The Free Agent

Good to know this story won't be a clichéd, "I need the Jewel of Durp de Durp to make the Durpinator 9000 destroy the World!". Instead, the villains, so far, are bat-****-insane, but intelligent.
Looking forward to your next chapter. Keep it up!

I'm getting a very strong Joker vibe from your cyborg. Carnage for carnage's sake and whatnot. It's all very ominous and intriguing so far, which is always good.

Fun stuff so far. One or two parts seemed a bit clumsy, but that's not necessarily a crippling handicap, and the rest is good enough to make up for it.

Chapter 6 – Crisis

Racing along the road, Firius found himself thankful that the traffic was light at this time of the night. Ignoring the red traffic lights that continuously appeared before him, Firius looked up and noticed a helicopter flying overhead. “Crud, they’re on the move.” Firius realised, “I’ve got to hurry.”
Taking a right turn at a t-junction, Firius slowed down as he saw Glacia running down the street towards him. “That excited to see me that you had to run down the road?” Firius joked as he stopped.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Glacia responded, “I snuck out of the back of my apartment just in case your hypothesis was right.”
“Was it?”
“I did see a small group of people at the front of the building. I felt it was best waiting for you to help even the numbers before taking them on.”
“Alright. We might be able to squeeze some information out of them.” Firius said, dismounting his bike. Glacia nodded, turning around and running back to her apartment with Firius following close behind. As they ran, one of the hacked helicopters flew overhead, slowing down as it hovered above an apartment block next door to Glacia’s. “Do you think that they might be picking up the gang members?” Glacia questioned Firius as the helicopter slowly dropped on to the rooftop.
“Seems likely.” Firius answered. “That’s probably why they were waiting outside.”
“And not because I lived there?” Glacia sighed with relief.
“It’s a better reason than having your own group of stalkers.” Firius reasoned, “I doubt your fan base is that big yet.”
Glacia ignored the comment. “Even if it isn’t here for them, this is a chance to retake one of the vehicles and manually override the remote controls.” she said.
“You’re right. We need to reach it before it has a chance to take off.” Firius stated, running on past Glacia, who followed suit.

Climbing the last flight of stairs, Firius stopped by the doorway to the rooftop, drawing his pistol as he waited for Glacia to catch up. Moments later, while Firius checked the current clip of his pistol, Glacia caught up to him. “You took your sweet time.” Firius said quietly as Glacia drew her pistol.
“Hey, I’m not as fast as you.” Glacia admitted at a similar volume, loading her pistol.
“Someone needs some training then.” Firius added, glancing out to see the situation on the rooftop. He noticed 5 armed men as they climbed in to the back of the landed helicopter.
“Alright then, once this is all over, I’ll hit the treadmill and you hit the weights, skinny-arms.” Glacia added.
“I’m all for admitting that you’re the stronger one of the two of us, but can we save this for another time?” Firius said, “We’ve got a helicopter to reclaim.”
“Alright then…” Glacia shrugged, glancing out to see for herself. “…you started it though.”
As she looked out, one of the men turned to face the doorway, spotting Glacia’s head poking out. Alerting the rest of his team, three of them jumped out and readied their pistols, while one of the remaining two signalled to an on-board camera to take off.
“Bugger, we’ve been spotted.” Glacia cursed as she jumped out of the doorway. Firius quickly followed, firing two shots in to one of the rooftop men’s head. Glacia fired a shot at the second grounded man, knocking his pistol out of his hands as she ran towards him. The man took hold of a machine gun that he wore over his shoulder with a thin piece of rope and aimed it at Glacia, only to have the bullet chamber to suddenly freeze over, jamming the weapon. Unarmed and unprepared, the man was wide open as Glacia gave a powerful kick to his jaw, knocking him out instantly. She quickly turned to see the third man aiming the gun towards her. Before either of them could fire, the man suddenly burst in to flames as a pillar of fire erupted from below him. The flames disappeared as he charred corpse fell to the ground, Firius moved towards Glacia as she took fire upon the helicopter as it began to hover above the rooftop, taking out the first man with three bullets to the upper body. Drawing his machine gun, Firius activated the weapon’s blade and jumped for the steadily rising helicopter, digging the sword in to the interior’s floor. Before the helicopter’s passenger could respond with his weapon, Firius swung his pistol up and fired two shots, climbing up as the man hit the ground. Firius moved towards the front of the helicopter – which had more than enough room for the five men – where he immediately found and flicked the manual override switch. Sitting in the pilot’s seat, he pressed a further two buttons in succession to gain full control of the vehicle. Taking hold of the navigation stick Firius lowered the helicopter so that Glacia could climb on. As he did, he felt the stick jamming, a sign of the helicopter still being under remote control.
“Damnit.” Firius cursed his luck. Realising he wasn’t yet low enough down for Glacia to get aboard, he flicked a switch to operate a rope on the outside, which seemed to be immune to the remote hack as it dispensed. Firius got out of the pilot’s seat as he returned to the still-open hangar door to wait for Glacia to climb up. As she reached the top, Firius helped her pull herself in to the helicopter.
“We’ve got a problem, the manual override isn’t responding.” Firius told her once she was safely in, raising his voice so that she could hear him over the sound of the propeller blades.
“They’re overriding the override?” Glacia questioned loudly.
“Looks that way.” He yelled out. “We’re going to have to ride this thing out and see where it takes us.”
“Wouldn’t they already know we’re on here though?” Glacia asked. “You saw them signalling the take-off earlier, they’ve obviously got a visual feed on us.”
“Well on the plus side, we’ll know they definitely don’t want us dead if they don’t atta-”
Several high-powered bullets hit the armoured body of the helicopter with rapid force, denting and rocking the vehicle. The sudden shake knocked Firius off balance, falling out of the helicopter.
“Tony!” Glacia yelled, looking over the edge of the helicopter to where her comrade fell out. To her slight relief he had managed to grab the rope.
“Don’t worry, I’m still here.” He spoke loudly to Glacia via her earpiece. “Pull the rope back in, there’s another one of our choppers shooting at us and I’d rather not filled with holes out here.”
“Alright, just hang tight.” she responded, ignoring his complaints.
“Like I have a choice!” he yelled back as she ran over to the cockpit. Flicking the rope dispenser switch off, she heard the rope reeling itself in for a moment over the sound of the propellers before it suddenly stopped.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Glacia said, returning to the open door. “The rope’s jammed.” she called out to Firius over her earpiece.
“Oh perfect, it just had to jam right now, didn’t it?” Firius snapped; the rope swinging as he ranted. Firius’ complaints were silenced when the opposing helicopter fired several more rounds at them, denting the bodywork further and rocking the helicopter harder. Glacia grabbed on to the door to prevent being knocked out while Firius swung about underneath.
“I’ll try and take out the helicopter.” Glacia told Firius. “Try and not get yourself shot down there.”
“Oh sure, no problem.” Firius responded sarcastically, trying to climb the swinging rope. Glacia moved towards the opposite door, readying her sniper rifle before opening it. As the helicopter continued to rock about – as well as both vehicles moving about in the air with considerable speed – Glacia tried to steady her aim. Seeing the attacking helicopter swing around to her door with mounted turret aiming for a third attack, Glacia dodged back in just as several bullets flew through both open doors. As one final bullet left a dent on the outer body just next to Glacia, she double checked that the weapon’s EMP rounds were loaded and swung back out, firing a round that dented the front of the attacking vehicle. She waited a moment as she awaited the result of her attack, watching as her bullet suddenly sparked to life. The helicopter began to swing about dangerously through the air, spinning as it did so. Eventually, the propellers began to slow, sending the vehicle – and the crew visible from the front windscreen – plummeting downwards. Glacia leaned out of the door to see possible crash zones of the helicopter, gasping as she saw the most likely victim.
“Firius…I think we’re really in trouble now.” She said over her earpiece.
“Yeah, we are.” Firius agreed, still hanging from the rope as he saw the cities raised motorway before them.
The helicopter – its engine now dead – collapsed on to the motorway, the landing rails crumpling upon impact with the tarmac as it began to roll along the road the momentum it still had. It continued to roll, smashing in to several cars in the process before eventually coming to a stop. As the helicopter suddenly caught fire, a bus screeched along towards it, wheels locked after an emergency brake attempt by the driver. The bus collided with the helicopter, resulting in a powerful explosion as the helicopter was ripped in half by the force of the bus. The resulting shockwave from the explosion rocked the helicopter, knocking Firius off of the rope with sudden force. Firius panicked as he began to plummet through the air, only to realise that the helicopter had flown closely over one of the motoryway's checkpoints. Landing on the roof of the checkpoint safely, Firius could only stare at the destruction that the downed helicopter had caused, shocked at what the two of them had unwillingly done. His shock was suddenly suspended as he spotted another two helicopters flying towards him, followed by three armoured trucks driving through the wreckage.
"Please tell me my luck isn't this bad." Firius told himself, only to be answered by the turrets of both helicopters simultaneously aiming towards him. "...It is." he realised, turning around and running to avoid the sudden hail of bullets upon his previous position. As the bullet trails followed Firius, he continued to run until he reached the end of the rooftop. Seeing no other choice, Firius jumped off of the rooftop, landing on one of the armoured trucks as it passed by underneath. As he landed, the truck suddenly swerved in an attempt to shake him off. Hanging on desperately to the truck, Firius pulled out his machine gun and - activating the sword - slammed the blade in to the roof of the truck, piercing through after several attempts. Now having something sturdy to hold on to, Firius swung down over the right-hand side of the truck and smashed the window with three of his pistol, killing the man in the driver seat with the first bullet and the passenger with the second two. Suspecting that there would be additional men in the truck, Firius swung back up on to the roof, his guess confirmed as several bullets shot out of the window. As he awaited his chance for a second attack, Firius heard the roof opening behind him. Turning around, he saw a double barrelled minigun turret rising up, already spinning in to life. Seeing no other alternative, Firius withdrew his sword from the roof and slid towards the turret, bullets blazing over the top of his head as he got closer to the minigun. Wrapping his arm around the underside of the turret, Firius planted his sword in to the main body of the weapon, killing the burst of bullets as the two barrels slowed down. The damaged weapon gave off several sparks, travelling down through the vehicle and to the wireless receiver. The damage to the wireless controls caused the van to begin swerving violently across multiple lanes of the motorway. Despite this, the vehicle continued to tear down the motorway while narrowly missing the other trucks at either side of it multiple times.
“Are they really this desperate to shake me off that they’re willing to kill their own men to do it? ” Firius couldn’t help but wonder as the gap between the near misses got smaller and smaller. Holstering his weapons as he pulled himself up on the destroyed turret, Firius waited for the truck to swing towards the next truck and – hoping that this wouldn’t be the collision – jumped on to the next truck. To his relief, the out-of-control truck swerved away again, this time colliding with the other truck. The first truck knocked the second truck in to the barrier at the edge of the motorway, smashing through it as the truck drove off to its destruction. The remaining truck spun multiple times as it came to a standstill, black smoke visible from the engine. Firius stared at the smoking vehicle for a few moments before suddenly feeling the remaining truck swerving beneath him. Unprepared, he was quickly thrown off by the truck, hitting the tarmac hard as he bounced off the road several times. Eventually coming to a stop, he lay on the ground as he watched the truck flip take a sudden hard turn that caused the vehicle to flip over and spin along the road, the engine catching fire as it stopped.

Firius slowly got to his feet, his head ringing as he felt blood flowing down his face and from his bottom lip. Turning around, he saw the two helicopters flying over head, one of the hovering above the smoking vehicle, the other flying off away from them. The helicopter turned away from Firius as the side door opened, revealing a man wielding a rocket launcher. The man fired the rocket at the truck below him, causing a large explosion that ripped apart the road beneath the truck. Firius glanced behind him, noticing that the positioning of the rolled over truck – as well as the fire that had spread from the engine – had completely blocked him off. He was now trapped, left only to wait as the helicopter slowly moved closer to him. The rope drop of the helicopter deployed as the man swung down from the helicopter, landing in front of Firius. The man wore a simple black leather jacket, blue jeans and a grey t-shirt, a casual appearance instantly offset by the presence of two swords visible over his shoulders, two revolvers holstered to his belt and a submachine gun and shotgun holstered on his back. He walked up to Firius casually, innocently holding his hand out to him.
“Hey there.” He said, “I’m Jacob. Pleased to meet you.”
“...Hello...” Firius said, baffled by the man’s appearance, attitude and actions. For all the destruction that he and the other men had caused, was a simple handshake and introduction all he wanted. “Just what is this guy’s game? ” Firius wondered as he reluctantly shook his hand.
“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jacob said, grinning. “Now, I suppose you’re wondering why I’m here.”
“The thought had crossed my mind a couple of times.” Firius said.
“Good to hear. Shows you’re not a complete idiot.” He commented, taking back his hand. “Basically, I’m here to kick *** and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of gum.”
“Meaning…” Firius questioned.
“Simple enough really, I’ve been asked to take you in, either the complete set or just the main component; your head.”
“Well, I’m not sure about you, but I’m personally more for the full set option, though I’d rather that it’s neither.”
“Sorry, but I’ve already made my mind up.” Jacob shook both his head and his index finger. “I’m being paid the same either way so I’m going for the more fun approach.”
“I figured as much.” Firius said, holding his hands behind his back, one holding one of his machine gun’s rockets, the other having sneakily drawn his pistol.
“So, seeing as I’m in a nice mood today, I’m going to let you pick which weapon I kill you with.” He said, holding his hands out wide in a generous manner. “If you don’t like any of them, I could always just twist your head off.”
“Oh, gee, thanks. How thoughtful of you.” Firius said, rolling his eyes as he saw this as the perfect opportunity. “I think I’m going to pick...this one.”
As he spoke, he threw the rocket towards Jacob, then quickly bringing up his pistol and shooting the explosive. Firius jumped back to avoid the explosion, the shockwave of which knocking him back further as he hit the ground on his back. Sitting up, Firius watched the smoke from the explosion, waiting to see if Jacob had survived the attack. Suddenly, the black smoke was slashed apart by two swords, Jacob then jumping through the gap. “Oh, bugger.” Firius exclaimed, making a last minute roll to avoid a downward slash from Jacob. Getting to his feet, Firius avoided a second slash from Jacob, countering his attack with a punch to the face with his left fist, followed by a pistol whip with his right. Having stunned him, Firius kicked Jacob in the chest, causing him to stagger back and give Firius the perfect opportunity as he raised his pistol to shoot. Recovering, Jacob raised his right sword just as Firius fired, blocking the bullet unintentionally before stepping towards Firius for another attack. Anticipating a horizontal slash, Firius somersaulted out of the way, avoiding the attack narrowly as the blade swung underneath him. Landing on his hands, Firius pushed himself further away from Jacob, who had stepped forward for another slash. Dodging the second swipe, Firius landed a comfortable distance away from Jacob, who had ceased his attack.
“You know, for a Government lapdog, you’re not half bad.” he complimented Firius.
“Guess I could say the same thing for a sociably-unstable mercenary such as you.” Firius shrugged, his head now clear enough to properly think. “But I’m nobody’s lapdog. I wouldn’t be here if I felt it was an unnecessary trip.”
“Oh that’s right, you came act like a great big hero, despite being ordered off the case.” Jacob mused, “I hear chicks love heroes, yet I don’t see any hanging off your arms yet.”
“So I acted on my own instinct, big deal.” Firius responded, not allowing his words annoy him. “It’s not as bad as some of the jobs that people such as you would take up for some cash.”
“Yeah, I get my hands a little bit dirty once in a while, but it all washes off with a good bar of soap and some hot water.” Jacob shrugged, “Good pay, no filing, challenging work, out of doors; I guarantee you won’t go hungry.”
“If I weren’t so smart, I might not have picked up what was possibly an advertisement campaign.” Firius said, sarcastically clearing his right ear with his little finger for effect. “What’s your point?”
“My point is that your line of work restricts you too much.” Jacob told him. “They’re holding you back on a leash, only letting you off once in a while to do menial tasks such as picking up the paper or chasing away people with your bark. Even from this small skirmish, I know that you’re better than that. You should consider defecting to the mercenary business; it would allow your skills to grow so much faster. Something I can help you with, young padawan”
“Hmm...tempting...tempting...” Firius rolled his eyes, “But I’m more for honesty and seeing that proper justice is delivered over just meaningless murder. Mercenary job just seems too mindless to give any sense of accomplishment.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so.”
“Shame.” Jacob shrugged, “We could have been one hell of a team, you and me.”
“I’ve got a partner who’s better than you could ever be.” Firius responded, drawing his machine gun and activating the gun’s blade. His one-on-one training was passable, he knew that, but he had not had that much training with swords. Knowing that this was something relatively new to him, he didn’t let it show as it swung the blade down to his side. “You ready?” he said, wiping the blood away from his face.
“Anytime.” Jacob responded, swinging both of his blades to confirm his statement. Firius held his sword up level to his face, taking a step back on his left foot while keeping his right hand close to his holstered pistol. “Let’s dance!” he called out.

I'm too full of man-flu to give any kind of detailed review right now. Maybe when I'm feeling less crappy I'll have a better post to make, but for now, I'll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter. Not sure I would have used all the good quotes at once, though.

Chapter 7 – The Mercenary

The two suddenly ran at each other, swords raised towards their opponents as they got closer. Firius jumped in to the air swinging his blade down as he dropped towards a ready Jacob. The mercenary swung his sword up to match Firius’, stopping his attack and knocking his opponent back. Firius landed on the ground in a crouching position, throwing his blade up almost instantly to block a downward slash from Jacob. While Firius focused on trying to push away the blade that rested above his head, Jacob swiftly slammed his foot in to the free agent’s stomach, instantly winding Firius and destroying his defence. Deciding not to finish the fight too quickly, Jacob took his sword out of the way and punched Firius in the face with his left hand. Grabbing him by the back collar of his jacket, Jacob pulled the stunned Firius back to his feet and swung his right fist in to his chin, delivering a fierce uppercut that knocked his opponent in to the air. Firius hit the ground, struggling to lift himself up as his body felt bruised all over.
“You free agent punks give yourself way too much credit.” Jacob said, twirling one of his revolvers in his hand before pointing it at the floored Firius. “One little shoryuken and you’re out for the count? You seriously suck.”
“When…you go in to a fight with a rookie…” Firius said, pausing for some air as he lifted his body up off the ground. “…you shouldn’t expect the expertise…of a champion.”
“Maybe, but you’re supposed to be a representative of your job title, greenhorn or not.” Jacob responded, cocking his weapon. “Now hold still, I’ve decided to take just the head and it’s far too noisy a job when you’re still breathing.”
“Yeah, about that, my head’s become a bit too attached to my body for you to just come along and sever it.” Firius explained, his left hand heating up as he spoke.
“When there’s a will, or a Jacob, there’s a way.” The mercenary grinned.
“I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but your elevator doesn’t exactly go to the top.” Firius commented.
“Yeah, I know. Got a certificate to prove it and everything.” Jacob boasted, “My mother was so proud of me that she baked me a cake. Best day of my life.”
“Good for you.” Firius rolled his eyes.
“Quite.” Jacob said, firing the gun without noticing that Firius had already raised his left hand and thrown a fireball at him, evaporating the bullet as they collided. Jacob sidestepped the fireball as Firius got to his feet. Drawing his pistol, Firius fired several shots at Jacob, who avoided them all. Hearing the click of an empty clip, Firius quickly tried to reload his pistol as Jacob rushed towards him, both swords in hand. Holding the empty clip in his hand, Firius – in a desperate attempt to fight back – threw the clip at Jacob, who knocked it out of his way with a swing from his right blade. Taking the opening this left, Firius took a quick step forward in to a crouching position and slammed his fist in to Jacob’s stomach, stunning the mercenary long enough for the free agent to grab his head and slam his knee in to his face. Staggering back, Jacob quickly regained his balance before Firius could follow up, instead causing the two of them to jump back for a moment.
“Ready for round two then?” Jacob asked, appearing as if the attack hadn’t affected him in the slightest.
“Always.” Firius said, secretly worried as he still felt his earlier injuries weakening him.
“Fight!” Jacob yelled, running towards Firius. Firius nodded and charged towards his opponent.

As the two of them continued their fight, one helicopter remained above them, its sole passenger left only to watch the scuffle below her. “Damn. How can I sever the remote control this thing so I can land it? ” Glacia thought, feeling unable to help. In her current situation, the constant movement of the helicopter coupled with the fast movements of both Jacob and Firius made it too difficult to get a shot on target without the risk of shooting Firius.
A thought suddenly hit her. She turned towards the control panel, trying to locate where the helicopter’s wireless signal was being received. “If I can destroy the wireless receiver, they won’t be able to keep control of the helicopter, which should allow for manual control. ” She told herself. “I have to get this right first time; otherwise I might destroy the engine and cause this thing to lose all control and crash. ” She searched the control console for signs of the wireless device as her right hand began to cover itself in ice. Landing her eyes on a blank spot on the control console, she swung her hand up, forming a small pillar of ice that demolished the underside of the console. Several green lights flashed to life around her, indicating that the wireless connection had been severed. Sighing with relief, she grabbed the flight stick as she sat down in the pilot’s seat, preparing to land the helicopter. Just as she started to move the helicopter manually, the green light turned to red, signalling severe engine damage. Hearing the rotors slowing above her head, Glacia made a last attempt to steer the helicopter down as safely as she could, trying as hard as she could not to panic. “This can’t be it, can it? ” she thought, panicking as the helicopter swung in circles violently towards the ground. “Am I going to die here? When I still have so much to live for? ” As the helicopter dropped closer to the ground, Glacia felt everything slow down around her. Looking out of the window, she saw Firius continuing to battle Jacob. The two had been clashing swords the whole time, with Firius visibly coming off worse as he slouched over in fatigue with several small puddles of blood from where droplets had hit the ground. He was losing, something both Glacia and Firius knew. Coming to her senses, Glacia pulled hard on the flight stick as she tried to pull back as hard as she could. “Am I going to die here? Not if I can help it. ” She told herself as the helicopter started to veer down towards the battle below.

Firius stared at Jacob, both of them standing still after a few clashes of blades. Jacob, without a scratch on him, kept a cocky look while Firius, sporting the odd cut across his face and body, slouched forward slightly as he drew in deep breaths. “His speed is pretty good, his accuracy with all four of those weapons is high, his stance is solid, his appreciation for human life other than his is low…as mercenaries go, there can’t be that many better than him at his job .” He analysed in his head, “A head-on attack on this guy isn’t the best strategy, and his skills are too high for mine to allow such a plan of attack to work. I need to try and change the playing field up a bit. ” Trying to keep his composure still, he was unprepared as Jacob made another dash, right sword raised. Firius made a quick move in to a defensive stance, blocking the attack with his own blade. As Jacob’s second blade swung in, Firius moved to block the second, managing to by the narrowest of margins. Jacob suddenly moved his first sword away, stabbed it in to the ground and pulled out one of his revolvers. Firius pulled away just as Jacob fired a round from the gun, barely dodging the shot as he landed next to the outer wall of the motorway, just in front of an advertising board. Jacob dashed forward towards Firius, catching the agent off guard as he grabbed him and slammed him against the glass of the advertising board, smashing both glass and a light bulb. Firius yelled out as the glass dug in to his back, the board behind him sparking with electricity from the sudden smashing of light bulbs. Jacob threw Firius across the motorway, his opponent rolling helplessly to a stop. “It’s a shame that it’s got to end this way, Firius.” Jacob said, sheathing his swords and aiming both revolvers at Firius as he got to his feet. “Are you willing to come along quietly, or can I get some more fun out of this and kill you?”
Firius looked up through the pain, finding himself able to smile as he noticed Glacia’s helicopter lowering itself towards them. “…You okay?” Firius said to Glacia quietly over the earpiece.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just crashing the helicopter down to distract him for you.”
“Oh, that’s nice…wait, what?!” Firius responded, trying not to show the shock on his face from her plan. “Are you insane?!”
“Possibly, yes.” Glacia answered. “Don’t worry, I won’t get myself killed.”
“Alright…Don’t prove your statement wrong, yeah.” Firius submissively said.
“Yes father.” Glacia mockingly responded, “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay…” Firius said, finding himself being more concerned about the friend in the out-of-control helicopter than the blade that was now touching his chest. “Hailey, don’t do anything too rash, please. ” He silently asked.
“You know…I’d hate to interrupt you while you’re having fun…” Firius interrupted Jacob, “…but I don’t think that I’m the bigger threat to you right now.” Jacob looked up and gasped at the sight of the helicopter crashing down towards them. "Ohhh shiiiiiitake mushrooms!" Jacob yelled as he ran from the impeding helicopter. Firius moved back as Jacob narrowly jumped out of the way of the helicopter as it smashed in to the ground, scraping through the tarmac. The helicopter suddenly flipped, slamming the ground hard with the roof which was followed by a violent explosion. Jacob found himself being blown back by the shockwave of the explosion while Firius shielded his eyes from the blast. As the shockwave passed, Firius stood up and stared in shock at the wreckage, completely ignoring the blood that ran down his back.
“Hailey!” Firius yelled out in horror, falling to his knees as the burning wreckage of the helicopter showed no signs of life.
“Yes?”
Looking up, Firius saw Glacia standing behind him. “…You jumped out just before the impact, didn’t you?” Firius said, Glacia sensing in his voice hints of both relief and anger.
“Yup.” She responded, smiling.
“You son of a *****…” Firius muttered, standing up straight as the sudden, sharp pains in his back reminded him of the glass that stuck out behind him like a hedgehog’s quills.
“Hey, are you alright?” Glacia worryingly asked Firius, holding him up by the shoulders.
“I’ll be fine.” He responded, glancing up to see Jacob standing before the two of them. “So long as we can finish him off quickly.”
“Well, two-against-one, how hard can it be?” Glacia said, drawing her pistol in one hand and coating her free hand in ice.
“You think it’s going to be that easy?” Jacob smirked. “Think again, buddy.”
With barely a moment’s notice, Jacob drew his submachine gun and fired at the two agents, both of them dodging in opposite directions to avoid the bullet hail. Firius readied his blade by his side, realising how to fight Jacob.
“I’ve so far been playing to his style of close combat. If I were to pick up the pace a bit, then I should be able to open up some chinks in his armour. ” Stopping in his tracks, Firius turned around and threw a fireball at Jacob, forcing the mercenary to make a sudden dodge. Running around Jacob, Firius switched his gunblade back in to its gun form and fired several rounds in Jacob’s direction. He continued to run as Jacob dodged the bullets, quickly making a sudden dash for Firius. Before he could reach Firius, a wall of ice suddenly sprung up before him. Surprised by the blockage, Jacob was unprepared as Glacia pistol whipped him hard in the face. As he staggered back, Glacia slapped Jacob a second time with the gun, then aiming the pistol towards her opponent. Jacob recovered quickly enough to knock the pistol out of Glacia’s hand before she could shoot, following up with a straight punch to the stomach. As Glacia reflexively bent down, winded by the punch, Jacob slammed his foot in to the right of her face, causing her to spin around and hit the ground with a yelp of pain. Jacob took out one of his revolvers and aimed it towards Glacia’s head, loading it while she slowly got to her knees. Before he could fire, the ice wall next to him suddenly shattered. Stunned by the icefall, Jacob was wide open as Firius jumped through the ice, his empty fist ablaze as he swung it towards his enemy. Firius’ fist connected with Jacob’s chin, knocking him in to the air with a vicious uppercut. Jacob hit the ground a short distance from Firus, who had extinguished his hand and drawn his pistol. Pistol aimed at the downed opponent, Firius slowly approached Jacob, kicking the dropped revolver out of his way as he did so. The revolver slid along the ground, stopping next to a recovered Glacia. Noticing the weapon, she picked it up and observed it. Growing an instant likeness for the weapon, she hid it within her pistol’s holster, holding her regular handgun in both hands as she got up and approached Firius and Jacob.

“Aww, shame that it has to end this way.” Firius said to Jacob, who he had allowed to get up in to a sitting position.
“Same here. Never thought you’d actually manage to kick my *** and make me lose out on a big fat cheque. Who’d have thought?” Jacob responded, his hand resting on the holster of his remaining revolver. “You know, there’s something about me that I don’t think you fully comprehend here.”
“And what’s that?” Firius asked.
“I already know how this all plans out” Jacob responded in an unusually casual way for the subject matter, “Which is why this will work!”
He suddenly drew his remaining revolver and aimed it at Firius, only for the free agent – who had noticed him preparing for the trap – to knock the gun out of his way with a kick to the wrist, firing a shot in to the dark sky above them. Jacob quickly swung his leg at Firius’ grounded leg, knocking the agent on to his back and unintentionally knocking one of the remaining glass shards further in with the impact of that fall. Firius yelled in pain, the sudden reminder of the glass leaving him unable to get back up.
“You idiot, that was a basic rule of combat.” Jacob said, getting to his feet. “A cornered enemy is a dangerous one; never let your guard do-”
His words were interrupted by a sudden shout of pain as a bullet suddenly embedded itself in to the back of his shoulder. “...I don’t recall reading that...in the original draft.” Jacob muttered nonsensically as he collapsed to the ground in pain. Glacia slammed the hilt of her pistol in to the back of her floored opponent’s head, rendering the mercenary unconscious. Convinced that he was down for good, she went to Firius’ aid. “How are you feeling?” she asked him.
“…I have a large amount of glass embedded in my back…but otherwise I’m fine.” Firius responded in pain. He could no longer hold it off the pain like he could before and was suffering for it now.
“We need to get you back to the ISA now, the medical unit need to take a look at you.” Glacia responded, standing up as she activated her earpiece. “Control, this is Glacia. Do you copy?”
“Glacia, this is Command.” Colonel Wilson responded. “Control is currently working on tracing the hacks, so all calls are being forwarded here.”
“Right.” She said, feeling uneasy about being the one who was informing the Colonel of the carnage caused.
“What’s your situation, soldier?” Colonel Wilson asked after a short silence.
Glacia swallowed her pride. “We have two of the stolen helicopters and three of the armoured vans. Multiple crashes, several gang members killed, large amount of civilian fatalities and one injured free agent.”
“What level of damage are we talking about?” the Colonel inquired.
“At least thirty deaths, at a guess” Glacia responded, thankful that the earpiece meant she didn’t have to look Colonel Wilson in the eyes as she said this
“...Very well.” The Colonel eventually responded, “I’ll send out one of our unregistered helicopters to pick you up. There should be no chance of it being hacked due to it not officially existing on our databases. The other casualties we cannot do anything about other than mark them down as the result of a terrorist attack.”
“Yes sir.” Glacia said, “We also have an unconscious mercenary that was hired by the group. Requesting additional pickup.”
“Affirmative. We’ll pick him up as well.” Colonel Wilson said. “Command out.”
As the earpiece went dead, Glacia could hear the sound of propellers in the distance. She took a few steps forward, knowing that they couldn’t arrive that quickly and worried in case it was another one of the hacked helicopters.
“Please tell me it’s not another one of the hacked helicopters.” Firius said, having pushed his body off the ground with his hands and knees.
“No…it’s worse.” Glacia responded, getting a proper look at the helicopter as it flew by, sporting a “Channel 9” logo on the side as a man leaned out with a video camera. “It’s the media.”

« Last edited by Cervantes De Leon on Oct 14th 2010 »

Very excellent fight, sir. The combat's as fast-paced as I've come to expect from you, and the dialogue helps to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say that hasn't been said thirty times before, so that's all you're getting.

Nice and fast paced action. The mercenary's a ******* but Firius got kicked around a ton before he was finally able to beat him. Seemed like a bit too much happened for him to only say, “…I have a large amount of glass embedded in my back…but otherwise I’m fine.” Seems like he should be a bit more extensively injured. But overall, good chapter.

Chapter 8 – Revelations

“Channel 9 News can exclusively report that the massive crash that occurred on the New Kanden motorway three nights ago was the cause of a small group of terrorist attacks upon the city's branch of the ISA.” The news reporter said through the television in Firius’ apartment. Hailey sat on the couch, watching the television while occasionally glancing round to the corridor that led to Tony’s room. After being treated for his wounds, Hailey had taken Tony back to allow him to rest, with the two of them being written off until further notice for disobeying orders. For the past two days since then, Hailey had stayed over at Tony’s during the day to make sure that he was alright, leaving him to Jason – who was still oblivious about their situation and the real cause of Tony’s injuries due to a lack of interest in the news – at night. Turning back around on the sofa after another look to see if there were any signs of life coming down the corridor, she went over Colonel Wilson’s words in her head again.
“The two of you are off the case. You have been since this evening, so while the two of you are targets of the group, you shouldn’t have pulled off a stunt like that. ”
“We were merely doing our job.” Hailey said quietly, repeating what she said to the colonel.
“Maybe, but you still disobeyed orders. While innocent civilians have been killed, the fact that you’re actions lowered the likely casualty count that could have occurred otherwise will probably work in your favour when it comes to deciding your disciplinary measures. ”
“Damnit…promoted for a day and I’ve already managed to screw up.” She said, punching her leg in an attempt to relieve her anger at the decision. She had thought over the events over and over, trying to make sense of all the details. “They set us up as the ones to look in to them, and then throw us out when we’re put in to a case of known identity. They might be wanting to keep us safe and all, but surely we should be allowed to help the cause if we so wish to without being penalised for doing our job.”
“…footage shot by our own news crew shows two suspects in the centre of the chaos, both armed and dangerous.”
“What?” Hailey snapped out of her thoughts and gave her full attention to the news report. The report showed recorded footage from the helicopter that she saw, focusing on the two of them on the wrecked motorway. “The two shown here, reportedly aged somewhere between twenty and twenty-five, are both seen as heavily armed, highly trained and incredibly dangerous.” The reporter continued; the footage being replaced with computer generated images of both Hailey and Tony’s faces. Hailey gasped at the fact that they were being victimised, but as she thought about it, slumped back in the chair

She suddenly heard a door opening behind her, breaking her out of her thoughts.
Hailey turned around and saw Tony walking slowly out from the corridor, dressed in a simple pair of trousers and shirt to cover up the bandages that circled his body. “Morning.” Tony said cheerily, seeming as if the cuts that dotted his body weren’t even there. “Did I miss anything while I was out cold?”
“Oh, nothing much.” Hailey responded, her voice think with sarcasm and a touch of annoyance. “At least twenty innocent people died in that pile up we caused, double that amount were injured, there is still a group of organised, psychopathic, murderous criminals that have the city in their sights while staring directly at us, and we’ve been suspended for trying to save people because you couldn’t sit still for five minutes.
“Oh well, at least it’s nothing serious.” Tony shrugged, moving through in to the kitchen.
“Are you going to treat this situation seriously?” Hailey stood up and turned around, following Tony in to the kitchen. “I would say that this is our jobs, hell, maybe even our lives at risk here, but it’s worse than that, it’s the whole city. Can you seriously be making jokes at a time like this?”
“Yes, I realise that we’re not in the best of positions right now.” Tony responded to Hailey’s accusation as he opened the fridge for a bottle of milk. “It’s bad, but there’s no point in stressing about it. We need to be level-minded to think this one through, panicking won’t solve anything.”
Hesitating to respond for a moment, Hailey made sense of what Tony said, but still found herself irritated by the way he had put it. “When are you going to grow up?” she said.
“Excuse me?” Tony questioned, pausing from taking a mouthful of milk from the bottle.
“When are you going to grow up, accept reality and take some responsibility?” she re-phrased the question.
“Responsibility?” Tony queried, his normally calm demeanour showing signs of cracking. “Do you really want to talk to me about responsibility? I damn well know about the situation of them knowing who we are. Hell, I was the one who first found out about all of this in the first place.”
“Well whoop-de-doo. You were first.” Hailey responded, her patience with Tony wearing thinner by the minute. “Use some common sense once in a while Tony, maybe even grow a conscience or something and respect those that we allowed to die.”
“Nobody died by our own fault Hailey, can’t you see that?” his calm stature near enough shattered. “There wasn’t anything we could have done to save them, so stop moping about and help me to figure out how we can get through this.”
“We?” Hailey asked, her voice rose as she prepared to give Tony what she felt he deserved. “We? We have been suspended by our employers. We are being hunted by a professional group of criminals. We are being placed on the most wanted list by the press.”
She paused, trying to collect herself. Tony merely stared at her, feeling the temperature drop rapidly around him. He could tell by Hailey’s face that she was seriously hurt by both his words and that she had been forced to snap at him in such a way. His thoughts travelled back to a few nights ago, the helicopter that they had dropped, the motorway that it had crashed on to, the civilian cars that it crushed as it rolled, the bus that smashed in to the wreckage, the fireball that engulfed the passengers, the collisions that would have ensued from the sudden braking of following vehicles to avoid crashing in to the flaming wreckage. The vehicles that had been knocked off the motorway by his own hand. The cars, bikes, civilians that the vehicles could have landed upon. The numbers tallied up to heights that made Tony’s legs feel weak. Feeling sick at the thought of his previous ignorance, Tony staggered back, sliding down the oven at the end of the kitchen upon contact with the appliance. As he sat, he could only stare in blank shock as he awaited Hailey to finish what she had to say.
“We? I’m starting to wonder if there really is a ‘we’ to this team and not just ‘you’.”
Hailey looked down at Tony for a few moments, wondering if maybe her words and attitude was maybe a bit too much. Looking at his current state, it was obvious that he had actually begun to think seriously, though to a further extent than she had expected. “I...need to get some fresh air.” Hailey eventually said, stepping back in to the living room area to grab her bag and the spare pair of keys that Jason had given her. “I might be a while, but I’m not making any promises on that.”
She waited a moment for a response, though eventually left after not receiving one.

Some time passed before Tony could do anything. When he eventually did come to his senses, he decided to take the rubbish out and get some fresh air at the same time, though hoping that no avid news followers spotted him as he did so. Leaving his apartment, he moved slowly through the corridors, glancing around at each door as he passed them for any traces of life behind them. Reaching the staircase at the end of the corridor without such hints of life, Tony let out a small sigh of relief and stepped quickly down the stairs. Reaching the bottom of the staircase, Tony opened a side door – an old fire exit with an alarm that no longer functioned – and looked about. What he could see of the streets were deserted, indicating that people had seen the news reports and decided that it wasn’t safe outside. “Can’t say I blame them. It’s for the best until the matter’s resolved. ” Tony agreed with the actions of the public. Convinced that he wasn’t going to be spotted, Tony stepped out and threw his bag of rubbish in to the large bin waiting at the side of the building. As he leaned back on the wall for a moment, breathing in the fresh air, Tony noticed his motorbike parked before him. As he stepped towards the vehicle, he recalled leaving it near Hailey’s apartment a few night ago, meaning that she must have, due to not having the license to drive it, pushed it back to his flat by herself while he was recovering from having half a billboard’s worth of glass removed from his back. “I guess I really have been taking this all for granted.” Tony said to himself as he ran his fingers along the motorbike. “Not just the job, but Hailey as well. Damn...”
Tony sat upon his vehicle as his mind wandered back in to the past few days and beyond, thinking of where he had messed up not only his own professional record, but also that of his partner, his friend.

The sound of a car stopping behind him snapped Tony out of his thoughts. Turning around as he dismounted his motorbike, Tony saw four people stepping out of a black, five seat vehicle, with a similar vehicle parking in front. The men – who all wore suits despite their slouched statures and apparent lack of personal hygiene that made them seem more like gang members than high-end members of society – proceeded to quickly surround Tony, all but one of them aiming pistols at their unarmed target in the middle.
“Agent Firius, I presume?” the unarmed man asked, already knowing the answer. He was the exception to Tony’s observations of the rest of his group, standing straight with a sense of cleanliness and self pride about him.
“Yeah, that’s me.” Tony answered, glancing around at the armed men, many of them looking like they would rather just shoot him on sight, but held their fire despite their personal preferences. “I can assume that you also know me by my civilian name though.”
“If that’s how you want this to play out, then so be it Tony.” The man responded. “We’re here to have a little chat with you, perhaps in somewhere a little more out of the way?”
“And I don’t suppose you could consider rescheduling this?” Tony asked, getting his answer as a pistol was pushed in to his back to prompt him forwards. “You know, I think now could work out.” Tony gulped.

“Perhaps I was a bit too hard on him.” Hailey spoke out loud to herself as she walked along the deserted streets. “He’s not a completely insensitive prick, and he did stop a bad situation from becoming worse. I should know by now that he prefers to keep his personal mourning to himself. Hell that’s something I should know as well. He always did try to make light of situations to those around him to lighten the mood, no matter what he thought inside.” Hailey stopped for a moment, letting out a small, sentimental chuckle as she thought back to past times. “Typical me.” She said, “Tony tries to be a cool egg and I break open the shell.” Coming out of her thoughts for a moment, Hailey noticed that, in her mindless walking along the city streets, she had managed to find her way back to Tony’s home street. “I suppose I should go back and say something to him.” She decided, walking onwards with a sense of purpose. As she approached Tony’s flat on the opposite side of the road, she noticed the two black cars that had parked in front of the building, with a small commotion occurring next to one of them. As she got closer, she noticed that they were trying to force someone in to the vehicle.
“Guys, I can climb in to a car by myself.” She heard Tony saying in his usual style of trying to keep things calm under pressure. His statement was followed by a pistol being slammed in to the back of his neck, causing laughter among the kidnappers as the unconscious Tony collapsed in to the back seats of the car. Hailey gasped and ran for the vehicles, only for them to pull away as she approached. “Damn it!” Hailey cursed as she watched the cars drive away, “Now what?” Thinking about what to do, she glanced down at her shoulder bag, quickly opening it to check that all of her equipment was there before zipping it shut. She then glanced up at Tony’s motorcycle, followed by the spare apartment key in her hand. “Once I save his ***, Tony’s probably going to kick mine for using his bike.” She smirked, running inside to find the keys to the vehicle.

“Hey,commander. The kid’s not awake yet.” One of the men said to the group leader, who was leaning against the wall opposing Tony, who sat tied to a chair.
“Well, wake up our guest then.” He responded, indicating the bucket of cold water resting next to him. The man gave a little snigger as he picked up the bucket and prepared to throw its contents over his tied victim. Feeling the cold sting of water slap him in the face, Tony gasped back in to consciousness, breathing heavily from the surprise. Looking around, he noticed that he was in a car park somewhere in the city, with one or two cars visible behind the gun-wielding men that surrounded him. He then saw the group leader taking a step forward away from his wall in front of him, instead choosing to lean on a pillar. “Firius, Tony, welcome to this little meeting of ours.” The man addressed his guest. “It really is a pleasure for you to join us today.”
“It’s great that you feel that way, but could we not have just done this at my place?” Tony responded with a mixture of sarcasm and bitterness to his tone.”We have tea and biscuits there, not cold water and ropes.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” The leader chose to ignore Tony’s attitude. “Just a few safety precautions we’ve taken due to your little magic trick.”
“You think a little bit of water is enough to stop me?” Tony chuckled to himself. “Yeah, water puts out fire, but the heat from fire can evaporate water.”
“Indeed, but by the time that you can evaporate the water soaked in to those ropes in an attempt to burn through them and free yourself, my men will have spotted this and will blast you full of holes.” The leader explained, to which Tony grunted his annoyance.
“What is it that you want then?” Tony asked, giving in and realising that he had been well and truly caught out.
“I’m glad you asked.” He answered, clasping his hands together as he began to pace side-to-side. “You see, despite the whole kidnapping scenario that we have placed you in, we are actually here today to offer some useful information to you.”
“Huh? Really?” Tony asked, both confused and surprised by this turn of events. He wasn’t sure what to think about it; why would these people want to help him? He had already assumed that this group was with – or part of – the same group that were behind all of the terrorist attacks, so why would they want to help the very same organisation that they had placed as their primary target?
“I guess I can understand some of your scepticism towards our offer.” He continued, “You see, my name is Peter Valenkov, captain of squad eight in the N.S. Brigade.”
“N.S. Brigade...” Tony thought for a moment, coming to an answer quite quickly. “New Soviets; you’re all Russians?”
“Most of us are, yes, though there are some from other countries who saw our way of thinking and signed up for the cause.” Peter informed Tony. “We are sorry that we have had to go to these extremes just to tell you the information we have, but we needed to make sure that we could pass it on without you trying to kill any of us or call in backup.”
“Yeah, that would explain the ropes and the firing squad.” Tony mumbled.
“You see, the New Soviets were formed as a means to fight back against your government after they decided to take advantage of our country’s dwindling fortunes and buy out our land for your own profit.” Peter explained while Tony listened, still adding up all the facts inside his head.
“Yeah, your group managed to gain some political headway, eventually managing to get your leader voted in to presidency. Pretty much the first thing he did was declare war on us to reclaim the land that we had taken.” Tony said, starting to make sense of things. “After that though, you started to get greedy and tried to claim some of our own land for your own, though this only escalated the war further, lasting a few years and unnecessarily dragging other countries in to things until it got to the point that we were forced to launch an experimental weapon not too far outside of this very city. The destruction of the weapon to your forces effectively ended the war instantly.”
“I see that you know your history." Peter commented.
“That’s only because they shovelled this World War Three crap down our throats constantly at school.” Tony responded.
“Fair enough.” Peter said, then continuing. “Following the war, many of us New Soviets were arrested and our government was overthrown. However, some of us went in to hiding to avoid arrest from either side. At that point, all we really wanted to do was to try and return to our old political standing and bring about a better future for our people. That was before our old leader stepped down and our new one was elected.”
“And he’s the one who has been ordering all of these attacks on us.” Tony guessed, though still unable to piece everything together. “What I still don’t get though is why you want me.”
“I’m not quite sure why he wants you and your partner in particular.” Peter said, evidently confused himself about it. “What I do know though is that he is trying to use your people as much as possible until he can complete his plan.”
“And what’s that?” Tony asked, feeling slightly uneasy about the thought of this plan.
“The weapon that ended the war, he’s managed to acquire one and has planted it in the city.”
“What!”
“Yes. He managed to acquire a Nuclear Cluster Bomb.”
Tony’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of this. The Nuclear Cluster Bomb was capable of launching a high number of powerful, miniature nuclear bombs before itself detonating with the largest explosion of all of the bombs. The radius of each explosion, as well as the launch distance for the miniature nuclear bombs, meant that the weapon could easily destroy the whole city.

“Hey commander, don’t you think we’ve told this guy enough already?” one of Peter’s subordinates took a step forward.
“We all agreed on this, what our actions have done has gone on for long enough.” Peter told him. “Whatever our punishment is for these crimes, I am willing to accept it.”
“Yeah? Well maybe we don’t.” His man responded, switching his aim from Tony to Peter. “Maybe some of us are still with the big man.”
Several of the man’s comrades followed suit in their target switch, with the rest still aiming at Tony, but giving their own support to his cause. Tony couldn’t help but feel surprised and slightly sympathetic for Peter as he watched the commander’s face change to one of shock.
“You traitors. You used me, you all used me!” Peter grunted, angered by the overthrow of his leadership. “Do you really wish for more innocent blood to saturate the very ground we stand on?!”
“If it allows us to return to our former glory, then so be it.” He responded. “But first, yours will spill. Goodbye, Commander Valenkov.”

As these words left the traitor’s mouth, the sound of a gunshot echoed, only it was not from any gun from within the car park. A few seconds past before the blood of the traitor splashed on the ground before him, quickly followed by his corpse. Upon observation, Tony noticed a considerably large hole now visible through the man’s head.
“Sniper!” one of the men yelled out as they all scrambled for cover near the windows of the car park. Tony looked out in to the day’s sunset and saw an office building opposite. He smiled, knowing – despite the lack of communication – that Hailey was somewhere in that empty building, picking them all off by one of the many windows. Turning his head back to his closer surroundings, Tony noticed that Peter – still unarmed – was alone against two of his old comrades, while the rest were trying to locate Hailey while being sniped. Taking the opportunity, Tony flicked the fingers on his right hand, igniting his index finger and burning through the drying ropes. Now free, Tony jumped forward out of the chair and grabbed the gun off of Hailey’s first victim.. He quickly turned to Peter’s attackers, firing a shot that pierced through the throat of one of them, instantly killing him. He fired a second shot at the second attacker, stabbing through his gun-wielding arm and stunning him, allowing for a third shot to pierce the back of his head and kill him. Tony moved towards Peter, quickly turning to face the rest of the armed men. “Is there any way of disarming the bomb?” Tony asked Peter while keeping focused on his opposition. Hailey had already taken care of several of them, leaving five still alive.
“Unfortunately not.” Peter explained, crouching down to pick up both of his deceased comrades pistols. “The bomb is armed three seconds via remote signal before detonating, No timers, no coloured wires, anything.”
“So the only option is to prevent your big boss from pressing the big red button.” Tony confirmed the objective. “Where is he hiding?”
“Our base of operations is in an abandoned battleship situated over the same crater that ended our original plans.” Peter told Tony, both men noticing that the other soldiers were now moving closer to them while maintaining cover from Hailey. “Your government used it during World War Three, though it was damaged by the shockwaves of the final attack. It was stripped of the majority of its weaponry and rebuilt in to a memorial museum, where it was left there for several years before the museum was relocated in to the city.”
“How symbolic.” Tony commented, checking the loaded clip in the gun and cursing at the three bullets that remained.
“You go. I’ll hold them off.” Peter told Tony, stepping in front of him.”
“You sure you can handle it?”Tony asked, lowering his pistol slightly. He knew that Peter stood little to no chance of survival with the current numbers.
“Either way, these men are due a proper traitor’s dismissal.” Peter responded. “Now go!”
Tony nodded, quickly turning around and running for the door to the staircase. As he ran, Tony could hear Peter yelling something in Russian, followed by gunshots, followed by bodies hitting the ground.

Tony ran out of the car park, unaware of the result of the shootout that had just happened. He looked up to the building opposite, waving his arms in an attempt to let Hailey know that he was safe. Convinced that she had seen him and got the message, Tony looked down, only to be stunned by the sight that lay before him. To the right of the office block entrance was what appeared to be a ripple on the wall, actively moving as if someone had just dropped a stone in to water. Tony took a few steps closer to the rippling wall, intrigued by the thought of what it was, yet also concerned of what could be causing it.
“Find him!” a voice yelled out behind Tony, confirming Peter’s fate to him. “He can’t have gone far.”
Tony turned around, awaiting the men as they approached the car park exit. He made a quick glance back at the wall, both surprised and slightly unsettled to see that the ripple effect had vanished. Shaking the negative feeling he was getting about it out of his head, Tony readied his pistol as the three surviving men – the other two most likely having been killed by Peter – stepped out of the car park. “Here goes nothing.” Tony said, aiming at the first enemy and firing through the neck, killing instantly. Distracted by the death of their comrade, the two that remained did not notice Tony sprint towards them until it was too late to react. Tony grabbed one of them by their gun-wielding arm, pulled it down so that the body crouched down, threw it back and grabbed both shoulders, using them to jump and flip over him. With the man stunned by the sudden movements, Tony grabbed his gun and threw it out of reach before kicking him in the back to knock him away. Tony quickly turned to the other man, shooting him in the chest before he could line up a shot of his own before turning back to the first opponent. Before Tony could fire, the remaining Soviet, having recovered from the previous attack, slapped the gun out of the agent’s hand before punching him in the face with the other hand. Tony hit the ground hard with a stream of blood following him from his nose, unable to get up before the Soviet grabbed his deceased comrade’s gun and aimed it towards him. “I am afraid that our ‘commander’ has told you too much.” He said to Tony, “Now, you must die.”
Before the man could fire the weapon, a sudden chill fell in to the air. The man’s actions slowed down drastically, coming to a stop as his skin turned blue. A small amount of mist began to form around him as ice formed on several parts of his body. Convinced that he wasn’t a threat any longer, Tony got up on to his feet and walked past him, noticing Hailey at the office doors.
“How’s that for a save?” she asked, looking exhausted as she slowly moved forward. Tony ran towards Hailey and grabbed her before she could collapse to the ground. Using her abilities to such an extent at such a distance had drained her body of its energy, a side-effect that came with their elemental abilities, though one that was restored relatively quickly.”I’ll be fine in a minute.” She re-assured Tony.
“Good, because I’m not carrying you back.” Tony joked, to which Hailey couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “I’m sorry for being such an *** earlier.” He continued, becoming serious. “I guess I’ve just been taking everything for granted so far. I should be more considerate to what’s going on.”
“Well, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. You’ve always been like this.” Hailey admitted. Both sensing the others newfound resolve, they couldn’t help but smile at one another. Once Hailey had regained her strength, the two walked over to Tony’s motorcycle.
“Just so you know, if you’ve done anything to damage my bike, you’re dead.” Tony said, only slightly joking.
“Uh-huh. You love me too much to do that.” Hailey responded, going along with Tony’s attempts of humour. “Are we heading back then?”
“Not yet.” Tony responded, sitting down on his motorcycle. “We need to go to the ISA.”
“What? Are you sure?” Hailey asked, surprised by the statement as she handed Tony the keys to his motorcycle.
“Yeah. I’ll explain it on the way.” Tony said, starting up the engine as Hailey sat down behind him. “This is something beyond us now.”

« Last edited by Cervantes De Leon on Oct 23rd 2010 »

Good chapter as always. I liked Peter for what little we saw of him. Not sure what else to say other than keep it up

"Our base of operations is in an abandoned situated over the same crater that ended our original plans."
I didn't know it was possible to abandon a situated.

So now there's a deranged Russian attempting to detonate a nuclear bomb in the middle of a city... has someone been playing a bit too much Call of Duty?

Chapter 9 – Preparations

“A Nuclear Cluster Bomb?! Are you certain?” Colonel Wilson spat.
“Yes sir.” Firius answered. He stood with Glacia opposite Colonel Wilson’s desk; both having entered the building and gained an audience with him quite easily. Even though they were here for reasons of high importance, both of them felt uneasy due to their suspensions, both feeling that their actions in obtaining the information would be classed as work and cause some severe repercussions.
“Was there any mention of the location of the bomb?” the Colonel asked after a small pause to collect his thoughts.
“None, other than confirmation that it is already somewhere within the city,” Firius responded.
The Colonel grumbled something as he spun his chair around, standing up as he looked out in to the night sky. “In which case, we need to find it, while also making sure that the N.S. Brigade does not activate it before we can recover it.”
“Well, we should be getting out of you ha- er, way then.” Firius said, glancing away so that he wouldn’t draw more attention to the Colonel’s bald head.
“Hold on.” The Colonel interrupted before either of them could move. “We will be requiring your help on this as well.”
“Sir, is this a removal of our suspensions?” Glacia inquired, confused as to the sudden change of heart.
“The suspensions that we issued upon the two of you were merely a ways to protect the two of you from further attacks.” Colonel Wilson admitted. “We created fake paperwork for it to try and convince hackers that you were out of service. We hoped that it would draw them off of you.”
“And we were going to be told this...when exactly?” Firius asked, annoyed that they had been left out on this mislead attempt.
“If we were to directly inform you, then the message might have been intercepted.” Colonel Wilson said, his voice rising as if to show his authority position to Firius’ comment. “Besides, you are on a need-to-know basis, and we decide what it is that you need to know.”
Firius grunted, unimpressed by the treatment.
“So, you don’t think that our actions were irresponsible and cost lives.” Glacia asked, trying to make sense of the situation.
“While there were some aspects of your sudden actions that were irresponsible and unnecessary, you not only managed to prevent them from acquiring the majority of the vehicles that they hacked, but also took down or captured a fair few of their forces, included a wanted, highly dangerous mercenary.” The Colonel explained. “As for the civilians, while the loss of so many lives is indeed something that should not be taken lightly, it is neither of you that are responsible for their deaths.”
Glacia felt some weight suddenly lift off of her shoulders.
“So, if we’re off the hook, what is it you want us to do?” Firius asked, accepting the change.
“Seeing that they have so much information on you, we felt that you might want to properly see this one through to the end.” He stated. “We will be sending out people to search the city for the bomb, but we will be sending the two of you out to infiltrate the base.”
“By ourselves?” Glacia asked, surprised by the mission at hand. “The place is bound to be heavily guarded. If it’s just the two of us, then it’s a suicide run.”
“If we deploy just a small group such as yourselves, then we can surprise them.” Colonel Wilson explained, “We’ll be sending in a squadron to occupy the attentions of the main troops so that you two can go on with little resistance. Your primary objective is to capture the Brigade’s leader and prevent him from activating the bomb. Your secondary objectives are to capture those responsible for hacking our systems; and to search for any clues regarding the identity of our double agent.”
“So...take down a few people, stop a bomb from blowing up and find out someone’s name. Sounds easy enough.” Firius said, a small grin forming on his face to cover the growing nerves inside of him.

As Tony’s motorbike pulled up at the kerb outside of Hailey’s flat, Tony couldn’t help but think about what he was going to be doing tomorrow, and the dangers that came with it. “Something on your mind?” Hailey asked, having stepped off of the bike and stopped next to him.
“Nah, not really.” Tony lied, not wanting to open up a pile of worries to her.
“Are you suuure?” she asked, putting deliberate emphasis on the last word in an attempt to try and tease some answers out of him. “Because I know when you’re lying.”
“No, really, it’s nothing.” Tony said, looking away from her for a moment to try and avert the giveaway signs, before eventually giving in and looking back. “Just a bit nervous, that’s all.”
“Aww.” Hailey rubbed Tony’s hair in a part mocking, part comforting manner, “I think this is the first time that I’ve seen you nervous since we started this. Hell, I can’t remember a time that you’ve properly been nervous before.”
“This is different though.” Tony said. “We haven’t exactly had many true life-or-death moments like tomorrow in the past, have we?”
“You have a point there.” Hailey responded. Like Tony, she was also feeling a highly nervous, almost scared Despite her own feelings, what she was finding more distressing than the thought of doing something that could easily result in the deaths of them and/or the whole city if they failed was the fact that Tony, who normally was the one that kept the calm and comforted her when she got nervous. She felt some increased sense of nerves as she thought about this, something that Tony almost instantly noticed. “Sorry to worry you like that.” Tony said, stepping off of his bike and resting his hands on her shoulders, looking in to her eyes. Hailey felt herself overcome with emotion as she stared back at Tony. The fear in her mind mixed with the sudden emotion in her heart, becoming too much for her as she suddenly lunged forward, hugging Tony tightly. Both startled and touched, Tony could only smile as he held on to her with one hand while patting the back of her head with the other. “Don’t worry.” He said, “We can do this. We will do this. Trust me, ok?”
“You’re right...we will.” Hailey said in to Tony’s chest, choking back the tears of panic. “Because if you die on me now, after all this, I will never forgive you.”
“I promise.” Tony said. The two continued to stand in one another’s arms, unaware of the time as it passed.

“Tony, there’s someone here I want you to meet.” Tony’s mother said to her four year old son. While holding on to his mother’s hand, the young Tony looked up at the woman that towered over him, level with his own mother. He then looked down and saw a girl hiding behind her mother’s leg, peering out at him. Making eye contact with him, the girl moved her head out further, eventually taking a full step out from behind her mother.
“This is Hailey.” Tony’s mother told him. “Say hi to her.”
“Hello.” Tony said, unsure of anything else to say. Initially, Hailey didn’t respond, still hiding somewhat behind her mother. She slowly stepped out and took a step forward, while Tony let go of his mother’s hand and took a step of his own.
“Hi.” Hailey eventually said, smiling at her new friend.

Hailey stepped in to the main room of her apartment, her eyes still red and puffy from the tears that were not long ago rolling down them. Dumping her bag on to the first chair she walked by, she collapsed on to the sofa, lying there as she faced the roof for a few moments before eventually sitting up. She took a tissue from a box on the table in front of her and blew her nose, trying to cover up the evidence of crying upon hearing signs of life in the bathroom down the hallway. Hearing the door opening, she quickly grabbed the remote for the television off of the table and switched it on.
“Oh, hey. You’re back late.” Michael said as he entered the living room. She didn’t answer immediately as her mind raced about with more thoughts than she could handle. “Is something wrong?” he asked, sensing that something was wrong with her.
“Work.” Hailey simply said, despite there being several other issues swinging about inside her head.
“Work? But I thought you were suspended?” he asked, sitting down beside her.
“It was faked.” She told him. “Just to try and get them off of us. We’ve now been brought in to ambush them tomorrow.”
“Oh...well, at least you’re not in trouble anymore.” Michael tried to lighten the mood.
“But this is worse.” She said, “If we mess this up, it’s not just our lives on the line, but everyone’s, including you.” She stopped for a moment as her eyes began to well up with tears again. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t.” He said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Want to know why I know that?”
Hailey wiped her eyes and looked up to her boyfriend.
“It’s because you’re too good at your job to fail now.” He told her. “I know you’ll do this.”
“...Thanks.” She said, smiling through the tears.

“Hey, Tony!” Hailey ran after him as he headed for the school doors. Hearing his name, the twelve year old turned around and stopped upon seeing his old friend approaching. “Late as ever, eh?” Tony joked as Hailey stopped before him, bending over as she gasped for breath from the run from her house to school. “Normally, most people get better with practice at running, not worse.”
“Shut up. I normally have enough time to walk here, running’s not something I do much of.” She responded.
“So we all saw at yesterday’s gym class.”
“I thought we agreed not to talk about that!” Hailey snapped, punching Tony’s arm.
“Ow!” Tony rubbed his arm in pain. “At least we know where your strengths are.”
“Don’t forget it, mate.” She said, jokingly kissing the knuckles of her fist. Ever since the two met eight years ago, the two had been almost inseparable friends, playing together most days and finding similar interests in several things. Among other aspects, the two had recently begun training in karate, where Hailey was – as always with the two – proving to be stronger with the attacks, while Tony was more agile and faster in attacking. As the two stood at the doorway, the bell suddenly rang behind them, indicating the start of class.
“Uh-oh.” Hailey’s expression changed from smiling to mild surprise. “We’re late.”
“Come on.” Tony said, making a quick turnaround, “We might still be able to get in before the teacher arrives.”

“Hey Jason! You here?” Tony called out as he opened his apartment door.
“In the kitchen.” Jason responded. Tony threw his keys on to the table and fell in to his chair, feeling exhausted after the events of the day. His mind was trying to make sense of what had all happened, from the kidnapping that both was and wasn’t to Hailey’s sudden emotional outburst that had brought back something within both his mind and heart. He rubbed his eyes as his thoughts led to the latter point in particular, remembering both how worried she was about tomorrow and her concern towards himself. “Seems we really didn’t change after all.” Tony muttered.
“Talking to anyone?” Jason asked as he entered the living room.
“No, not really.” Tony said, not expecting him to hear him.
“Let me guess, you’re thinking about you old pal Hailey, right?” Jason guessed, sitting down in the chair next to Tony.
“Yeah, you got me.” Tony conceded, not feeling in the mood to make any other excuses.
“So, what’s up then?” Jason asked, “Thinking about her in that way?”
Tony hesitated for a moment as he truthfully thought over Jason’s question, not just to satisfy the query. “I...can’t say for sure.” He eventually admitted, “To tell the truth, a part of me says yes, while a different part says no.”
“Hmm. Why not just give the yes part a shot? You never know.” Jason suggested.
“She has a boyfriend already.” Tony told him.
“Ouch. Tough break, man.” Jason shrugged. “Can’t really help you there.”
“Thanks anyway.” Tony said, hoping Jason wouldn’t notice anything else wrong with him. The two of them had lived together for three years, during which they had gotten to know one another rather well. If this was to be their last night, not only did Tony wish for Jason not to fear it, but also not to rain down anger on him for his big secret. For now, Tony decided to just let his other worries take a back seat while leaving the current one on standby in case Jason brought it back up again.

“What is wrong with Tony?” Hailey asked herself as she walked home from school. “Something’s happened, but he refuses to speak to anyone about it, not even me; something he’s normally ok with.” She stopped for a moment and turned around, noticing a group of boys in hooded jackets behind her, standing about doing nothing. Having some initial negative feelings about their presence, she shrugged it off and returned to her concerns. “Not only does he not want to talk, but he also wants to keep out of everyone’s way, instead of his usual outgoing, social self.” Hailey continued to worry about her friend. As she walked on, the group behind her moved out of their loitering guise and followed the sixteen year old girl. Feeling her unease return, Hailey stopped, giving the group enough time to stop and pretend to be busy among them just as she turned around to observe. Starting to feel suspicious about the group, she took a few steps away from them while continuing to observe. As she moved further away, she noticed some of them looking towards her while muttering to the rest. Realising they were stalking her; she stepped up her pace, eventually breaking in to a run. Noticing the group were now running after her, she changed her direction and ran across the road, hoping that they would give up if she showed too much resistance. Reaching the other side after several near misses with the traffic, Hailey dodged in to an alleyway, praying in her mind that they didn’t notice her run in to it from all of the traffic. As she ran, she was shocked to see her route blocked by a wall. “Damnit!” Hailey cursed, turning around to see the group blocking off her exit.
“Nice try.” One of them said as they approached her. “Now, if you hand over your stuff like a good little girl, then nobody has to get hurt.”
Realising the seriousness of her situation, Hailey threw her school bag to the side before entering a stance she had learned from her karate sessions. Realising that she wasn’t going to co-operate, one member of the group charged towards her, fist poised back to strike. Hailey dodged the fist as he swung it towards her, slamming her elbow in to the back of his neck as he staggered passed. As a second group member made their attack, she blocked their fist with her arm, following it up with a kick to the side of his body, knocking him down. As Hailey turned to her next attacker, she felt the sudden pain of a fist crunching in to her face, causing her to stagger back in to a punch to the back of the neck from the first attacker. Dazed and hurt, Hailey fell to her knees, looking up through her now blurry vision to see one of them pull out a knife. Another sudden impact to the back of her neck knocked her out.

Seems like an unusual place for a cliffhanger, but I suppose it's either that or post a nine-page filler chapter. Pretty interesting character development you've got there. It's always nice to see how the secondary characters are reacting to the main plot.

Looks like we're building up to the final dungeon now. Looking forward to it.

Chapter 10 – Painful Memories

A few minutes later, Hailey managed to come back to her senses, feeling pain all over her body from being kicked repeatedly while unconscious. Starting to wonder why she hadn’t been stabbed, Hailey looked up to see – to her shock – Tony standing in front of her, slouched over slightly as blood dripped down his arm. The group stood facing him, the knife wielder wiping the blood off of his weapon as they laughed at their victim. Realising that they hadn’t noticed her conscious again, Hailey lowered her head and awaited their next move. “He’s a goner, leg it!” one of them yelled out. The group suddenly broke out in to a run in the other direction, disappearing in to the streets and melding in to the pedestrian traffic. With the threat gone, Tony fell to his knees from the slash and stab wounds on his arm. Hailey quickly got up to her feet and grabbed Tony by the arms to prevent him from falling to the ground. “Tony, are you ok?” Hailey asked, desperately worried about her friend.
“I’m fine.” He answered, though he didn’t sound it. “Just a few bruises, some lacerations, nothing a few plasters won’t fix.”
“Look, I appreciate you having your sense of humour back, but now’s not the time.” Hailey said, ignoring the pain her body was feeling. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
“No. I don’t need a hospital.” Tony told her, his voice changing from his normal upbeat self to bitterly cold. “I’ll be fine, honestly. How about you?”
“Just a few bruises, nothing as serious as yours.” Hailey told him.
“Hailey, please.” Tony said, raising his blood covered hand to her. “I’m fine. I don’t need anyone to look after me. I can protect myself and those that I care about.”
“...Did you do that just because it was me?” Hailey asked, both surprised and moved at the thought of Tony risking his life for her.
“Well...yeah.” Tony admitted. “You’re the closest friend I’ve got. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
Hailey was left speechless by Tony’s words. Unable to say anything, she felt something new welling up within her.
“Just...promise me something.” Tony continued, “Promise me that you will never leave me, yeah?”
“Yes. Of course.” Hailey said, realising something. “Tony, all this about leaving, what happened?”
“...It’s my father.” Tony eventually said, his voice being filled with anger as he spoke. “He left us, emptied the joint account he had with my mum and fled.”
Hailey was shocked at the news, now understanding why Tony had been acting strange this whole time; he was both upset and angry at what his father had done to him and his mother. Unable to think of anything else to say to help Tony, she hugged him, causing a slight groan of pain from his as she accidentally hit a bruised area of his body with her arm. “I’m so sorry.” She said, “I won’t ask any more about it until you’re ready to, ok?”
“Ok...thanks.” Tony said, co-operating as Hailey lifted him back to his feet while hoisting his non-injured arm over her shoulder. “You know, I might actually need that hospital trip you mentioned.”
“Don’t worry, there’s one just a few minutes away.” Hailey said, beginning to slowly walk forward with him.

“Damn. That’s quite a mess we’re in.” Michael said upon hearing the full story of Hailey’s day. Hailey remained silent as she continued to think things over. Emotionally, she had never felt this fragile before in her life, even with the support of both Tony and Michael. As she thought, she started to wonder if maybe her old feelings were the cause of it, the support actually tearing her feelings apart. She broke out of her thoughts as Michael’s arms wrapped themselves more tightly around her. “Michael, can you promise me something?” she asked her boyfriend.
“Anything.” He responded, “What is it?”
“No matter what, always keep me within your arms, just like this.” She told him. “The place where I feel the safest.”
“Of course.” He said; his words helping Hailey find some comfort. “You didn’t even need to ask that.”
“I knew that. I still wanted to though.” Hailey giggled slightly.
“Fair enough.” Michael responded. Hailey turned her body around so that she could properly hug Michael.
The two lay in one another’s arms until the early hours of the night.

“So...how’s your arm feeling?” Hailey asked Tony as the two of them walked along the outskirts of the city.
“Not as bad as it was a few weeks ago.” Tony responded, clenching and stretching his once slashed right arm to show her. “Nothing major was cut, so there shouldn’t be any lasting problems.”
“That’s good.” Hailey said, looking up to her friend, but diverted her attention to the road before her when he made a slight movement of his neck. She was unsure as to why she was acting like this, but ever since Tony had told her how much their friendship truly meant to him, she had felt new, strong feelings for him. As she tried to push the feeling out of her head, she couldn’t help but feel her hands feeling abnormally cold. This odd sensation in her hands had started to emerge a few days ago, fading occasionally, but lasting longer each time. She had seen the occasional news report about people who had gained supernatural abilities that had been seen as freaks by the general public, officially named ‘elementals’, but unofficially given a lot worse names by the general public. The cold sensations in her hands were starting to give her worries that maybe she was becoming one of them, especially upon hearing that a lot of these people gained their powers about the age of seventeen, something Tony would be in a month and her two months after him.
“Hey, is it just me or is it really warm today?”Tony asked, taking off his jumper and tying the sleeves around his waist.
“I’m alright. Must be just you.” Hailey responded, not wanting to mention her cold hands to him. “In any case, you’ll cool off when we get to the water hole.”
“Yeah. True enough.” Tony said, hoisting his swimming bag further up on his shoulder.

Having gotten changed and jumped in to the water, Tony relaxed as he waited for Hailey to get ready. Being an open area, there was only one bush that the two could hide behind to get changed, so they had to do it one at a time. “Come on, hurry up!” Tony called out in a teasing manner.
“I’ll just be a second.” Hailey responded. She eventually stepped out from behind the bush, walking slowly towards the water as Tony couldn’t help but stare at her black swimming costume. Even though the two of them had seen each other like this before, Tony found himself attracted to her figure in the costume. “You’re eyes are going to pop out if you keep staring like that.” Hailey commented, snapping Tony out of his glare. The two laughed about it as Hailey jumped in to the water, rising from the surface behind Tony. She jumped up and pushed Tony down in to the water, laughing as he swam underneath her, grabbing her legs and dragging her under. As the two surfaced, Tony felt his hands becoming particularly warm, even when in the cool water. He tried to ignore it, something that became easier as Hailey surfaced. Hailey stared in to Tony’s eyes, completely ignoring the return of the cold sensation in her hands. As her personal emotions grew, her cold hands splashed on to the water, suddenly starting up something within her. Her hands let out a sudden blast of cold air, suddenly freezing the entire pond.
“What the hell?!” Tony yelled out, stuck in the ice alongside Hailey. “What happened?”
“I-I don’t know.” Hailey responded, panicking. “My hands, they’ve been feeling cold for a while.”
“You mean...you’re one of those elemental people?” Tony asked, surprised that there may have been something about his best friend that he had missed.
“...I think I might be.” Hailey realised, feeling her world shattering around her. “You...won’t hate me for it, will you?”
“No.” Tony answered; something Hailey didn’t expect. “Why would I? You’re still you. That’s something that will never change, no matter how much ice you can form.”
Feeling both relief and what she was starting to admit as love welling up within her, Hailey began to blush as her body began to fully feel the coldness of the ice.
“So...do you think you can get rid of this ice somehow?” Tony asked. “I can’t feel my body anymore.”
“Me neither.” Hailey admitted, her heart suddenly sinking again. “I don’t even know how I did it just now.”
“Oh.” Tony said, his face turning a blank. “So...this is it? We’re going to freeze to death in here?
“Looks like we are.” Hailey said, tears rolling down her eyes as the thought of death loomed over.
“I...I can’t believe this.” Tony said, feeling fear, panic and anger well up within him while his hands began to heat up like they never had before. “I-I don’t want to die yet, not know. I refuse to die!”
All of a sudden, Tony’s heated hands burst in to flames, melting the ice that surrounded both himself and Hailey. Without questioning the sudden fire blast, the two quickly jumped out of the water, both shivering from the ice temperatures of the water. As the two of them sat on the ground relieved, they both found themselves staring at their hands, both shocked at what they were somehow able to do.
“You as well?” Hailey asked, looking over at Tony.
“Looks that way.” Tony accepted, “You won’t hate me for it, will you.”
“No.” Hailey responded, wrapping her arms around Tony “Why would I?”

“So, anything happen at work today?” Tony asked Jason, partly to kill the silence, partly out of actual interest, but mostly to try and be civilised so that his mind could have some peace during the night.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.” Jason responded. “Not often anything exciting happens down at the public pools.”
“Ever tried entertaining them with some of your diving tricks?” Tony asked.
“I did once, once being the key word.” Jason responded, causing a little snigger from the two of them. “How about you? Anything happen down at your work place of late?”
“Umm...nothing to write home about.” Tony responded, feeling somewhat uncomfortable as he did. For all the time that the two had known each other, Tony had pretended that he worked at a supermarket on the other side of town. Tony considered himself lucky that Jason had no desire to ever go to the area of town he claimed to work in due to high levels of crime and gang activities that occurred there. Ever since the lie started, Tony felt uneasy about having to go through all of this with him, but he knew it was for Jason’s safety that he didn’t know about his real job.
“Fair enough.” Jason responded, giving Tony some relief in that he believed him. “I’m going to bed. You going to be long?”
“Nah. I’ll go once you’re out of the bathroom.” Tony told him. Even though he was wide awake, he decided to a least try to get some sleep and not stay up the whole night in case he kept Jason awake as well. Now having a few moments for himself, Tony stretched out his body while letting out a large sigh. “Why is this one stressing me out more than usual? ” Tony questioned inside his mind. “Is it really just the fact that it’s not just my life on the line, but the whole city? I managed the motorway scuffle fine, so why can’t I focus now? ”
As he thought it over, he was broken out by the sound of the bathroom door unlocking. “It’s all yours.” Jason called through. “Good night.”
“Night mate.” Tony said, leaning forward in his seat as he put his hand up to wave him off. Waiting a second until he heard the door to Jason’s room close, Tony eventually got to his feet and walked towards his room, grabbing his bag as he passed it. “Maybe some sleep will clear my head. ” He decided.

“Come on now Tony, you can do this now.” He told himself as he walked down the street towards Hailey’s house. It had been several weeks since their incident at the water hole, during which time they had made a pact to keep their newfound abilities a secret, while also spending more time together as they experimented and learned how to properly utilise their abilities. Pausing for a moment, Tony looked around him to check that the road was deserted before lighting his hand on fire. Still impressed more by the fact that he could do it than the fact that he could now control how to activate it, Tony shook the flames off of his hand and continued on his way. As usual, Tony was heading over to Hailey’s to hang out with his friend; however, he had also decided that he was going to confess to her his newfound feelings for her. He had never before in his life felt this nervous, not even with both his father’s sudden departure and becoming one of the current generation’s biggest prejudices within two months of that moment. “Man up, for God’s sake.” He knocked the palms of his hands against his head in an attempt to gain some self confidence that he didn’t quite understand as to how it would work.
As he approached Hailey’s house, Tony was surprised to see a van parked outside. As he continued onwards, his surprise was turned to shock when as he realised it was a removal van. His shock was finally turned to horror as he saw two men taking boxes out of Hailey’s house and loading it in to the van.
“That’s the rest of it!” one of the men yelled out, to which Tony saw Hailey’s father step out of his house. Hailey’s father was an incredibly formal man, always seen in a suit while peering down on those below him through his half-moon glasses. “Very well. You are sure you know the way, correct?” he asked the two men.
“No worries, we’ve got sat-nav.” One of them answered.
“Ok, we won’t be too long behind you.” He told the two as they climbed in to their van. He then turned his gaze towards Tony, walking towards the boy while keeping his head high. “Well then, Tony.” He said to him. “As you can observe, we will be moving out of here momentarily.”
“B-but why?” Tony asked, barely able to speak as he felt his world crumbling around him.
“Let us not get weighed down in reasoning on our final goodbyes.” He responded, almost trying to avoid the subject. “I wish to thank you for always being there for my daughter over the years.” At this point, the man offered out his hand. Unable to think, Tony went merely on instinct and shook his hand. “Until the next time we meet.” He said as they released each other’s hand.
“Dad! Please, no!”
Hailey’s father turned around to see his daughter run out of the house, grabbing her father around the chest as tears rolled down her eyes. “Why dad? Why do we have to move?”She pleaded with him. “We’re happy here, we have everything that we need, why do we need to move?”
“Hailey, we’ve been through this already. I won’t bring this up again.” He said to her, proving to be a touchy subject for him. “Now, get in to the car.”
Looking to her side, she noticed Tony standing there; looking like his soul had been destroyed. “Can I...just have a few minutes to say goodbye?” she asked.
“If you insist.” He answered, “Three minutes maximum.”
Hailey let go of her father as he walked over to the front door to lock it, then to his car. She waited until he had closed the driver’s door before she turned towards Tony, yet was unable to fully look him in the eye.
“What happened?” Tony asked; his voice weak.
“Someone...someone saw us at the watering hole.” She told him. “News spread to my father that I’m an elemental, so he thinks I’ve shamed him in doing so.”
“I never realised that he thought that highly of himself to actually move away from those you know, just because you’re something extra-ordinary.” Tony said, some anger rising within him for the insane reasoning of Hailey’s father.
“Extra-ordinary? A charmer right through to the end.” Hailey said, trying to bring some sense of happiness to their last moments. The two of them gave out a small laugh.
“I’m really going to miss you Hailey.” He told her. “You know how much you’ve meant to me all these years, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I’m really going to miss you too.” Hailey said to Tony. The two stepped towards one another and hugged for what felt like an eternity for both of them. Their heads moved away from their bodies as they looked in to each other’s eyes, both of them feeling drawn towards the other. Their lips moved closer together, eventually kissing one another. After a few moments together, they moved apart again, the love that had formed between them filling the air that surrounded them.
“Time’s up.” Hailey’s dad grabbed her daughter’s shoulder and burst the bubble. “It’s time to go.”
Hailey looked up to her father, her eyes filled with desperation for a change of attitude. Realising that it was now impossible, she resigned to fate and followed her father to the car.
“Hailey...please...” Tony said as loudly as he could, though only managing what barely reached his normal voice.
“Goodbye, Tony.” She said to her friend as she stepped in to the car.
“Hailey...you promised. You promised you’d never leave me.” Tony pleaded, even though he knew that she wouldn’t be able to hear him with his current voice level. “You promised...”
“I’m sorry, Tony.” Hailey said to herself as the car revved in to life. “I’m so sorry.” Tony could only watch as the car drove out of the driveway, taking Hailey out of his life. With no sight of the car as it turned off of the street, Tony collapsed to his knees, no longer having the strength for anything.
“Hailey...” he said under his breath. “I...I love you, Hailey.”

Tony’s eyes slowly opened as the early morning sunshine glared through the gaps in his curtains. Waiting a moment as he gathered his senses, he looked over at his alarm clock, realising he had a few minutes until he was meant to get up. Rolling over in his bed for a few minutes, he began to collect his thoughts, feeling somewhat lighter minded than the previous night. He began to wonder if it was maybe because of the thoughts of the past that plagued him throughout the night, reminding him that Hailey had, after all this time, kept her promise.
The alarm went off, to which Tony instantly responded. He was ready.

Chapter 9: Loved the flashbacks, good strategy, it offered a nice change to freshen things up. Interesting cliffhanger, looking forward to read about it in a minute in the next chapter.

Chapter 10: A bit shorter it seemed, but good chapter. I like the way you introduced the discovery of their powers during a narration of their childhood. I was saddened by the announcement of Hailey's moving, and I was kinda angry at the little prick who ratted them out. But yeah, like I said, great chapter and always looking forward to the next one.

Chapter 11 – Infiltration

The door opened to the helicopter landing pad as Tony walked out on to the rooftop. Looking out through the light of the rising sun, Firius saw the figures of both Colonel Wilson and Glacia waiting for him, while a tiltwing aircraft sat behind them.
“Good to see you’ve shown up.” The Colonel said to Firius as he walked towards the two.
“Sorry, some issues with my vehicle.” Tony answered him, glancing at Glacia for a moment as he said it.
“Well, you’re here in any case.” He responded, stepping away for a moment as he made contact over his earpiece. Tony looked over at Hailey, who seemed to be trying to keep her composure, but he knew that she was nervous from the occasional shake of her body as she exhaled. “You alright?” Tony asked her, placing her hand on her shoulder.
“I’m fine.” She responded. “Just trying to think of this as one of those training simulator missions...one that we could die on.”
“Probably best that we don’t let that last bit get in to our heads for the rest of the day.” Tony said. “We’ve just got to keep a calm head and press on like we always have. Best way that we can go about this, don’t you agree?”
“I guess.” Glacia responded, “Focus on what’s ahead while trying not to let to massive distractions along the route put us off.”
“Yeah.” Tony said, feeling slightly more confident after their chat. The two of them took a step back as the aircraft roared in to life, indicating its departure time being soon.
“The Tiltwing will be taking off in a few minutes.” Colonel Wilson re-approached the two, yelling out above the noise of the engines. “There is a helipad on the rooftop of the old battleship that you will be dropped off on. At roughly the same time, we will be sending out three squads to the main landing site, which should bring the attention of the majority of their armed defences. The two of you are to sneak past them, eliminate the remainder if necessary and complete the three following objectives. Number one; find the location of the nuclear cluster bomb detonator and either apprehend it or destroy it. Number two; find the computers used for hacking in to our databases and take them offline, either through shutting them down or through destroying them, then arrest the hackers or eliminate if they use force. Number three; discover the identity of the rogue agent that leaked our access codes to them. If they are within the facility, arrest them or eliminate them if they use force. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir!” the two of them responded.
“Good, now get on board and prove to me your promotions were a worthwhile effort.” The Colonel finished, walking past them towards the door.

“What’s the status on the bomb?”
“The latest scans have shown that the bomb is still one hundred percent functional.”
“Excellent.”
“However, we have received some worrying reports of the ISA being tipped off by the information we allowed to be leaked and are sending out searches for the bomb.”
“As was expected.”
“Not only that, we have heard that they are sending troops here to attack the plant.”
“Again, something I fully expected once they got hold of our details.”
“But, my lord. Pardon my objection, but what if they manage to wipe out our forces? Even if we manage to detonate the bomb and re-ignite a war, what good will we be if we have no army to fight with?”
“Well, this will be an excellent exercise to separate the wheat from the chaff. Once the government is informed of our origins and attacks Russia, they will provide us with all the support that we need.”
“But, my lord! What happens if they just go with the American gang links? What if Russia doesn’t support us? I just can’t help but see-”
“Step in to my office.”
“Sorry?”
“Step in to my office, now.”
A moment of silence passed before the line went dead. A further few minutes passed before the door behind the New Soviet Brigade’s President opened, revealing the lone member of technical support. “You called for me, my lord?”
“Indeed I did.” The President answered him, standing up out of his chair and approaching his underling. “As you should be well aware of, any organisation, including this one, needs a good structure to function well. I was once told that these things are set up so that those more worthy of controlling the outcomes of their endeavours are higher up in what they told me was called the chain of command. Now, you should know full well that I am the first and strongest link in that chain, shouldn’t you.”
“Uh, y-yes, my lord.” He responded; fear taking over him.
“So, what would you suggest we do to the lower-down, unnecessary links that don’t support the structure?” the President asked him.
The man didn’t respond, knowing full well what his response should be, but didn’t want to give it.
“Oh, are you only able to speak properly if it’s through wireless communication?” The President mocked, “Shall I tell you what we do to these weak links?”
With a sudden mechanical click, followed by a gunshot, the man bent over as his stomach poured blood on to the ground. Looking up at his killer with what remained of his life, the man saw no traces of a gun in either of his hands.
“We destroy those links, and then replace them.” The President finished just before the man collapsed in to death.

The aircraft flew over the crater on the city outskirts, the destination in view and just a few minutes away. Looking outside, Firius observed the spectacle that was the abandoned battleship hovering before them. The ship looked to be about six stories tall and the length of a particularly large helicarrier, with an open runway on the front for the fighter jets and a helipad on tallest point of the ship. The rest of the roof was curved to give the battleship some needed aerodynamics, while the only remaining weapon – large energy cannon – rested at the front of the ship just below the cockpit. Turning his attention back to the inside of the helicopter, Firius and Glacia sat in silence, checking their weaponry as they prepared themselves. “So, how do you think we should go about this?” Firius eventually killed the silence.
“What do you mean?” Glacia asked, thinking it was obvious.
“I was just thinking that it might be an idea if we were to split up and search the place.” Firius explained, “We’ll cover more ground that way and we can easily radio one another if we need some backup. If it really is just the stragglers that would be left, then it shouldn’t be anything too much for us to handle solo.”
“I dunno.” Glacia responded, “Even if the squads below mop up the majority of their forces, we might still be caught out by some that are left in reserve.”
Before Firius could respond, a giant blast of energy shot past, narrowly missing the aircraft. “What the hell?!” the pilot yelled as the tiltwing shook violently, throwing the two of them against the right wall. “Seems they’ve still got some live weaponry here.” The pilot explained to them.
“I thought you said they were all removed?” Glacia asked Firius.
“Mostly. This must be the main canon that they’ve re-activated.” Firius realised. “Seeing that it’s built in to the ship and has an integral part in the bodywork, it can’t really be removed without being too costly.”
“Oh yeah, costly indeed. Do you think our lives should cover the bill?” Glacia snapped.
“Possibly.”
“You’re an ****, you know that?”
“Hold on! They’re charging for another shot!” the pilot called out; making a sudden, sharp turn up in an attempt to move out of the canon’s firing range. The canon launched a second shot, scraping the bottom of the tiltwing and knocking them off course. The two were flung about from wall to wall as the pilot desperately tried to stabilise the aircraft, which made several spins back and forth before eventually responding. “It’s ok, I got it.” He called out to his passengers.
“Thank God for that.” Glacia said, picking herself up from the floor.
“Suddenly, solid ground seems underrated.” Firius commented, sorting his neck with a few sharp turns of his head.
As the tiltwing flew above its destination, the two could hear the wings twisting so that their propellers were spinning horizontally. As the aircraft dropped closer towards the helipad on the rooftop, the rope drop extended from the open door. “This is as low as I’m going guys. The blast damaged the landing gear.” The pilot called out to the two behind him, “Good luck out there.”
“Alright, thanks.” Glacia responded, stepping towards the door. “Ready, partner?” she asked Firius while grabbing the rope.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Firius responded, grinning. If this was how it was going to go, he decided that he might as well try to enjoy it. “Ladies first.”
Making sure her hold on the rope was tight, Glacia jumped out of the aircraft, sliding down slightly as the rope lowered her to the ground. Both feet on the roof, Glacia let go of the rope as it was raised back up for Firius. Once Firius was on the helipad, the two looked up as the tiltwing began to fly off back to the city. The two faced one another as they drew their handguns, nodding at one another before heading for the door to their right. Climbing down the stairs beyond the door, the two came to a corridor going in two separate directions.
“You go right, I’ll take the left.” Glacia decided.
“Alright.” Firius agreed, keeping his back to his corner for a moment before swinging round out with his gun drawn. Confirming the corridor clear, he swung back in, seeing Glacia doing the same. Giving each other one last nod, they turned back around their corners and ran off in their respective directions.

Fifteen minutes in to the mission, Glacia watched over the shootout that was occurring several floors below her in the courtyard. Using her sniper scope so that she could see better, she turned her attention to a sizeable room that stuck out from the rest of the wall. “It’s pretty close to here. Seems like a good spot to check out.” She said to herself while activating her earpiece. “Control, this is Glacia. There’s a suspicious room I can see that sticks out of the inside wall of the fifth floor. Requesting a scan of the area.”
“Affirmative Glacia. The room seems to have a large amount of wireless interference, most likely due to a large number of wireless connections and/or devices within the room.” The voice informed her.
“Seems like that’s the most likely place that their team of hackers is hiding.” Glacia assessed.
“Most likely.”
“Alright, thanks Control.” Glacia deactivated her earpiece. She holstered her sniper rifle on her back and drew her pistol as she headed for the computer room. As she approached the door, she made a quick scan about the area with her pistol before assessing that the area was safe. Taking a deep breath, she ran through the automatic door and pointed her pistol straight ahead. As she entered, she could almost straight away smell gas pouring out of a vent on the roof above her. “Damnit! It’s a...trap...” Hailey realised, collapsing as the sleeping gas left her unconscious.

Eventually coming round, Glacia slowly opened her eyes as they re-adjusted to the light. Slowly getting to her feet, she couldn’t help but feel as if something wasn’t quite right about her surroundings other than the sudden absence of both her pistol and rifle. Looking around, she saw several rows of computers that all faced the bind-covered window to her left. Seeing that there was nobody else in the room other than herself, she walked over towards the first computer and booted it up, hoping to find some key information from it. As she moved the mouse to bring down the computer’s screensaver, she was surprised to see the screen scrolling with nothing but ones and zeros. Thinking it might still be a screensaver, she shook the mouse several more times, only to find the display remaining the same. “Something’s not right here.” Glacia said to herself, unsure of what was going on. Looking up, she was shocked to see what appeared to be static on the windows, which was almost instantly fixed. “What the hell?” Glacia said in her head, surprised beyond words by what her eyes saw. “Am I seeing things? Was there more to that gas than just knocking me out? Have I been drugged?”
Glacia was suddenly brought out of her thoughts as she felt something trickling down her leg. Surprised, she looked down to see the ones and zeros from the computer leaking out of the monitor and off of the desk, splashing off of her leg like water. Stepping away from the computer, she ran for the door, feeling light headed from what she was witnessing. As she burst through the door and in to the corridor, she looked out of the window and was horrified beyond belief by the sight that lay before her. Wanting to properly clarify what she saw, Glacia ran along the corridor for the open area she first spotted the room from. Reaching the open area, she looked up in to the sky, still shocked by the sight that confirmed what she saw from the window. Looking up in to what should have been a normal blue sky; she was left speechless by the sight of the purple sky with what appeared to be a massive motherboard in the distance, accompanied by the occasional stream of ones and zeros flying about in straight lines.
“Am...Am I in cyberspace?” Glacia realised.
Suddenly, almost as if to confirm her suspicions, two large, white boxes appeared far above her. In one of the boxes, a message appeared for the other box. “If they’re sending out people to attack us, then they must be on to us.” The message read.
“Yeah. Damn him for not informing us about this invasion.” The other box read. “Do you think we should delete all of this data?”
“Won’t that place us on Frank’s bad side?”
“I’m sure he’s too busy occupied with the scuffles downstairs. He won’t notice if we delete everything and sneak out the back door.”
“Until he notices the escape pods are missing, at least.”
“By which point we’ll be far gone. Look at it this way, they know it’s us, so if they attack us when we’ve deleted the evidence, they’ll have no proof for the general public or the government. It’s all the benefits of the original plan with extra moral destruction for those soldiers down there.”
“True enough. What about the girl we hooked up to the database?”
“If the anti-virus software doesn’t detect her as a threat and kill her, we’ll just delete the files the system created of her brain. The body shock the system would give her from that should leave her brain dead.”
“Fair enough.”
The two boxes emptied themselves and disappeared, leaving Glacia horrified of her fate. Realising that time was short, she turned around and headed back for the computer room, only to be stopped as she noticed something. A glowing white cable stretched from outside of the computer room to another room on the floor below. “From the looks of it, the room below could hold the server for the network. If I were to find it, I might be able to find a way out of here and back in to my own head. I might be able to create a copy of the data that they want to delete.” Deciding what to do, she turned around and ran for a nearby staircase, suddenly remembering something.
“Hold on...what was that they said about anti-virus software?”
Almost as if to answer her question, a large, four legged entity crashed on to the ground behind her, making an instant swipe at her with one of its sharp, pointed legs. Glacia rolled to the side to avoid the attack, looking up as she took in the sight of what she had figured was the anti-virus software. The body of the beast was completely white while its small, constant movements gave it the sense of being on edge about her presence. The top of the software suddenly opened up, revealing a Gatling gun turret. As the turret began to spin in to life, Glacia made a sudden turn and ran for the corridor behind her, just avoiding the first few shots of the turret as she dodged behind the wall. Running for the stairs at the far end of the corridor, Glacia quickly glanced back to see her attacker lifting one of its legs as the end split in to a four armed claw. Knowing she wouldn’t make it to the stairs before the claw caught her, Glacia stopped and turned around. “I need to time this just right or I’m done for.” She told herself, waiting for the arm as it suddenly jettisoned itself from the leg. As it drew closer to her, Glacia suddenly made a quick jump forward, spinning around as she slammed her foot in to the side of the claw. The claw, knocked off its original course, crashed in to the wall, crumbling it as the debris broke apart in to ones and zeros in the air. Taking the chance she now had, Glacia turned around – ignoring the pain in her foot – and quickly ran down the stairs.

Slowing to a walk, Glacia sighed with relief as she made her way towards the server room. Glancing up at the roof, she moved slowly and quietly, hoping that she wouldn’t alert the anti-virus software to her presence. As she turned the corner towards the server room, she heard a sudden thud above her head, causing her whole body to stiffen up in panic. Slowly looking up, she heard a second thud, causing a few ones and zeros to fall out of the roof as it cracked. “Oh...crap.” she realised; suddenly making a run for it as the roof was destroyed by a large hammer from another of the software’s mutated legs. As the body jumped down to her level, she glanced back to see the bottom end of the body folding away to reveal a rocket launcher. Desperately running for the door, she managed to reach and open it just as she heard the software launch a rocket. Entering and closing the door, she dived to the right of the door just as the rocket screamed in to the door, destroying it and a large chunk of both the corridor and the room with the resulting explosion. Glacia was knocked in to the wall hard by the force of the explosion, feeling her body flickering as she lay on the ground. Both confused and disturbed by the feeling, she slowly pushed herself up on to her feet before staring at her hand, noticing it flickering between looking like the hand she had seen for twenty three years and a cluster of ones and zeros.
“You’re just a pile of living data at the moment, aren’t you?”
Glacia diverted her attention from her hand to the person that now stood before her, an average sized man with black, medium length hair.
“I’m guessing that you’re one of the two hackers I saw messaging one another earlier, right?” Glacia asked him.
“Oh, you saw that little conversation between us?” he asked, seeming genuinely surprised, “Well, my apologies for the whole ‘deleting you’ thing, but, well, I’d be lying if we didn’t mean it.”
“You cowards.” She responded, wishing she still had her guns more than ever, “You can’t face me face-to-face so you resort to indirect tactics like this.”
“Well, we saw how well you were avoiding our...hostile approach to virus protection, so we thought that you deserved some face-to-face time like this.” The second man said, emerging from a door behind the first. His appearance was very similar to his friend, only slightly more bulky.
“Huh, face-to-face talk and yet you still talk through a computer.” Glacia taunted, moving her right foot back in the case of retaliation. “Is that the only way you guys can talk to girls?”
“Oh, that’s it.” The first one snapped, angered by the insult. “After we’re done with you, you’re going to be deleted and sent in to the recycle bin; and then we will right click and empty the recycle bin, thus deleting you, forever.”
Glacia punched her right fist in to her left hand, the proceeding to move them in to either side of her body in her usual fighting stance. Taking a step forward, Glacia faked a left punch at the first guy, who dodged it only to leave himself open to a right hook in the face. Reeling from the hit, Glacia spun her body around, slamming her right foot in to his chest. The man was knocked back in to the wrecked door Glacia had entered through, leaning against it as he recovered from the attack. Suddenly, a white spike pierced the door, skewering the man through the chest. The man squirmed as his body flickered between normal and data, eventually fading out of his normal body as the data crumbled in to the ground. “Damnit! Mark!” the other man yelled, “The anti-virus software corrupted him. He’s dead.” He turned from the mess of data on the ground to Glacia, angered by her actions. “You’re going to pay for it now, you *****!” he declared, opening a device on his wrist and punched in a few keys. Closing the wrist device, a sudden flash of light blinded Glacia, leaving only a menacing laugh as her vision slowly returned. When her vision returned, Glacia was surprised to see that he had disappeared, as had the arm of the anti-virus software. Having a quick look around, she stepped towards the main server computer, convinced that they were gone. Finding the files on the computer necessary for proving the group’s involvement, Glacia began to send the files to the ISA’s database to be kept secure. As she waited for the data to be sent, her attention turned to the door to the right of her, which looked from the outside as if it would have – if it was even visible on the outer wall – led to nowhere but a large drop. Reaching out for the door, she suddenly sensed something behind her. Dodging at the last second, Glacia watched as a spiked arm very similar to the anti-virus software’s stab the wall behind where she once was. Looking back to see the attacker, she saw the anti-virus software, only now in a more human-like shape and sporting the head of the man who stood before her mere moments ago.
“Confused? Surprised?” he asked, reeling in the launched spike as its tip opened up in to a hand. “It’s just a simple program that allows me to copy and convert the files that represent me in to the files of the software, allowing us to merge in to one software entity while also allowing us to separate at a later time.”
“...Sorry, that just flew right over my head.” Glacia stated, “I tend to go outside instead of spending all of my free time in front of a computer”.
“It doesn’t matter.” He shrugged, “What does is that I have all the weaponry that you’re already witnessed, alongside all the advantages of human judgement that A.I. cannot apprehend by itself.”
Without any warning, the man activated the software’s minigun – now situated above his left shoulder – and fired wildly at Glacia. Glacia dodged to her right as the shots tore through the window behind her – the glass breaking up in to data as it shattered. She quickly ran through the doorway, diving to the ground as she heard a rocket being fired. Watching the rocket fly overhead in to a distant wall, Glacia quickly got to her feet and dodged to the right as a clawed arm shot in to the ground that she previously lay down on. Having a sudden idea, Glacia grabbed the arm as it began to reel itself in, being dragged off of her feet by the momentum. Drawing closer to the man-software hybrid, Glacia swung her body around and planted both of her feet in to what would be the normal human’s chest. The man took a step back, showing no other signs of flinching, let alone pain. “Bad move.” He told Glacia, grabbing her with his free hand and throwing her in to the back wall of the server room. Before she had fallen down from the wall, the right arm shot out and pinned her to the wall by the throat.
“You didn’t think that a physical blow would actually harm me, did you? You’ll need something stronger than that.” he said, walking slowly towards her back in to the room. “Your efforts of resistance are useless. Your fists cannot harm me and you have none of yours since we took them off of you before we hooked you up to this virtual realm we created.
Glacia thought about what he said, wondering as to what extent that this was true. “You mean my pistol and my rifle?” she asked, trying not to show that his hold was beginning to choke her.
“Yes, those are the weapons I was referring to.” He responded in a tone that mocked her seemingly obvious statement.
“Well then...you’ve got me then... haven’t you?” Glacia said, holding her right hand behind her back while her face changed to a smile.
“Indeed.” He said, too wrapped up in the thought of bringing his shoulder-mounted minigun to point-blank range to notice the hints she was giving. “Your mind shall perish in this virtual world, while your brain-dead body will forever fear the name Ralph.”
“Ralph...seriously?” Glacia hesitated for a moment.
“Yes. That’s my name. What of it?” Ralph questioned.
“Nothing...It’s just such a polar opposite of threatening...that I almost feel guilty for doing this.”
Holding on to the revolver holstered under her jacket behind her back, Glacia quickly pulled it out and fired, striking him in the shoulder. Ralph let go of Glacia as he staggered back, only just staying on his feet from the force of the powerful weapon. Recovering in no time at all, Glacia ran towards him, grabbing his wounded shoulder and using it to swing on to his back as she jumped.
“Looks like someone cares too much about a woman’s privacy to check for any hidden weapons.” Glacia teased as she pulled a knife out from a hidden compartment of her right boot.
“Abort! Abort!” he yelled out, typing several keys on to his wrist device with desperation. As he started to flash white again, Glacia’s knife pierced his neck, causing a quick scream of agony before he disappeared. Dropping to the ground on her feet, she bent down to return her knife to its hiding place, then holstered her revolver as she re-approached the door. Opening the door, she stepped through in to the blinding light.

Glacia opened her eyes, finding herself back in the first computer room. Quickly realising that she was in the server room back in the real world, she quickly removed the helmet adorning her head as the glass doorway of the hatch she was in opened. Stepping out, the first thing she saw was Ralph lying on the ground, mentally injured by the brief stab while he was in cyberspace. “S...son of a *****...” he spat out, shuffling away from her as she slowly stepped closer towards him.
“Sorry, but there was no way that I was going to let you kill me.” Glacia taunted, grabbing her rifle from the desk next to her. As Ralph watched Glacia activate the spikes of her rifle, he began to panic as she held the rifle in both hands and moved forward quickly, skewering him through the chest. “I have promises to fulfil.” She added, firing a shot straight through Ralph’s chest before kicking the corpse off of her weapon. Sighing with slight relief, she turned to the server computer, checking on the data sending status.
A message popped up on screen.
“Free Agent warning received. Firius and Glacia within building past defences. Detonation decreased to fifteen minutes time.”
“What?!” Glacia gasped, standing back as she activated her earpiece. “Firius, Firius, you there?
After a few moments of static, Glacia gave up, remembering the mention of wireless interference from earlier. Checking the monitor again and switching to the data transfer status, she cursed at the prediction time fluctuating between sixteen and twenty four minutes. “I can’t shut the wireless down now or it will cancel the transfer, yet I can’t do anything until this transfer finishes.” Glacia realised.
“It’s up to you Tony.” She said to herself. “Don’t screw this up.”

« Last edited by Cervantes De Leon on Dec 11th 2010 »

Chapter 12 – The Fall of the N.S.Brigade

“Control. This is Firius. Can you give me any information about my location?” Firius asked over the earpiece; his location unaffected by the wireless interference from the higher floors.
“Affirmative Firius. The main hall and head office are just ahead. Your floor does not have that many other rooms, although there are several stairs to the main engine rooms on the floor below.”
“Lead office, huh? Most likely place that the group leader’s going to be.” Firius decided. “I’ll go check it out.”
“Affirmative Firius.” The radio went dead.
Pointing his pistol to the ground next to his waist, Firius ran along the corridor towards his new destination. Reaching the end of the corridor, he slowed to a stop before the corner, peering around to see two guards patrolling around a considerably large door. Spotting one of them starting to move in his direction, he pulled himself back from the corner so he wouldn’t be spotted. “I need to take these two thugs out quietly. If they know my presence, they might trigger an alarm to their leader and give him a chance to escape.” He analysed in his head, pulling out the silencer for his pistol and attaching it. Waiting for the thug to approach the corner, Firius waited as patiently as he could for someone with a deadline that meant the life and death of hundreds of lives, gun aimed up at the roof as he held it level to his face. As the thug passed the corner, Tony reached out and grabbed the man around the neck, placing his hand over the man’s mouth to prevent him from calling out for assistance. Quickly pulling the thug out of view from his colleague, Firius tightened his arm around the man’s throat as he could feel the man’s struggle weaken until he eventually lost consciousness. Laying the sleeping body down, he looked back around the corner, noticing his accomplice walking past the large door and continuing slowly along the corridor. Firius quickly took aim and fired his pistol, killing the man with a shot through the head. “Guess the silencer really does help.” Firius shrugged as he detached the silencer from his pistol. Running towards the doors to the main hallway, Firius stopped just in front of his destination, readying himself as he held the doorknob. “Alright...let’s do this.” He told himself, opening the door and running through.

“Well, look who’s finally decided to show up.”
Firius gasped as he noticed the man at the other end of the considerably wide, pillar supported corridor, most of his body covered with a green, hooded cloak while his face was further obscured by a metal mask. He stepped slowly towards Firius, who also began to pace towards his opponent “Agent Firius, welcome to my humble home.”
“Humble indeed.” Firius responded, switching his pistol for his machine gun, “Not many people throw a fireworks show in their guest’s home city as part of the welcome wagon.”
“The joker as ever, eh?” the man laughed as Firius started to wonder about why the voice sounded familiar to him. “I respect you for that, being able to poke such light-hearted fun at serious issues.”
“It keeps me from going full-blown psycho on freaks like you.” Firius explained. “The N.S.Brigade’s finished. Your forces are dwindling as we speak; your network connection to the ISA will most likely be shut down very soon, if not now; your most honourable man has been killed by his own traitorous crew; all that’s left is you against a whole squadron just over at the other end of this battleship-”
“I’ll grant you on all but that last point.” He stopped Firius. “But if the army can’t reach me, then I don’t have to fear the army.”
Firius heard the doors close behind him, followed by the sound of a lock.
“It’s just you and me now, son!” he called out, suddenly sounding excited as he threw away the cloak, revealing a fairly muscular build underneath. As he stared at the man’s shirtless body, something clicked inside his head, shocking him.
“Wait...son?” he said, unable to give any doubt about his hunch.
“Heheh...you figured it out, huh?” the man grinned behind the mask as he took it off, confirming Firius’ worst fears. The green eyes, the facial hair that was only now starting to grey, as was the medium length hair that was just starting to recede, there was no longer any way of mistaking the identity of the N.S.Brigade’s leader to Tony.
“It’s been a while, my boy.” Tony’s father said.

“Dad...no way...how is this possible?!” Firius asked, unable to figure anything out that would lead him to his current position.
“Guess I got a bit of explaining to give you lad.” Frank said, “Now, where do I start...”
“How about with answering me this; why did you leave us?” Firius asked, feeling angered by how lightly he was taking it.
“Now that’s a good idea.” Frank said, seeming almost proud, which angered Firius further. “Well, I got fired from work, was having constant arguments with your mother, felt like I was getting no respect from anyone...and I felt like you didn’t want anything to do with your old man. In all honesty, I wanted out of that before it all drove me so far in to depression that you’d find me one day hanging from the roof by a rope.”
Something in Firius’ head suddenly snapped. “That’s enough!” he called out, switching his machine gun in to sword mode. “I’ve got a job to do, so you can either stand down and cease this blatant act of terrorism; or I will force you to.”
“Looks like you’ve really grown up, huh?” Frank smirked, though his expression changed almost instantaneously afterwards. “Grown in to a naive fool that doesn’t quite understand yet how life works. I’ll just have to hammer those facts in to that head of yours.”
“Try it!” Firius said, charging at his father and making a slash at his arm. Frank dodged the attack with ease, dropping his elbow hard in to the back of Firius’ neck as he passed. Both stunned and floored by the attack, Firius was unable to do anything as his father dragged him back up to his feet and slammed his fist in to his son’s stomach, following it up with a quick kick in to his chest, knocking him backwards through the air on to his back. His body aching from the blows, Firius slowly got to his feet, surprised at how adept a fighter his father was proving to be.
“Surprised?” Frank laughed, “After I left you and your mother, I fled to Russia for a few years and trained hard. Try to give myself a new start in life. Was about then that I learned about the N.S. Brigade and decided to try and use them to show the world what America is truly like under all that ‘American dream’ crap. Took me a few years and some fake documents, but I managed to worm my way in to the Brigade and work up to where I am today.”
“A pretty crap system...if they let you in that quickly.” Firius said, pausing for breath.
“You’re telling me.” Frank smiled, “They had lost all of the ambition I had heard they once had, so when I came along and brought it all back with me, then they bowed before my ideas.”
“You really wanted to bomb this place...just because you lost your job and got depressed?” Firius was baffled by the thought, annoying him further at just how petty his father was. Truly disgusted, he pulled his pistol out at his father and fired a few shots at Frank’s feet. Seeing the attack coming, Frank dodged just as the bullets hit the ground. “You’re not seeing the bigger picture here Tony.” Frank responded. “I was denied the very dream that they constantly promised us.” Frank made a sudden charge at Firius, who tried to dodge as his left arm lunged out to grab him by the throat. Missing his son, Frank suddenly spun around and tried again with his right hand, this time succeeding. “One thing I did learn from all of this was that if you want change to truly happen, then don’t wait for the fat cat upstairs to bring it down, work to become that cat and do it yourself.” Frank told his son as he held him above his head by the neck. “Since your little group knows we’re Russian, an attack of this scale will re-start a war once thought finished. This time, we’ll make sure that the Russian dream triumphs over the American nightmare!”
“Russian dream, eh?” Firius choked out, lifting his pistol towards his father’s right wrist. “Well, have this, from Russia with love.”
Frius fired a shot at his father’s arm, only for it to merely leave a small dent.
“What the he-!” Firius gasped, cut off as the robotic arm flung him across the room.
“Yeah, that one’s a fairly recent change.” Frank mentioned to his floored son. “Lost my arm while training in Russia, so I got this bad boy fitted in. Rest of me’s still how nature intended.”
“So you’ve got a robotic arm that gives you a nasty right hook.” Firius staggered to his feet, “You’re still unarmed, I have the advantage.”
“Like I said kid, you’re naive.” Frank said, pointing his mechanical arm towards his son, his hand gestured as if it were a gun with two fingers pointing out, two clenched to the palm and his thumb pointing upwards. Suddenly, the tips of his index and middle fingers folded back, the insides sliding back as the fingers joined together to form the chamber of a gun. “Uh-oh.” Firius gulped, quickly dodging to the side as Frank fired several shots at his initial position. “Christ, I know I used to shoot him with pretend finger guns when I was a kid, but this is just plain ridiculous.” Firius thought as he continued to run from the stream of bullets from his father’s hand. An eventual click from Frank’s hand caused Tony to suddenly change his path, charging towards his father as he ejected the empty clip from the underside of his hand. Firius jumped at his father, sword poised ready to strike at the join between his father and the robotic arm. Frank quickly raised his arm to block the sword, which only managed to leave a small, indented cut in the metal. Firius – still airborne – quickly pushed himself away from his father’s arm with his feet, landing a small distance away as Frank inspected the damage to his arm.
“Not bad. Your blade’s pretty sharp.” Frank complimented, “I suppose you want to go toe-to-toe with it, right?”
“I’m fine with the personal space of long distance right now, thanks.” Firius responded, almost venomously at the realisation of what he meant.
“Aw, come on. It’s not a real fight unless you to right in for close combat.” Frank responded, holding his arm up in front of him. Just as Firius had begun to dread, a small gap opened up in the back of his arm next to his hand, allowing considerably large sword to slide out.
“...is that not a little bit overcompensating?” Firius asked, unable to say anything else about it.
“Still making the jokes after acting all serious?” Frank commented, swinging the blade in front of him. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’ve gone insane.”
Firius, choosing to ignore what his father said, made a sudden dash to close the gap between them. Making a swing at his father, Firius expected the attack to be blocked, quickly pulling his weapon back and jumping backwards. Flipping through the air, Firius’ machine gun switched back in to gun mode as he took aim, firing a quick spray of bullets towards his opponent. “You can’t block everything.” Firius called out, pulling one of his mini rockets and attached it to the gun while his father moved out of the defensive position he had taken to block the shots with his sword and arm. Firing the rocket, Firius watched as Frank jumped out of the way, leaving the explosive to collide with the far wall.
“Seems that the metal in his arm might not be strong enough to survive a direct impact from one of my rockets.” Firius analysed in his head, coming up with a plan as he pulled out another rocket. Attaching the rocket, he pulled out his pistol and fired several shots, launching the rocket alongside them. Spotting the incoming explosive, Frank dodged out of its way, only to get himself shot in his left shoulder in doing so. As Frank knelt for a moment to inspect his injury, Firius charged in, quickly switching his machine gun in to sword mode as he readied his attack. Recovering in time, Frank held his sword up to block Firius’ attack, swinging upwards as he did so to knock his opponent’s weapon up with it. Switching his gun back in to a fist and withdrawing his sword, Frank punched Firius hard in the stomach, knocking him flying backwards through the air. Frank’s fist converted back in to its gun form and fired several shots at his airborne opponent, landing a shot in Firius’ upper arm. Slamming in to a pillar at the other end of the room, Firius slid down on his back, the stab wounds from the motorway fight flaring up as he clutched his gunshot wound to try and stem the blood flow. Frank charged towards Firius, Reverting his robotic hand back to its first form – though larger than initially – and swung it down at his floored son. Firius managed to roll out of the way just as the mechanical fist crunched in to the ground, creating a large crack.
“You’ve got some good speed there, my boy.” Frank commented while Firius got back to his feet. “You’ve definitely got the skills.”
“Skills for what?” Firius asked, still clutching his shoulder. “Has this got something to do with why you chose me?”
“What? You mean other than the fact that you’re my son?” Frank asked, “We just went with who we found out to be on our case, it was pure coincidence that it happened to be you and Hailey. How is she these days anyway?”
“She seems to be alright. Hopefully she’s currently pulling the plug on your hacking.”
Frank let out a small chuckle, muttering something under his breath. “Must be a shame to hear about her having a boyfriend, eh? I remember what the two of you were like before I left.
“What?” Tony gasped, “Nothing happened between us, especially during your time.”
“As dense as ever, eh lad?” Frank said, “The two of you must have been the only ones who never noticed anything. How sad.”
“That’s enough.” Firius snapped, “Just what exactly is it that you want of me.”
“Other than to start up an old war by bombing the place that spawned my hatred for America?” Frank re-affirmed his intentions, “Well, I was starting to hope that my son might start to see the errors of his homeland and want to join his old man.”
“You want me to switch sides at the eleventh hour?” Firius said, lowering his weapon slightly.
“Why not?” Frank asked, “You’ve seen it just as much as I have. They tricked you in to thinking you were suspended after risking your life for your country; they set you up as an experiment for their new pairing programme without even consulting you beforehand; they showed no additional support when you were being thrown about on a motorway or captured by the enemy. To them, you’re just a tool. An item that can be used to do whatever they want, and then throw away once it is no longer required or is broken. I know there’s a part of you that doesn’t want to fight me – hell, I’m not exactly over the moon about having to fight you myself – so why don’t we put our differences aside and do the right thing, huh?”
Firius paused and thought for a moment, thinking about his father’s words. “You’re right in some aspects, I’ll give you that.” Firius answered. “But not all though. Firstly, I didn’t mind being a lab rat seeing what the results of it were; and secondly...”
Firius suddenly stopped mid-sentence and charged forward at his father, catching him by surprise as he slashed at his robotic arm with his sword. Blade knocking his father’s arm down and out of the way, Firius quickly spun around and slammed his foot in to his father’s face, flooring him. Firius jumped backwards as he switched his drawn weapon back in to machine gun mode, took out one of his last three rockets and quickly loaded and fired it at the ground near his father’s robotic arm. The explosion blew Frank back along the ground, eventually rolling to a stop.
“That...hurt.” Frank said, slowly rising to his knees. Looking up, he saw Firius stand before him, pistol aiming right between his eyes.

“It’s over.” Firius said, “Now, tell me where the detonator is.”
Frank knelt silently for a few moments, eventually letting out a sigh of defeat. “In the next room, on my desk.” He answered. “You better hurry though, because I set that thing up to activate on its own in fifteen minutes about...at least ten minutes ago.”
Surprised by the news, Firius was unprepared as the still-functioning robotic arm grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground. Firius quickly recovered as and moved out of the way as Frank punched the ground where he was moments ago, forming a second crack in the ground. Firius ran for the head office, reloading his pistol as he heard Frank’s hand transform back in to what he assumed was its gun form. Almost at the door, Firius quickly turned around, hoping to fire several shots to try and distract his father so that he could make it to the door safely, but paused when he realised it wasn’t the pistol from before that his father was wielding.
“Oh, come on!” Firius called out, diving for the ground as the energy canon on Frank’s arm fired a shot, exploding on the door and destroying it. Shaking the debris off of him, Firius quickly got up and ran through the doorway, quickly dodging to the right as a second blast shot past him, destroying the window at the opposing end of the room. The explosion blew something off of the desk the window sat behind, landing next to Firius. As he leaned down to inspect it, Firius noticed a timer on it counting down from one minute, with a red button on one end of the device and a small wireless transmitter on the other.
“This has got to be the detonator.” Firius realised, suddenly having an idea as he slowly looked out of the doorway. Stepping fully out, Firius hid the small device in his hand and ran towards his father as he charged up another shot. As Frank fired the energy ball, Firius threw the detonator towards the shot as he jumped and rolled out of the way. By the time Frank had realised what had happened, his energy blast connected with the detonator for the nuclear cluster bomb, destroying it in the explosion.

“NO!” Frank yelled out as fragments of the detonator hit the ground while alight.
“I never finished my previous statement about where you were wrong, did I?” Firius said, smiling triumphantly as he got back to his feet and drew his sword with one hand while pointing his pistol towards his father with the other. “Secondly, we never needed backup.”
“That does it, you brat.” Frank growled, firing a shot at Firius. Firius dived forwards as the shot flew overhead, destroying a pillar behind him. Before Firius could get up, he felt his father’s foot slam in to his back. Stunned by the blow, Firius couldn’t react as he was kicked on to his back before the robotic arm – now sparking with electricity as it converted back in to a fist – slammed in to his stomach repeatedly.
“How dare you destroy your father’s hopes and dreams! How goddamn DARE you!” Frank yelled at his son while he continued to pummel him. Firius was unable to move from the constant increase of pain in his stomach as he began to cough up large amounts of blood. “You are hereby disowned!” he roared, grabbing his son with his left hand, pulling and holding him up on the tips of his feet and punching him with all his strength in the face with his right, robotic fist. Firius flew through the air like a ragdoll, his body crumpling in to a pillar and collapsing on to the ground, his pistol flying out of his hand and spinning across the ground until it came to a stop.
“You’ve ruined my plans Tony, but that doesn’t mean the end of this!” Frank called out, “Don’t think I didn’t plan for this, I have methods of escape ready in case such an incident occurred.”
There was no response from his son.
“Look at you. You’re not strong enough to take me on in a proper one-on-one fight.” He said, finally calming down. “The only thing that could take me down is the flames of hell themselves.”
There was still no response from his son.
Frank grunted as he turned away from Firius, finally starting to calm down as he truly realised the mess his son was in. “Good to see you again, my son.” He said over his shoulder as he began to walk away.
“...You think...only the flames of hell can stop you...huh?”
Frank turned his head towards his son, the rest of his body following as he saw Firius slowly dragging himself up the pillar to his feet.
“If that’s what you think...” Firius continued, taking breaks between his words through both exhaustion and injury. There were large amounts of blood pouring down from his shoulder wound, his re-opened back injuries and his newly acquired face and stomach injuries. Firius could also feel incredible pain from his broken left arm, several broken ribs and fractured skull. “...then I’ve just thought up...of a name for this weapon of mine.”
“You stupid fool. You actually think you have the strength to boast anything and back it up?” Frank laughed.
“Do you want to know...what its name is?” Firius asked, switching the newly named weapon in to its gun mode.
“Not really, I think I can guess it.” Frank responded.
“Do you want...to know what...its name is?” Firius repeated, taking his penultimate rocket out of his pocket.
Frank sighed. “Fine, I’ll humour you. What’s your grand weapon called?” he said, suddenly hearing the ground creaking beneath him. As Firius loaded the rocket, he noticed that the ground around him was filled with cracks from both his attacks and Firius’ rockets.
“Hellflame.” Firius said, firing the weapon at the ground beneath his father’s feet.
The explosion caused by the rocket smashed through the ground, causing it to crumble from within the cracks. As the ground gave way, Frank – unable to react in time – fell through the ground along with the rubble, landing in the engine room below robotic arm first. Badly injured by both the drop and the rubble landing on top of him, Frank tried to deflect as much as he could with his arm, only for it to crackle with electricity and malfunction, suddenly becoming too heavy for him to hold up. Surprised by his arm being no longer useable, Frank was unprepared for one last piece of debris that crunched in to his head, knocking him out.
“And that’s...the end of that.” Firius said to himself, feeling a small amount of triumphant pride underneath all the pain his body felt. Holstering Hellflame, Firius slowly leaned back on a pillar and slid himself to the ground, activating his earpiece as he did so. “Control...this is Firius.” He said, still feeling exhausted. “The detonator...has been destroyed. The leader has...been taken down.”
“Affirmative Firius. The Colonel has requested that you be patched through to him.”
“Ok.” Firius replied simply, saving his words. As the switch from Control to Colonel Wilson was being made, Firius could hear cheering in the background.
“Firius, this is Colonel Wilson.” the Colonel spoke. “I’ve just received the news. Well done.”
“Thanks...sir...” Firius responded. He felt his strength beginning to fade further as the pain of his wounds suddenly intensified.
“What’s the status on your end? Have you found the hackers or the double agent?”
“Negative...unless Glacia has found either...of them. We...split up...a while back.” Firius responded.
“Are you alright Firius? Do you need medical support?” The Colonel inquired.
“Could do...” he responded. “Just been beaten...within an inch of my life...that’s all.”
“Right, I’ll be heading out there momentarily. I’ll call for medical to assist me. Wilson out.” The communication ended. Firius sighed as he slid down the pillar a little bit further, trying as hard as he could to stay conscious.

‘Transfer complete.’
“At last.” Glacia responded, stepping back in from the doorway that she had been waiting at in case of enemy support. Returning to the computer, she closed down the file windows and opened up the wireless menu, switching it off with a few button presses. Knowing that the interference was now gone, Glacia quickly activated her earpiece to try and make contact with Firius.
“Firius, you there?” she started.
“Yeah...I’m here.” Firius responded, not sounding quite like his usual self, bringing up an incredible amount of worry and dread from within her.
“Are you alright? You don’t sound so good?” she asked first, finding her worries for her friend taking priority over her dread for the city’s fate.
“Just dandy.” He responded, “Had a...family reunion, destroyed the...detonator, saved the city...and got most...of my body broken...in the process.”
“You stopped the bomb?” Glacia asked, the dread fading as quickly as it appeared.
“Yeah.” Firius answered. “You sound...surprised.”
“Relieved is more the word for it.” She responded.
“So...how are things going...on your end?” he asked. His breathless speaking was really starting to worry Glacia of the severity of his wounds.
“Well, I took out the hackers, sent the data to HQ and just switched off their wireless connection to us.” She explained, bringing back up one of the files and scanning through the data as she spoke.
“Still the...double agent to go then.” Firius said, “I would go look...but the door is locked.”
“That and you’re half dead I take it?”
“Well...that too.”
Glacia smirked at Firius’ words. Even while suffering, he was able to keep his spirits high. “I’ll rendezvous with you, then begin a search for the-”
“I didn’t quite catch that...Glacia? ...can you repeat? ...Glacia?” Firius called out several times, only to get silence as Glacia stared at the screen, horrified beyond belief at what she saw. “...Hayley? Hayley, respond! Hay-”
A sudden clunk of metal silenced Glacia’s communication with Firius, snapping her out of her shock.
“Firius? Firius?!” Glacia panicked, starting to feel her life crumble around her. Dreading the worst, Glacia sprinted out of the room, leaving the computer displaying the details of the double agent, complete with a picture of Michael.

So, the leader of the Russians is Firius's father and is also Doctor Doom? I'm really not sure what to make of this. The fight was fairly well-done, but if we're being completely honest, the shocking revelation seemed more than just a little bit forced.

Also, totally called the last line.

At least I now know not to feel that I have to change plot aspects after someone guesses it. I did initially have no actual personality or character in mind for him other than the prosthetic arm before realising that there was some minimalistic setup for the father when thinking of a decent replacement for the end-of-chapter twist there. We all learn from our mistakes.

And with that, here's the final chapter. Thanks to those who have been reguarly keeping up with this.

Chapter 13 – Recovery

Slowly, but surely, the sounds of people rushing about and machinery doing its job began to fill Tony’s ears. It was an inconvenience to him at first, as anyone would find it after waking up, but he eventually adjusted to it. Slowly opening his eyes, Tony was blinded by light, forcing them shut again. Trying again, Tony’s eyes slowly adjusted to the light resting right above his head. Eyes fully open, he looked about his surroundings, noticing a heart monitor next to him displaying his steady heart rate. Behind the monitor, Tony noticed a green curtain that surrounded him, blocking off the rest of his surroundings. “What happened?” Tony croaked, finding a painful reminder as he tried to push himself up with his left, casted arm. “Oh, that’s right.” He remembered the events leading up to his knock out. “Wonder who it was that got me.”
Tony was taken out of his thoughts as he heard someone pulling back the curtain.
“Tony!” Hayley exclaimed, quickly moving towards his bedside and hugging him, much to Tony’s unfortunate discomfort.
“Ow! Ow! Injuries!” Tony gasped, prompting Hayley to back away.
“Oh! Sorry!” Hayley said, blushing slightly at her mistake.
“It’s cool.”Tony responded, slowly moving the fingers on his broken arm. “How long was I out for?”
“Just over a week.” Glacia responded, relief evident in her voice. “You suffered a fair blow to the back of the head with some sort of blunt instrument. Seeing that you were just barely conscious and badly injured as it was, it knocked you in to a coma.”
“Whoever it was, they’ve got a fair wallop to them.” Tony said, rubbing the back of his head and finding a small lump. “What did I miss while I was out?”
“After we found you and got you sent to the ISA’s hospital here, we rounded up the remainder of the Brigade’s members and hired help, taking most of them to jail.” She explained, sitting down on a chair next to Tony’s bed. “Although the sheer numbers did mean that some of the lesser offenders such as the technical staff got away with just community service and such.”
“They’re letting terrorists get away with murder these days, huh?” Tony said, almost feeling salt being rubbed in to his wounds.
“I’m not happy about this either.” Hayley sighed, looking down at the ground for a moment as she scraped her feet back and forth along the ground. Tony instantly noticed this, realising that something was up just as she suddenly snapped out of it. “What I still can’t believe though is that the leader was your father.” She told him.
“Yeah, it was a shock to me too.” Tony said. “The fact that the Russians were lead along by one of us sort of makes you feel sorry for them. Perhaps I should travel there someday.”
“That’s an idea for a holiday.” Hayley responded, “Sounds like one we could both use.”
“Well, I doubt I’ll be doing that much at the moment until I’m all healed up.” Tony explained, slowly moving his wrist with some discomfort. “You could always take one with Michael though.”
Hayley stared at Tony, her expression changing from her previous relaxed, happy, joking demeanour to a tense, sad expression that seemed to hint at both depression and mourning. “Something wrong?” he asked.
“No, it’s nothing.” Hayley responded. “I...I have to go.”
“Did I say something wrong?” Tony asked, confused, “Sorry, not quite sure if I’m fully awake yet.”
“No, no. It’s nothing that you said.” Hayley responded, looking away from him as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I just...need to get some fresh air. It’s good to see that you’re back with us Tony.”
Before Tony could say a word, Hayley walked out past the curtains and out of the medical bay. Tony sat in his bed, trying to get his brain working so he could think about what happened.
“Poor girl.” One of the nurses said while standing by Tony’s curtains. “She’s been by your side here for almost the whole week.”
“...really?” Tony asked, surprised.
“She stepped out for the odd hour or so, but otherwise she’s been here the whole time.” The nurse answered. “She must really care about you.”
“Yeah...” Tony said, touched by the news, yet also curious as to why.
“Seems odd why she would choose to spend all of her time here instead of having some of it with Michael...Oh my God...”

Hayley stepped in to the gym, wrapping bandages around her arms as she approached the punching bag that had been left out. Changed in to a sports bra and trousers, she looked out at the visible sunset through the high windows, feeling that the stress ball that hung before her might not be enough to fully help fully relieve her of what had been on her mind for the past week. Nevertheless, she began to train herself with the punching bag, giving it everything she had with every strike. Backing away for a moment after four punches, she paced about on her feet before stepping back in and throwing a few more punches, followed by a kick. She continued to practice as she felt her thoughts begin to collide with one another inside her mind, making her lose her focus and begin to attack the punching bag uncontrollably. Sweat began to drip down her face as she repeatedly kicked the punching bag in frustration, yelling out in anger with every attack. Hayley gave the bag one final, powerful kick, almost knocking the bag horizontal and causing her to step back suddenly to avoid being hit as it swung back. Breathing heavily as she watched the bag swing back and forth, she felt her knees grow suddenly weak. Slumping to the ground, she began to feel tears pouring down her face, mixing in with the sweat.
“Hello, dear.”
A sudden shiver ran up Hayley’s spine, bringing with it a mix of fear, panic and dread. Slowly rising to her feet, she turned around to see Michael standing at the doorway.
“Missed me this past week?” he asked, his voice having changed from calming to slimy, despite there being no actual difference in the way he spoke. Looking in to his eyes, Hayley could no longer find the man that she had fallen for, instead finding the twisted, sadistic man that had used her without a single care in his mind.
“Can’t speak? Has my presence left you speechless, perhaps?” he muttered to himself, slowly stepping towards her.
“...Why?” Hayley finally let out, unable to think of anything else.
“Why? Simple, really.” Michael shrugged, “Dig out some files, set a few things up, let loose some info, deceive a few people...a few simple tasks and I get a great big payload out of it.”
“...Why me?” she asked, finding herself shocked, yet not entirely focused on what he had just said.
“I noticed that you had your eye on me, so I decided to go along with it. See if you could be of use to me.” He answered, his cold, painful words beginning to make Hayley feel sick. “I will admit though that you have been a bigger help to me than I had ever anticipated. I’m quite impressed.”
“...Is that all I ever was to you? Just some pawn that you could manipulate?” Hayley shouted, losing control of her emotions as tears poured down her face.
“Initially, yes.” He answered, paying no attention to Hayley’s emotional rollercoaster. “However, you did manage to worm your way in to my heart somewhat during our time together. You could say I consider you as something of a friend.”
Something in Hayley’s mind suddenly snapped.
“Which is why I have decided to give you an offer.” Michael continued, “Join me. Leave the ISA and we can enjoy the high life at the expense of the moronic low-lives we share this planet with.”
Without any thought, Hayley charged towards Michael, screaming at the top of her lungs. Michael took a simple step to the side, easily evading Hayley’s clumsily thrown punch.
“You’ve lost your focus.” Michael commented, grabbing her right arm and twisting it up her back, forcing her to the ground. “What was it you once told me? Body of a princess, spirit of a fighter? Well, I see a broken one of the former and none of the latter. Your ego seems to have gone as well.”
Hayley knelt on the ground, face now being forced in to the floor by Michael’s other hand, screaming constantly. She felt as if it was the only thing that she could do that would stop her from having to make a choice on Michael’s offer.
“Screaming won’t help.” Michael informed her. “This area of the building is always practically empty at this time of the day, how else do you think I snuck in so easily?”
Hayley’s screams subsided as her throat began to feel coarse.
“Nobody is going to help you anymore. Think about it, they know that I am the double agent and probably have some idea about our ‘relationship’. They will suspect you of some involvement, possibly to the extent of prosecuting you.”
Hayley lay motionless, whimpering slightly.
“Did you even tell your supposed friend Tony about all this?” Michael continued, his mouth now speaking directly in to Hayley’s ear. “How do you think he’ll react when he finds out?”
“I dunno. Why not ask him?”
The two of them looked up to see Tony standing by the doorway with a pistol in hand, leaning on the doorframe as his weapon aimed at Michael’s head.
“Ah, so you’re conscious then.” Michael said, watching as Tony walked slowly towards him. “So, how much has your best friend here told you?”
“Only what she’s been comfortable with.” Tony answered; his voice and stance showing how serious he was taking this. “And I respect her enough to let her tell me in her own time, if at all.”
“So, how did you find out about this then?” Michael asked.
“I figured it out myself. Didn’t think you’d come out in to the open this quickly though.” Tony responded, now right next to Michael and Hayley.
“It seems that I underestimated you.” Michael said, smirking. Without any warning, Michael suddenly let go of Hayley’s head and thrust his free hand in to Tony’s chest, striking one of his still-broken ribs. As Tony fell backwards in agony, Michael dragged Hayley to her feet and took a few steps back, drawing a pistol from his jacket and pointing it at his hostage’s head.
“Sonofa...” Tony muttered, getting to his feet slowly and drawing his gun at Michael again. “I don’t quite understand you. You’ve got a good job, nice life, lovely girlfriend, why throw them all away and betray your country?”
“To be honest, I’ve never been one for taking sides.” Michael explained, “Never really felt I’ve belonged anywhere. No ties, no loyalties, nothing. In any case, I heard that your father’s little group were looking for someone to get in here and leak out some information for and were waving a nice pile of money as reward for it.”
“Well aren’t you the little scumbag.” Tony commented, disgusted by his words.
“You should be happy for it. While I was leaking information without your superiors even knowing about it, I tweaked some mission specs and placed you on to this one.” Michael said, surprising the two of them somewhat. “You wouldn’t have had your meeting with Frank otherwise. You might not have even been placed with Hayley; it wasn’t definite until the last minute near enough.”
“...I suppose I should be thankful for one of those...” Tony grudgingly admitted.
“Now then, speaking of Hayley, she was just about to make a decision before you rudely interrupted, so kindly drop your weapon before I make it for her. Don’t even think about using any magic tricks either.” Michael said, pressing his pistol harder against Hayley’s head.
“You sick, twisted maniac.” Tony grunted, angry at his threat.
“I like to think of it as well-constructed brilliance.” Michael told him. “Now drop the gun.”
Tony looked down at Hayley, seeing the fear and panic in her expression from behind the tears and hysteric cries. Unable to bring himself to risk her life, Tony switched on the safety of his pistol and dropped it on to the ground.
“Alright, you win.” Tony sighed, “Just don’t hurt her.”
“That all depends on the decision that she makes.” Michael said, angering Tony.”Now then, where were we Hayley? Did you make your choice on my little offer?”
Hayley didn’t respond, having gone silent. Tony felt a slight chill in the air as he noticed Hayley was hiding something in her hands. “...I have made my choice.” She said, showing no signs of emotion in her voice or facial expression.
“No tricks from you either, or flame-boy gets it.” Michael warned her, aiming his gun towards Tony.
“...You’re no longer worth those.” Hailey said. “There was a time when you once were. You meant everything to me. I trusted you, respected you, loved you, yet I also was foolish enough to think that you felt the same.”
Hayley paused for a moment, still trying to build up the courage for what she was going to do. She knew that he was reaching some part of him as she felt his grip on her loosen slightly.
“Now I can see you for what you truly are; a self-centred ******* who would betray anyone just to satisfy himself. It sickens me to think about all that we’ve done together and realise it was all just a facade...”
As Hayley paused again, Tony noticed several more tears starting to flow down her face.
“A facade that I still can’t truly deny. Even if I now find your presence disgusting...I still can’t forget the love that I felt for you. This is why...this is the hardest thing I have ever had to do...”
With a sudden movement of her arm, Hayley’s knife stabbed in to Michael’s chest.
“S...son of a *****...” Michael spat, releasing his grip on Hayley as he fell to the ground. “I...offered you everything...and this is how you repay me? You filthy whore!”
Hayley didn’t respond to Michael’s dying insults, instead stepping towards Tony and picking his gun up from the ground. She turned around and aimed it towards his head.
“You’re right.” She said, surprising Tony.”That’s exactly what I am for ever wondering if I was good enough for you.” She paused, still trying to bring herself to finish what she started when she could still see flashes of the man she loved lay before him, bleeding to death. Finally, she decided to give him the mercy of a quicker death.
“Goodbye, Michael.” She said, pulling the trigger.
A few moments of silence passed before Tony walked towards the motionless Hayley, the gun still aimed towards the late Michael. Stopping next to her, Tony tried to think of something meaningful to say, only to find he was unable to. Before he could, Hayley took a step towards Michael and fired another shot in to his body.
“Hayley! What are you doing?!” Tony gasped as Hayley fired shot after shot in to Michael. As the gun clicked empty, Hayley continued to pull the trigger, hoping that the clicks of the empty magazine clip might hide an extra bullet or two. Before she could find out, Tony stepped in and grabbed the pistol, pulling it out of her hands and throwing it across the room. Unable to comprehend anything else, Hayley collapsed in to Tony’s arms, throwing several punches of rage in to his chest. Tony held himself still as Hayley’s punches hit his still injured body, trying not to show any pain so that she could work out her grief.
“Damn him, damn him, damn him!” Hayley cried, unable to think of anything else.

“Is there anything else that you wish to report?” Colonel Wilson asked Firius.
“No, sir.” Firius responded. It had been a week since Michael’s death, during which time Firius was given the time to properly heal his injuries while Glacia – absent from the current meeting with the Colonel and Commander Rowland – was given the time to rest and receive some therapy. Having seen her become more and more reclusive in the days that followed the incident and the start of her treatment, Firius cared very little for the current mission debriefing and wanted to see how Glacia was doing.
“The weapon has been cleared after testing for defects.” A male standing next to him explained. “The recovered vehicles have also been tested and have been cleared of all traces of hacking, viruses and other methods of possible outside control.”
“Very good, agent Thundrick.” Colonel Wilson responded, “For your efforts in these past few days, I’m sure you’ll be seeing the Free Agent rank yourself fairly soon.”
“Thank you, sir.” Thundrick replied. Firius couldn’t help but smile slightly as he saw a little bit of himself in the young man.
“What about the captured N.S.Brigade members?” Firius inquired, his thoughts making a sudden shift towards his father.
“The members captured from the assault on the battleship are currently being held in our temporary cells until the end of the week.” the Colonel explained. “From then they will be transported to the city’s high-security prison for trial and imprisonment.”
“I see...” Firius said; Colonel Wilson detecting the reason behind the free agent’s inquiry.
“Firius. The actions of both you and Glacia two weeks ago have not only proven the two of you as free agents fully worthy of the rank and a solid team, but in doing so, you have saved this entire city from a threat that’s roots burrowed in to this organisation.” Commander Rowland told him. “For this, I would like to say on behalf of everyone, thank you.”
“Just doing my job.” Firius shrugged, trying not to show how much he really felt honoured and surprised at this message of thanks so that their opinions of him professionally didn’t drop.
“Well, then keep it up.” The Commander responded. “All that’s left to say is Mission Accomplished. You will get a few days before we assign you with any new objectives.”
“Yes sir.” Firius nodded, turning around and walking towards the door. Thundrick followed moments later, leaving the Commander and Colonel in the office.
“Well, what did I tell you?” Commander Rowland turned to Colonel Wilson. “Putting together teams of agents with a history results in success.”
“Maybe, but it wasn’t exactly a clean victory.” The Colonel said. “Not only was this a threat we couldn’t detect from within us, but the consequences of such have resulted in the destruction and waste of a considerable amount of our supplies, which will cost thousands to replace. Not only that, we have one of our free agents now mentally scarred, possibly for life because we couldn’t find a worm within the field.”
“Fields can be large, much like this organisation.” The Commander re-assured him. “While we could have detected him sooner, most definitely, we shouldn’t let this minor hiccup against an expert at their profession get in our way of recovery.”
“You’re right on that.” The Colonel agreed. “What I don’t find right though is your backseat stance on dealing with this situation.”
“And you feel that I should put myself out in the line of fire?” the Commander questioned, now turning in his chair to directly face Colonel Wilson.
“It’s what your father would have done.” He responded.
“Still living in the past, Victor.” Commander Rowland chuckled. “I feel that a man should stay within the confinements of their role. As Commander, I am the one who is looked to in directing the organisation in the way of what is right. If you cut the head off of a snake, then the body dies.”
Colonel Wilson grunted, heading towards the door. “Under normal conditions, the head of the snake would fight back with what it is armed with to prevent it from being separated from the body.” He told the Commander, “I’m sure you will recognise these conditions when they appear next.”
Leaving the Commander to think about his words, Colonel Wilson left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
“Perhaps you’re right, old friend.” Commander Rowland said to himself. “I just hope that you will also be ready when these conditions occur...”

Pulling up by Hayley’s apartment block, Tony stretched his back as he turned off the engine. After the past few weeks, he felt glad to finally have some free time with no work-related worries in his mind. Stepping off of his motorcycle, Tony stepped up to the door to deal with the one worry he still had, pressing the button to ring her doorbell in the block. Waiting a few moments with no response, Tony rang for a second time, again receiving no response.
“Odd, she said that she would be home by now. Maybe her appointment ran late or somethi-” Tony said to himself as he stepped back from the building, stopping mid-sentence as he looked up and saw a pair of legs dangling from the rooftop. “Bingo.” he commented, heading round to the side alley.
Reaching the top of the emergency staircase, Tony looked around at the clear skied, building-filled view from the rooftop – the first time he had been able to despite his recent regular rooftop runs – before approaching Hayley.
“Hey.” Tony simply stated. “How’d your session go?”
Hayley turned her head round to see Tony approach her. “So-so.” She eventually responded, turning back to the sky as she wrapped her arms around her legs.
“Just so-so? It’s a good thing you don’t have to pay for these or I’d say it’s a huge waste of your money.” Tony commented, sitting down beside her.
Hayley grunted in acknowledgement of Tony’s words, otherwise not responding. Tony paused in thought for a moment, feeling the slight breeze flowing through the air as he thought of what to say next.
“So...now that we’ve finished all of this...what do you want to do?” Tony eventually asked.
“Hm?”
“After something like this, do you still want to work as a free agent?” he re-phrased the question.
“I...I don’t know...” she said, thinking carefully about it, which worried Tony. “I feel that whenever I go in there now, I’m going to be reminded of him. Just sitting on the roof of my own home is starting to make me feel sick.”
“You’re thinking of moving then?” Tony asked, suddenly worrying about lightning striking twice.
“Probably, yeah.” She answered, her voice becoming croaky as the odd tear trickled down her face. “I just...don’t know where to go.”
“Well, we have a spare room at ours if you want to move in with us.” Tony suggested; feeling like a light bulb had just switched itself on above his head.
“Hm?!” Hayley exclaimed, surprised by the sudden offer.
“Well, I’d have to discuss it with Jason first, though that shouldn’t be too much of a conversation seeing as I was the original owner of the apartment.” Tony explained, “Might have to bring it up with the warden as well, but otherwise the offer’s there if you want it.”
“Tony...I-I don’t know what to say.” Hayley stuttered. It might have been the therapy finally kicking in, but Tony knew that his offer was having some positive effect on her mentality.
“Well, ‘Yes’ is one option.” Tony said, smiling as he reached out to move some of the hair obstructing Hayley’s face. As he did so, he revealed the first genuine smile he had seen from her since the two of them had found out that they would be working together. “Is that a yes then?” he asked.
“...Yes.” Hayley responded, blushing slightly as she stared at Tony. After a moment, the two quickly turned away.
“Sort of reminds you of those simpler times, doesn’t it?” Tony said, looking down at the ground several stories below him as he recalled the past in his mind.
“It does, yeah.” Hayley responded. “A better time...”
“You going to be alright?” Tony asked, sensing something coming up within her mind again.
“Yeah...I’ll be fine.” Hayley responded. “I just need some time, that’s all.”
“Ok, but you’ve got to promise me you’ll let me know if you need anything, right?” Tony understood, knowing full well that while she needed him right now as a friend, she still required some distance to recover.
Hayley nodded, looking back out in to the clear sky before them. Tony, feeling his final worry slip away, decided to join her in that view.

Mission Accomplished

Good last two chapters. Good fight scene if a little forced. I really liked the character development on one hand but on the other, not so much. By the end Hayley had finally opened up and seemed less composed all the time. However, Tony was disappointingly similar throughout the entire story. I enjoyed the wrapping up at the end and all. But great fic, I look forward to reading your next work whenever it decides to grace us with its presence.

I have to agree with Yogi. Hayley developed in a pretty interesting way, but Tony didn't really change at all throughout the entire plot.

Last chapter seemed to wrap things up nicely. I felt like I'd missed something at the start, since Firius was clearly conscious at the end of the previous chapter and apparently took a bit of a thrashing while the curtain was down. The confrontation with Michael provided quite a satisfying conclusion, though I'm still legitimately disappointed that he turned out to be the double-agent. Admittedly, there weren't very many other candidates, but still...

Pretty good sequel hook on the end there, with that shifty Rowland fellow WHO IS OBVIOUSLY THE REAL VILLAIN and Agent Thundrick being introduced. Whoever picks the codenames for these people needs to be sacked.

All in all, not a bad effort. Hopefully you can keep up this rate of production with the next one.