Citizen's Demise: Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Contents of Combat



         "(Static)DeltaSwarm to Taco (Static) Awaiting checkpoint confirmation?" rang through the radio waves in a small town just outside Osaka, Japan that had been seemingly deserted in years past, but has been known to be a meeting place for several criminals and hostile threats. "Taco responding (Static) Affirmative, eh- No problems wit' our box seats. Eh- De’ home team is lined up”, responded another C.I.A. member (Ramone T. Bryte). "DeltaSwarm to Shellshine(Static) How‘s the front door looking?", boomed the radio again.

         "Everything is Jazzy on the eastern side and front, DeltaSwarm. Foxtail, Taco, the game plan is all yours", responded yet another CIA member, also in Mongoose division (Abyx F. Trintin). "DeltaSwarm to Foxtail (Static) The game is a go, correct? (Static) New objectives after the game, Tail. (Static) Dinner?”, the radio buzzed from a stationary van outside the massive warehouse, rusted and clearly aged, yet sturdy and strong. "Delta-effing-Swarm?! Game is a go. Affirmative. (Static) Be professional, DeltaSwarm. Foxtail to Taco (Static) If your position is compromised, requesting your transmission be to me…for ah…sniper support." "Ha! Wait for Atomi to deliver the package before you do anything to drastic, Cres... shit" replied Fireous from his van, surrounded cozily by a series of monitors and transmission links. There was a brief moment of radio silence.

         “(Static)…Didn’t receive that, DeltaSwarm. Repeat, Fireous J. Vespa, 3228 Siegfried Lane, New Prynne, California", said Cres from atop her 30 ft. high compilation of iron crates, an almost maze like interior for the warehouse."...Foxtail…(Static)…that...Damn it!" Fireous replied, surprised and heart broken.

         “We’re so fired…” Abyx said over the com quietly. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted someone, a familiar figure making his way to the front steps leading down to the entrance of the massive building. “Okay, everyone shut up! Atomi is making his approach past DeltaSwarm and going down the steps...Its up to you guys to take the picture...If your position is compromised, orders are to fire at will. Just get out alive, guys", Abyx said watching the Japanese male descend down the steps, peering through a sniper scope from a building across the street.

         “Of course he didn’t see the ‘Frosty Mint‘ van at all out of place…just walked on by the only vehicle on the street, huh? Well, I am almost positive, today will be a good day" ,Fireous said to himself sarcastically, raising an eyebrow and resting his chin on his hands, staring at the warehouse entrance monitor (as marked by a sticky note just above the screen).. "Radio silence.(Static) eh- Quarterback is on de’ field", issued Taco quietly through his neck set radio as "Atomic" Atomi Masamuru, a notorious arms dealer with a habit of stumbling upon advanced weaponry, entered the front double doors and made his way through the maze of boxes and loose debris.

         Taco, the Canadian-American agent with an obviously ridiculous Mexican food item as a code name, was waiting, leaning against the wall of the warehouse near the entrance, standing on the edge of the store crates canyon. As Atomi entered, Taco kneeled down just enough to see his movement. The warehouse was practically symmetrical looking from above at the stacked box set up. Atomi had been here before it seemed. He walked, obviously paranoid, but with confident steps. Taco shadowed him silently, stepping over the open corridors of gray box canyons. He was silent and focused, dark brown eyes never losing sight of the arms dealer. Atomi began slowing in his straight forward pace, entering an open area, empty of boxes except a stray next to the left hallway. Taco sneaked around side the opening, staying more on the bulk of the crates than on the edge to maintain silence and invisibility.

         Soon, Cres too, being just as quiet, made her way to the opposite side of the open box canyon, laying her large 50. Caliber Beret sniper rifle on its stand, showing Atomi in her sights. Atomi stopped in the opening, didn’t make a move but just looked through his black shades and corporate business attire. It took several seconds before, from the back wall, a door opened and out walked two S.M.G. toating, black suit wearing body guards. Both looked very calm, as they scanned the area vigorously then stepped out of the way of the door, almost uniform like, but obviously for flash. There was no real experience in these men.

         Then, as the door started closing, another man walked in. He had a white suit with a dark blue shirt on underneath. He was somewhat fat and smiled with bright pink cheeks. He also carried a brief case. He looked at his two body guards with tired eyes and waddled his way to the much slimmer Atomi. "Ease up, Macura! Yureshi, you too!" ,shouted the fat man as he finally reached Atomi, not looking back, but knowing they were uncomfortable. "That’s Jack Task, the old mafia leader that was said to have been killed at sea a few years back, Fireous" ,Cres whispered through her neck set radio as she kept her eye on the bodyguards at all times, watching their faces for exaggerated expressions. “Make sure the Canadian knows. I don’t have a feed of that area”, Fireous replied checking over each monitor for even a portion of the action. “it’s the only open area in …the freaking building. Why is there no surveillance set up for it? Damn rookies”, Fireous said to himself as he switched through the different camera systems, finding no feed of it.

         Taco had taken several pictures already, predicting there would be no video feed of it later. His job was to get a photo of the dealers switching brief cases (as if having an illegal large concealed weapon wasn’t enough to bring Atomi in). He had much more than just that, considering upon joining the CIA he was only expected inform the agency of any changes across borders, not intervene.

         "Jack, old friend, I have a very special item for you today." Atomi said as a smile grew on his face. "In this case is barely known among my colleagues. This is the T1-.60 cal. Tearstar All-Assault rifle, otherwise known as a T1-TAA, a rifle that holds a clip of very high power penetrating shells and fires them over 8 per second. Its range is very high, sometimes it can extremely accurately nail a bulls eye over 300 yards away. This is cutting edge technology etched in this weapon...and is very hard to get a hold of" ,Atomi said as he picked up and opened his brief case. It revealed what seemed to be a very wide and large M-60 with an altered nozzle and large round clip, laser pointer and flashlight attached to the bottom. Jack's eyes opened wide, expecting to see another grenade launcher with six shells or a disposable rocket launcher like other arms dealers have sold him.

         Ramone again, took many more pictures. Jack turned to his body guards to see them smiling as well. "How many do you have, and how much would you take for it?" Jack said slowly as his smile grew to an unimaginable extent. "Considering it took four armory raids costing me twelve men…15 million for 20 T1-TAA‘s", Atomi suddenly turned stern as if expecting Jack to act childish. “and I would like a safe passage out of here.” Jack smiled and arched his head with a sly smile. "But of course, Atomi”, Jack turned to one of his body guards Yureshi! Bring in an escort crew for Mr. Masamuru" ,Jack turned back to Atomi. Jack bent over and picked up his case and handed it toward Atomi. Taco once again, made sure he had that moment captured. He opened the case revealing many clips of money stacked upon more money. "How about 2 million for the one in your hands as a…sample of your labor." Jack said as he closed the case again and lifted it to Atomi. Atomi smiled and began closing his gun case as well. “I’ll have my men bring the rest to a location of your choosing”, Atomi said happily at his new payday. “But I have to ask, are you planning on starting a war? These weapons are made for…extreme situations…” Atomi said with interest as he reached out.

         He grabbed the case of money with his right hand and had almost closed his case with his left when Jack grabbed it from him. “I’ve heard of strange things happening very soon my friend, maybe even in a matter of hours. You’d be smart to get out of town after this transaction, Atomi”, Jack said with concern, yet his childish high pitch voice drowned out any seriousness. Taco had the shot. He took at least 5 to 6 pictures at that one moment of the exchange. “Cres, pull back. Eh- its time to leave”, Taco radioed in quietly as he began to make his way back to the entrance. Getting ready to get out of the area and call a sting squad, Cres stood up as well, unaware of her rifle‘s condition. She had been trying to pull back the chamber to load a fresh shell when she realized it would be too loud. She had forgot about holding it open, quickly slamming shut echoing in the wide open spaces of the box corridors. She froze and her heart seemed to have exploded in pumping fury. She didn’t have a view of the transaction from her point, but she knew they were looking in her direction.

         Stopping instantly, Atomi looked at Jack. "What’s wrong, Atomi?" Jack said as he held his new gun proudly by his side, oblivious to the loud loading chamber sound. All in a blink of an eye, Atomi threw up his leg, round house kicking Jack and catching the case before hitting the floor. He dropped the case still holding the weapon and pulled back its chamber as well. Atomi aimed the gun at the boxes to his left and let loose.

         Splinters of steel flew from the crates as hole after hole appeared, most the size of a human head. Cres rolled to her right leaving her gun to fend for itself as the showers of splinters and odd assortments of homeless shelter clothing rained from the boxes upward. The gun left a tornado of .60 caliber rounds as the tower of boxes soon started to tumble. Jack's single body guard was stunned as the gun tore down the towers of boxes, reducing everything to rubble and Atomi's mad crazed smile only made things worse. Macura quickly shook off his shock and reached for his S.M.G. just as Atomi turned to him. Macura shot three shots, all landing around the muscle of Atomi's arm sending the shower of large caliber shells in his direction. Macura froze for only a zeptosecond before his gun dropped to the floor and the top half of his body exploded into a bloody mess of intestine and articles of clothing.

         Atomi was pushed back by the wounds but too anxious and filled with adrenaline to slump over. He twisted around and jumped behind a crowd of crates as he saw a C.I.A. agent holding a camera fly over his head to the next tower of boxes. "Son of a BITCH! This was a set-up!" shouted Atomi as he aimed at the crate closest to him, anticipating Taco‘s path. Taco dived onto a box which he had set his camera equipment on earlier that day, watching with caution the spray of bullets cutting the crates next to him. Sitting next to his camera attachments was a large green duffle bag, which obviously had a large weapon inside. As the splinters and boxes tore to pieces and fell in all directions, Ramone noticed the box below him was in motion. “Damn!”, Ramone said aloud as the crate tipped over a wounded crate below his box, spilling him and his toys to the corridor below, seemingly unnoticed.

         "Jack!!! Are you ok?!?!?!" Yureshi shouted as he opened the door pouring in many business attired body guards. Each one carried an S.M.G. and  was ready to fire. There were at least 16, spreading out into the box maze searching for the "dead" man Atomi. Yureshi helped Jack to his feet before Jack yelled out to his men. "It wasn’t Ato-!!!". He was interrupted by the sound of an Uzi. Crescent had propelled down the box tower with a rigged cable and had her single Uzi out blaring, gripping the rope barely. Guard after guard dropped as they turned only seconds too late. She moved her arm vigorously side to side, eyes slanted in fear of a lose shell hitting her, aimed at every face that turned to her. A her feet touched the ground, she rolled into a summersault, pulling her combat knife out and slicing the cable in a split second. She stopped behind a box barricade of debris. "4 down." She said in a muttered breath as she dropped the empty clip of her gun, and pulled out a fresh one. "Koreshu! Yumi! Take point! FIND THAT BITCH!" Cres heard a body guard say. She pulled the chamber shut, and with as an angry smirk growing  on her face, she swung out, once again with careless disregard for human life and shot.

         Yumi jumped to his left to try a shoot and dive, but was impaled twice in his chest sending him spinning into another guard tripping him to the floor. Another guard let loose his SMG firing several rounds in Crescent's general direction, but were in vain, as his head was turned to bloody mesh once revealed to the paranoid agent. His lifeless body stood shooting upwards showering the boxes above Cres. She crouched low and ended one more guard's life as he was recovering from being tripped, then she spun back behind another box closer to the guards.

         The nearly explosive rounds annihilated entire passages as Ramone ran vigorously trying to loose the maniacal Atomi. The arms dealer heard Taco’s footsteps before he could take his large gun out of the bag. He ran down an undamaged crevice hoping he had lost him, but was soon discouraged as boxes began to explode beside him, shell holes showing penetration from isles away. Another passage to his left. Taco swerved to his left almost dropping his green bag and camera but recovered quickly. He ran as fast as he could as once again the shells rippled past him. "Damn! Do yo' ever run ot' of ammo!!!" ,Taco screamed as he slid by another passage, trying to prevent a clear shot from the approaching mad man.

         "Stop running and I'll show you!" ,screamed Atomi back as he saw the green bag slide past another passage. He turned and followed, and shot his gun again through the tower of boxes, crumbling them to the ground behind Ramone. "What the Hell is Going on in there! There‘s a mafia war in every monitor. I‘m calling the sting squad, and I‘m coming in!" ,Fireous yelled from his radio van outside through the microphone. "Can't talk no'! Extrimely Occupied!" shouted Taco back as he turned again down a more narrow, debris filled passage. “Taco, sometimes I have no idea what your accent is really suppose to be..” Fireous said as he grabbed the stalk of his SMG. “Shellshin’, If A make it ot’ of dis’ olive, I‘m going to take you to dinner tonight.” Taco yelled as he screeched into another sharp right, barely avoiding the rocket like shells. There was a long pause. “What! Concentrate on getting out, Taco!” ,Shouted Shellshine over the radio. “Es‘ that or death” ,said Ramone as he jumped over a piece of debris and turned down another passage, glancing behind him to see the angered Atomi raise his gun in his direction. “Alright! Just run you, Moron!”, the radio blared.  He jumped over the remnants and turned again down a crack in the crates.

         "Fireous, hurry up! I’m held down too!”, yelled Cres as she had gotten into a rhythm of popping up and shooting various guards like clockwork. “and Taco, I’m going to commit you after this. Ha!“ Taco ran for several more seconds before he saw a space between two crates where he could climb up and remain hidden. Throwing his case up first, he flung his body up into the spot. Then, for several seconds he laid still as Atomi ran by showering the next isle with a blast of bullets.

         Atomi ran fast, not wanting the agent to get out alive even the least bit before he realized he was chasing nothing. He had lost Ramone several seconds ago, but he had not figured it out. He went back only an isle but found nothing but shattered remains of targets of his gun. "Fuck!" ,Atomi shouted a sinister yell. He turned down a path that lead to the opening. He walked several minutes through the maze of boxes and debris before he stepped in a puddle of blood. He looked on farther to see many bodies covering the floor. His arm was still bleeding and giving the puddle more of its contents, but his adrenaline was drowning that out. He looked around several seconds before a wounded Japanese body guard limped by swaying as if he didn’t notice Atomi.

         For a matter of seconds Atomi watched the man as he held his gun strongly, holding his left leg tightly to cut the blood flow. Then out of a glimpse the man caught grasp of the fact that Atomi was beside him. He lifted his arm fast and his eyebrows went up, as he blasted as much as he could. Atomi dropped to one knee and fired two rounds of his Tearstar into the bold guard. The first ripped through his left side sending his gun flying up and a matter of his ribs and intestines following. The other tore through his right shoulder, taking his arm and half of his face to the other end of the room spilling even more blood to the floor. Atomi sat mesmerized. He had never laid witness to so much carnage in so little time, but he had felt he handled it well. He stood up and began to strategically follow the trail of bodies through the open area. Jack was gone too. His body or his living self was no where around. Soon the distinct whispering sound of a silenced Uzi echoed through the nearly demolished warehouse. Atomi pulled up his gun to see many guards coming through the back door firing upon him. He jumped and slid through the blood puddles tearing any of the inhabitants of the door area to shreds. The guards tried turn back but the Tearstar made sure there were no survivors. 

         Koreshu Tetsudaga sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him as the girl took turn after turn through the maze of boxes. Most boxes tumbled just seconds after he passed them and many guards were crushed. He knew there was only four of them left, but this was in the name of his boss: Jack Task. He jumped as he saw another battle damaged box falling. He slid past it with ease following the woman to the next isle. After seconds of taking different paths in random directions. Tsumi Oregra past him up as he turned to a wrong corridor but quickly regained the second position. Soon everything started to look familiar as he jumped over the bodies of his friends and partner's remains.

         He slowed to a jog as he approached a vacant SMG and grasped it with his left hand. He continued behind Tsumi for several more seconds before he stopped. "She’s gone..." Tsumi said as he walked slowly into an area of complete loneliness, many directions yet no trails. The door they had entered in was wedged open by several severed body parts and remains and the floor was covered with blood and entrails. This was almost sick enough to make any man cry. Tsumi walked out farther keeping his gun up and keeping low to dodge any projectiles shot at him.  Koreshu walked out doing the same and kept both of his guns up pointing at all possible entry points.

         Then Magazu came out strutting, holding his gun up, but very unprofessionally and arrogant. He walked directly to the middle of the open area and stopped. "So...Um...Where’s Jack?" Magazu said as he turned to see Sagatha strategically crouch out of the corridor also holding her gun up. Koreshu turned to Magazu just in time to see the shower of blood carry over the entire squad. Magazu's head had been seemingly imploded as Atomi ran by, face stressed and preoccupied, so much so that he hadn‘t seen the rest of the armed squad. The squad shot, but they were to late. Atomi had done his damage and had already fled. Magazu's lifeless body dropped to its knees then quickly fell to the floor, face first, spilling what life it had left away. Koreshu stepped back in horror along with Sagatha. Then only seconds later, Ramone, carrying a M60 .50 cal chain gun, ran out of the same hall and stopped surprised. Tsumi stood up and let loose on the unfortunate Taco. One shell clipped Ramone's calf and another wisped by his head, but nothing could stand the blast of his chain gun. He pulled back the trigger with his right hand and fed the bullets through with his right as Tsumi was turned into a holy pile of bloody mesh flying across the room. Koreshu dived behind a dead body firing as fast and accurate as he could, but Ramone began speed walking backwards into the isle Atomi had previously went through. In a last hope attempt. Sagatha unloaded her SMG on Ramone nailing his right leg twice sending him to the ground, but ultimately Taco came out the winner. After dodging many rounds a loose M60 shell split Sagatha's head in half, spraying loose remnants behind her adding more to the carnage pit. Koreshu lied in shock. As far as he knew he was the last henchman in the entire ware house.

         He put his head down in the blood and acted as if he were a corpse as he heard footsteps in another distant hallway. Then, from behind him, out popped Crescent witnessing her downed ally. She stepped on Koreshu's back splashing blood under him to the reaches of the open area and ran to Ramone. Thinking quickly, she grabbed his right arm and slung it over her neck, picking him up from the ground. “We’re done in here, Ramone. C’mon”, Cres said in a tired and hurt voice, high pitched, yet raspy. She ran quickly to the box trail that lead to the front double doors, but was interrupted. It was Yureshi, Jack’s personal body-guard, and Jack. Yureshi swung out from behind a corner and blasted Crescent in the chest sending her sliding through the blood to the back door into the entrails of many past fighters. Pulling his gun up fast, Taco did the same but dived behind a box for cover. Koreshu jumped up in an attempt to catch Taco off guard, but it was in vain as Ramone nailed him in his shoulder sending him spinning into a vacant hallway next to Yureshi and Jack, throwing him to the ground in agonizing pain.

         Jack had pulled out his trademark revolver, and along with Yureshi sprayed down the box barricade Taco had taken refuge behind. The box was falling to pieces. Taco had been nicked multiple times in the arms and neck before he finally shouted out "Cresceent! Get’ yo‘ lazy ass up and lend a friggin‘ hand here" Taco yelled as he fired his M60 in a blind fire over the box in false hopes of hitting the assailants. Hearing the yell as faint as can be, Crescent sat up and with deadly precision pulled the trigger of her Uzi towards Yureshi. His head flew back followed by a trail of blood, but instantly recoiled after another shell hit him in the chest. Yureshi laid lifeless next to his boss.

         In response to his body guard falling at the hands of the C.I.A. agent, Jack ran as fast as he could. He was almost in tears as turn after turn, he slammed into boxes aimlessly, recovering and running again. He jumped over empty, lifeless corpses and slid through the blood of all who died in his name. He jumped through debris and landed in more as he kept running. He was going to make it out of there he just didn’t know how. He ran faster and faster as the debris became thicker and thicker until finally he had to stop.

         His obese physique was just too much for this situation. He couldn’t run as fast as he could in the beginning of his career as a criminal. He had changed. Jack sat down on the corner of a desecrated crate that had fallen from the tower and rested. He breathed hard for a very long time before he realized someone might have followed him. He looked around his area for a second then returned to his systematic breathing before he heard it. A large clip hit the floor. Jack turned and looked up to see "Atomic" Atomi Masamuru with a crazed look in his eye and loading another fresh giant near explosively large round clip. The original lied on the floor smoking from the continuous bombarding. Atomi slipped the large, round clip into the bottom of the gun and clamped the heavy clip to prevent it from falling. He then pulled the hammer back loading a fresh round in the chamber and, with one arm aimed the gun at Jack. Jack stood in surprise and stepped back. "Atomi, are you insane?! You know this wasn‘t me! These are my men littering the floor around you! Why in the hell would I massacre my own men?!", Jack yelled in hopeful attempt to save his life, out of breath and worn to the brim. There was no way of running to escape for Jack. "Jack, I’m past the point of rationality. This was the location of your choosing. It’s your fault this happened, and you will pay for it. Your men aren’t as trustworthy as you make them out to be", Atomi said as his satanic glare on Jack grew.

         Jack's eyes began to grow and his tear glands began to pump as liquid started to stream down his face. He had his right hand on his revolver on his side, but he knew he couldn’t reach it fast enough. He would die trying. Just as Jack's hand went down to his side. "Pow! Pow! Pow!" Atomi fell into the crate wall, making several boxes tumble, but none falling over. Jack turned to see Koreshu holding his shoulder with his right hand and firing his gun with the left. He walked slowly as Atomi yelled and gargled as blood began filling his mouth. Atomi had been shot in the chest and in the ribs before he fell, and now the blood started flowing. Feeling as if he had gained control again, Jack suddenly developed an angry expression and grabbed Atomi's gun from him. "Eat your own lead, you half-breed Fuck!" Jack shouted as he fired off three rounds desecrating the face of what use to be "Atomic" Atomi Masamuru. He threw the gun up to his shoulder as he was still recovering from the recoil of his gun and he turned to Koreshu. "Well, I got the gun if that means anything anymore. Ha!" Jack said trying to light up the mood.

         "Sir, the front doors are probably crawling with sting officers. The back would be our best exit." said Koreshu as he still held his gushing and throbbing shoulder. "Right then, Lets get to it...Fast." Jack agreed as he walked with a new sense of power: The T1-TAA wielding Jack lead the way for several seconds before they saw the first corpse.

         Koreshu stepped in front of Jack and lead the way through the crooked remains of  an abandoned warehouse located 30 ft. underground. He stepped over the carcasses and checked every passage before Jack were to step in front. He kept low to the ground and kept his eye through his crosshairs at all times. He then saw the face of his good friend Mismo Takanishi, drenched in blood with several bullet holes in his back, seemingly from the M60. He stepped over his lost friend and checked the next row of box trails and debris just in case. Then he saw them. The woman was limping beside the M60 toating agent on the row next to his. Thinking as fast as he could he pulled up his gun and pulled the trigger down. His face went blank, his mouth went dry. His knees began to shake, and his eyes opened wide. His jaw dropped almost a foot when he heard the all too familiar empty chamber click of an automatic weapon. Ramone heard this instantly and turned on the spray of his M60 in Koreshu’s direction. Several bullets were taken in the side of Koreshu spilling him to the floor, but one lone bullet went off track. In some strange fluke or skill, one M60 strayed off course of Koreshu and hammered into the skull of Jack Task. The contents of his head spilled onto the boxes behind him and his corpse fell hopelessly on Koreshu.

         Cres began walking again with Ramone's arm around her and his right leg being held up just a bit. Koreshu knew he had failed. He knew this part of his life was over, so in the spirit of a true warrior, he stood up once again. Crescent and Ramone had left already, but Koreshu had no intentions of vengeance...yet. The front doors were heard slamming open, followed by the sound of a sting squad’s footsteps. Koreshu simply pushed Jack's meshed remains over and retrieved his new million dollar gun, and continued towards the exit.

         Several seconds later, still limping their way to the front double doors, Taco and Cres notice a corpse very far away from the kill zone, in several pieces. Taco stopped and began to walk toward the body on his own leaving Cres in the passage, being excused by several police officers running past her. He stepped closer, simply to identify the body. There was no face. There was no way he could tell if it was Atomi, until he saw an object on the ground: Black shades. "Oh...ello there!" ,Taco said in surprise as he reached down for the bloody sunglasses. He grasped them in his left palm and wiped them slightly on his vest. He then folded them out and placed them above his nose, settling on his eyes. He turned back to see Cres still waiting, tapping her combat boot on the floor repetively and arms folded. "Ha! Hold on baby" ,he said as he returned to his full stance, and limped back to Cres. “It’s a pretty close competition for biggest A-hole between you and Fireous”, Cres responded, still welcoming him as a friend. He wrapped his arm around her and she held him up as they continued down the corridor of crate towers.

         It was several minutes before they had reached the double doors they had entered in, and Cres had enough of carrying Ramone. She had been hit in the chest of her flak jacket pretty hard, making her numb all over, and she was still walking as if she was out of breath. As they pushed through one of the double doors, Fireous had just made his way down the steps and was strutting his way toward them. "Everything turn out okay? It took me longer than expected to get through to the sting squad" ,Fireous said as he stepped off the last step and reached Ramone and Cres. Cres was about to respond when she realized something was severely wrong. Her chest was hurting but it seemed as if something were pushing in on her. She had felt it earlier, but now she knew it wasn't the flak jacket. She looked to her right, where Ramone's hand was suppose to be lying over her shoulder, but it had vanished. It was inserted through the side slot of the vest. Her head quickly swung back to the left, as her face turned bright red and angry. Ramone's eyes got wide and puffy and his face turned to an expression of fear. Taco hit the concrete floor grunting for a second, before pain had grasped him. Cres slid out her UZI machine pistol, and pressed the clip release button dropping it to the floor. "Cres, be rational! It was a joke!", screamed Taco in fear as the butt of the machine pistol dropped. Handle first, the gun plowed into the side of Ramone's face, sliding across cutting skin, and breaking his nose left, splashing blood on the wall. Ramone fell face first, lying down in his blood puddle, eyes squinting closed and nose wrinkled. Cres slid her gun back into the holster. She didn‘t say a word, just simply walked out with a disgusted face, making her way up the stairs to the city streets. Fireous looked at Taco with disappointed eyes. “Cres, I swear he won‘t do it again. He’s just…odd?”, Fireous said to the uninterested woman as she continued up.

         Fireous began walking up to his wounded associate. "That was a terrible idea, Ramone. That was unprofessional and you deserved far worse from her", Fireous bent down and reached for his hand. "Originally‘, it was an accident. There was no es‘cuse when she turned her head" ,Taco said as he was brought to his feet again in shouldering stance. "Man, seriously, what is that accent? Is that a Canadian accent..It just doens't...click?" Fireous looked at him with a confused expression. Ramone simply looked the other way, not willing to respond. "Hm, don‘t want to say, huh? Well, at least I‘m not the only one with an awkward shaped nose now" Fireous let out a laugh. Fireous began walking Ramone up the stairs, one step at a time, through garbage and hobo housing to the streets above.

         Taco's leg was bleeding alot less than it was in the beginning, but it still left a blood trail as he took to the steps one after another. Nothing a few ERDs couldn't heal. They stepped for several minutes up the concrete stairway before the exit was finally visible. They could see a final glimpse of Cres before she exited just in front of them letting the door close slowly back in place. Fireous picked up the pace a bit more as the light grew dim and the sound of the dripping blood from Taco began giving him the chills. "Okay....as soon as we reach ground level, I have a few ERDs in the van. You still need medical attention, but in the long run at least you'll be alot more lively, Flatface...I mean Taco..." Fireous smiled as they finally reached the dual steel doors and pushed. The stairway filled with light, a kind of heavenly sense approached them as they were greeted with fresh air, the scent of death was gone, and the street was almost silent.

         Fireous began to walk out before he stopped in a daze. His eyes began to develop tears and a vigorous smile exploded on his face. His muscles grew dense as a beautiful woman began pacing by. She was Asian, as he had expected most women to be in Osaka, but she was gorgeous. She had flowing black hair with a tiny denim jacket on. Her nails were painted dark blue with some design on it, but these weren't the things Fireous was focusing on. She had a very short skirt that barely reached the middle of her upper leg and a very tight white shirt that read the words "Gackt!" on the front. "Cute nose." she said casually as she kept striding along, not making another glance back, passing the Frosty Mint transmission van. "Thank you, my name‘s Fireous and-" Fireous's modest comment was interrupted. "Fireous!!!" shouted Taco as he began falling back into the stair case. Fireous reached out, but was too late. Taco tumbled down the staircase, leaving blood stains in all direction.

         At one point he became airborne before crashing down on the steps again and rolled to a sudden holt as he slid on his blood slide over the concrete. Fireous watched for several seconds before he realized what had just occurred. He turned around to see beautiful backside of the girl walking away, but then he realized again: She was “walking away“. He started to follow when he heard a mumble. "Furous!" Fireous stepped back to the open door way, and looked down the steps to see Ramone sprawled out on the concrete in a bloody panic. "...Your just ruining everybodie's day today, Aren’t you Ramone?" Fireous said as a serious expression took over, a heart broken, lonely agent‘s eyes piercing down. He began stepping down the steps when he saw something glimmer in the sunlight. "Oh…nice shades." Fireous bent down and picked them up. He slid them on and returned the ones he placed on his forehead in his vest pocket. He picked up Taco and, one more time, brought him up the steps.



Sub-Chapter: Systematic Assassination Comence

         

         Ramone was given a steady dose of ERD and was taken back to HQ, which was a little over 40 miles away. A ballistics team was called in to clean up the warehouse, broken products and everything, and Abyx, Ramone, Fireous, and Cres stayed at HQ, for the rest of the day, not having much work to fill out presuming all witnesses and assailants were killed. Their CIA Tokyo HQ was made thirty years earlier during the second Cold War. Supposedly, nuclear warfare was inevitable and America's need for them grew. This same thirst hit many smaller countries as well. The Soviet Union rose for a second time and failed just like it had done before, but this time giving the world a much more ravaging scare. The United States had an uprising, a revolt of massive proportions. Not wanting another civil war, the U.S. stopped it’s climb up the nuclear totem pole and sat firmly on its arsenal. This was the beginning of the crime free future. Many nations had already built large fallout shelters spread out over their nations, so many so, that some were given as foreign embassies. 

         So, this particular HQ was fairly large considering it was built in Osaka, and made large enough to fit thousands among thousands of people inside. As weird as it seems, there were maybe 154 members inside of it. The CIA Mongoose division had been spread out so thin, that they became very hard to find. There were 52 members and only six were in Japan. The rest were spread to parts of South America, Mexico, Africa, Australia, West Asia, Europe and other random locations. They were the elite. Seasoned veterans of all categories and needed in situations as such.

         Cres and Fireous hung out in the lobby watching T.V. and eating sushi and other odd assortments of Japanese cuisine while Abyx watched over Ramone in the Med. Station. The building was four stories high and covered over 2 miles all together. Fireous and Cres were on the  third floor and Abyx and Ramone were on the second. A giant building indeed, with several rooms, most not even explored. There were several emergency exits with titanium blast doors and even more security rooms. All in all, this building was meant to be impenetrable.

         “Okay.…turn it to something that speaks the least bit (mmm)….English.” Fireous said as he scarfed an entire sushi chunk into his mouth using his fingers instead of the given sticks. He leaned back into his comfy lobby chair which had the CIA label on it and looked around the room as he chewed his greenish sushi bite. The TV was on a stand in the corner of the concrete room and the walls were deep white. On the TV was some Japanese game show where the contestants had to run through some of the simplest obstacle courses for prizes outside even his reach. “Hm…just another wasted day at some off the wall HQ located in some foreign country.” ,Cres said as she put her chop sticks down on an empty plate. She stood up from her lobby chair and walked to the outdated TV and pressed the screen to bring up a guide. A long category of programs brought up on the screen instantly along with several touch screen buttons on the side. She pressed the down a button and the list started rolling down revealing even more shows. Her face was content for the longest time until it turned to a more dazed look. “I‘d really rather not watch this show…but I‘m a bit scared to check any of these other shows” ,Cres said as she pressed the English language button and flopped back down to her seat. “UG!!!…I cant take this…I’m going down the hall to talk to Arcus…Maybe we can go outside and enjoy some fresh air or something…” ,Fireous said loudly as he stood up putting his plate on the magazine table in front of him.

         “Wow…agents of our expertise reduced to longing for fresh air…” Cres said in a tired sarcastic voice as she threw her head down making her hair cover her face letting only the left side of her face visible. “Okay…See ya’ later, Hot stuff.” ,Fireous said as he walked out of the room into the hallway to his right quickly, not checking her expression before leaving. Only a few seconds after he exited, Cres’s head flung up throwing her hair back again. Her face was impatient. “I‘m actually so bored that I didn‘t have a witty response.” Cres said aloud as she sulked back into her seat and continued watching the game show.

         Fireous entered the last door on the left right before the stair case and elevator door in the blinding, white hallway. He entered while stretching and yawning and walked beside one standing individual in the black room. Several red, blue, even green lights lit up on the machinery and equipment, none seemed to be doing anything. There were four people in the room not counting Fireous. There were three security guards sitting in chairs in front of the many monitors and a Division Mongoose agent standing beside him. Fireous looked up at a digital clock above the highest monitor and read 6:37. It wasn’t even night yet. “So…get tired of Japanese game-o-rama.” Arcus said as he took a sip of his coffee. His hair was brown and very short and he always wore his CIA cap foreword and down as a true professional and was quite philosophical. He had standard issue armor and pants for the CIA, and had a Glock in his waste holster, similar to an SMG but hand held and faster as an automatic. “Ug…You were here all day…I feel sorry for you.” Fireous said as he crossed his arms and turned his attention to the monitors. “Hm… I managed…” Arcus M. Rainor said in a slow voice as he suddenly became more intent on the monitor farthest right. “Where is that?” Arcus said quickly and stern as he said sat his coffee on a nearby table.

         “That would beee….the east parking lot…right by the front entrance actually.” one of the security guards answered in a confused tone. Arcus stared as a black SUV drove fast and came to a sudden holt swerving through several vehicles stopping near the entrance. Two individuals, both men, stepped out of either side through back doors and the SUV sped off again. “I wonder how they got through the front gates like that..?” one of the guards laughed as he witnessed what had happened. “Go ahead and report it.” said the middle guard as he already dialed the number to the front gate. It rang for several seconds with no answer. “Um…maybe they lost power in the front gate?” One guard responded. Fireous, busy watching the security guard, looked up again to see the two men gone. His head turned and a confused expression creeped slowly on his face. “Where the hell…?” one of the security guards returned Fireous’s expression as he too looked at the screen to see a parking lot littered with vehicles, but no pedestrians.

         Cres watched the Japanese Game-O-Rama for several minutes after Fireous had left and was just to bored and tired to care really what she was watching. She looked up at the digital clock behind the TV on the wall. It read 6:50. “Maybe a nap…” Cres said aloud as she slid even farther down in her chair. “AHHH!!! 50,000,000 dolla!!! Jump the spinning tortoise!” The suited exaggerating man screamed as another man started jumping for joy. It was a very colorful set filled with spinning red wheels and vomit covering the floor around them. One man stood yelling a foreign language, arms flinging in the air as prizes and prizes were handed to him. The other contestants seemed to be helping each other off the wheels, dizzy and disorientated, to level ground near the winner. “Yep…you all suck…” Cres mumbled as she rolled her eyes. She stayed limp for several seconds more before she sat up. She looked around the utterly white room and pushed off to a standing position. She began to walk to the hallway, utterly done with television and in search of action.

         Just as she reached the entrance to the hallway, the TV screen turned black and began buzzing a very loud obnoxious siren. Turning quickly, Cres glared at the TV just as the American Flag emblem appeared on the TV. Her eyes widened as her mouth went dry. She walked closer to the TV and sat on the floor, crossing her legs Indian style and tilted her head up. She sat mesmerized as a kindergartener on their first day of school. Soon the screen blinked once, and President Palmer began pacing toward a podium. He stopped once he reached the backside of it and looked down as if he were stressed. He looked up at the camera again, and with glassy eyes, looked back down to the table of the podium. “What a poser…“ she mumbled. He finally straitened out his back and looked directly at the screen, suddenly gaining a stern, determined face. “My fellow Americans, in the states or not. I fear I have devastating news. Just yesterday, and continuing through today, and still to this minute, an elite team of…of something…men of extraordinary powers, abilities, strengths if you will,…of Anarchists… have been…without mercy, or remorse-” the president bowed his head again. He quickly looked back up and, with a breaking voice, said, “Starting yesterday, members of the C.I.A. have been hunted down, 44 members from the clandestine division of Mongoose. The first agent to be found killed was Mongoose division “Edan Grey”. His body was found early this morning next his destroyed vehicle. He was followed by countless others. The final members are lost in the confusion of chaos…but if you happen to be listening…You have to find a way back now…I’m sorry…A higher division of the C.I.A. has been dispatched to find our men in this desolation…This force is lead by our very own General De‘ Mise-….” The T.V began to static up and quiver left to right. Crescent’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. Her eyelids felt so heavy. “God…no”, she whispered through quivering lips as her nerves were late following her tears. Her head fell into her hands as the tears filled and emptied through the cracks between her finger-cut gloves. She cursed quietly and fell over onto the soft white shag carpeted floor, her hands clenched over her head. Her mouth hung open and her hands began shaking. “Why”, she said loudly, shaking her voice rapidly. Soon she curled up into a ball and pulling her knees close she began sobbing slower into her hands.

         She sobbed louder and louder until it was interrupted. “System has committed fatal Error! Program override. Program: Systematic Assassination commencing”, sirens buzzed only once before the TV shut off, followed by a single flicker of the lights before they went off. The back up lights flickered as if they were also being shut down. Cres lifted her head fast, revealing her red eyes and running nose. She didn’t want to move. Her legs were glued to the floor it seemed. She still sobbed quietly until she heard something terrible. First, it was the gunshots, thousands and thousands of guns going off. Then, there was the screaming. She heard the screams of several lives being ended and she knew they were C.I.A. personal. She wiped her eyes once and breathed in through her nose drawing back some mucus. “Cres! C’mon!” (Jet) Damon P. Ceres, another Division Mongoose member, ran into the room grabbing her shoulder and picking her up. Damon was very young to be in the Mongoose division, but despite his being in his early twenties, he was a very significant member to the team. He was a raver to the bone with his short black spiked hair with red tips and his chain always hanging out of his pocket. He had a scar right under his left eye from a bullet graze from his first mission, but he never let vengeance come into the picture. Damon grabbed her hand and began pulling her out the door just when several security guards dressed in heavy armor, including shields and full face helmets, scurried by going to the down steps. Damon ran out of the room pulling Cres and almost immediately ran into the chest of Fireous. “We can’t go this way. They split up.” Fireous said in his firm voice as he began walking forward. Arcus, and the three security guards from the dark room followed. Damon and Cres fell in line with the steady march through the pitch black hallway. Fireous then turned on his flashlight and stopped at the entrance of a fire escape stairway door, looking to his right to see the stairway the armored guards had taken.

         Damon released Cres’s hand and pulling his dual .9mm’s out stood beside the door as Fireous unlocked it. The door flung open and Damon quickly jumped in front scanning with his just turned on gun-attached flashlight. The security guards moved in front of him and running fast, started making their way down these new steps without question. Fireous began to walk foreword through the door when the hallway suddenly lit up. From the steps the heavily armored troops went down, gun shots filled the air. Several automatics were heard, until the screaming started again. Cres waited only a second more before she exploded in a sprint through the doorway, not wanting to see what would come up the ‘usual‘ stairway.

         Fireous stayed and watched the steps to his right, down the clean black hallway, through the shinning floors from his flashlight, and past the gleaming white walls. The gunshots had stopped, but he could still hear the screaming. His face started to turn from his stern determined notorious face to anger. He didn’t know what…or who they were…yet they were succeeding in killing everyone in their path. Soon, the sight of a red liquid was thrown up the hallway splashing in front of his flashlight by the steps. Arcus, without thinking twice, also started his sprint down the steps. Fireous continued to watch the steps as the sounds of silenced gun shots and more blood splatter fell in front of his flashlight. Then he saw the glare of a gun just coming up the steps. His eyebrows raised, and he too, stepped through the doorway, closing it and locking it behind him. He jumped over the rail instantly to the next flight of stairs and began running to the first floor door. He hit the stairs hard and fell to one knee only for a second. He recovered and began running again. Cres and the others had gone off in another direction, he didn‘t know for sure, but he had to make sure Ramone and Abyx were okay. He ran down one more flight of stairs to the 2nd floor just as it opened revealing Abyx, Ramone, and several C.I.A. regular division agents. “Fireous! We cant get out the front door. The bastard is fast.” ,said Abyx as she strutted through the door completely.

         “There’s an underground exit, through the bomb shelter. It leads directly to the garage and there’s no way they can follow us through those blast doors. I lost Cres, Arcus, and Jet though”, Fireous said in his firm voice again. Abyx looked at him with disappointed eyes. “Are they going to the same exit we are?”, she asked hopefully. “I don’t know”, he responded honestly. “We have to move soon, sir”, an agent broke in. Fireous glanced at him. “Lets go”, Fireous began his sprint again down the flights of stairs followed by Abyx, the disorientated Ramone, and the 10 suit wearing agents, each armed with a .45 pistol. They nearly fumbled down the steps trying to keep up with Fireous. The stairs were generally clean despite the stains of time corroding the rails. Soon, as the flashlights gleamed in all directions each one suddenly focused on Fireous. He reached the bottom step of the square spiraled steps, and was walking across the concrete floor towards a hallway opening. He stopped at the thick titanium door which read “B5: Nuclear Fallout Shelter”. He hurried and pulled a red knob right beside the doorway which caused a panel containing a keyboard to spring out above it. “Crap! I didn’t know it was coded!” Fireous yelled as he put his flashlight in between his teeth holding it on the keyboard. The opening of a door was heard far up. Not from Fireous’s direction, but from above. All the agents pointed their guns up at once as they kneeled down and began scanning the flights of stairs. “Genocide, their near you. I can feel it. Put their ranks…to the test” echoed an eerie, deep voice clearly from a radio, but it was quiet, as if a morbidly depressed person were to say it.

         The laser pointers and flashlights moved about as Fireous began typing random codes into the ancient piece of technology. He tried the most obvious first but nothing happened. The screen turned red and cleared the code pallet. “Damn it!” Fireous said quietly shaking his head. “Um…Fireous, please hurry.” Ramone said as he too began to get nervous at the vastness of the room they were in. He pushed in front of Abyx and clenched her hand. They were at the bottom of the building which meant the stair case ended and was a space big enough for every one to spread out, but falling objects would be a problem. Pipes came and went through the ceiling here each going in their random direction, and some dripped leaving a more eerie sense in the air. “Bee-Beep” buzzed the panel again as Fireous still did not type in the correct code word. “Okay!” Fireous yelled out in a focusing manor. “It’s the second cold war. I’m pass wording doors so that only refugees may enter. Something that the Soviets nor American’s would guess. I …am my father. What did… he fucking show me!”

         Suddenly, out of the blink of an eye, a stray agent standing at the base of the stairway, burst into a mass of blood as the top half of his head slid to the floor and his body slowly fell to its knees covering the walls in blood. Standing right next to him, staying low and one leg stretched far out, as a ninja would do, stood a man holding a Katana, a Japanese samurai sword. He wore a black spec. ops. Full faced ski mask and a flak vest. He wore no shirt under the vest which revealed seemingly average military trained muscles. The vest was light green and so were his military issued pants and boots. He stood silent, eyes closed, but giving off a crimson red aura, and head bowed to the ground. His sword stood extended dripping with blood and pieces of brain matter, it was obviously littered with the lost lives of their associates. He stood completely still as if his body was vacant of a soul. His right hand was placed firmly on the floor now drenched in blood. He finally moved. Every gun in the room went off at once as the laser pointers met on his head, but met the wall behind him. He jumped up quickly, defying gravity, and grabbed onto a flight of stairs above him. He did a quick flip to land on top of them, and there became an absence of sound again. The only thing to be heard was the momentary gushing sounds of the dead agent’s brains spread across the floor.

         “Aaron, back off a bit.” said Rune as he moved foreword, grabbing a stray agent by the shoulder and pulling him back from the stair well to the cover of the short hallway leading to the door. He began walking backwards until they heard an unsheathing sound and a slight slice. The ninja had jumped from the stairs and, like butter, cut quickly through the agent’s extended arm, and without lifting his sword simply turned it cutting through Aaron’s stomach splashing his innards to the floor in a wake. Rune stumbled backwards, dumbfounded and worried for his partner, as the guns blared again.

         Bullet holes began piling on the wall as the ninja jumped in between the group of agents. One after one the agents fell to a bloody mesh on the floor, painting the walls and ceiling red. Jack Forrester, one of the agents finally gave up, and made a mad dash for the stair case. Slicing through yet another agent letting his intestines hit the ground before he cut completely through, pounced on Jack. The heal of the ninja’s foot crushed through the back of his skull throwing him to the first step of the stair case. With out even flinching, the ninja let his sword fall again ending what life was left of the young Jack. The bullets never stopped. The flow was stronger than ever until a siren was heard. The blast doors were opening. Fireous quickly ran in taking cover behind the space to the left of the door and began firing his own rounds at the ninja with no more progress than the rest.

         The remainder of the troops ran in after him along with Abyx and Taco firing rapidly, wasting more ammunition than needed. One scampering agent, seemingly through the door was caught off guard. The edge of a sword seemed to emerge from behind and out through his forehead. The ninja pulled down quickly splitting the rest of his head in half. The doors quickly closed as the last agent ran inside. They all breathed hard and rested until they were quickly interrupted. “What are you doing!? This is only the clean chamber! We have to keep moving!” yelled Fireous as he jumped to another titanium door with several bars around the side of it. All together there were four agents left. The one armed agent Rune lied in shock against a wall as a fellow agent Taurus Hopins comforted him. The other two agents, battle worn and cut as well, leaned against the door Fireous began to type a code in. Preston Ranker, a well known veteran in the CIA, and the recently evolved from rookie, Pulse Vixor stood beside the titanium door in wait of assistance to Edan . “Damn! It’s a different password!” yelled Fireous as he punched the wall and continued trying codes, trying to remember his lost father’s findings of the Japanese Fallout shelters. This room was relatively smaller than the last, but had a lot more homey feeling to it. It was clean white with benches lining the wall and even the floor was smooth and white, as if it connected to the walls. Ramone sat on one of the benches looking over his leg for a long time before he turned to his right to see Abyx. She was more standing than sitting, as she kept one foot bent on the bench and other placed firmly on the ground as she expected the doors to burst open, and the fight would resume. “Are yo’ ok, Abyss?” Ramone said in a quiet caring voice as his eyes  became more wide and peaceful than narrow and penetrating. Abyx turned to him slowly and looked into Ramone’s eyes. She saw his expecting to die look. He knew he wasn’t going to make it. Abyx saw something in Ramone she hadn’t seen before. She knew he was as serious as he had ever been and it looked it. Abyx gave a small smile. “Yeah…how ‘bout you, cowboy?” Abyx said as she laid her hand on his.

         “Not good. None of this‘ makes any sense. And worse yet, I don‘t think I will make it….I have something to tell you-”, Ramone was interrupted. “Guys, I hear something in the vents!” screamed Taurus. Taurus, watching the vents close, looked down again at Rune. He was either in a state of shock or had passed to the next world. Taurus bent down and felt his pulse. He could bare with them no longer, he had passed. “Damn it”, Taurus said mumbling and looked down at the floor as he quenched his teeth. “Please…Not like this…I don’t ….want to die!” tears started to run down Taurus’ face, as a feeling of complete helplessness took over. His eyes began to swell. He looked down at his friend again. His blank dead face, his eyes staring at something that’s not there, his lack of color, he was ultimately dead. Then, almost instantly, his eyes turned from weeping and sorrow to anger and rage. He wiped his nose and eyes and moved to his feet. He picked up Rune’s .45 along with his own and stared at the vent across the room for the longest time. “C’mere you Fucker!” screamed Taurus as he jumped into a sprint and slid under the vent, blaring both guns, spilling hole after hole into the steel vent. Nothing. He waited on the floor for maybe an entire minute before his face went blank. One eyebrow went up and he was utterly confused. He placed his hands behind him and lifted himself  and glared into the dark vent. He turned around to face Preston and Pulse with his confused expression. They returned his look.

         Preston began walking foreword also being cautious and glaring into the vent before he was right in front of it. His eyes narrowed and his hands began to shake. Abyx raised her gun also and so did Ramone. Fireous continued trying random passwords into his consul, trying to make a pattern out of the first few letters. Taurus continued to glare into the deep darkness of the vent above. Its almost as if he were looking through the darkness and he could see him, but he really wasn’t there. He squeezed his eyes almost shut to change a view just a bit until he could make something out. Barely visible, were two tiny rays of a crimson red glow.

         He stared closer. Suddenly, the two faint red rays blasted into a full out red sunburst. Before Taurus could even pull up his gun, the vent shattered to pieces throwing the aluminum like substance into a shrapnel effect. The blade of the Katana fell and went directly through Taurus. His eyes remained open as the two halves of his body fell to the floor.  Genocide’s eyes suddenly focused on Preston. Being very accurate, Preston shot twice, but his foe was already behind him. Preston dove foreword toward Abyx and Ramone and came to a sudden holt at their feet. The remarkable ninja leapt up in a blink of an eye as all three of their guns showered the air. Abyx dived right and hit the floor hard sliding in the blood while Ramone jumped on the bench behind him. The ninja fell with the sword, barely missing Preston as he rolled under the bench. Pulse walked fast, leaving prints in the blood, and splashing it on his already blood drenched suit. He almost ran until he was behind the ninja. The sword flew backwards fast. He tried to move, but the blade clipped his shoulder, throwing a chunk of flesh and blood to the ceiling. He hit the floor and fired his .45 rapidly and watched hole after hole appear in the walls behind him as he ran at what seemed light speed.

         All of the sudden, after about three flickers, the lights returned on and the room lit up a white hospital glow. The walls and ceiling were mucked with blood and pieces of human flesh. “Keep trying Fireous! Everyone else, blow him away!”, yelled Abyx as she picked up a vacant .45 on the floor next to a half of a dead body and began showering the marine ninja again. Genocide was clearly visible and all agents were aware. Pulse tried desperately to get up in the thick amount of blood on the floor, but it was hopeless. He kept slipping and sliding back to the floor. He caught view of the ninja and like the others, showered it. Genocide saw his opportunity and took it. Pulse was a sitting duck in the pond of blood and there was nothing he could do. His black hair dripping with blood and sweat, his brown eyes swelled with fear and determination, and his bleeding nub shoulder and its contribution of pain scared him to the core. Pulse saw the blood wake of the sword coming at him and the ninja guiding it, so as fast as he could he rolled towards Fireous. The blade cut the back of his drenched jacket throwing pieces of cloth, but he was untouched. As he rolled, he turned to the back of Genocide and let even more lead fly. The lights flickered on and off again, remaining back on.

         Once his vision returned, Pulse saw nothing but his bullet shavings and holes. Ramone jumped off the bench as he saw Genocide fling himself at Pulse again. Busy dodging Ramone’s bullets, the blood stained ninja had no choice but to call off the attack and slide in the blood to his left.

          Genocide did just that as he saw Preston just gain his footing. Preston’s eyes widened and elevated his heart rate as the sword sliced through his stomach going directly through him to the other side, leaving a scrape on the steel walls followed by the splash of blood. Preston’s legs fell back to the bench while his body splashed in the growing blood pool. Abyx quickly started walking foreword and dropped an empty clip in the blood tide pool. She loaded a fresh clip and pulled out her .45 and started the hurricane of shells again. Sliding to an almost stop, Genocide quickly jumped up, planted himself on the wall only for a second and jumped at Abyx. She slid to her back instantly as the sword caught the very tips of her long black blood drenched hair. She stopped and caught the side of a bench and pulled herself up again. Fireous turned around quickly to see the blade flying at him. He quickly pivoted to his right as the sword made a loud “ding!” on the steel door. The katana quickly switched directions and came at his face. Fireous ducked and tried to throw a punch at the clearly visible ninja but hit nothing but air as the sword dropped again, whizzing past his stomach.

          He jumped back, but the blade was fast and made scratch on his left arm. Thinking quick, before he could hit the ground he pulled out his .45 and let several rounds fly into the loneliness of the wall, all missing. Ramone jumped in again and shot several rounds, stepping over the pieces of dead body littering the floor. Genocide quickly turned and focused his crimson glare on Ramone. He didn’t even see the blade. The ninja leapt up into the air again, doing a flip and landing on his feet sliding toward Ramone. Ramone kept firing but had no time to move as the blade went under his arm, sliding in just above his rib cage and out his back, but only with the tip of his sword. Ramone dropped to the floor covering anything that might have evaded the blood spill. Ramone grabbed the sword and lifted his left arm to fire into the ninja‘s skull. With no possibility of evasion, the ninja retreated his sword and jumped into a back flip. Abyx sprinted fast as she grabbed Ramone by the arm and slid him to the locked steel door.

         Pulse caught him and instantly put his arm around his shoulder. “Bahhhhhn!!!” A siren went of as the steel door slid open fast. Pulse ran through first carrying Ramone through a very long gleaming white hallway. Fireous and Abyx quickly ran in backwards keeping the guns aimed at the narrow opening of the door. It wouldn’t close for several more seconds, precious time they could spend running. They started to sprint backwards keeping their guns aimed, but the ninja had disappeared. Then, they reached a sharp left turn. Both of them ran into the wall behind them. Recovering quickly, Fireous and Abyx started an all out sprint after Pulse. The hallway was barely wide enough for a single person to sprint through it without sliding on the walls. The red emergency lights above them lit the hall up, but only enough to make certain things out. Fireous, running ahead, could barely make out Pulse running in front of him. Pulse had slung Ramone completely over his shoulders and, using shear will, was jogging. Fireous and Abyx quickly caught up. Then, another turn, which they caught with eyes open, and swerved through quickly checking behind them to see if they were being shadowed. Nothing.

         As they began down this hall, it was visible. The bright white light at the end of the tunnel which meant they had made it to the bomb shelter. Abyx, starting to feel a bit paranoid being so close to the end, turned around and started to run backwards, gun extended. Still nothing. Turning quite fast around, she regained her sprint and dropped her head as she gave it her all. Soon, Pulse’s feet slid at least five feet, from the shining red on white floor, to a brand new looking clean white floor, gleaming with fresh regular hospital lights. Pulse instantly was amazed. The narrow hallway had ended in the most massive room he had ever seen. He lowered his left side, slowly letting Ramone to the floor, blood still seeping from under his arm. He took a few steps more forword to a railing and looked out. As far as he could see below him, there were military cots among military cots on white tile floors. There were many doors that seemed to run for miles down the long rows of beds. Looking to his left and right, it seemed as if there was no way to get to the other side besides using arch railed bridges that seemed to go across every 100 yards or so. Instantly Pulse knew this bomb shelter covered the entire two miles it was given. He suddenly turned back around to see Fireous and Abyx enter the humongous room. They weren’t as amazed as Pulse. “C’mon. This door isn’t made for a bomb to hit. He’ll go strait through this.” Fireous said calmly as he waited for Abyx to walk out of the hall. Fireous lowered his gun to his side and stepped to the side of the door. Once again, he pulled a red knob, but instantly, the door fell shut. He looked at Abyx directly, “Cres and the others didn’t use this way. Their better off than we are right now”, Fireous said sternly and forcefully. The door was relatively thin with a small window at head’s length. It could definitely not survive a bomb blast. Pulse stepped forward and looked through the tiny window revealing the red eyes.

         “He’s Here!” shouted Pulse as he ran to Ramone. Abyx beat him to it and threw Ramone over her shoulder making him shriek a bit. Fireous checked to see if the rest of his squad was ready to run before he busted into a sprint, staying close to the railing. Abyx, still carrying Ramone, was right behind him, followed by Pulse who was covering their tails. They slipped and slid on the seemingly brand new clean white tile floors, made for situations of massive refuge, as their blood drenched clothes also affected their boots, causing spin outs. Fireous finally reached an arched bridge across the pit of beds, and grasped the rail tightly. He pulled him self into the new direction instantly sliding up into the arch. Abyx slowed to a stop before grasping the rail and also pulling herself up. Pulse, now walking backwards, still watching the closed door slowly grabbed the rail and began walking up the arch as well. “Bam!” the door burst forword, hitting the railing in front of it, tearing through and falling to the bed pit, followed by a streak of green. Pulse instantly let loose. “Pulse, come on!” yelled Fireous as he reached the other side and was already typing the password from the previous door in.

         Pulse looked at Fireous with stern determined eyes. The sweat fell from his head dropping to the shoulder of his sobbed suit. His mouth was open and he was breathing hard. He looked back and remembered the onslaught that occurred when they needed a password. He knew this was the end. If he didn’t do something, they would all die without a hope in this room. Pulse released the rail and, turning his look back to the green ninja making his way for him, let loose in a mad dash pass the arched bridge on through the room. “What’s He Doing!?” Abyx shouted as she witnessed the agent sprint pass the bridge to safety and on to what would be certain death. Fireous watched in amazement as he knew exactly what he was attempting. “He’s saving our asses”, Fireous said quietly, focusing more on the panel than anything else. He typed in the same code as the last door and came the all too familiar siren of a wrong answer.

         Suddenly, after turning green, a message came up. It read, “Code key for any inhabitants of Bunker 911 as listed: Theodore, Rumsfeild, ’Garage Entrance’. “ “Well…that’s convenient“ ,Fireous said quickly as he typed in the final code. The door instantly gave a reaction. The mid section began to give way and kind of sucked in a hole. The sides began to slide apart showing many bars and gears pulling the massive door into six pieces retracting into the wall. Just then, they heard Pulse scream. A heroic fate, but necessary as the door was now starting to split into the six pieces. The green streak was running faster than ever now, not even bothering to use the arched bridge, but in fact jumped the entire mid section, clearing it completely.

         He was now on their side and running fast. The six gigantic layers of steel were still positioned to close to fit through but were almost open. Fireous sent a glance at the green flash that seemed to be bouncing from rail to wall over and over as it sped for them. The door fell a little farther now and it was finally big enough for one anyways. “Abyx, go, now!” Fireous yelled as pulled out his gun and began blasting away as the ninja, which seemed to jump from rail to wall dodging his bullets.

         The clandestine marine jumped and, without hesitation, flung himself forward for the beginning of a flip, and using all his strength in one blow, flung his katana screaming through the air, twisting for accuracy and aerodynamics. Fireous saw it too late as the blade and handle went directly through his left arm, throwing him to the ground as the handle tore muscle while passing. The sword continued through and nailed Abyx precisioned right through her stomach and out her back, hitting the blood drenched tile tearing through, sticking to the concrete. She fell to the floor by the door. The door was completely open now. “Fireous,… go.” Abyx said as she leaned against wall, Ramone laying beside her already losing consciousness from his previous wounds. “Your coming with me” ,Fireous said as he grabbed the sword in an attempt to pull it out of the concrete. She immediately pushed him off. “It‘s too close to my heart. Even if you were to pull it out, I‘d most likely die” she said in a shaking voice, sobbing now. “At least one…one of us ha-…has to get out alive, Fireous.” Abyx said sobbingly, as she held her stomach, blade still protruding through.

         Fireous knew she couldn’t be saved from the wound she had received. He also knew there was no changing her mind and stepped through the door immediately. He walked to the left of the door and pulled another red knob, beginning the slow door closing process. His eyes began to swell also and liquid started to form. Then, almost all at once tears, gushed out of his eyes. “What am I thinking?!” ,he yelled and ran through the closing six layered door. He ran straight to Abyx. “Fireous, I’m staying. Ramone is already dead and you‘re not going to get me out”, The ninja had just approached, still in a sprint and with a swing of his fist, Fireous’s head spun. He dropped to the floor and watching in horror Abyx stuck her foot out, showing instant results as Genocide ran right into it, hitting the floor and sliding a great distance. Not flinching a second, Abyx yelled out to Fireous, “Go Now, DeltaSwarm!” He crawled through, pulling himself up on the other side slowly.

         Fireous caught up with his thoughts and cleared his mind as he witnessed the door closing and Abyx on the other side, leaning in front of the door, waving. “Good luck, Fireous. Find Cres and Edan. If anyone can make it through this, you three can”, she said as she gave a slight smile, her long damp black hair lay down her side and her pale white skin, glistened from sweat. Her bright purple eyes gleamed before he lost sight of her. The door finally slid to a complete close. He stared terrified at the triple thick titanium door, watching as his own blood dripped from the center door piece. He had to move on.

         Abyx slowly leaned back to the wall and put her arm around Ramone, who was sprawled out on the floor next to her. She put her arms around his and pulled him on top of her lap, where his head was facing hers. His eyes were closing and opening off and on as he slipped in and out of consciousness. “Aby-..Abyss…I…I’m sorry….” Ramone said as the sobbing Abyx stared at him. “Its okay Ramone…everything’s okay…” Abyx said as she bent down to look deep into his eyes. “I..I love you.” Ramone said as the blood started to slow to a stop from his chest. “I know.” Abyx said as she moved her head down to his. She moved her lips to his and kissed him. She knew instantly he was still passing. She lifted her head again, eyes glassy and a small smile across her face, and looked into his eyes again. He looked back and slowly smiled as well, until his eyes started to roll and close. He breathed extremely hard lifting his chest off of her lap and returning just as fast and looked at Abyx again. He looked at her so caring, until his smile started to fade. His face began to turn blank and colorless and his eyes still stared. Ramone had died.

         Abyx moved her hand over his face and closed his eyes. The tears fell to his lifeless body and covered his face. Her mouth was open, but no sound came out. She knew this was the end for her as well. Suddenly, she heard a footstep make an almost silent knock. She looked up quickly, reaching for her gun. She grabbed it and instantly aimed it to have it stolen. The ninja quickly grabbed her gun and threw it over the railing to the pit below. He returned his focus to her. His burning red eyes focused on hers as she still sobbed silently. “Where does this door lead?” Genocide said in almost a whisper, or a faint voice that you would hear more in the back of your head than in life. She returned his stare with hers as her face suddenly became stern. “Might as well kill me. You‘ll gain nothing from questions.” she said in a quiet, stern voice not moving any appendages, but her neck from the struggle to breathe. The ninja took his focus from her and looked down her stomach. His sword was pushed through her into the floor beneath her. He grabbed the black leather handle, pulling it as fast as a glance, and instantly returned it to a sheath he had on his back. It seemed he had pulled it out so fast, it hadn’t harmed her.

         He returned to his standing position in front of her, scanned the room for several seconds, and returned his view to her. “I’m no negotiator, but I have my ways of making you talk. Either you tell me or I take away so much more than your life”, He said in his usual quiet, penetrating voice. His burning red eyes radiated red glares and put a fear in Abyx she didn’t even know existed. She was horrified to the core and was simply tired of fighting. “…Bring it” she said simply and calmly looking up at Genocide. He turned his head to look at the blast door and turned back to Abyx. He didn’t say a word. He simply stared at her. For a moment, it seemed he had suddenly gained a conscience or some other form of feeling of the human spirit, but he showed no signs in his eyes. He glared into her soul for the longest time until he to took a step back to the railing.

         Suddenly, pulling out some sort of automatic pistol from his vest, he instantly aimed it at her head. “Talk or die!” he said in a louder, more firm voice than his usual whisper. Abyx flinched a bit, but knew it was inevitable. She was going to die. “Just do it already” ,she said in a whisper as her face looked more determined than ever. His eyes started to burn brighter and brighter red until he finally moved. He seemed to be lowering his gun when in a blink of an eye, he pulled the trigger, and shot once in her right knee cap, instantly showing affect. She screamed a painful cry that echoed in the room. She clenched her leg and bit her bottom lip until it bled, trying anything to keep her mind on the ninja. It hadn’t flinched Genocide.

         He simply stared at her face now sweating bullets. She quickly returned her face to a quiet stern attitude and looked back into his eyes. He threw his head back in anger and dropped his arms by his side. “Your useless” he said quietly in a hopeless manor. He turned to the arched bridge and began a pace toward it. Without looking or aiming, still holding his gun by his side, he shot twice backwards into the chest of Abyx, finally ending her tortuous encounter. He started his walk back across the arched bridge looking of fearlessness and annoyance.

         Fireous heard the last shots and, pushing himself against the steel door, wept. The friends he first met when entering the actual CIA, after training and what-not, had been killed within the last few minutes. He covered his face in his hands, around his curved nose over his eyes, and up through his medium length blonde hair which dripped with sweat and blood leaving an imprint on the  door. His feet were sprawled out in the direction he knew he had to go, but simply refused. Soon, Fireous had to comfort himself. He moved his hands from his face to his gun by his waste. His black tactical pants were drenched in blood and his gun along with it. He slid it out of its holster and ejected the clip. It had 8 shots left. He grasped the clip in his right hand and slid it into his back clip pouch. He then pulled out another fresh one and shoved it into the handle of his gun.

         He pulled back the entire roof of his gun and released in an instant. Fireous then slid it back into its holster and pushed off the wall behind him. The pain from his arm had started getting to him, but he had learned many times before to just take your mind off of it and it will only hurt when your curing it. He grasped a stance on both feet and looked around him. It was a short hallway that lead directly to another blast door. “Please, don’t be pass worded” ,Fireous said as he started walking towards the red knob on the right side of the door. He wiped his eyes and looked closely at the knob. The white lights and walls and floors all reflected a distorted view on the knob as Fireous reached out for it. He wrapped his hand around it, in between his index and middle finger and pulled. The knob came out easily and nothing happened for a brief few seconds. Then he released, hearing the springs and mechanics work out on the other side of the door. Suddenly, its usual monitor/keyboard slid its way out of the wall and stopped in front of Fireous. He hung his head. The tears hit his boots as rain drops. He was definitely not in the mood to find out random codes now. Then as he looked up. An icon that read “Please click to exit” had popped into the middle of the page. He pressed the touch screen panel with his index finger and a message introduced itself. It said:

         

Warning: Before opening this door, remember there still may be radioactivity, eroded grounds on which you may sink or gain radiation sickness, or fallen objects may have wedged itself against the door causing severe injury. Also before opening this blast door, please be sure the Blast door behind you is closed firmly and completely to defeat any risks of contamination. Remember , the world you are about to enter will be changed indefinitely and urban reconstruction may be required.



                                       Welcome to the New World!

                             

                     Enter My Computer                                              Open Door     



         Fireous smiled a bit at the fact that this computer was so old. Technology based on sensors located outside the shelter had not been invented when this place was built. He reached his hand towards the screen and pressed firmly on the “Open Door” button. The door instantly reacted as an abundance of dust suddenly fell from the cracks of the solid white steel door and covered the ground. Fireous took a step back just incase something on this old machinery gave way and was flung at him, but the door simply divided into six equal pie sections retracting into the walls as it was supposed to. It was slow like the other, but at least he wasn’t being timed. The door finally halted once it reached a complete open stage.

         He took a step out revealing a darker world as the computer had said. The parking garage was vacant and tragic. Bodies littered the ground and cars were set a blaze. Even by the door he walked out of led a pool of blood leading into a drain pipe. He looked in horror as the walls were covered with bullet holes and blood stains. He took three steps forward to the edge of the concrete road curb and scanned his surroundings again. The walls were a brownish hazed color littered with cracks and scrapes from cars and the, just recent, stains of combat. There was a body of a heavily armored agent in front of him next to a burning car, to distorted to make out. He took a few more steps to get a closer view of the body and discovered that he had not been killed by a sword. Several bullet holes littered his carcass, but no slice marks were visible. With his left foot, he placed it on the ribs of the face down man and pushed up, spilling the dead weight to his back. His hands were firmly wrapped around an AR-15. His full face helmet was shattered to pieces and his face was definitely unrecognizable. Fireous bent down and unwrapped the corpse’ fingers off the handle and barrel and pulled the strap off from around his neck. He pulled the gun hard and slipped out the gun from around the man’s arms and slid the strap around his own arm.

         Fireous then took off the ammunition belt from his waist by unbuckling and put it around his own waist. Wiping the sweat from his face with his right hand he looked up around the corkscrew driveways leading up and out of the tunnel and the pillars that stood randomly every few feet separating burning vehicle after vehicle. Nothing living was down here. He turned his attention back down to the man again and focused on his sidearm too. He grabbed the man’s desert eagle and shoved it into a pocket under his vest. He stood up from the bleeding corpse and, ignoring the pain from his left arm, exploded into a mad dash for the corkscrew drive.

         Fireous scanned his massacred desolation and carnage filled surroundings very cautious as he splashed and tumbled his way through puddles of blood and aged water sitting in crevices on the ground below. Taking no risks, Fireous’ gun was held up, moving left to right at all times. He ran until his arm started get to him again, but he kept running. The burning vehicles covered with bullet holes and searing corpses began to let off a smell as he began to near the corkscrew drive leading upwards. Soon, his breath was getting faster and the parking garage seemed to be getting bigger. His head began to lean a bit foreward as his the sweat dripped to the floor.

         He slammed back first into the wall immediately beside the ramp leading up and peaked around to make sure of no surprises. Moving tactically smart, he creeped through, leaving only his bloody boot prints behind. He moved even slower as he started up the first turn. He took his steps so quietly that even an insect wouldn’t wake. He suddenly stopped. Fireous looked down at the ground, still standing on the drive, and stared at the tiny droplets of sweat hitting the ground from his head. “Why is it so hot”, Fireous muttered as he began to let his gun hang freely and started to stroll the rest of the way up.

         He took several steps before he finally reached the Basement 4 parking garage. “Elevator. Elevator, where the he-.” Fireous was interrupted by the sound of several gunshots going off nearby. He slid to the ground and began to crawl for a high concrete curb for cover. The gunshots rang echoes again in the tunnel. It was more like a war zone than a massacre. Automatics, shotguns, .45s, .9mms, some silenced, other unsuppressed, they all lit up the basement garage. Holes were suddenly appearing on the walls and pillars, spilling chunks of concrete to the floor. Pieces began to fly everywhere, breaking car windows, crushing cars all together, breaking dead bodies. It was mayhem. Fireous crawled vigorously, moving his right elbow to his left, over and over as fast as his lungs would allow. He finally got close enough to roll, and he did. Making a big impact on the wall, Fireous stood still as the gunshots continued, followed by the occasional scream of a hit man. Waiting several seconds under the cover of his white and yellow concrete barrier, Fireous finally peaked out over the side and began identifying targets. He saw no one. There were just random security officers falling from seemingly nothing. He began to crawl out a bit more. There was a blue BitCar set ablaze to his left, so he crawled out more using it as cover. Still holding his gun out in front of him, and in firing position, Fireous had made it to the back drill bit and peaked out. The floor was littered with even more bodies than the previous level, but most weren’t exactly dead. Some crawled for cover even though they had been torn to pieces by some sort of automatic weapon it seemed. Blood covered the walls and the elevator door far in front of Fireous. There was no chance of making a mad dash for it.

         He peaked out a little more, positioning his elbow to aim better and peered through his sights. “This is insane!? There’s only two of these guys?!” Fireous thought as he began monitoring the shaking room. The lights were on and bright, but the shadows from random muzzle fire made the room as vigorous as a rave. Fireous focused in and out on several places trying to figure out who was dying and where. He knew they were shooting and being shot at, but he just couldn’t comprehend which was the right side to be on. There was no one there. He scooted to his right a little more to see if any movement could be seen but nothing showed. Then something hit the roof of the car right beside him. “Crash!” the windows just shattered giving in to the heat of the fire. Fireous turned over quickly to see a CIA agent hit the ground crouching right beside him. Blood was dripping from his right arm and his chest was beaded with bullet imprints. “Fireous?! Where’s Ramone and Abyx?!” said the agent as Fireous started to recognize the agent. Fireous simply closed his eyes and looked at the ground. He nodded slowly as Damon’s face was engulfed with sorrow.

         Damon, standing on his heals crouched to the ground, fell back, leaning against the burning BitCar. His face looked unbelievingly into Fireous’s eyes. Fireous returned his expression of sorrow. “Crescent?” He said simply as Damon’s face was still in disbelief. Damon’s hands placed firmly on the concrete as the blood dripped from his arm faster and faster. The droplets ran through his shirt, a spreading crimson spot growing on his long sleeve black shirt. The stream fell down his arm and exited through the cuff of his shirt. His face, usually flushed red and a smile sprung across, was now pale and dry. Bits and pieces of dirt and blood littered his face and his red raver spiked hair fell in places. His 9mm pistol lay beside him as he looked at the ground. His thick red contact lensed eyes peered up at Fireous, who was well over the misery of loss.

         “She…she’s safe. She’s getting a car…I came…back down to look for you guys…So everyone…is dead?” ,Damon spoke softly as his glossed pupils began to expand. “Sorry Damon…But we have to get out of here…Falling back and assessing the situation is all we have to go on right now…” Fireous stared right back at Damon with a stern, distinguished look. Damon looked right back, face flushed, eyes dilated, and hands shaking. “Okay…” He said raggedly as he reached for his gun with his left arm. Fireous scooted his knees up and crouched against the inflamed BitCar as Damon was. He pulled up his AR-15 and turned back to Damon. He nodded his head as if Damon were to automatically know what he was planning, and Damon immediately confirmed it with a nodd and affirmative grunt.

         Fireous suddenly rolled from behind the car looking up at the next level from where Jet had fell from. He stopped on one knee and began walking fast backwards towards the struggling guards by the elevators. He scanned fast and checked every possible vantage point but saw nothing. Damon ran behind him fast and almost instantly reached the guards wall of infernoed vehicles. Fireous’ head was switching from every angle looking for the slightest movement still walking very fast, crouched towards the barricade also. Then he saw it. A flash of black. It was a black duster jacket definitely. It was just a flash and two silenced barrels were shown instantly. A single bullet snatched Fireous’s left earlobe showering a tiny blood stream behind him. He spun uncontrollably as the second shot hit his vest throwing him behind cover of a BitCar. He let go of his gun instantly and grabbed his ear in pain. Ringing. An overwhelming pain of hearing and feeling.

         Damon ran to him and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him farther behind the bits and under cover. Damon seemed to be yelling “are you okay” but Fireous couldn’t seem to hear him. Just the ringing. Fireous thrusted his hands to the ground and pushed off. He hit the side of the car with a horrified expression. His wide eyes, looking past Damon who was comforting him by holding him still, making sure Fireous didn’t make the mistake of standing and becoming a target. He witnessed bullets drifting past the open flames of the vehicle barricade as a single security guard was torn to pieces by waves and waves of bullets.

         Another took his place and began firing back with his SMG. His face was also littered with black, and light was seen through tiny holes in his silhouette in front of the flames. Debris had gathered on his face as all others and blood was streaming from him as well. His leg had been hit directly, but he still fought. He held his gun against the flames, against the tornado of silenced bullets making openings in the flames, wind tunnels of piercing fury. There were at least six of them, maybe more. “FIREOUS!!!” Fireous could hear as his eyes finally glared back at Damon. “Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!” Damon looked directly into Fireous’ eyes. With a pale, grim look still devouring his face, Fireous closed his dropped mouth and nodded. He was back.

         Damon stayed low and looked over the vehicle engulfed in flames to the enemies obstacles only for a second and looked back at Fireous. He waved quickly to follow him and began to make a small quiet dash for the elevators. Fireous didn’t hesitate. He fiercely grabbed a sturdy grip of his automatic AR-15 and sprinted after Damon. He looked back at the furious war zone of falling guards and began to regret. “Damon, we cant just leave these guys!” Fireous shouted as Damon neared the elevators. He stopped and turned quickly to face Fireous. “Their doing their jobs! We cant afford to di-BOOOM!” Damon flew back into the elevator doors followed by Fireous smashing into the concrete wall beside the doors. Fireous rolled twice before he stopped and gained focus. His head had been hit. He looked back at Damon who had just gained his consciousness as well and dived to press the up button on the contraption. He stared at Fireous for several seconds in horror as if he hadn’t seen something. Fireous looked back with a confused expression covered with the black ash and smoke. Fireous turned around to the vehicle barricade to see the flames no longer burning, but enraged.

         The vehicles had disappeared or scattered to pieces and the guards were no where to be found. The flames began to reach the roof and the tiny wind tunnels of the silenced bullets had stopped making their way through the flames. Debris and wreckage laid waste to the garage as pieces of engine and fiber glass from cars pierced themselves into walls and concrete. The flames whipped and turned as if set free from the vehicles flammable fluids and lit the concrete itself. Fireous stared for only a matter of seconds before he heard the ding of the elevator. Damon wasted no time in getting in and pressing the 1st floor button. He waved vigorously for Fireous to get in. Fireous jumped to his feet and exploded into a sprint. He dashed and leaped over random parts and pieces of flaming car. He propelled through flames of several things, covering his face and landing feet first. After only 2 or 3 more steps, he strided in calmly and put his hand on the back wall, letting out a sigh of releif. He closed his eyes and threw his head back. Just as fast, he threw it back shaking. “Pretty intense, huh?” Fireous said in a more sarcastic sense. Just then, they saw a figure making an appearance in the flames of the barricade. Walking calmly and slowly, stood a man wearing all black. His image was thrown back and forth as the flames whipped and turned behind him. He seemed to be waving with his entire body. He had a pair of jet black sunglasses with short black hair. He wore a long black  duster jacket with two ammo belts thrown over each shoulder. Both were filled with clips of fairly large shells, shells that could make a fairly large hole in someone. At his waist stood two holsters, both filled his devastating duo of chaos, his guns. But his right hand was the real mind boggler. His pale face seemed clean. His shades blocked out any facial expression formed by his eyes. He was emotionless. Just a clean gaze walking directly towards them. His right hand lifted and Fireous’ mind was lost in a sea of confusion.

         There, sitting limp in the black clad gunfighter’s hand, sat the massive Destruction Magnum of Carver Osprey. He held it up, pointing directly at Fireous, and the massive hammer fell to make a loud click. It echoed through the garage over the crackling fire for a mere second or two. The gun misfired, hammer missing the shell and slamming into the bulk of the gun. It had became useless.

         The bell dinged and the doors began to close. Almost instantly the Destruction Magnum was dropped and, before the gun even hit the ground, the two silenced pistols were pulled and blared into the closing doors. The doors slammed shut and were left with ricocheting shells, bouncing the walls of the elevator. Damon hit the floor and pulled himself into a corner while Fireous covered his head. One shell plummeted into Fireous’ chest throwing him back into a wall and leaving a large dent in his vest. Another hit the side of his boot sending him to the floor. Another lucky bullet bounced in a perfect angle using the walls as leverage and hit under Damon’s left armpit, above his armor. “AH!” Damon screamed as he rolled over in pain. Yet another bullet reflected and lodged itself into a vent on the ceiling. Fireous kneeled down fast over Damon and rolled him over onto his back. A vast amount of blood began pouring out of the small crevice. Fireous didn’t think twice. He quickly grabbed the straps on Damon’s shoulders which held his vest firmly against him and detached them. He pulled fast and the Velcro gave in even faster. Once pulled, he tore the vest off revealing a pool of blood near Damon’s heart.

         “Son of a Bitch!” Damon cried as his arms flung helpless back hitting the wall. His eyes opened and closed fast as though he was loosing sight. “Damon, your going into shock. I want you to put this out of your mind.” Fireous said calmly as he began ripping Damon’s shirt off. “Can you hear me Damon? Tell me about your escape, focus on me Damon!” Fireous said in a loud caring voice to at least attempt to take Damon’s mind far off. It wasn’t working. “GOD DAMN IT!!!” Damon shouted as he squirmed and tried to push his hands over wound. The bullet had lodged itself directly under his rib cage and Fireous was almost sure it had nicked his heart. Fireous finished ripping the pieces of shirt off of him and saw the wound up close through the endless mass of blood pouring in all directions. “Shit.” Fireous said calmly, more to him self than out loud. He took the sleeve of Damon’s shirt and rapped it firmly under his arm, over the gushing hole and over his other shoulder and pulled tight. He tied in a knot and began to hold his wound. “Damon, DAMON!! Look at me. Your gonna’ make it through this. Okay. Can you hear me?” Fireous reassured Damon as his face became faint and then sorrowful at the same time.

         Every so often, he would scream another cuss word and fling his arms and legs as if he was trying to escape death. He screamed loudly and cried. “DAMON!! Listen to me raver!! Your going to get through this!! Your going clubbin’ with me again. Okay. Just like the old da-” Fireous was interrupted by more screaming. Fireous pulled Damon up to him and held tight. Knowing there was no chance for Damon’s survival, Fireous comforted Damon as best he could. He held Damon as tight as he could. The screaming curses and teeth quenching screams drove Fireous almost into tears, but he was done crying. His emotions were dead. He held Damon until the his voice began to fade. The pointless screaming started to become squelched and ragged, and his cussing began to turn to mumbling. His face began to turn thick, pale white and his eyes dilated to the extreme. His arms began to fling less wildly and his feet stood still. “Please….Plea-ease!!!” Damon cried as his breath started become short. Fireous closed his eyes and clenched his teeth as the screaming finally ceased. He lowered Damon to see him staring right back at him. “Fir-Fire-rous….” his pale white face turned dim and his eyes began to drift off focus. His pale bare skin turned cold under Fireous’ fingerless gloves and began to shiver. “Damon, your going to get through this. Just go to sleep. Everything is going to be fine.” Fireous struggled to say calmly as Damon’s eyes finally began to close. His arms finally fell limp by his sides and his head fell back. Damon was dead.

         Fireous, shaking and shivering under the dead freezing skin, let go of Damon and slowly lowered him to the pool of blood. He let go and a slight splash made ripples leading all the way to Fireous’ black bullet fried boots and on to the wall of the elevator. He stood up and leaned against the side steel mirror wall and held on to the railing. He lied his face against the wall and looked up at the level counter. It read “B1”. Two more dings and he would be on ground floor. He drifted his emotionless, red eyes back down to Damon’s lifeless body and stared at his cold pale face. His eyes had closed, but it still seemed as if he were among the living. “Damn it.” Fireous said aloud in a faint voice as he rolled his eyes. A ding sounded as the counter said “B”. Fireous leaned off of the wall and gripped his gun tight against his chest. He used his right hand and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his vest pocket and slid them under his short waving blonde hair, over his eyes. Another ding, and the doors began to open.

         The doors slid open slowly and almost instantly, Fireous walked directly into another man. Arcus pushed back as he quickly pulled out his Glock and pointed. He withdrawed just as fast as he noticed Fireous. “Fireous, I was just about to go get you and-…..” Arcus’ eyes drifted downward to Damon’s lifeless body. His eyes grew large and he drifted right back to Fireous. “I’m sorry…” Arcus said as he realized through his experience that saving a person through surgical process is hardly ever successful in battle. “Don’t be…Damon isn’t.” Fireous said as he stepped out of the elevator and past Arcus towards the garage. Fireous narrowed in to see Cres leaning against a green Yuvin BitCar, a very fast sports BitCar that was meant for the city streets. “Damon’s….Damon’s dead…isn’t he?” She said as her hand lied on the side of her mouth. Her breath became short as well and she opened the passenger door, wiping her eyes for only a second. Fireous didn’t make any acknowledgment to her question. He just made his way around to the driver’s side and opened the door. Arcus began to walk towards the car as well. Fireous entered the car and realized it had already been started. He looked over the random green neon and red lights on gauges of all sorts.

         He gripped the steering wheel tight and looked over at Crescent. Arcus had made his way to the back passenger’s side door and opened it. He entered and sat down in the cloth seat. The door slammed and made an echo throughout the hollow garage walls. “In the eve of combat, emotions just cloud your vision. I’m proud of you Fireous.” Arcus said as he buckled his seat belt and stared over at Fireous. Crescent looked back at Fireous. She began to speak, but Fireous interrupted. “Doesn‘t mean you can stop them”, He pulled the shifter into first gear in between the seats, released the clutch, and pressed the gas petal. The drill bits spun in place for only a second before the concrete began to catch and fling pieces. The car burst into a flash of green through the empty garage. This level had not been attacked for some odd reason. Maybe no one had made it here, so there was no use for them to hunt here. Fireous hung a right past a pillar and began making his way towards the exit tunnel which lead to the main parking lot. There would be the exit into town. He sped fast as he noticed the railed gaits were down and made of very fragile material to reduce the risk of death in case of an accident.

         Fireous slammed through tearing several scrapes and dents in the front of the Yuvin. Arcus and Cres jumped in surprise and laid back into their seats expecting the worst. As he neared the tunnel, there appeared to be someone walking in front of the passage. “Is that a marine?” Arcus asked quite confused as Fireous’ mouth dropped. His breath became slow for slight blink and just as quickly regained. “No, Its not a marine.” Fireous said calmly as he started to increase his speed to 80. “What the hell are you doing?” Arcus asked very slowly as he watched the speedometer slowly increase past 80. The gauges began to go wild as the car flew faster and faster. The marine, wearing only a flak vest and ski mask, stared right on through to Fireous. His eyes narrowed as hatred began to flow to him. Fireous’ eyes also narrowed under the protection of his glasses given to him by a friend who fell under this thing’s hand. He approached Genocide faster and faster as the car began to pass the 120 marker and rev louder.

         The panels on the drill bit tires began to expand as the car gained even more speed to maintain balance. The speed sensors reclined their seats as a fail safe. “Fireous, Who is it and what the hell are you doing!” Cres said angrily as she quenched her teeth and sunk her hands into the arm rests. “That’s the fucker that killed Ramone and Abyx.” Fireous said calmly as he shifted to the next gear throwing the his speed to 190. He approached fast and he was nearly on top of Genocide. In the blink of an eye, expecting to turn the blood rinsed ninja into road kill, he had jumped.

         Doing a cartwheel in midair, the ninja dropped just as fast entering his quickly drawn sword through the driver’s side window, tearing through like paper. “GET DOWN!!!” Fireous screamed as he let go of the wheel and pulled Crescent’s head to the dash board. The blade went clear through the front wind shield, all the way through the back. Despite his reaction of moving as far right as he could, the very edge of the blade caught Arcus’ throat. His head broke through the back window. The entire cab of the car shook as part of the roof slid off center. Genocide landed on his feet behind the car as it sped through the tunnel. The ninja stood completely still as the car screeched to a stop. “You Fucker!”, a loud scream filled the tunnel before the car could completely stop. Fireous slammed open his door and aimed the AR-15 down tunnel. Fireous saw the carelessness in the ninja’s eyes. He knew him shooting would do nothing once again. “Fireous, we can’t fight him now! Not like this.” Crescent yelled as her door opened as well. Fireous slowly lowered his gun, still staring daggers at the murderer. “Your names already on the fucking tombstone, you psycho son of a bitch”, he said quietly as he returned to the driver’s seat, not taking his eyes off of him until secured inside. Only a brief few seconds passed before the car sped off again. Genocide’s boots stood firm against the pavement and his eyes stern. His head turned slowly to look at the blade of his sword. At the very tip, dripped the blood of another fresh kill. His wild gaze looked a little lower in the tunnel. A severed head laid lifeless. He returned his sights back to the tunnel where the car had already disappeared. Genocide lifted his left wrist to his masked mouth and spoke. “Slaven…there out. Two of them remain alive. Did you kill the young one?”, “It’s done Genocide. There’s not enough left to deal any damage to our plans”, the quiet, stern voice repeated over the radio.

         Fireous quickly returned his sight to the road and gained control of the vehicle, now vibrating due to a half sturdy roof on the car. He looked at Crescent and then looked to the back seat. “Damn.” Fireous said under his breath. Crescent stared back at Fireous, just returning her caring stare from the back seat where Arcus was missing. “We have to find Edan.” she said as her face became flushed and her eyes still red from weeping. “He‘s alive, I‘m sure of it”, Her eyes wide and sorrowful and her black bangs covering the top right side of her face, sticking due to sweat. They hit the speed bump on the exit ramp of the garage and made their way to the exit into the misting, sorrowful rained upon Osaka streets. Fireous smiled and looked at Crescent. “Edan, huh? We‘ll see what we can find as means of getting back.”