Gabriel slowly walked towards Jack, with his blood-covered shotguns in his hands.
Still frozen in shock, Jack looked into Gabriel's eyes, trying to find any sign of the man he once knew. However, all he could see was a look of bloodthirst and no remorse, whatsoever.
And then Jack realized something. Whoever it was that stood before him, it wasn't the same person who he'd fought with, all those years ago. Instead, this was a person, consumed with the desire for revenge, and who didn't care what it took to achieve it. Gabriel was beyond saving, and all Jack could do was to put him down, before he hurt anymore people, in his quest for Jack's death.
Jack let out a sigh, as he opened his eyes, and pointed his rifle at Gabriel, who stopped dead in his tracks, before briefly looking at the weapon being held up against him.
"Finally going to fight your own battles?" Gabriel asked, tauntingly.
"I wish it didn't have to come to this..." Jack started, sounding both sorry and determined. "... but if you're willing to go that far, just to kill me..." Jack then said, as he nodded towards the 5 mutilated corpses behind Gabriel. "... then you need to be put down. Then I need to put you down."
As Jack finished his speech, he looked at Gabriel with a sorrowful look, before adding "I'm... sorry."
For a split second, Gariel's expression changed from murderous, to baffled at the unexpected apology. However, he quickly composed himself, and narrowed his eyes, as he whisperes "Like hell you are."
Gabriel suddenly raised his shotgun, and swiftly fired a shot in Jack's direction. None of them directly hit the Strike Commander, however, he instinctively raised his free hand, to protect his face. When Jack lowered his arm, and opened his eyes, he only managed to see Gabriel's fist before it connected with his face.
Stumbling a few steps back, Jack quickly regained his balance, and looked up to see Gabriel pointing his shotgun at his chest. He reacted out of instinct, and jumped forward, before hitting the surprised Gabriel on the forehead, with his rifle's stock.
Slightly surprised over the sudden assult, Gabriel put his hand over his hurting forehead, before looking at Jack who was pointing his rifle straight at Gabriel.
"Give up already." Jack said, as he looked at Gabriel and saw something. He was much more exhausted than Jack, due to the fight with his squadmembers. If Jack could wear him down, he might not be needing to kill him, here and now.
Though Gabriel was a little tired, his desire for Jack's death was much greater, and made him almost oblivious to his tiredness.
"Never!" Gabriel replied, before taking at shot in Jack's direction. The Strike Commander dodged to the right, since Gabriel was close enough to do real damage, and landed on his knee, before looking up to see Gabriel pointing his other shotgun at him. Reacting quick, Jack pointed his rifle at Gabriel and fired his helix rockets, forcing the slightly tired Blackwatch Commander to dodge.
Gabriel, underestimating the rockets' power, took a too short step to the left, dodging the rockets themselves, however not the blast they made, when they hit the wall behind him. The blast behind him, knocked Gabriel a few meters forward, and threw him off balance, for a few seconds. Enough for Jack to quickly, and accurately, shoot Gabriel's exposed shotguns, rendering them useless.
As Gabriel recovered from the helix rocket's blast, he looked at his shotguns, before throwing them away while mumbling "Useless piece of junk."
He looked up at Jack, who was still pointing his gun at Gabriel, before saying "You want me to kill you, with my own hands? Very well then."
"You're not going to be the one to kill me." Jack responded, before slowly starting to close the distance between him and Gabriel.
"Still think that?" Gabriel asked, seemingly not paying any mind that Jack was coming closer.
"No. I know it." Jack answered, as he was only a few meters away from Gabriel.
Out of nowhere, Gabriel suddenly charged into the Strike Commander, knocking them both onto the ground, as well as Jack's weapon out of Jack's hand.
Suddenly on top of a weapon-less Jack, Gabriel punched him in the face, before grabbing his throat, and squeezing it hard.
Now desperate, Jack tried reaching for his rifle, but it was too far away, so instead he grabbed Gabriel's arms, forced them apart, and headbutted Gabriel's forehead, before placing his feet on the surprised Blackwatch Commader's chest and kicking him off.
Gabriel landed hard on his back, a few meters away from Jack. He quickly looked around, and found Jack's rifle within reach. Thinking about what to do for a second, Gabriel swiftly grabbed Jack's rifle, and reached into his pockets, where he found a grenade, which he activated as he stuck it onto the rifle, and threw it at Jack.
Seeing his rifle coming flying at him, Jack instinctively grabbed it, however when he did so, he heard a beeping which was slowly geting faster and faster.
He turned his rifle around, and saw the grenade ticking down. Once again reacting out of instinct, he threw his rifle away, towards Gabriel. Gabriel, who wasn't prepared to receive the rifle back so quickly, did the only thing he could come up with, and kicked it, mid-air, away from him.
Though Gabriel reacted quickly, he couldn't kick a safe distance away, before the grenade erupted in a fiery explosion, which didn't directly hit anyone. However, the shockwave it sent out hit both of the fighters in the hallway, knocking them into the same wall, a few meters apart, hurting them both. Since Gabriel was closest to the explosion, he was pushed the hardest into the wall, making him go out cold for a few seconds.
Gabriel groggily opened his eyes, and immediately felt a searing pain in the back of his head. He closed his eyes, and let out a sigh, as he reached behind his head, and didn't feel any immediate damage.
Still with his eyes closed, Gabriel put his hands on the ground and tried getting up, however on the way, his head bumbed into something, and he immediately froze, as he slowly opened his eyes, only to see the barrel of a handgun, pointed at his face, and Jack's face behind it.
Gabriel instinctively tried reaching out for his shotguns, however he quickly remembered what happened to them.
The seemingly beaten Blackwatch Commander, realized there was no way for him to get out of this, so he simply lied back down on the floor, and closed his eyes, with another sigh.
Clearly confused at the lack of resistance, Jack asked "You're not going to continue to try and kill me? You're giving up?"
To Jack's surprise, all that question got out of Gabriel was a low chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Jack demanded.
"We've fought together for so many years, Morrison." Gabriel started, in a low voice. "Didn't you ever learn that I never give up? Even in Blackwatch, I approved of all those things because I never give up, no matter the cost."
"Well, what can you possibly do now? You're alone and disarmed." Jack tried, however Gabriel only let out another low chuckle, before answering.
"No. I'm not alone. I told about the one missing member of my squad? The one who remained loyal to me? The one who set up a different solution?" Gabriel said, in a low voice, almost like he was reminiscing.
"Well, what the hell is that solution?" Jack asked, getting tired of Gabriel's cryptic answers, however all he got was a chuckle from Gabriel, and no answer.
"Urgh, fine." Jack said, in an incredibly annoyed voice, as he went over to a nearby console, and contacted the base's security.
"Commander." A male voice said, on the other end of the console. "One of Gabriel's squadmembers didn't show up. Find out where he or she went." He ordered.
"Got it." The voice on the other end said, followed by a few seconds of silence, before he spoke again.
"Found her. A couple of minutes after you sent out the message, she entered the main reactor, and then left again a short minute later."
"The main reactor." Jack mumbled to himself, as he looked over at Gabriel, who still wasn't moving.
"Why would she go there?" Jack continued to mumble.
"I don't know, but I've found something else." The voice said. "Shoot." Jack responded.
"Once she was done in the main reactor, she talked with someone over her wristwatch, before going back to the Blackwatch dropship, and leaving in it." The voice told.
"Wait, what?" Jack suddenly said, as he once again turned towards the console. "You're sure she left in the blackwatch ship?"
"She left in the black one." The voice explained.
"Well then... that's all for now." Jack said, followed by a short "Commander." from the voice, before Jack began walking towards Gabriel.
"Why'd you order her to leave you behind?" Jack asked, when he was a few meters away from Gabriel.
"Because it's what a good leader does, protecting those under his command." Gabriel answered, still just lying on the floor.
"Protect her from what? Your rampage?" Jack asked.
In a swift move, Gabriel suddenly sat up, and looked straight into Jack's eyes, as one of his hands reached into his pockets. Slightly surprised at the sudden move, Jack pointed his gun at him.
"The reactor, powering this entire base." Gabriel said, as a thought suddenly crept inside Jack's head.
"What could a tech specialist, clearly not obeying the one in charge here, do in such a place, that would require her to hastily leave afterwards?" Gabriel continued, and the thought in Jack's head kept growing, as the Strike Commander asked "Did you..."
"I said I would do anything if it meant you got the justice you deserve Morrison." Gabriel cut him off. Jack unexpecdedly heard a beep from inside Gabriel's pocket, before the Blackwatch Commander said "Even if I would die doing so." as he pulled out an activated detonator, confirming Jack's thought that he intended to blow the entire base up.
A/N: And so, another chapter ends, with another cliffhanger. I got feeling that a lot of future chapters will also end with a cliffhanger, but, then again, maybe they don't. Only the future can truly tell. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and I still appreciate reviews.