Chapter 13

Assault on the black site

Ariela followed Sam to the location of the black site. Hardly a surprise as they saw it was a heavily guarded SplinterCell facility that was crawling with security and protected by guard towers.

"This is the place that I tracked those bastards too," said Sam, "as you can plainly see, it's heavily guarded. I would've gone in to take out Wesley myself, but as I'm sure you've already noticed… They'd overpower me in seconds."

Ariela looked out into the distance.

"Terrell, how many do you see?" she asked.

Terrell pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked over at the black site.

"I see at least a good twenty-five commandos. Standard-class, and gunners in the towers," said Terrell, "I'm no strategist Ariela… But from my standpoint, these bastards have us outnumbered and outgunned three to one."

Ariela smiled.

"Quindi è una lotta regolare (Then it's an even fight)," said Ariela, "get your grappling hooks, go for the nearest tower."

Corrie, Ryan, and Terrell loaded their grappling hooks and fired at the closest gun tower before they zipped over to it. Ariela prepared to load her grappling hook when she felt a sharp pain in her head and groaned. Almost instantly, she saw a memory flash before her eyes.

"Maybe we should commandeer one of those banshees, so we can get a boost to our firepower, eh?"

"Way ahead of you."

When she saw herself take to the air, the memory faded. Ariela shook her head.

"…I can… I can fly?" she thought.

"Hey, lady… Are you okay or something?" asked Sam.

Ariela looked at Sam.

"Take my hand Sam," she said.

"Excuse me?" asked Sam.

Ariela rolled her eyes and pulled Sam in close to her.

"Hang on," she said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you-"

But Ariela already flew over to the gun tower, and just in time as her team had neutralized the gunner and engineer. Ryan turned, and his eyes widened as he saw Ariela and Sam land in the gun tower.

"Don't tell me you're actually surprised to see that I can actually fly, Ryan," Ariela said with a smug grin.

Ryan didn't reply.

"Well, we're here, now what?" asked Terrell.

Ariela charged up a powerful kinetic burst and hurled it at the gun tower to the right, destroying it.

"We have fun," she said.

Ariela flipped over the railing of the tower and landed safely. As she rose to her feet, she saw scores of SplinterCell commandos turn their gaze on her.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed one commando.

"That's Reverb!" a second commando pointed out.

"Open fire!" barked a third commando.

Ariela's teammates dropped down right beside her.

"Don't play nice with these chumps, kill them all," ordered Ariela.

"Haha! I was hoping you would say that," said Ryan.

Ryan pulled out his M4 and started spraying at the SplinterCell soldiers; Corrie joined not even a few seconds later, popping off bullet after bullet. Terrell followed Ariela into the fray, the latter, who was deflecting a storm of machine gun fire that came her way.

"Shit, it's not a Reverb Assassin! It's Ghost! It's Ghost!" one of the commandos cried out.

Ariela jumped and drove her katana into the closest commando, before drawing her magnum and shooting two more commandos in the head and killing them. Ariela pulled out her katana and swung, slicing off the barrel of another commando's M4 before kicking him in the side of the head and sending his friend flying with a kinetic burst.

Terrell stuck close, firing off one shell after another as he took down any commandos that Ariela missed, all while throwing a few kinetic bursts of his own and either maiming or killing his targets. On the far side of the facility, Ryan and Corrie were working in tandem, firing off a quick burst of bullets from their weapons as they struck down numerous SplinterCell commandos left and right with deadly accuracy.

"Ryan!" Corrie called out as she shoved Ryan over behind a parked truck.

Ryan ducked down as he heard chain gun going off, riddling their cover with bullets.

"I think we forgot about the other gun towers," said Corrie.

"You don't say," said Ryan.

Suddenly, a red kinetic burst flew overhead and hit the gun tower, causing it to go up in a cataclysmic explosion. Corrie and Ryan turned and saw Sam walk over to them, what's more, he had a red aura pulsating from his body.

"What in the blazes…" Corrie started to say.

"What? Don't tell me your boss didn't tell you that she and I are the same," he said with a smirk.

Suddenly, nearly all the commandos who were engaged with Ryan and Corrie, turned their guns on Sam.

"It's Subject 20! Kill him!" barked the squad leader.

The commandos opened fire. Sam powered up and took to the air, before charging up an energy ball and hurling it right in front of the soldiers, causing them to jump back in shock. Ryan and Corrie, seeing that Sam gave them a window, immediately opened fire on the shocked commandos and killing at least several of them. Sam smiled and dropped to the ground, before rising to his feet and hurling one energy ball after another at the SplinterCell forces, killing one commando after another.

Suddenly, the third gun tower opened fire on the trio, catching Sam's attention and causing him to generate a forcefield around himself, Corrie and Ryan.

"Whoa… This kid's good," said Corrie.

Meanwhile, Ariela and Terrell were in a fight inside of the last gun tower.

"You should've just surrendered when you had the chance, traitor," hissed the tower gunner.

"I'm no fucking traitor," hissed Ariela, "Persephone is!"

With a duck, a dodge, and another duck, Ariela countered the gunner's next punch, before kicking him in the knee and causing his left leg to become bent. The gunner cried out in pain and started to fall out of the tower when, Ariela kicked him in the face three times, grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him into his teammate.

"Terrell," said Ariela.

Terrell charged up a kinetic burst and hurled it at the gunner and engineer, causing them to go flying out of the tower and fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"Nice," Ariela said as she high fived Terrell.

Together, the two Technomancers jumped out of the tower, with Ariela turning around while mid-fall and hurling a kinetic burst at the tower, destroying it in the process. Ariela turned around again and rolled across the ground when she landed before jumping to her feet as she quickly recovered from her fall.

"Freeze!" someone barked.

Ariela turned her head and saw a pair of SplinterCell Lancers approach, their lances drawn, and their shields activated.

"Hands above your heads," ordered the first lancer.

Ariela smiled.

"Okay, but only because you asked," she said.

Ariela raised her hand and hurled a burst at the first lancer, knocking him to the ground.

"What the-"

But the second lancer was cut off as Terrell charged and jump kicked him in the chest, then immediately followed up his first strike with a backflip kick, sending the man stumbling to the ground. Terrell stuck the landing and got in a ready stance.

"I didn't take you for a fighter," said Ariela.

"Don't always judge a book by its cover, Ariela," Terrell said with a wink.

As Ariela and Terrell engaged the lancers, Sam, Corrie and Ryan were still in a firefight.

"We can't take those bastards out with that fucking gun tower pissing rounds at us," said Ryan.

"Leave that to me," said Sam.

Sam powered up and charged into the storm.

"Sam no!" Corrie cried out.

"It's Subject 20, get him!" a commando barked.

Sam smirked and jumped, knocking the closest commando back with a shoulder tackle before wrestling his M4 out of his hands and shooting him dead. Sam ducked, rolled, and dodged as he fired a quick burst of rounds at the commandos every five steps or so; before finally taking the M4 and throwing it at another close commando and taking off towards the gun tower in front of him.

"Is it me, or did I see him take at least a several direct shots and he's still not down?" asked Corrie.

"He must've tapped into his Spark so that way he could tank the hits," said Ryan, "not bad."

Sam jumped up onto the gun tower and made his way onto the gun platform, where he was faced with the gunner and engineer.

"Sup boys," he said.

The engineer went for his shotgun, but Sam jumped and punched him in the jaw, before grabbing him and throwing him into the gunner, who was about to flank Sam. Sam then grabbed the engineer's shotgun and struck him in the side of the head with it, before taking aim and shooting him while he was dazed, killing him dead. Before Sam could turn his attention away from his fallen opponent, the gunner jumped and punched him in the face, knocking him back into the railing off the gun tower and causing him to drop the shotgun in the process.

"Bub… That's a mistake you won't live to make twice," Sam growled as he powered up.

Back with Ariela and Terrell, the Technomancer's appeared to be… Struggling with the lancers.

"These guys are really tanking up," Ariela thought as she got in a ready stance again.

Ariela drew her sword and jumped at her opponent, swinging her sword and slamming it against his shield repeatedly, forcing the lancer on his backfoot as he weathered her onslaught. When Ariela struck again, the lancer parried and went for an overhead struck, but Ariela jumped back and sheathed her blade, before flying forward and drawing her weapon with lightning fast speed. The lancer gasped and screamed as he dropped to his knees. Blood started to hit the ground.

"My arm! You fucking bitch, you cut my arm off!" he snapped.

Ariela swung her blade through the lancer's neck, silencing him.

"That's iaido bitch," said Ariela.

Ariela kicked the man down and his head popped off and rolled a few inches away from the body. Ariela turned her attention towards the last lancer, who was fighting Terrell.

"They both seem evenly matched," she thought, "I guess I'll leave Terrell to-"

Suddenly, Ariela took to the air as a hail of machinegun bullets came flying at her. She turned her head and saw the gunner inside of the tower on the far side, had her dead in his sights. The gunner raised the gun turret upward and opened fire, on Ariela, forcing her to land.

"Fine, I'll head over there on foot," she thought as she took off.

The gunner opened fire again, unleashing another barrage. Ariela drew her sword and started deflecting the rounds with lighting fast speed as she drew closer and closer to her destination. At the same time, a small squad of the remaining commandos were on approach, unleashing a hailstorm of gunfire from their M4s.

"Get the hell out of the way!" she roared.

Ariela, jumped and performed a full 360 spin as she flourished her sword around herself, slicing through all five commandos and dropping them before she came to a quick stop and took to the air. Ariela sheathed her blade and hurled a kinetic burst, destroying the tower and killing the gunner and engineer.

"That's how we-"

"TRAITOR!" someone barked.

Ariela turned and saw a SplinterCell Ranger standing a few feet away. He didn't seem happy to see her. Ariela got in a ready stance while the ranger tossed his M4 on the ground and drew his melee weapon, an arc blade, and brandished it as he got in a ready stance as well.

"A VT-57 standard arc blade," thought Ariela, "practical… But nothing compared to the AC models."

The ranger charged and jumped, thrusting his weapon forward and contacted Ariela's as she brought it up and blocked the attack. When the ranger swung again, the two locked blades and glared at each other.

"You should've stayed hidden," hissed the ranger.

"You gave me a reason to come out of the shadows," growled Ariela.

Ariela shoved the ranger back and retaliated, lashing out with a flurry of lightning fast strikes and flourishing slash attacks. The ranger buckled down and weathered each hit before parrying Ariela's last hit and countering with a kick to her chest.

"Something's not right, this ranger's speed and timing with his reflexes seems way too perfect," Ariela thought as she started trading blows with her opponent again.

When the ranger went for a sweeping slash, Ariela evaded, spinning over the ranger's blade and following it up with a spinning kick to his back, causing him to stumble forward. When the ranger turned, Ariela struck him in the face with her blade hilt. The ranger retaliated with a spin kick, followed by a second spin kick, both of which that Ariela ducked and avoided. When she stood upright, the ranger elbowed her in the face and caused her to stumble back.

"…Strong hits… Incredible speed and perfectly timed reflexes… There's something definitely wrong here," thought Ariela.

The two combatants started trading blows again, their strikes started to get faster and heavier. When their swords slammed into each other one last time, the two slid backward from the impact. Ariela slowly rose to her feet, the ranger did the same.

"…There's no doubt about it, son of a bitch is a Technomancer," thought Ariela, "and if he's a Technomancer, that means he's one of the lost children from the program… Except now he's been made into a weapon."

Ariela readied herself for the next round.

"Very well…" she thought as she powered up to her full strength, "czas na poważne (time to get serious)."

The ranger powered up as well and the two charged at each other again, when they met in the middle, Ariela lashed out with two heavy strikes before quickly sheathing her blade as the ranger broke off the engagement. When they came at each other again, Ariela drew her sword in a flash and delivered two more heavy strikes and sheathed her blade again; obvious signs that she was using Iaido combat.

"Try to follow me," she thought.

Ariela and the ranger started to move faster, they darted from one part of the kill zone to the next until they took their fight to the air. Ariela gritted her teeth as she and her opponent started to match each other, strike for strike, until their last hits winded up leaving them disarmed. The two combatants watched as their weapons fell to the ground before they turned their attention back at one another. Ariela smirked and rolled her shoulders.

"…Let's settle this kobieta do mężczyzny (woman to man)," she thought.

Ariela and the ranger got in a ready stance. Things were about to get even more serious. In a flash, Ariela locked their arms together.

Game on…

Ariela and the ranger started trading lightning fast punch and kick combinations as they flew through the air. Though the ranger was properly trained by some of SplinterCell's most elite combat instructors, Ariela was a battle-hardened veteran, which meant she had another advantage.

"And I doubt this boy's even seen combat!" she thought.

With a parry, Ariela turned and kicked the ranger in the stomach, before sending him falling to the ground with a knuckle hammer. Ariela flew down to the ground and landed right in front of the ranger, who jumped to his feet and started trading punches with Ariela, before she parried his next jab, sprung forward and drove her knee into his stomach, then she struck him in his shoulders with a double knife strike and kicked him in the face; then she brought him down with a leg sweep.

Ariela moved away, via backflip and got ready again. The ranger jumped to his feet and charged, he drew his knife.

"DIE!" he roared.

Ariela smirked under her helmet. As the ranger swung, Ariela disarmed him with a backflip. When she stuck the landing, Ariela swung her right arm out to the side and her arm blade shot out. Using her Spark, she jumped forward.

SLASH!

HURK!

The ranger felt the cold steel blade slice through his carotid artery, he put his hand to his wound and dropped to his knees, feeling the blood start to run down his neck, fast. Ariela kicked the ranger in the back of the head, causing his head to fly off and hit the ground. When she saw his face, Ariela felt a sharp pain in her heart. The ranger… Was young. Sixteen to eighteen at the most. He had scruffy black hair, brown eyes, and freckles on his face.

"…D-Dammit… C-C-Captain Martin… H-He said that I would be… Be able t-to beat… you…" he said faintly.

Ariela gasped and raced over to the boy.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she cried out as she cradled him in his arms, "no, no, no, please… Please. Kid… Kid! Kid don't do this stay with me…! Kid...!"

But there was no pulse… No response… He was gone. Ariela was devastated.

"No…" she sobbed, "…NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ariela and the rest of the team raced over to her as they heard her cries. Corrie gasped.

"Oh shit…" murmured Ryan.

Ariela set the boy down and rose to her feet. Everyone watched as she charged up a kinetic burst and hurled it at the wall of the facility, leaving a large hole in it. Ariela looked over at the ranger's sword and brought it into her hand with a kinetic pull. She looked at the weapon for a moment before handing it to Sam.

"…Here," said Ariela.

Sam looked at the sword.

"Why give me his sword?" he asked.

"Because this is the only weapon that deserves to strike that bastard down," said Ariela.

Sam looked up at Ariela, then he looked at the sword… and took it.