens that I have a job for you.”
“‘You’ as in me personally, or ‘you’ as in all of us?”
“I think the entire Blade Mercenaries group will need to take out this target.”
Shado tilted his head so that the phone was pressed between his right shoulder and his ear. He snatched up a beige note-pad bearing the “Staybridge Suites” logo on it, along with a blue and white “Mat-Su Credit Union” pushpen. Readying himself to write down the info, he started to ask the standard questions.
“Name of target please.”
“Agent Gamma of the Organization.”
“Suspected location.”
“Westlands suburbs district. Outside of RHG City.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“I’m afraid not, although I can say that he was supposedly caught on camera at Lorenzo’s Deli and Market on Jackson Street East at 2:31 PM yesterday.”
Rather precise information, Shado thought. “That will be enough for us to work with. Now, what’s the bounty you are paying.”
“Considering how important you will be to me, I thought that ten million would be suffice.”
“I will presume you meant ten million apiece.”
“No, I --”
“Then there is no need for you to have called. There will be three people working on this, and thus there needs to be three paychecks. You did not even choose a price that could be divided three ways. Either reconsider immediately, or you will need to find another set of mercs.”
“Wait! Fine. Thirty million it is.”
“Good. Thank you for your patronage. Agent Gamma will be dead within the week, probably sooner. You will receive an automated message from a computer generated number when the job is done. Goodbye.”
Setting down the pen and hanging up the phone, Shado turned to his recently acquired companions. The apartment consisted of little more than a bedroom with two double beds, a bathroom, and an eat-in kitchen. They would need to find larger quarters sooner or later, but the anonymity provided by this location was not easy to come by, and the lack of three beds did not bother Shado. He had slept through blizzards in mountain crags, so an outdated mauve shag carpet made a fine enough bed for him. Catena was browsing the refrigerator aimlessly, while Kiro Starr lounged on his bed, tapping his foot to the beat of one of his seemingly endless supply of songs. Raising his voice slightly to make sure Kiro would hear him over the headphones, Shado announced, “We have a new target. Full force attack, on our part. Going after a person by the name of…” He glanced at the pad. “Agent Gamma. Works for something called the Organization.
“
“Ugh. I hope he’s not related to that Omega guy.” Catena grumbled. “Where is this… Gamma located at?” She continued. “Jackson street East is the last place he was seen” declared Shado. Catena’s mind drifted as she imagined all the great foods that could be purchased there. “What’s the reward?” Shado grinned. “Managed to get us 10 million each.” Catena spun around, startled. “T-t-ten million?!” Catena had not eaten too well in the last few days, and the thought of suddenly being a millionaire excited her. “Kiro did you hear that? 10 million! 10 million!” She proclaimed. Shado stood there, still grinning at her excitement. Kiro opened one eye, and mumbled, “Say that again?”
“Ten Million, you idiot!” Kiro sat up, now mildly interested. “Well, I guess that is more than what we usually get.” Catena was confounded. “Why are you so unusually calm? It is Ten Million Bucks!” Kiro laughed, and then held a grin. “Of course I am happy! Imagine all the songs I can buy!” Kiro stopped grinning. “Of course, 10 million probably means that the target will be very dangerous. We don’t know what to expect, so be on your guard.” Catena was too busy thinking of all the food she would eat to listen.
Shado stretched, flexing his clawed hands. “Well, I’m not particularly in need of money, myself. It’s the principle of the thing. Anyhow, I’ve been needing a good fight. The big problem is that we don’t know where he lives. I’ll need to be your ‘point-man’ considering the fact that I can sniff out his trail from the Deli. You guys are a lot better at blending in than me, so it will be up to you to do the surprise attack.”
“Alright.” Kiro glanced at Catena. “Anything you want to say?”
“We go now. Gather your… whatever. We’ll bring this guy down.” Shado and Kiro looked at her curiously. Usually she is calm and tactical, always wanting to know more about the target. “What are you staring at me for? Let’s get going!” She slammed the refrigerator shut and leaped out the window. “We’ll strategize on the way there!”
“Strange,” Kiro thought. “She must be rushing for the money… But oh well.” Grabbing his trusty shotgun, Cecile, off the bed, he walked towards the door. “Hope she didn’t break a leg, jumping out of that window,” Kiro jokingly murmured to Shado.
Shado nodded his agreement, following her lead out of the window. “The bigger thing is if she breaks her caution. I didn’t like the feeling I got from our caller. I can’t put my finger on it, though...I’ll probably wake up in the middle of the night with it.” He shot a steel pole up to Kiro. “Slide down, fireman style, since apparently no one here is civilized enough to use the door.”
“Hmm?” Kiro turned. “Oh, a fireman pole! That’s nice, even though it brings back old memories…I’ll use it.” He started to slowly slide down the slippery pole. “Thanks.”
----
“Ok, here’s the jist of the battle. We know nothing of the target, but we know we’ll be fighting in the city, so I’ll make a little arena so we can reduce collateral damage. I’ll take some time to make sure this Gamma guy doesn’t escape. I’ll jump in to try to pin him down, then you two can pound down on him. Let’s do this quick, clean, and easy.” Shado and Kiro nodded as the trio sprinted toward the city. “Stay on the comms, we’ll split up to find him.”
As Kiro ran, for some reason, he suddenly was a bit worried. “I have a feeling that not researching this guy is going to prove to be our downfall.. Oh well.” He put on his headphones, and played some music to clear his mind. It also doubled as a disguise so people looking at him would see a regular young man with a music device, like ones they usually see around the city. He hid Cecile
for now in his backpack.
Catena, though taking advantage of a nearby ice-cream parlor, kept watch outside the deli while Shado browsed around the store. Though the door to the back office was locked, he merely melted bolt and strolled in. A set of security monitors were arrayed in front of him. Reaching up to the earbud he was wearing, he tapped it once and spoke softly. “Testing BM closed circuit radio system. All members online?” A cough from Catena and a bar of “Another One Bites the Dust” whistled by Kiro gave him the affirmative.
Setting about his work, he began scrolling through the video history until he reached the appropriate date stamp in the bottom right corner. Several people were in the Deli. Assuming the target was not a geriatric black lady or a “soccer-mom” wrangling three elementary school kids, no one was inside. Outside the front window, however, the camera caught a relatively non-descript white man with neatly trimmed brown hair and beard. He stood at the window for a short time, presumably deciding if he wanted to go in or not, then continued walking down the sidewalk. Shado furrowed his brow. Something isn’t right about this… Rewinding the film, he played it over again, in slow motion. A sly, predatory grin tugged at the corners of his lips. Why you little devil. Couldn’t outsmart old Maxar, could you?
Shado jumped at the sound of the balding manager tromping his way towards the Big Mac sitting on the corner of the desk. Hurriedly, he melted the bottom cans in a stack of Bush’s Original Baked Beans. The man sighed, scratched irritatedly at what little red hair he had left, and stomped to the shelves on aisle three to clean up the fallen cans. Dashing out of the store, Shado stopped several feet away from Catena at the spot where Agent Gamma had stood. Several minutes of sniffing brought up the scent he was looking for. Young caucasian male, faux leather, black wax shoe polish. He tapped the intercom again. “Target’s trail acquired, video identification made. White male with brown hair and beard, grey eyes. Tidy in appearance. I’m going to track him down. Guys, I need you to be careful. I have suspicions that we are getting ready to spring a trap...on ourselves. On the video, Agent Gamma stood at the window from 2:31:00 to 2:31:59, precisely the time that our contact told us he was there, and no longer. Also, when he first arrived, he glanced towards the camera, then adjusted his position for a better camera angle. Lastly, I don’t smell a man at ease...his scent give every indication of one who was anticipating combat, though not anxious of any immediate threat. This is Shado, out.” Without waiting for their response, he began to walk down the sidewalk like any normal person. No one would have noticed his nose working furiously underneath the shadow of his hood.
Catena took heed in Shado’s warning, but nonetheless stood relaxed outside the deli. She watched carefully as each person walked by, all the while mindlessly licking her ice cream. Grey eyes? That’s peculiar. Still, it’s gonna take a while to find this Gamma guy in this crowd.
“Shado, catch sight of him yet?” Catena mumbled. “It’s hard to spot out this agent in such a large crowd.” She continued, munching on her sugarcone.
“Could you not eat and speak at the same time? Also, I think I may be close.” Shado replied.
Hearing the chatter between them, Kiro jumped in while he was walking in a abandoned street.
Something didn’t seem right about this place… and it personally gave him the creeps. He talked into his intercom, unaware of the shadow creeping up on him.
“Not really finding a place to fight… We might have to-Mmph!” Kiro suddenly was put in a tight choke-hold from behind. Struggling to breathe and gasping for air, he tried to throw him off, but the man seemed to have a iron grip. Summoning all his remaining strength, he threw a desperate
back kick into the man’s chest. He heard a “OOMPH!” and saw the man stagger back, releasing the grip and momentarily hindered as Kiro sucked in as much precious air as he could.
Shado was immediately in alert. “Kiro, are you there?! Are you in combat with our target, or with another person?!” He quickly followed up with a page to Catena. “I need you to get over to…” he hurriedly checked the triangulation function on the radio in his pocket “the next street over. Safton Lane, first alley on the right. Kiro needs back up, but I’m not leaving this scent trail yet. GO!”
Catena sprinted towards Safton Lane, zigzagging through the crowds. A chain link began to multiply in her pocket, until she was covered in chainmail. Many eyes glanced toward her, until one exclaimed, “Run! She’s one of the RHG! There’s gonna be a fight!” The civilians lost control, screaming and scrambling for their lives. “Shado, I think we got rid of all possible civilian casualties already.” Catena said. By now she was gliding effortlessly at max speed.
Kiro quickly rolled behind a large box labeled “CAUTION: ITEMS FRAGILE.” Quickly taking out
Cecile, he jumped over and.. the man was gone! “W-Where did he go! He just vanished like a puff of smoke!” Slowly moving around the area, he kept Cecile at the ready. Sweat slowly trickled down his face. “What did we get into?” A sharp blow from behind sent him into pure darkness for a moment. Then, he woke up.
By the time she arrived at the alley, Kiro was collapsed in a corner. “What happened?” She asked. “H-He, He just… just disappeared! And then, out of nowhere, he struck me from behind.” Kiro answered. “Shado, we need to be more cautious. This Gamma guy is fast, and he’s trying to incapacitate us. Are you sure his trail doesn’t lead here?” Catena lifted Kiro up, and slung his hand over her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go find Shado.”
“Guys, use the ‘Locate’ function on the radio pods in your pockets to find me. I think I’m getting warm...something tells me there is a trick being played on us. Whoever attacked you is going to be after me next, of that I’m sure. It’s best that we stick together from now on.” Shado wound his way through the now abandoned streets. “Door Open” alarms beeped from the vehicles hastily vacated in mid-road. As soon as the people had fled, he dematerialized his hood so that he could have maximum field of vision and hearing. I should probably equip my gear as well...just to play it safe. Strange, though, how this attacker moved. He should be ahead of me, not behind…. Within a few moments, his ears flicked backwards at the sound of approaching footsteps. He quickly refocused on following the scent as soon as he realized that they belonged to his partners.
“How’s the tracking?” Catena asked Shado. “Consistent.” He answered. Catena peered over her shoulder at Kiro, who was still slightly drowsy. “Are you sure it doesn’t lead to the place Kiro was attacked?” She continued. “Definitely not.” Shado replied. Shado took a sharp left, and the two behind responded accordingly. “Huh. The trail ends here.” Shado said. The trio was facing a long alleyway, illuminated only by a few torches along it’s path. “Tread lightly. We don’t want to get ambushed.” Kiro warned. They walked through the alley, until suddenly Shado’s fist flew up into the air. “The trail is back. Quick!” Shado said. The three began to sprint when suddenly their path was blocked by a huge column of fire. “Get back!” Catena yelled. However, their escape was blocked by another column of fire. The fire towards the entrance suddenly extinguished, revealing a hooded figure. “Got you.”
Kiro held Cecile tightly, but he was still a bit off-balance from the sharp blow from before. “No, pal, I believe you have not gotten us quite yet, Mister. It was a good try, however.” While talking, Kiro reached into his pocket, ready to tap some music. He put on his headphones, and braced himself for any weird tricks they might be in store for.
Shado ranked Cecile’s barrels down to the ground. “Don’t shoot this man...this is not our target.” He stepped forward and waved his shield guns at him. “Just get off the scent trail. It doesn’t lead to you and you know it. Apparently someone didn’t pay much attention in biology class when they discussion the olfactory sense of canines...you are nowhere close to smelling like Gamma.” Suddenly, his hair stood on end. Knowing he did not have the time to move, he raised a thick steel wall behind them, just in time, too. Three high-intensity bullets ricocheted off of the barrier behind them. Shado responded by melting a hole in the metal, then firing a burst from his own sniper rifle towards a glint on the top of a parking garage several blocks away. “Something tells me that shooter is our man. Kiro, I believe you have a score to settle with this imposter. With your permission, Catena and I will keep a bead on Gamma.”
“Permission Acquired, Shado.” Kiro gritted his teeth. “Now come on, Mister. Show me what you got.” Grabbing Cecile, he reached into his pocket, and tapped “The Best Classical Composers”.
Feeling his head clear as Beethoven's 5th Symphony played, he started to run towards the man.
The man menacingly laughed, and raised his hands casually is a boxing gesture, ready to fight.
Meanwhile, Catena’s armor had already morphed to a semi-reflective armor-shield. “I’ll try to get close, so I can to ambush him with my chains.” She told Shado, who stood back to the barrier. “Cover me… now!” She sprinted towards Gamma, putting up small walls every few feet to block off stray bullets. She stood crouched next to a dumpster, unaware of her target moving. Over the intercom, she spoke to Shado. “I’m in range.” She heard Shado grit his teeth. “He’s… he’s gone.” He said, looking through his scope. “Get out of there!” He yelled. Catena didn’t know what was happening, but she took off, all the while thickening her armor, bracing for impact. BOOM! The dumpster exploded, sending pieces of shrapnel and trash in all directions. “C4? Better be careful, we don’t know what else Gamma has under his belt” Catena said. “Agreed.” Shado responded. The two met up, and Catena raised them to the roof. “Cover me, I’ll be vulnerable while seal off his escape.” Catena said to Shado, and then preceded to channel huge amounts of chains to surround the block. Come on, come on! I’ve done this before…. Just. A bit. Mo- “Argh!” Blood splattered on the roof.
Shado heard the pained cry, and rushed over to Catena. “Damn it, lass, you’re going to have to work with a bum leg.” He tore off a section of her pants leg as another bullet whizzed by his head. After another second, he had completed a makeshift bandage and stopped the bleeding from her thigh. As an afterthought, he applied a thin coating of metal to the bandage to keep it sealed and protected. “Hope you don’t mind cut-off jeans…now, let’s go.” Dashing towards the building from which the shots seemed to emanate, he dove into a partially open window. Nothing...yet he sensed there was, indeed, someone there. One of his ears twitched, and then he whirled to his right and drove his spear into the wall, and was rewarded with a startled cry.
“What the hell?!”
The invisible target swung open a door and fled shimmering down the hall, with Shado in hot pursuit.
Kiro meanwhile, was having a bit of trouble. He fired accurately, but the man was evading his shots. He was also hitting him hard, with fists that felt exactly like solid steel. Taking a quick breath, he tried again, this time trying to aim where the guy would be, thinking ahead for a bit. It successfully worked, and the man back, surprised and disbalanced.
He crashed to the floor, and tried to get back up, cursing. “Why you-” He was met with a quick
Tom Morello guitar riff and a hard blow that knocked him back to the ground. Quickly switching to rap,he dashed towards Catena, and helped her up. “You alright?”.
Brushing herself off, she tested out her legs. “More or less. Shado fixed me up pretty well, but I’m still going to have to be careful. It’s nothing I can’t work through, though. By the way, where is Shado?” She floated into the air, while her eyes darted around, checking for anyone who may be hostile.
“I think Shado went ahead of us,” Kiro replied. “He’s following the real Gamma.” He looked around, hoping that the man he just knocked out would stay down. “We better catch up.”
As he sped down the hallways of the brownstone apartment building, Gamma cast a worried glance over his shoulder. The Shadowolf was gaining on him quickly, which was peculiar considering the fact that he was invisible. It was probably due to his uncannily powerful senses, but still...that would not make things easy. He cut another tight corner into an apartment, dropped an EMP grenade, then dashed out onto the balcony and swung over the ledge. Dropping onto the large canopy of the outdoor cafe, he was pleased to hear the pop of the grenade accompanying a pained grunt. When Shado did not appear at the edge of the balcony, Gamma rolled off of the canopy and readied himself to deal with the other two mercenaries.
Catena and Kiro skid to a halt when they saw Shado, smoke rising from his burnt fur. “Guh… Go.” he mumbled. Catena and Kiro nodded at each other and turned the corner, only to find two guns pointed at their faces. “I am genuinely surprised at how easy it was to ambush you merely by walking back up to where I felled your comrade.” Gamma said, finger closing on the triggers. Suddenly, both Kiro and Catena ducked and swung at Gamma. They’ve practiced this before in simulations, and never have they been hit in one. Gamma fell onto his back, eyes cold and filled with murderous intent. Without hesitation he raised his guns and fired. The bullets stuck into Catena’s armor, without hurting her. However, electricity shot through her chainmail and she blacked out. By now Kiro had already pulled out Cecile, and had his music up on full blast.
“I expected a better challenge from these so-called mercenaries.” Gamma muttered. He prepared to finish the remaining one off, but Kiro was prepared. Quickly rolling to dodge the multiple shots fired at him, he bashed Gamma’s head with Cecile, and then followed up with a hard roundhouse kick into his chest. Gamma staggered back, caught off guard, then re-engaged, seemingly almost not hurt at all. He took out his E.M.U Blade Staff, and quickly struck Kiro multiple times. It was Kiro’s turn to back off, wincing in pain. Glancing to his chest, he saw blood spill slowly from his now shredded shirt. “Can’t fight so good like this… Gotta hold him off, until Shado is back up.”
Catena awoke to a loud boom from near her right. She hopped to her feet. Her head was buzzing, but she quickly regained balance. Seeing Kiro attempting to hold off Gamma, she said through the intercom, “I’ll go get Shado. Take this!” And proceeded to throw a thick, chain shield at Kiro. “Got it. Thanks.” Kiro responded. With that Catena started running towards the alleyway where Shado was located. On the way there Catena began making a small brace for Shado in case he needed it. When she got to the scene of the explosion, she fell to her knees. Shado’s blood painted the wall behind him, a clean hole in his head. Near him a note wrote, “Should have finished me off.” Catena trembled beside a dumpster, and then said to herself: “Now’s not the time. I have to help Kiro.” She turned her back to Shado and ran, wind whistling through a spear in the making.
Kiro, using the shield to his advantage, charged like an angry bull and slammed Gamma as hard as he could. Gamma was prepared, but not for this unexpected move. As Gamma went flying, Kiro grinned and tapped a few buttons on his Music Device. The drops and rapid beats rejuvenated Kiro for a little bit, and he began to run toward Gamma, loading in the Incendiary Dragons Breath.
“That doesn’t look good.” Gamma whispered as he caught a glance of the red bullet being loaded into Kiro’s shotgun. Gamma looked around hurriedly, trying to find something, anything, to use. With a sly smile he bent his knees and prepared to jump for a scaffolding near him. He was stopped dead in his tracks by a bundle of chains. “Going somewhere?” Catena jogged out of the alleyway, spear in hand, and pointed it at Gamma. “Any last words?” Kiro smirked.
“Can’t believe we didn’t get any money. Shado died. We caused so much damage to infrastructure that we actually lost money.” Catena grumbled, sipping on an Americano.
“Indeed,” Kiro replied, chewing on a KFC chicken drumstick. His face darkened. “I will not let anything like Shado’s death happen again. From now on, we kill anyone who can pose a threat. Agreed?” He took another bite.
“Agreed.”
------------------
Vern
Spoiler for Spoiler Format (Warning : Long read):
Show
The night had drawn to an end and the morning sun had already begun to shine brightly far in the west. He was driving back to the office, but it’d still be quite a while before he’d arrive. He had opened the car’s windows and the morning air blew a chilling breeze inside, yet he heeded little attention to it. His mind was elsewhere.
As much as he tried to get his mind off of it, the assignment kept coming back to him. There had been something about it, and it wouldn’t leave him alone. But it hadn’t been something, or someone he saw, no, far from. It had been the simplicity and the ease with which he had managed to complete it that concerned him.
After all, it had been a real textbook case. So little had been needed to get to the target, so much less to take him out. Frankly, he felt as if Nathalia’s curiosity grew contagious. What could such an unimportant person have done that he would need to be eliminated? But that wasn’t what bothered him the most. What was, was one simple question.
Any of the Guards could have easily done this job too… So why of all people did they send me?
Gamma tried to shrug it off, but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t help but feel as if something was… off. The Organization’s always right, but then why’d he feel as if they made a mistake?
His eyes wandered off as his thoughts carried him away. There was little traffic on the small roads leading to the suburbs this early in the morning anyways. The road was an open one, with the sea on his right hand side and a few old warehouses and factories to his left. He could see the first symptoms of urbanization looming on him in the distance. It wouldn’t be long or he’d find himself not too far from where Dozer had smashed a brick in his face.
His attention was suddenly caught by a foreign sound. His eyes immediately jumped back to the road. He had trouble placing the sound, but he could feel the car slowing down. He tried accelerating but the pedal refused to budge.
Frustrated, he tried reverting gears, but even that didn’t help as he came to a complete standstill. Angered, he pulled the keys from the contact, got out and walked towards the hood of the car to try and find out what was wrong.
While he’d never completely understood how car’s engines worked, it didn’t take him much to figure out what the issue was. Parts of the engine were molten, and soon his anger made way for blunt confusion.
I’m no mechanic, but I’m certain engines are not supposed to melt.
Just as his anger had made way for confusion, so did the confusion for suspicion.
No. Engines don’t melt. Something’s off here…
And as if to answer his suspicions, a giant hulking spear came flying right at him. Instinctively he hurled himself sideward, just in time to see the spear pierce right through the car where he had stood. With one gracious roll he got back on his feet.
His hand immediately reached for his earpiece.
“Dormer! Come in!”
No answer came, there was no one at the other side of the line, putting him in a perilous predicament. Whatever just tried to kill him wouldn’t stop at that and would be here any second, and he had no idea what he’d have to expect.
To makes matters worse, he found himself under equipped for any kind of face-off. All he had brought were a couple of explosives, a single handgun, his knives and a pair of mags, of which one was already emptied.
Quickly his hands reached for his armaments as his eyes hurried to find whatever was after him. It took them only a second to see what it was ; A dark, canine being, and it was coming straight for him, fast. It came straight for him in a linear path, and he urged to raise his gun and fire. Yet the thought ran from his mind as soon as he heard rumbling beneath.
In just a split second his instinct took over as once more he hurled himself aside, barely in time to avoid a large metal chain erupting from the ground. But he was given no time to recover, chains kept sprouting from the ground as the canid drew ever closer.
His feet struggled to keep him up as his hands swiftly flicked the switch and in an instant a bluish haze surrounded him. He knew it’d only buy him a moment’s notice, though, and quickly made for the nearest building, in this case one of the abandoned warehouses nearby.
His trick bought him even less time than he expected, however, as the canid, who turned out to be some sort of lycan half-breed, immediately got up and began twitching its ears towards the agent, as if it knew he was going to do it.
Gamma could barely contain his frustration. He needed to buy himself more time but didn’t have the means to do so. Desperately he did the only thing he could, and flung an explosive towards the wolf. It was unlikely that it would kill it, but he hoped it would buy him just enough time to get to the warehouse.
He had no time to see whether it had hit or not, all he could do was make a run for the building. The door was but a few meters away but he could hear gunshots in the distance already, soon followed by the rumbling that signified the eruption of the chains. None of it managed to hit him, however, and with a mighty blow of his shoulder the old, rusty door flew out of its hinges and clattered against the building’s cold, concrete floor.
The interior was surprisingly well lit, only now did he see the great rows of windows near the building’s roof. But now was not the time to inspect the surroundings. His pursuer could be here any moment now and he had to buy himself more time until he’d know what he’s up against.
His eyes darted around searching for something, anything, to help him, and stopped when they saw one of the many rusty iron rods lying around. In a matter of seconds he retrieved the thing and blocked the door. He had barely finished before he heard the bang of someone trying to breach the door like he had. Fortunately, this one wasn’t as successful as he had been.
There was no time to sit around and wait, though. He placed another explosive right next to the door before running the other way. Whatever chased him would be in for a nasty surprise once it entered the door. But he still knew next to nothing. His hand reached for his ear again but once more found the line dead.
God damn it Dormer! What’re you up to…
Quickly he made his way up to the upper walkways. The whole place was in a state of disrepair and the rusty metal staircase felt like it could collapse any moment, but luckily for him it didn’t. His pursuer had seemingly given up trying to get through the door, as if aware of the danger lying straight ahead, but it mattered little to him. Whatever bought him time was good right now.
Now feeling relatively safer, he took a moment to assess the situation. He was being pursued by some sort of wolf-like being. Judging from the fact that it was partially canine, it wouldn’t be too hard for the creature to track him down, at least not this way. It seemed that it also possessed the power to summon chains from the ground, and judging from the fact that his engine had molten down earlier it only took him so much to figure it could manipulate metals, but to what degree? Most importantly, however, what else was chasing him?
Those questions would have to be answered later. Essential right now was to avoid the opponent altogether until he had more knowledge on the extent of what he was facing. The suit was still intact and the light was still being bent, good, but that wouldn’t cut the deal. He’d need more, but luckily he had more tricks up his sleeve still.
Alright…. Focus.
He sat down, closed his eyes and began focusing on his heartbeat and breathing. Slowly but surely he could feel it slow down as his breaths drew deeper and deeper. The frigid morning air began to tingle on his skin, he could hear the solemn breezing of the wind, and soon after even distinguish some of the footsteps outside of the warehouse’s complex. Then, when he opened his eyes again, the whole world seemed to move slower than it did before.
Let’s see if you can find me now.
All the sounds were clearer now, and he immediately noticed that the banging on the door had ended, and instead it had made way for some chattering outside, though the walls were too dense and the conversation too quiet for him to distinguish any of the words. While he had anticipated his trap would fail, it was tough shaking that uneasy feeling, the eerie awareness that everything about this entire situation was off; How did they manage to locate him, how could they keep up with his every move, why was the comline dead, but most importantly, just how much did they know?
His train of thought was rudely interrupted when two chains forcefully broke through one of the walls, and began tearing the wall down in a slow, crunching motion. Gamma approached the end of the rusty catwalk to have a better look, and could see the dust and specks of brick flying everywhere as a whole portion was torn down. With one flick the chains swept away the dust, and soon after three peculiar individuals stepped through.
The first was one he had only managed to have a brief glimpse of, it was the wolf, though it walked on its hind legs now, and appeared to have a more human physique. It carried a rather sizeable buckler and the grand spear that had almost cleaved him earlier. Next up was a woman, whose age he wasn’t sure of, with what at first appeared to be a full set of armor, though then was revealed to instead be her silvery hair on top of a torso of chainmail.
Chains… It must’ve been her then.
Lastly entered a man, or rather, a lad, with a rather remarkable and unorthodox appearance. His bright red jacket and purple-dyed hair heavily contrasted against his black shirt and blue pants and made him look punk-ish, something that’d probably catch him attention in public, but made him an easy target now instead. There didn’t seem to be much more about the guy, other than the fact that he carried a shotgun with him, and wore headphones, which Gamma guessed to be part of his attire.
He saw their eyes dart around the warehouse, seemingly desperately trying to find him amongst the rubble, but they found nothing but garbage and rusty old farming implements. The lad turned towards the wolf and began speaking, though this time Gamma had little trouble understanding his words.
“...do you know where he is, Shado?”
Its eyes were still carefully scouring the room, its ears twitching in every direction and its nose constantly sniffing. Then after a while, without turning toward the punk, it answered.
“I can sense that he is in this room with us, but… I’m having troubles locating him.”
This answer didn’t seem to please the other one, who appeared quite agitated and nervous.
“What do you mean, you can’t locate him?! Damnit Shado, if we have to look for him here we’ll be walking right into his traps!”
The beast, that had been trying to keep a cool head, jerked its head towards the man, seemingly ready to state his own agitation, though as soon as it opened its mouth, the woman, whom had been keeping silent up till then, laid her hand on its shoulder and motioned him to be silent.
As soon as it calmed down, her voice in a silent tone began “Worry not, I… “borrowed” something nobody’s gonna miss from the RHG depot, in case something like this would happen.”
Slowly, her hand reached for her pockets and retrieved a cylindrical object, too small for Gamma to be able to effectively see what it was, but as soon as she pulled a pin from the top and hurled it upwards, his eyes shot open and his pupils narrowed. As soon as the thing reached the ceiling it burst open in a bright flash of light, and his arm instinctively reached out to cover his eyes from the light. When he lowered his arm, however, horror was upon him. The blue haze was gone ; the light was no longer being bent, and he was visible.
Not even a fraction of a second later he could hear one of them yelling “There!”. Gamma frantically looked around, he had no time to think, it’d only be a second or two before they’d be after him. He could hear footsteps rushing up the metal stairs already, he could hear the ground rumble, and bullets being fired. His eyes quickly stopped at the only possible avenue they could find ; A window.
Then instinct took over. As soon as his feet began urging towards the window, so did his hands reach for an explosive and a detonator. In only a second he’d reached the window, and he raised his shoulder to break through as his right hand stuck the explosive to the railing. Then forcefully he swung himself through the old glass as his left hand triggered the detonator.
*Boom*
And then his descent began as the explosion sent pieces of glass and shrapnel flying through the window he had jumped through but a second ago. He could feel the frigid air cutting past his skin as he accelerated more and more, albeit for only a couple of seconds. As soon as he felt the first touch of the ground beneath his heels he braced for impact and prepared to roll. The fall was nevertheless a heavy one and he couldn’t help but grunt as his body came to a sudden halt.
But he had no time to feel pain, swiftly he rose up and began running over the little grass field, back towards the streets. He could hear the metal catwalks crashing down inside the warehouse, as he intended, but he knew that was only going to buy him so much time. His hands reached for his pistol this time and he simply began firing behind him, it didn’t matter to him that he was just emptying the clip, anything had to do to buy him time now.
If I stay out in the open I’m done for… The warehouses and fields are death traps, and the forest’s only gonna buy me so much time. So where else can I go?
Though as he closed in on the streets a rather unorthodox solution presented itself. Not too far from where his car stood he saw the copper lid of a manhole ; a gateway to the sewers.
In an instant he whipped out his knife and slid down next to the lid. Swiftly he rammed the knife into the edge and began nudging on the knife to open the hole, but seconds seemed to turn to hours as the sweat trickled from his forehead.He knew it’d only be mere moments before the bullets would start flying his way again, before the chains would start ripping through the asphalt...
...Before he would meet his demise.
Alas, it was not yet his time. With a creaking noise the lid opened, and with a brute swing Gamma threw the thing away, jumped onto the metal sports and slid down the ladder.
The first thing that hit him was the putrid stench, a nearly indescribable odour. As if something had died and had lain here rotting for years, but then even worse. Once he reached the end of the ladder, however, a more urgent issue arose : It was pitch black. In the dark, however, he smirked as he retrieved a flashlight from his belt. He turned it on and immediately a bright white cone appeared in front of him, at least one factor in his favour. His smirk had faded as soon as it had appeared, however.
This flashlight’s still not gonna be doing me any good as long as their lapdog can smell me.
Then, as soon as he had finished the thought, his eyes drifted towards the putrid water flowing right next to him.
...Hmph. I’ve been through worse.
And with that, he took a dive into the waste and drenched himself in its stench.
As soon as he surfaced he had to resist the urge to throw up. It smelled even worse than he had anticipated, but there was no time to dwell on that now. He could hear footsteps on the ladder’s metal bars, and he knew there’d be no time. Swiftly he pulled himself up on the concrete ledge and simply began running in a single direction, towards the suburbs.
The sewers were small and narrow, barely high enough to stand up, though the sidewalks offered plenty of room. Everything, as far as the eye could see, seemed to consist of rough, grey concrete bricks, though the otherwise monotonous environment was spiced up with muck, fungi and all other manners of disgusting things growing inside every crevice or corner, and running alongside every wall.
Eventually the hallway made a turn, however, and soon the sewers began to divert into multiple directions. This was troubling, to say the least, as he hadn’t the slightest clue where he was headed, and it wouldn’t be long before his pursuers would begin to catch up. What had already caught up to him was the pain. He could feel a strong pain tugging his right leg, though it was nothing compared to the sharp, stinging pain ringing through his foot ; It was broken, and it had been a miracle he had made it so far already, but it was clear the pain wouldn’t go as easily as it had come.
Sternly Gamma tried running again, though this time the pain wasn’t letting up. With every step it jolted through his body, and his right leg contracted. He wasn’t gonna make it very far this way, but if he ceased running then the bastards would catch up with him in seconds. He would have to make a stand.
Taking on all of them simultaneously is suicide. I need to split them up, but they’re obviously not gonna separate on their own. Though, if I were to… Well, it’s so crazy it just might work.
~
Swiftly Kiro placed foot after foot beneath him on the metal sports of the ladder, intent on getting down there as soon as possible, though seeing became harder and harder. When finally his feet found concrete instead of metal he let out a sigh of relief. Quickly he retrieved Cecile from his back and joined Catena.
Soft and gently, this one began to whisper. “Can’t see a living thing down here, and it smells really terrible. God damn, of all places he could’ve went, he had to chose the old sewers...”
It was true, it smelled like death, like rot and like spoilt milk, frankly, it smelled like everything but human feces, which made him wonder whether these were really sewers, or something else. Then he heard a soft thud as Shado landed behind them. The instant he walked forward he flinched away in pure agony and whimpered. What was agonizing for them must be a true torment for the wolf, who stood whining there for a little while before collecting himself again.
Carefully Kiro reached out for his friend. “You alright buddy?”
Shado coughed and ran his arm past his nose. “I’ve been better. I believe I will be alright, though I’d rather not spend too long here, as you may understand.”
Kiro patted him on the shoulder. “Well the sooner we find him the better, so perhaps you could..?”
~
Maxar sighed, leaned forward and closed his eyes. As much as he hated having to do this, it had to be one. Careful and hesitantly he sniffed the air to get a trace of his target, but no matter how much he tried he couldn’t manage to find a trail. This mildly bothered him, to say the least. His nose had never let him down before, so why did it do so now? But once he saw the waste washing by at his feet, it was clear to him.
“Apparently our target jumped into that filth to mask his scent, and what’s bothersome is that it’s working.” He said sternly.
He tried to focus. His nose might’ve let him down, but he still had another trick up his sleeve.
Shado sensed the beings around him, he felt Catena and Kiro right next to him, and a few rushing by overhead, undoubtedly in a car. Then he sensed him, not too far from here, and he was advancing arduously. Excellent.
With a nudge of his head Shado invited the others to follow him, and the trio ventured into the sewers as Kiro took out a flashlight to guide their way. It wasn’t much later that they arrived at the turn, and soon they found themselves confronted by the various different pathways. Five different entrances were revealed, two straight ahead with a small bridge running across the waste to get there, one to the left, one to the right, and one not too far to the right that turned backwards.
Then, suddenly, their attention was caught by a distinct sound. A distant grunt sounded through the hallways, and all heads turned to heed the sound. It came from one of the hallways ahead of them. Shado felt uneasy, something was off about the whole situation, but that did not stop Kiro and Catena from rushing ahead, over the bridge.
Carefully Shado took a few steps sidewards to have a better look, and in the distance he could see their target, crumpled up against a wall in a T-section just down that hall, while tenuously holding onto his leg. At first it seemed as if the fall hadn’t gone easy on the guy, but once he saw Kiro taking a peek around the corner, it dawned on him.
A cold shock rushed through his spine. He stretched out his arm as if to grab Kiro by the shoulder, even though this one stood far out of his reach, as he opened his mouth to speak, to yell at him to back off…
..but it was too late. Time seemed to come to a standstill, and all he managed to see was the man in the distance suddenly lifting his head, a sly grin plastered on his face, as his hand flicked out a detonator…
...and pushed it.
The explosions roared through the sewers like thunder, a terrible and frightening sound. Fiery balls formed themselves on the ceiling and on the sides, and in an instant bricks, rubble, dirt and filth came crashing down upon the wolf. Desperately he tried to turn, to elude it.. to avoid it. But it served no purpose, as the stone and brick rapidly buried him beneath, and it remained perfectly still.
~
Gamma’s heart was filled with vigor and delight as he saw the mayhem unfold in front of his eyes. Too late had the fools realized what was upon them as the blasts sent the entirety of the sewer crashing down on them. He sat and watched as the punk barely managed to avoid burial by throwing himself into the waste. Upon seeing this he couldn’t help but grin.
Same place, same people, same shit.
Slowly he stood up as the guy rose from the filth again, desperately gasping for air. His attention was drawn when the agent shone his flashlight on him, however. Their eyes met, and for just a fraction of a second all time seemed to stand still. In the man’s eyes shone confusion, fear, yet bravery and determination too.
“Let’s making this interesting, shall we?” Gamma, in a silent, yet daring voice, said.
And just like that, with a single press of the button, all light faded. Darkness, like a black blanket, befell their eyes, and soon all they had left were their ears and their weapons. He closed his eyes and listened carefully; he could hear his adversary rise from the water to his right, and subsequently retrieve something from his back, undoubtedly the shotgun he had seen earlier.
Then the only sounds that could be heard were the trickling of the water, and breathing.
Slowly, step by step, his feet carried him closer to the breathing. Soft thuds on the cold concrete now accompanied the soft melody of air and water as the other slowly inched away from him.
Even all the way down here the air felt frigid, the cold breeze across the skin like countless small cuts. Tenderly his fingers ran across the icy metal of the knife’s blade, before roughly ripping it from its place on his chest. Then he felt the contrast of the warm embrace of his fingers and palm upon the cold hilt of the knife in his hands.
He stood still one last time to take in the silent symphony, to expose his being to the elements around him. He listened, and heard the footsteps; They were right in front of him, just over the little stream of sewage. Neatly the blade spun around in his hand until his fingers now clenched the blade instead of the hilt. One last time they felt its icy touch, the cold, sharp embrace.
Then, with one forceful swing, it was sent flying into the abyss, only to meet soft, warm flesh again but a fraction of a second later. Cleanly the blade dug itself into the man’s abdomen as this one let out a cry of pain.
Then fire joined the harmony of air and water as this one fired his gun where the knife had come from, and for just a very brief moment the rain of metal illuminated the corridor with a faint, fiery glimpse of light. Yet they hit nigh but the blank air, as he had already jumped to the other walkway to his target’s left, and with just one more leap, he found himself right behind the man.
It was obvious that the punker struggled to comprehend what was going on when all of the sudden he was grabbed from behind. Desperately he nudged and shook with his body in a struggle to break free as he tried to get a grasp of the situation.
“Wh-?”
But it was all he could say, before a sharp pain stung in his neck. Titanium cleanly dug its way through his flesh, past his arteries, his windhose, and eventually out of the other side of his neck. The warm blood dripped down his neck and out of his mind. He tried to scream in agony, to yell out in pain, but all he could manage to utter was a bloody, gurgling sound as he dropped to his knees.
Gamma flicked on his flashlight and distantly watched as the guy reached for his neck with his one hand, and out in the blank air with his other as he slowly fell beneath his own weight. Then, with one loud thud, his body crashed on the floor face first as the gurgling kept on for just one more moment.
Silence, like an unwanted visitor, then returned. The body still spasmed, but the gurgling had ended as a crimson pool now trickled out beneath the man and into the sewage. With one forceful swoop of his foot he flipped the corpse around, to reveal the contorted face with the hand still clenching the neck. He frowned, though it was not the sight that disturbed him.They had been dumb to come after him in the sewers, but now, clearly, it was too late.
Casually he knelt down and retrieved his other knife from the body, and cleanly swept the blades past the man’s clothing to get rid of the blood. He couldn’t help but sit there gazing at the kid for a while, he hadn’t been any older than 20, most likely even 19. What on earth could’ve convinced someone so young to put their life on the line coming after him?
Money, of course. What else?
Well, it didn’t matter, not anymore. Nothing was going to save him now….
~
Arduously Catena opened her eyes. A haze of blurring was all she could see at best, the explosive that had been set off right next to her had had quite the impact and frankly it was a miracle she could still breathe..
Slowly her senses and memories came back to her. They were hunting a man, only referred to by their contractor as “Agent Gamma”. Whom the bastard was didn’t really bother her at the time, the contractor left them with ample information and a huge sum of money in return for a job so seemingly easy. Although had it not been for Shado, he would’ve most likely slipped away right under their noses already.
Now she wished she’d have paid more attention, asked more questions. But she was still very much alive, which meant she could still kick ass. She tried standing up, only to find her bottom half buried beneath rubble and dirt. With one solid push she managed to break free. She slowly rose to her feet, still feeling dizzy in her head, but herself wasn’t what she was concerned for right now.
The mere thought that Shado or Kiro would be left alone to face that maniac frightened her, after all they had specifically been told never to split up, whatever the cost. Frantically she looked around, but all she could find was Kiro’s flashlight, constantly flickering on and off. With a single chain she retrieved the thing and shone it around, but found herself trapped in the midst of rubble, alone.
“Shado? Kiro? Are you guys alright?” she shouted, her voice full of a concerned undertone.
No answer came, however, and all she could hear was her shout echo further into the abyss.
A few more times she yelled “Shado?” or “Kiro?” or “Guys?”, but all she could hear was the sound of her own voice and the sand trickling down the rubble.
God, we should’ve known better than to blindly chase this creep in the sewers… I just hope Shado and Kiro are keeping safe. First things first though, I need to get out of this mess.
Looking around, Catena realized she had no clue which way led where, all she could see were the remains of walls, and an excessive amount of mess. She shuddered, not only did she hate this cold morning, but ironically enough she despised being stuck in such small areas. With but a single thought numerous thick chains sprouted from the ground everywhere and ploughed away at the rubble, and mere moments later a way was opened.
Carefully she shone the flashlight down the hallway, though it was hard to see anything as the defective thing constantly flickered on and off. Nothing seemed off at first, so hesitantly she approached the passage. When the light suddenly caught a shadow in the distance she coiled away, however a second glance revealed that whatever object lay at the cause of the shadow remained perfectly still.
One step at a time she inched closer to the thing in the distance while struggling to keep the flashlight running. She remained ever careful, constantly under the presumption that whatever lay ahead of her could potentially be a trap. But when she did finally catch a glimpse of the thing in the distance, she stiffened and stood as if nailed to the ground ; It had been neither a trap nor an object, it was a body.
Her body jolted back in action and worry began to fill her heart and cloud her thoughts, as her tred grew ever faster, up to the point where she was running, and even sprinting. She couldn’t believe her eyes, no, she refused to. But her eyes caught the glimpse of red and purple, and her left hand immediately moved to cover her mouth.
In front of her lay Kiro, his back turned up and a sticky, shimmering pool of crimson beneath. All the muscles in her body stiffened, and she felt tears well up in her eyes as her face grew pale. The air seemed to grow icy as she slowly knelt down and reached for his shoulder with her right hand, but he wasn’t moving a muscle….
“Kiro….” she repeated, softly and kindly at first, but when she received not even the slightest reaction, her voice soon grew louder, more desperate, until eventually it was nothing more than a whimper. She couldn’t bring herself to turn around his body and look at his face, and could feel a tear dwindling down her cheek.
Then her attention was caught by the cold metal pressing against her forehead. Her eyes darted up to look straight down the barrel of Kiro’s shotgun, but at the end stood someone completely different. The face at the end appeared worn, with short locks of brown hair plastered to his sweaty forehead, his half-closed pale eyes piercing right through her.
Yet she was too furious and sad to flinch, or even react to the situation at all; all she felt like doing was frown.
“Do whatever you’re gonna do, just get it over with…” she grunted, barely managing to suppress the urge to yell.
“Who hired you?” He simply kept staring, as if she had said nothing.
Catena couldn’t help but frown even deeper, the urge to spit in the man’s face nearly irrepressible, oh how she wanted to skin this fucker alive! But she knew that it was no use, if she’d move as much as a muscle it’d be over.
The man simply kept staring at her with his grey eyes. She dared glance right in them, but found not even the slightest hint of remorse or emotion.
“I’m not going to ask again.”
She looked him straight in the eyes again as she spat out “You’d like to know wouldn’t you?”
And once more she found the man doing nothing but idly staring at her. It seemed as if this charade would last forever.
But she wasn’t planning to let it. It would be now or never. In the blink of an eye a chain shot from the ground and pushed the barrel away just in the nick of time. She could feel how the hail and fire flew right overhead, instantaneously followed by a sharp pitch as the explosion sent both her ears ringing.
The pain to her hearing was agonizing but she bit through lept at the man as hard as she could with the intent of tackling him, in which she succeeded with baffling precision. Her arms clasped around his waist and the sheer force sent them both flying. The abrupt change in motion ripped the shotgun and flashlight from his hands, and both crashed on the ground behind them.
With a loud sploosh their bodies hit the waste and the slush was sent flying everywhere. Catena’s filthy hair stuck to her face and in her eyes, but she wasn’t going to let up. The flashlights still gave off enough light for her to see, and it was all she needed.
Chains wrapped around her right hand and then she hit him in the face as hard as she could. The icy metal dug into his skin and bits of it were sent flying sideways alongside with a few slivers of blood. He grunted in agony, and it was like music to her ears. She did the same with her left and once again he screamed out loud, every punch more satisfying than the last.
She threw another punch, and another, and another, but in her anger she failed to see the danger at hand. Too late she realized that the man hadn’t been trying to escape her clutches at all, when she suddenly felt a sharp sting in her left side. The pain came as sudden as the sting, and all the muscles in her side convulsed.
Her entire body began to scream to her to stop, but she knew she had to keep going. Once again she felt the sharp sting in her side and she couldn’t help but scream out. In her anger she forgot the properties of her armor and instead tried kicking the knife out of his hands, though only succeeded in doing so after many failed attempts, during which he had succeeded to rip his other arm from beneath her grasp.
With this one he harshly took hold of her head and smashed it into the stone walkway next to them, his speed and strength having completely caught her off guard. The impact sent her whole head ringing and her eyes fading in and out of darkness. She struggled to keep up and effortlessly the man pushed her off and jumped away. With her hand on her head she managed to recover sufficiently to fight him again.
Her eyes swept right and left, but no matter where they went they didn’t see the man anywhere. The more she kept looking the more stress began to build up in her. This was bad, real bad.
Her head was still spinning and a terrible headache had now taken the place of the sneering pain that had been shooting through the side of her head ; She was suffering from a concussion, and she couldn’t focus. But even that did not keep her from trying to form an idea. One so crazy, it just might work.
With a flick of her hand, countless slithery metal chains sprouted from the ceiling, stopping just before hitting the ground, simply dangling up in the air instead. And yes, but a few seconds later her plan paid off as she heard the chains rustling to her far left. In an instant sharp, thin chains shot from everywhere where the sound originated, trapping anything nearby like a spring trap.
Then she heard his deathly groaning and a flair of exhilaration shot through her as the corners of her mouth darted up to form a fiendish grin. With another flick of her hand a chain brought the nearby flashlight closer, though by doing so the already faint light completely faded away. Frustrated, she smacked the thing a few times and then the ligh