Secretlystephaniebrown said: Angst War Prompt: AU where North sides with Felix and Locus, while South fights with the people of Chorus.
Gritting her teeth together, South continued her frantic climb, struggling to block out the sound of combat starting below. Kimball was on the attack. If the armies of Chorus didn't break through the mercenaries defenses, they wouldn't be able to take the temple and call for help.
And the only way in was through her brother.
Pulling herself up onto one of the overhanging ledges, South took a deep breath as she stared at the gap between the rocky outcropping and the temple. North was inside, pacing back and forth like a caged animal as he snapped orders to the mercenary forces. Without him, the mercs would break.
All she had to do was kill him. Put an end to all this mess once and for all.
Backing up several steps, South took a bracing breath and sprinted forward. She was no Spartan. She didn't have any of Carolina's fancy armor mods. But she'd been living in her armor for years.
Her foot landed perfectly at the edge and she pushed off with all her might. Her armor did the rest.
Two black armored mercs were standing at the rear bay door, clutching nervously at their weapons. These were the worst of North's soldiers, the ones he didn't trust to do any more than guard what was supposed to be an unassailable entrance.
He'd always underestimated her.
The former prisoners didn't spot her flying through the air until the very last minute. They spun to face her, fumbling their weapons as they tried to bring them up, but they were too slow. Her boots slammed directly into the chest of the one on the left and she shot her arm out as she tucked into a ball, letting her momentum push her forward into a roll. She clotheslined the soldier, dragging him down beside her and smashing his trachea.
South continued the roll and spun around once she was in a crouch. Seizing the merc she'd landed on, she grabbed the edge of his chest plate and shoved him onto his side, her other hand drawing her k-bar, and stabbed him in the sniper spot at the base of his skull. He died instantly. The other merc let out a silent gasp, clutching terrified at his throat as no sound emerged. Rising to her feet, South paused long enough to kick him over the edge. The fall might not kill him but it was far enough to keep him from alerting anyone to her presence. And in a minute or so, he'd be unconscious.
Guards dispatched, South paused briefly to look around. The bay opening she'd invaded was one of four surrounding a central opening. And it's was there she saw her brother. She dropped low to the ground and started to prowl towards him.
Like Locus and Felix, North was in black armor with colored accents - in his case, purple. He stalked back and forth between the east and west bays, snarling orders at the mercs. Every now and then, he'd cast a wary look to the south but never north. Not to where she was slowly approaching.
Unsurprisingly, he had a sniper rifle in his hands. But for once, South was glad - he'd always had a knack for using sharpshooting rifles at unusually closer quarters but it still sucked at mid-range and made for an awkward club up close. But his little love affair with that long barrelled weapon would be his undoing.
South ducked behind a crate and drew her battle rifle, hands sure and steady as she checked over her weapon. She had to get in close, right up in his face to keep him from shooting her. Then get a bullet in his head before he could beat her with the butt of his rifle.
North snarled out a new order, sending more of his men to shore up the east side as the simulation soldiers rolled in with a tank. Armored boots clattered as they raced by; then, they were gone and it was just the two of them.
As the battle roared outside, the air thick with the hum of alien lasers and human made bullets, South took a deep breath. I'm sorry it's come to this, North, she mourned. But the monster wearing your skin has gone too far.
She waited, tense, listening hard. Then North started to move, continuing his pacing. It was time.
With the crate as leverage, South threw herself forward, riffle whipping up to aim at North's back. Under the cover of the explosions and screaming from outside, he didn't hear her feet hit the ground. She sprinted forward, taking aim for the back of his skull.
As she fired, he suddenly dove to the side, rolling, rifle coming up even as he scrambled to get his feet under him. The rifle roared, once, twice, and she threw herself out of the way, cursing loudly.
"Trackers, South," North spat. He surged to his feet, easily over seven feet tall with the extra inches the armor provided. "I should have known they'd send you." He took aim again but she was already rushing in too close to fire.
Rifle jammed against her shoulder, she fired, aiming for center mass. The shots went high, slamming into his chest. Instead of falling or jerking or anything like in the movies, though, North just grunted and shifted his grip on the rifle and swung it at her.
As the butt of the rifle flew down, she twisted, letting the hit her back instead of slamming into her head. Relaxing into the blow, she let the force push her forward, dodging as he aimed a kick at her ribs. The adrenalin spike would be hitting him now, she knew, making him stronger, faster, more resistant to pain. It also made him stupider.
As North spun through the kick, South dropped her rifle and grabbed her k-bar again, twisting and slashing as his leg flew over her. The blade cut straight through the black bodysuit and she felt it as it sliced right through the tendon behind his knee.
Her back slammed into the floor. North screamed as he brought his leg down and tried to put weight on it. It didn't bend and he tilted sideways, overbalanced. Shame she hadn't been able to hit a vein or artery.
South rolled backwards, flipping her legs over her head and planted her feet back on the ground. She launched forward, grabbing her rifle as she shot past it.
North lashed out at her with the rifle again, then, cursing, let it fly out of his hands as he balled his hands into fists, taking a swing. He had reach and strength, always had, but he'd never been able to beat her at QCQ; he'd never gotten the hang of infighting.
Her next shots, the fast burst erupting out of her rifle, punched him right in the gut and pelvis. This time, he went down. His screams of pain made her want to puke.
Skidding to a halt over him, South swung her rifle onto her back and threw herself on top of him, Her k-bar glinted in her hand as she brought it down in the elbow of one arm, pinning it to the ground. Without looking, she reached back and found his where he always kept it at his hip and repeated the motion with his other arm, ignoring the way his vulnerable flesh gave way. Then, she leaned forward and pulled his helmet off before he could think to radio for help.
He should have looked different. Bruised and beaten, or dazed and confused. Maybe with his head shaved and obvious signs of torture. But there was nothing. His hair was a little longer, his face twisted in pain. He was, and had been, completely in control of his actions, all the way back to when he'd first started working with Felix and Locus.
"Killing Theta wasn't enough?" North demanded. His voice trembled, thick with pain. The venom, though, that had nothing to do with his injuries.
"I didn't kill Theta. What happened to it wasn't my fault," she snapped back. Theta. Always Theta. This was all that A.I.'s fault. She drew her pistol.
"Liar. That's all you ever were, a fucking backstabbing liar. After everything I did for you."
Fury ignited within her at his words. "You never did a damned thing for me. My brother cared for me. You- you're just a monster made by Felix and Locus that happens to look like him."
He laughed, a hollow, broken sound. "We're all monsters, South. We always were. The Project wanted monsters and so they made them. I just accepted it. Why the fuck are you still fighting it?"
"I'm not the one killing children," she snarled and aimed her pistol at his head. Pretended that the tip wasn't shaking.
"The people of this planet are the ones who decided killing children was okay. They've been doing it for years." Laughter floated out of North, then he gasped, wheezing at the sudden spike in pain. Left alone, he'd probably live for a few hours. Maybe less if she'd hit his bladder or intestines and the refuse in his system got into his bloodstream. "All we're doing is speeding everything up," he gasped once the wheezing had subsided. "They'll all die at once instead of slowly over years. They won't have time to live in terror of a stray bullet or a land mine or chemical weapons. Just instant, immediate death. They won't feel a thing."
South stared down at him for a moment. She could feel the life draining out of him. His blood was leaking all over the ground pooling under her legs and knees. Without her helmet, she knew she'd be smelling that sharp metallic scent over all the gunpowder and smoke.
"You know, for a long time, I thought I could save you," she whispered. "Delta helped me find you. And you were running some bullshit kidnapping scheme with Felix and Locus. I told myself it was okay because your mark was a criminal. So I stayed back so you could finish. Afterwards, you tried to kill me. And I still thought you could be saved." She laughed this time, bitter and heartbroken. "I thought they had something on you, were using you. But no," she shook her head, "Theta broke you. All they did was put the pieces back together. Turns out that fucking A.I. had taken so much of you that the brother I loved had died years ago. All those years we were on the run, I didn't even realize I was traveling with a corpse."
She'd hoped there might be something, some glimmer of her big brother left in those light blue eyes. But there was nothing. Just pain and hate and rage.
"Goodbye, North."
Looking away, she squeezed the trigger. And just like that, it was over.
"How am I supposed to live without you?" she whimpered. Head falling to her chest, South lowered her pistol and for the first time in years, she cried.