Zoids: Legacy of an Empire
Chapter IX: The Decision
A/N: For those of you who may be wondering, the story isn't dead.
Matthias City - Republic Base
Stavros was a trained soldier. He saw the gunmen appear and with Blake turned away; there was no way for the young pilot to see the threat. Stavros did what he was trained to do and tackled Blake to the ground to cover him as their assailant opened fire on them.
The shots rang out in rapid succession. Stavros felt three bullets graze him along the arms and leg while two more actually buried themselves into his side. Clenching his teeth at the pain Stavros refused to move until the shots stopped.
Looking up he saw the woman was reloading her pistols and sprang into action. Charging the gun-wielding woman Stavros punched her as hard as he could in the stomach causing her to double over. He didn't stop there however as he followed up the attack by kneeing her in the face. The mask protected the woman from most of the damage but still sent her stumbling backwards.
"Humans can't withstand gunfire. How are still standing?" The woman asked, her voice slightly robotic and echoing.
"Pain and I are old friends. We got back a long time and right now I think it's time I introduced the two of you." Stavros said as he adopted his hand to hand combat stance.
The woman hadn't had time to reload but still held onto her pistols. Stavros could see she intended to use them as bludgeoning devices and smirked. Charging in at the masked woman Stavros fought through the pain of the gunshot wounds and engaged his adversary in combat.
He struck out with a left hook, favoring the arm that hadn't been grazed but the attack was blocked. The woman shifted her weight to absorb the blow as her body moved with the punch before countering with a kick to Stavros' leg. The larger fighter buckled slightly as a sharp pain ran up the limb.
Not to let his opponent control the flow of battle Stavros quickly pinned the woman's leg to his side using his arm and raised his free arm with the intent of breaking her leg. This was not to be however as the woman jumped off her free leg and kicked Stavros in the side of the neck. The angle of the kick was awkward enough that it also struck along the front causing Stavros to go into a coughing fit.
As she dropped to the ground the woman tried to quickly reload her weapons. The pistols were kicked out of her hand by Blake who had recovered from the shock of being shot at and joined the battle. Blake didn't have the same training as Stavros but he knew his way around a fist fight and made sure not to give the woman any breathing room as he quickly mounted her.
From his elevated position on top of the woman Blake began to punch away at her; at least he tried to. The woman was flexible and made use of her unrestrictive clothing by bending her lower body up and wrapping her ankles around Blake's neck before throwing the young man off her.
She was quick to get to her feet but saw that Stavros stood between her and her pistols. Quickly assessing the situation, she turned around and began to run. Stavros went back to grab the guns before handing one to Blake and chasing after the masked woman.
"Stavros you should stay back and cover the exits. With your wounds you'll only bleed out." Blake said as they ran.
The woman was a couple of meters ahead of them and Blake knew they wouldn't catch up if he had to slow down and keep pace with Stavros.
"No can do kid, I'm a soldier and this base belongs to my military. I'm the only one authorized to take her down." Stavros said as he continued to run.
"You're hurt god damn it. Don't try and be a hero!" Blake exclaimed as he stood in front of Stavros to stop him.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Stavros asked as their quarry raced even further ahead.
"If I have to worry about you then you'll end up slowing me down. Stay back and let me handle this!" Blake exclaimed.
Stavros didn't know why Blake was enthused about this given the aloof and somewhat cold nature the teen had shown since arriving.
"Alright damn it. I'll try to make it to the control room and initiate a lockdown. You get her and take her down. If she doesn't come quietly, then take her out." Stavros instructed.
Blake nodded in acknowledgement and ran off down the hall faster than he had been running with Stavros. He soon caught sight of the woman climbing some stairs and opened fire on her with the pistol. He got off three shots before the weapon clicked empty. Swearing to himself for forgetting that he had stopped the woman from reloading Blake took off running after her again.
The woman looked down the stairs and saw her pursuer but instead of continuing to climb she got off on a landing and ran off. Blake reached the same landing a few minutes later and began to proceed cautiously. The base was designed in such a way that you could get from the main area to any other section by using different landings within the transfer section of the building.
"You might as well come out. I already know this landing doesn't lead to an exit." Blake called out.
Inching forward Blake tried to locate the hidden person. Suddenly he was struck from behind and landed face first on the ground. Scrambling to his feet Blake turned and saw the masked woman looking at him. The expression in her eyes displayed curiosity as she tilted her head to one side as if questioning his existence in front of her.
"You are not the fighter. Who are you, child?" The woman asked, completely relaxed.
"Why don't you give me your name first?!" Blake cried out as he charged in at the stranger.
Punching out with a flurry of jabs Blake tried to hit the woman. She side stepped his assault with ease and avoided his punches with dancelike motions. Blake wouldn't let up however and pulled back for a powerful straight punch. As he released the attack the woman spun into his chest before grabbing his arm and using his own forward momentum to throw the young pilot over her shoulder.
Blake hit the ground hard before bouncing once and rolling off to the side. Standing up he saw that the woman was standing with her arms loosely folded over her abdomen. She wasn't even taking him seriously. Clenching his teeth Blake rushed her once more.
He struck out with a right jab. She deflected the attack with her left hand and countered with a jab to his face. Blake then tried a left jab. This was deflected with her right hand and she countered with a swift left hook. As the blow struck Blake felt his jaw bend to the breaking point.
He didn't go down but the attack definitely stunned him. Before he could recover the woman was on him. A swift short uppercut to his stomach was followed by a blinding right hook that linked into a backhanded blow across his face. The attacks were so quick his brain didn't even register the pain until the left fist came into play and struck him twice before he was backhanded to the ground.
Blake writhed on the ground as the masked woman just stared down at him tilting her head from left to right as she inspected him.
"See, not a fighter. You should have stayed back. The fighter should have come." The woman commented as she turned to walk away.
Blake knew the smart thing to do was to lay down but he was angry. She was looking down on him as a person.
"Minx!" Blake cried out at the top of his voice.
There was a loud yowl heard before a beam of light crashed through the roof and landed next to Blake.
"Oh, you have an organoid as well?" the woman asked looking back to examine Minx.
"Minx get her!" Blake commanded
Minx wasn't big, roughly the size of a puma. Its metal was dark brown with a green tint within. Claws sprouted from its paws as it leapt at the female. Baring its teeth the organoid tried to swipe the masked woman with its claws but she avoided the attack. Blake got to his feet as Minx attacked the woman.
Positioning himself for an ambush upon the woman Blake sprinted and pulled back his right arm and keeping his left in front of him for balance. This maneuver turned into the young pilots down fall as the masked woman turned to intercept him. Leaping into the air the woman caught Blake's arm between her legs.
The sudden extra weight forced Blake to the ground. From her position on the ground the woman locked Blake in an armbar and began pulling the limb. Blake cries of pain were so intense that Minx stopped dead in its tracks.
"Send it away." The woman commanded keeping her eyes on the organoid.
"Never." Blake spat back defiantly.
"Fine." The woman answer before applying more pressure and breaking Blake's arm.
The audible snap as the bones broke actually echoed slightly but were drowned out by Blake's yelling. Letting the teenager go, the woman stood up and watched as he squirmed and writhed around on the ground, cradling his arm.
From above the woman heard the sounds of aerial zoids. Turning towards the stairs she began running up towards the roof of the building leaving Blake to deal with his pain alone. The woman made it to the roof in minutes and saw a silver stormsworder had landed on the building.
Standing next to one of the zoid's legs was a man and next to him an organoid. She knew it was an organoid even though it had the shape of a person. Both the man and the organoid was muscular and heavy built but the organoid had a slight imbalance with its left arm being smaller than its right.
"You're in a bit of a jam here Malyganya." The man said as alarms began to sound.
"You are not my extraction team." Malyganya said, her tone even and unsurprised at the development.
"No, no I am not. I had to make them vacate the area so that your only choice was to come with me or get captured here." The man explained.
"Very well then, I'll come with you." Malyganya stated immediately.
The man was surprised and it showed on his face. Malyganya walked over to him and grabbed the line that would bring her up to the stormsworder's cockpit.
"Are you going to stand around or are we going to get going?" she asked
"You didn't even ask who I am or what I'm doing. You just agreed to come with me, a stranger." The man said looking to his organoid.
"I have no time to waste. You are obviously here for me and as you put it, you are my only way out of here. So if we are going somewhere then we need to go, now." Malyganya stated and the man could hear it in her voice that she didn't care how she got out as long as she did.
Having her join might just be the greatest achievement ever. He thought to himself as he grabbed the line and brought them both up to the cockpit. Once they were situated inside the organoid fused into the zoid's core and they took off.
"So to get the introductions out of the way, I'm Khyron Saggaff. I'm part of a certain organization that deals in high stakes zoid battles." Khyron introduced himself.
"The Backdraft Organization." Malyganya stated as they flew.
"Correct. Our records show you've encountered our forces quite a few times and each time you've won." Khyron continued.
"The matches were more exciting but the pilots were weak." Malyganya commented.
"Exactly so we've found a pilot who we believe would give you the best combat experience. We of the Backdraft Organization want you two to fight to your hearts content." Khyron explained.
"Is this pilot really strong?" Malyganya asked, finally removing her mask.
"Yes, I believe he is." Khyron answered.
"Bring me to him."
Matthias City – The following day
Stavros opened his eyes slowly to the steady sound of beeping. Looking around he saw that he was in a hospital room. Bonnibel was at his side, head resting on his stomach from the chair she was sitting in.
"Hey Bonnie." The man managed to croak out while nudging the woman.
Bonnibel woke up and smiled as tears ran down her face.
"Stavros, thank goodness you're ok." She cried out as she wrapped her arms around Stavros' neck.
"What happened?" Stavros asked.
"The Backdraft Organization attacked the city. They claimed it was because they were bored." Bonnibel explained.
Backdraft is claiming responsibility for this? Bullshit, that woman was trained. No way she was just some backdraft foot soldier. She has to be connected to the Empire in some way. Stavros thought angrily to himself.
"The news in wrong. It wasn't Backdraft. The Empire was behind this attack. I fought the intruder and she was trained well. She was able to take me on in combat." Stavros stated.
"Yea but only because you were wounded. Besides there are eyewitness claims of various Backdraft Organization zoids being spotted. Maybe you just ran into one of their leaders." Bonnibel said.
There was silence as the two of them thought over what had happened. Suddenly Bonnibel sighed and stood up. Stavros looked at the woman with a confused expression on his face.
"Bonnie?" he asked trying to read her expression.
"You're going to try and find the person who did this to you, aren't you?" Bonnibel asked.
Stavros looked down at his hands before clenching them into fists.
"She's dangerous and an enemy to the Republic." Stavros said, mostly under his breath.
"You left the army Stavros. Don't do this!" Bonnibel exclaimed.
"Bonnie…" Stavros let her nickname trail off as her tear filled eyes glared at him.
"Don't you 'Bonnie' me Stavros Gannicus. If you make this decision. If you go after her then know that I am done with you, for good." Bonnibel stated taking the engagement ring Stavros had given her off and holding it out to him.
Stavros looked at the ring and then at Bonnibel. She had given him an ultimatum and now the decision to stay or go became a lot harder.
A/N: you know the deal, let me hear your thoughts.
