Chapter 6: Crates

It had been three days since Travis had gotten any calls from Sylvia. He was starting to get worried. Why hadn't the next match been set up? Why was she avoiding him? Was it something he said? He continued to question himself as he paced up and down his room, Jeane nuzzling his leg, begging him to play with her.

The door knock broke him out of his little trance and he went to open it. He stood shocked for a moment considering he'd cut this person in two only a few days ago and now he was standing here before him, but then Travis reminded himself of the respawners and it put him at ease.

"Guten Morgan Herr Touchdown." Greeted the Germanic doctor.

"Hey doc. So those respawner things are real huh?"

"Ja. Good zing too, death is such a handicap to your career." He joked, and Travis cracked a smile.

"So what do you want?" Travis cut to the point and the medic nodded, picking up a large wooden crate beside his feet. It was wrapped in shining jingling chains and sealed with a large sturdy padlock. "And this is?"

"It's a crate. Mann co. likes to give zem out at random. Zey contain equipment and items for our use."

"Well that's fucking cool. Open it up." But the medic shook his head.

"Mann co. have the keys. We need to buy zem." Travis raised an eyebrow.

"Fucking stupid…whatever, we can go out and earn some cash."

"Ja. Zats why I came over." The medic confirmed. "Let's go get zem!"

"Let's." Travis agreed with a grin. He snatched up his beam katana and headed out, the doctor following him.

They picked out a job to take out some petty criminal gang and headed to the bridge underpass, where their hideout supposedly was. They weren't exactly hidden very well, Travis thought, just hanging out outside some trailers. All 3 were dressed in dark business suits and two of them were smoking, and one was holding a gun. Travis looked back to his Germanic friend who had his medigun ready. He smiled and stepped forward into the flat dusty area. The gang members all glared at me and one of them spoke up.

"Get the fuck out of here or we start shooting!" as he drew his gun and aimed at Travis. Travis grinned, feeling the medigun's healing effects.

"Just try it fuckface!" he retorted and charged. Two of the gang members opened fire. Travis felt the bullet rake into his skin…but no pain. The medigun was keeping him healed even as more shots rained in on him. Travis' grin grew wider as he charged at one of them, who was frantically reloading. In one swift slash, the man's torso flew into the air and landed a few feet from his feet. Travis now turned on the man who had shouted at him, who was still shooting, apparently not getting the message. He charged at him and swung at his head, but the man ducked and fired a shot at his leg. Nothing. Travis felt the thud of it connecting with his limb, but once again, no pain whatsoever. He continued to grin as the man's head left his body with another horizontal slice. Now he turned to the third one… but the third one was gone. He noticed one of the trailer doors was open.

"Damnit… must've gone to get some friends."

"Zat means more trouble for us…" The medic agreed. The third man returned a few moments later with six other men. Each one wore the same dark suits. Three were wielding katana's, two were holding guns and the third was holding a bright red beam katana. The original man was nowhere to be seen.

"Get behind me doc." Travis advised, as the medic switched on his medigun once again. Two of the katana wielding men charged, as the two gun holders opened fire. Once again, Travis felt no pain. So, he concentrated on his two charging opponents instead. Travis easily deflected the blow of the first one and slashed at the second, but he blocked him. Travis was forced back as the second man countered his blow and narrowly missed him. The first man got the jump on Travis and embedded his katana in Travis' shoulder. But no blood poured out. Not a single drop. Travis grinned again.

"Don't you get it fuckface? You can't hurt me!" he cried, slashing at the first man's stomach, watching a waterfall of blood spew out as a result. He turned on the first man again and hacked at him, the medic keeping him healed. What they didn't notice was the man whom Travis had missed, sneaking up behind the medic, wielding a chain. He quickly lassoed it round the medic's neck and brought him back, trying to choke him, and also making him drop his medigun. Travis suddenly felt the pang of pain as more bullets riddled his arms. He cried out and looked for the doctor. He spotted him slowly turning blue as the man was choking him. He began to run to him, but felt the pain as bullets raked over his back, spewing blood from each new wound. He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the pain, rushing to the doctor's aid. The medic saw him coming and quickly spun around, allowing Travis to stab the man in the back. He screamed and fell down, freeing the medic, who quickly reclaimed his medigun and switched it on. Travis felt extreme relief as his wounds were healed, the bullets popping out of his body. He grinned and turned back to the gun weilders, charging head on.

Two heads flew into the air, two corpses crumpled, two bodies hit the floor, two men were dead. Travis looked at the supposed leader, wielding the beam katana. It was then he heard a strange buzzing behind him. He heard the Medic's medigun buzzing behind him, crackling with energy.

"I am fully charged!" he announced with a mad grin. Travis was clueless to what he meant, until he activated his Ubercharge. He felt his body glow with red energy and his eyes went gold. He grinned…this felt good. He felt unstoppable! He took a swipe at his enemy, who quickly blocked, but Travis continued to hack away at him. His opponents beam katana sparked as Travis slashed it in half, causing their leader to flee. But Travis pursued, catching up and eventually dealing the final blow, slicing him through the middle. He looked down and the Ubercharge wore off.

"Doc…"

"Ja?"

"I need to bring you to more of my matches."

A while later, they stopped by Mann co. and bought a key for their crate. The both looked on in anticipation as Travis twisted the key in the lock, and the box fell open. Inside… what was that? It looked like some kind of strange device. Kind of like… a beam katana? Travis raised an eyebrow as he picked up the strange device. He tested his suspicion as he pressed a small button on it. Instantly, the blade erupted from one side. It was long and glowing red. Travis held it in his hands and took a few swings. It felt light, but had a sense of power behind it. The handle was adorned with the Mann co. logo and it also had some weird circular symbol on the other side. The medic was watching wide eyed.

"Zat is the new beam katana Mann co. brought out. Zey call it 'The Elitist." Travis grinned.

"Elitist eh? Sounds useful…" he turned it off and slipped it into his belt. Then he clapped his white coated friend on the back.

"Fancy a drink?"

"I sought you vould never ask!"