A/N: Now for the Climax of Simon's Quest for Revenge. -CC
Rewritten: 29/01/15
Chapter 12: A Fight for Revenge and Survival. Simon's PoV:
The Bullhead doors opened and before us silhouetted in the sunset was a large once abandoned city that was now aflame as Warhead gunships strafed buildings and hundreds of Atlesian Knights and Black Fist troopers were storming the outskirts. We on the other hand were hovering over an area towards the centre of a snow covered park in the middle of the city.
"Ok people lets go, go, go!" Gregory bellowed, once again taking charge of us as he leaped out of the open door down into the snow.
I followed out second taking my place beside Gregory "Ok mate, where are we off to first?" I asked as i raked the bolt on my weapon.
"Carvel tasked us to sweep towards the centre of the city to try and take out the Fang's leadership structure seeing as our informant also provided a layout of the city. Ok now follow me, and keep your radios on" Gregory whispered as he began jogging towards the city. It took us all of five minutes to run into trouble, a party of about 10 White Fang running ammo to their comrades manning the defences came across our path.
"Oh crap, open fire!" Gregory yelled as he lifted his trusty rifle. I stepped forward and hosed the entire area down with Vindex Umbra as the ammo bearers ducked for cover and their escorts tried in vain to cut us down, the few rounds they managed to get off either missed or were absorbed by our auras. This first fight was over within a minute without us withstanding a single scratch.
As we continued to run through the town, we saw several families: unarmed women and children huddled in the rubble of buildings bombed out by the Warheads, the only reason we didn't cut them down was due to the limitations on our ammo and time supplies.
I looked around and up nervously as we walked down and alleyway "I don't trust this." I whispered to Gregory moments before several previously covered windows on both sides of the street swung open and White Fang snipers popped out taking snapshots at us. We all dived for cover, suddenly pinned down by the fire.
"Oh this is just great, anyone got any Ideas?" Alex called out from behind a snow covered pile of rubble.
"Well we could call in the Warheads and bomb those buildings into oblivion?" I suggest, wanting to see some heavy duty explosions up close and personal.
"Sorry Simon, We don't have comms with the Warheads, we're currently on our own." Gregory replied sheepishly, which earned him a smack over the head from me.
"Well then, Gregory... you and me will attack the left side buildings, while the rest of you clear the right side. we will meet at the end of this goddamned street!" I yelled as I raised my aura and charged up before diving into the nearest building on the left side of the street.
Gregory joined me a moment later, his rifle slung over his back and his flame gauntlets and daggers out and ready, Gregory led the way up through the building, checking each room for the snipers. Eventually making it to the higher levels we heard several voices as well as shots from weapons. Slowly we worked out way to the door, Gregory raised three fingers and counted down. Upon hitting 0 he bashed through the door and let rip with his flame gauntlets, dousing the entire area in dust fuelled flames. followed by me who shot down the currently burning snipers... a mercy really.
Gregory and I continued in this same patter through every building along the street, despite the fact most buildings were empty we weren't willing to take the chance of getting ambushed. Upon reaching the end of the street we regrouped with the others, I noticed a decent sized gash on Alex's forehead.
"What happened to you Alex? something get the jump on you?" I asked with a chuckle.
The reply came from Sarah "The dunce wasn't looking where he was going and decided to head butt an iron bar that was hanging out of a ceiling" she said in her normal sing song voice. I looked at my teammate and merely rolled my eyes.
"I suggest we move from building to building via the roofs, Snipers will have a harder time hitting us as we run across them." Levi suggested, trying to avoid another round of time consuming building clearing.
I shrugged indifferently and Gregory sighed, not looking forward to having to haul his bulky frame over rooftops "Oh all right, let's go people" he said as he reluctantly pulled himself up and we crossed into the next street before ascending one of the buildings and beginning to leap from rooftop to rooftop. our progress sped up immensely despite there still being sporadic sniper fire in our direction, however the bulk of the White Fang troops were in the outskirts confronting the main assault.
It took all of 30 minutes to traverse several blocks and reach the area that the informant had said contained the Headquarters of the White Fang in Atlas. We were laying prone on a rooftop looking down on what had once been the local council chambers, the area was surrounded by armed White Fang soldiers and even a few Atlesian Knight-130's that had no doubt been pilfered from the facilities and trains they had raided 'No wonder the SDC and Atlesian Arms want us to eradicate the White Fang for them' I thought to myself, in a moment of reflection on what Kruger had said about us being controlled and manipulated and mislead by the major corporations.
I snapped myself out of my private thoughts and tuned back into what Gregory was saying. "Ok In about three minutes the Warheads will make a scheduled strafing run of the courtyard and bomb the building itself, our job will be to kill anything that is left moving after that. No fancy heroics, don't put yourselves at risk, one lost teammate is enough for one campaign." He said wearily.
Upon hearing Ben's death being referenced, Alex shot me an angry glare obviously blaming me for his friend's death. That glare stabbed right though my heart... what little of it remained that is. Right on queue four Warheads came through and unleashed a hail of bombs and Gatling gun fire into the area below us, Once the smoke cleared we saw that the courtyard was now littered with mangled battle mechs and dismembered bodies as well as a few disorientated survivors and that the council chambers had massive holes blown into it and had begun to catch fire.
"Charge!" Gregory yelled as he leaped from the building's roof and barrel rolled into the snow, regaining his feet within a moment. I looked back to my other teammates and spied Levi and Sarah steal a momentary kiss before we all jumped together to join Gregory.
As I hit the ground and rolled out of my fall, I swung Vindex Umbra up to my hip and took aim with the laser aiming device fixed to it. I saw one of the Atlesian Knights begin to get up, I didn't let it as I pumped a good 25 or so rounds into it before scanning around for more targets but finding none. The five of us stacked up on the front door with me surprise surprise on point, I swung around into the door way to be confronted with a pair of Atlesian Knights. On instinct I let loose with my weapon, emptying nearly 100 rounds into the hallway riddling both mechs with bullet holes.
The others took the lead from me as I changed cartridge pouches for my weapon "Simmo, try not to be so jumpy... we only have so much ammunition for you to blow away like that." Gregory called back. as he readied his gauntlets for action. There were very few survivors in the upper levels due to the bombs and none after we had found them, but as we progressed down we found an entrance to a subterranean area.
"Guess we're going to be 6ft under prematurely?" I said in a half hearted idea of a joke, which earned me several eye rolls, another death stare from Alex and a clip across the head from Gregory before he led the way into the lower levels.
It was dark, but we could hear a lot of voices as well as sounds of smashing and as well as paper shredders and the smell of burning paper. "Seems they are trying to destroy evidence before we get our hands on it! We must hurry." Levi whispered as he took the lead: his SMG/Tomahawks raised as he entered the first set of offices, finding and gunning down several clerks and officers. As we continued our sweep of the bunker we eventually found a large operations room filled with the most high ranking White Fang officials. Gregory fired a shot off into the air which got everyone's attention, guns and swords were raised to us by clerks and officers who hadn't tasted a real fight in years. Gregory, Levi and I simply laughed right at their faces.
An older man who had horns like a bull stood up with a large axe pointed at us "Attack my brothers and sisters... FOR THE FANG... FOR FAUNUS EVERYWHERE!"He bellowed as he charged us, being joined by the dozens of other Faunus in the room.
I let rip with Vindex Umbra, gunning down several Faunus before one got close enough to take a swipe with a sword at me which caused me to back flip to avoid the strike and to give me time to swap my weapon to its bladed mode and to detach the cartridge pouch.
Charging back at the Faunus which took another horizontal swipe at me, I lunged to the right charged straight in, leading with my shoulder which knocked the Faunus off their balance which allowed me to plunge one of my weapon's blades into their back, right where the spine was. Satisfied that this Faunus wasn't getting back up I charged into the fray, cutting and slashing at anything that moved without engaging any one enemy in particular.
Until i came back to back with Gregory. "Just like old times aye Gregory, I still owe you for saving my life... let's see if I can repay that debt today!" I yelled before charging off again to attack another officer, catching him by surprise and taking off both his legs at the knee with a horizontal sweep and plunging a blade right through his heart. The fight raged on for all of about 10 minutes until only the axe wielding general who had ordered his men to attack us was left, bleeding, battered and disarmed... in more ways than one.
The General spoke, his tone dripping with venom "You think you have won some magnificent victory here? No, all you have achieved is your own destruction, The White Fang will rebuild and when we do it will be bigger, better and more adaptable to you corporate cronies and nothing, especially not a group of kids will stop us!" He finished off by spitting at Alex, Alex simply strode up to him and punched him fair in the jaw.
Gregory trudged over and grabbed the general by the scruff of the neck and gagged him with a torn piece of his uniform "Now we have what we came here for, I'll signal Carvel for a pick up." With that he began pushing and shoving our new prisoner back the way we had come, upon reaching the surface once more we hid in the rubble and waited for a Bullhead to pick us and the prisoner up.
As we heard the whine of the Bullhead engines coming in to pick us up I did one last scan of the area before boarding and that is when I saw it, on the far side of the courtyard was him, for the first time in three years I had Schwarzer right in front of me.
I didn't hesitate for a moment I knelt down into a sprinters start, Vindex Umbra in blade mode held across my back and I took off after him my Aura glowing blood red as I charged Schwarzer who merely took off in the opposite direction. "COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD! FIGHT ME DAMMIT!" I screamed as I once gave chase putting everything I could into catching him completely ignoring my teammates cries for me to stop or the battle raging around me. I chased him through several sectors of the town before I saw him run up a toppled obelisk that formed a ramp onto a flat topped three storey building.
I smirked 'Big mistake cockbite, you're trapped up there!' and I charged up the obelisk, front flipping towards the end onto the building. Landing in a crouched position ready to charge. Looking ahead I see Schwarzer standing there, not even bothering to draw his katana.
"I see you decided to join me where there is nowhere to run or hide... how foolish of you. Isn't this just such a wonderful view... the first real battle Remnant has seen since Ruben Field in Vale two years ago, such a wonderful view for this wonderful event, when I finally finish a job that should never taken me more than three hours, not three years." He said in a confident manner drawing his katana with a series of flourishes. I didn't respond to his taunts, my fury channelled into my Aura as i prepared to charge him.
Schwarzer simply stood there as I charged in, low and my weapon held perpendicular to my body across my body. As I approached him I kicked off the ground and flipped above Schwarzer, twirling my weapon in my hands so it was vertical and plunged it downwards towards the top of his skull, only for him to vanish like smoke and reappear a few feet away. I was surprised enough that I forgot to put my feet out to land, instead landing in a heap. I flipped myself straight back up and charged in again with a diagonal slash which Schwarzer dodged with a simple back flip and drew a pistol from a shoulder holster, firing several shots which I either dodged or absorbed with my aura.
Schwarzer chuckled flourished his Katana "Come on, you call that fighting? My daughter can do better than that!" he goaded. I growled and once more leaped in, this time my staff's forward blade crossing with his Katana. I began pushing forward, lashing out with several strikes before sweeping low at Schwarzer's knees with a kick. upon missing I looked Vindex Umbra's shaft against my side and reversed the direction of my spin and put all my weight into a sweeping slash at his midsection, Only as I turned to be met with a savage boot to my face which sent me flying across the roof top. I hit the raised side of the roof top luckily my aura absorbed the hit. Shaking my head in anger I hauled myself and reset my fighting stance my weapon held horizontally on my left side with my right hand forward, left hand towards the rear.
I eyed down a now laughing Schwarzer "Oh Simon, how have you lived so long and been such a thorn in my side with such a horrible technique? no wonder so many of your recruits die on their trial if you are the standard they are trained to!" I knew he was goading me but I simply saw red at my fallen comrades being belittled in such a way.
I let loose a blood curdling scream and ran at him, making a feint with my blade but instead shoulder charging him, smacking him square in the face which knocked him off balance. I pushed my advantage and began several whirling blows to utilise both of my staff's blades and to hit high, low and midsection. I unleashed the full fury of my aura, allowing it to augment my strength and push Schwarzer back towards the edge of the building, hoping to push him off to his well deserved death. I kept cutting, slashing and stabbing, inching Schwarzer ever closer to the edge until he eventually was against the raised side. With a scream I lunged at him once more as I thrust my blade towards him, only for him to jump up as to make my thrust miss low, as he came down he landed and flipped off my weapon and landed behind me. I lost my balance and nearly went careening off the building myself, suddenly I found myself cornered and my advantage lost. Schwarzer began assaulting me, aiming for my limbs trying to dismember me slowly.
As he came in for a downward slash I barrel rolled out of the way and then lunged into a series of front flips taking me to the opposite side of the roof top. I felt my aura draining quickly from the amount of exertion just to survive against his few yet punishing attacks let alone what I spent in my assaults onto him.
I stood there huffing eyeing off Schwarzer who smirked triumphantly "I think it is time we ended this don't you, your amateurish attacks have lost their comedic value on me." He said simply before charging me, not to be outdone I summoned as much strength as I could and charged in to meet him. We exchanged several blows, I managed to land a few but his aura merely absorbed them like they weren't anything. Slowly he wore me down, I felt my aura stretching to breaking point until eventually as he landed a diagonal cut with the forked tip of his katana to my face it gave out an I caught the full force of the blow, which left a pair of deep cuts over my right eye stretching from my eyebrows to my lower jaw he then connected a roundhouse kick to my ribs, of which I felt several crack and which sent me flying again into the raised side of the building, which gashed the back of my head.
Slowly Schwarzer who so confident in victory lowered his protective aura advanced upon me and spoke in a tone so condescending it put Roman to shame. "You actually thought this fight would result in anything but your death? stupid, stupid kid... I have been fighting for longer than you have been alive and you have the gall to challenge me? Well I got news for you...merely having a flame for revenge doesn't mean victory against someone who is leagues ahead of you in combat ability!" By this time he was basically right on top of me and he raised his katana in preparation for his killing blow... a blow which never came. For Schwarzer's torso quite literally exploded in his liver and right lung areas, a moment later two loud gunshots boomed over... seems I had two guardian snipers to thank later.
I slowly hauled myself up onto my feet and picked up Schwarzer's Katana before standing over his still living form "You're right, merely having a cause such as revenge won't mean victory... but having friends who share in that cause certainly do help, as you just found out. This is for my humanity and for my parents you motherfucker!" I said as I plunged it deep into his heart.
I collapsed to my knees, still gripping the sword... tears flowing freely from my eyes as I screamed into the twilight sky "It's over, It is finally over... I did it, I finally brought justice and retribution to those who killed you" I spoke softly to my parents, despite them being long since dead. I stood and picked up Vindex Umbra and collapsed it back into its travel mode.
Before leaving the rooftop I searched Schwarzer's body finding only one personal item: A photo of Schwarzer and what i assumed to be his daughter which I pocketed. I gingerly made my way towards the edge of the rooftop, only to be met by the hum of engines as a Bullhead pulled up alongside, carrying Gregory and my team as well as Kale and Shauno.
"We thought you could use a lift, before your stubborn... holy fucking hell what happened to your face!" Gregory exclaimed, seeing the deep cuts and bruises on my face. I didn't respond, I just jumped into the Bullhead and slumped into a corner. I could feel the blackness of unconsciousness closing in, before it consumed me however I withdrew the photo I had taken from Schwarzer, looking it over I saw a small caption with my last ounce of strength before I slipped under I read it: Loving Father and Loyal Daughter... Schwarzer and Blake Belladonna.
A/N: BOOM have a plot twist... that is all - CC Signing off.