Geronimo Stilton: INTERPOL-Trouble In France: An Old Enemy Returns

by DrifterDan

A sequel to The Adventures of The Ghost. Julie, Colette's fashion designer friend competes in a fashion designing competition held and sponsored by Interpol in France. With The Rodent's Gazette crew invited along with new allies, all six competitors are captured by a resurrected enemy of The Crew. Will they be able to save the hostages and defeat their foe once and for all?

20. Chapter 20-End of The Line

A/N: Hello again, guys and gals! Welcome back to another exciting chapter of Trouble In France! So, it's almost been a year since I last updated - what took so long is that I had a ton of work to do to get me into a university (which I have) besides my job. I didn't rush this, I made sure everything was good so you guys can enjoy reading it. So yeah, if you have about more than an hour to spare, please! Finish this chapter. Oh, I also wanted to give a shout out to my fellow writer Sora Pendragon, he's an aspiring writer and he does stories for multiple fandoms - why don't you guys go check him out? Now, let's quit wasting time and get on with Chapter 20!

Disclaimers from previous chapters and/or stories will be applied here.

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Chapter 20

End of The Line

I stood my ground, not moving an inch to fear yet my heart was racing. My eyes, they were focused on that man a few meters across. He was highlighted red. My skin began to run cold. Shivers traveled down my spine. The air was too cold for me to sweat. My fists were clenched, ready to fight.

"I'd never thought we'd meet again, Danial," Williams began

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing," I replied sarcastically.

"You don't seem surprised, boy... Figured out that I'm a Sith now?"

"Ever since your first ransom video..."

"You're quick to notice..."

"How the hell did you survive McCarran!? We found your arm dismembered in the wreckage of the blast."

He gave a sinister chuckle while shaking his head. "That doesn't mean that the rest of my body was disintegrated. The Protection Bubble you generated in the Force Maelstrom was big enough for the both of us to fit, but I wasn't close enough to you so my entire body would fit in. My right arm was exposed, so was the right side of my face. The blast separated my arm and the heat burnt half my face, and that's how your bubble bursted and knocked you out cold.

"Before your team arrived, I was able to flee and got away as far as I could. I hid... in the same time, rebuilding from what I had left of my organization and it grew bigger than before... I'd say bigger than ISIS. All in a few months."

"How'd you become a Sith?"

"When you foiled my agenda, my hatred towards you grew. All it took... was a spark. I used my hate to fuel my rage. Every single day, I reminded myself of you giving me the pain of not fulfilling what I had intended. Not to mention the face and the arm... Once I had built a cybernetic arm to replace the one I lost, I began my martial arts training so I could become better than you in case the both of us ever meet. And then one day... I made a discovery.

"I had been beating a punching bag with a staff that day as a part of my daily training. My anger was at its peak. Something inside me snapped. I palmed the bag to finish it off, and the second I touched it, it was sent flying across the room and ripped a hole open. I felt something change in me at that very moment... I felt power that I could never imagine myself possess... It was so strong, and I wanted more of it. I was a Sith, the first one ever on Earth."

"And what did you believe in when you adopted the Code?"

"As straight as it gets in the first line. Peace is no more than a lie."

"Bullshit."

"You've seen the wars happening around the world; small ones, big ones, the ones in the Middle East involving your brothers, attacks from other groups... There's NEVER piece in this world anymore!"

"You're wrong!"

"LOOK ALL AROUND YOU, BOY!" I had no trouble of reminding myself of the war scene around me. "The attacks I've launched after I've formed my organization, they were all in retaliation to what the Americans have done throughout history. They were the ones who started most wars and they'd join others' battles just to make things worse. All the civilians they've killed and naming it 'collateral damage', I'm going to put an end to it all by eliminating them from the face of the Earth."

"And how're you supposed to achieve that?"

"Sometimes to end a war, an outside force must be involved to get rid of the faction that started it."

"What, you're starting another war against the Americans like the last time? How'd that turn out?"

He gave out a hearty and devilish laugh. "Underestimating us was a big mistake, boy. We have other ways of doing that."

"Why? You know there are good Americans, why them too?"

"As they say themselves... collateral damage."

"You realize if you do this, you'll be as bad as the Americans are."

"So what if I am!? They deserve to accept the same fate they've dealt to others! They've taken away my brilliant chip and claimed it as theirs! THEY TOOK MY PARENT'S LIVES!"

I stood there deadpanned. "What?"

"The bloody FBI accused them of donating money to a foundation that was suspected to have ties with ISIS. A kill squad was sent and my parents were eradicated before they figured out that they shared the same names with the actual people that did so."

"You don't have to do this because it's payback-"

"YOU WANT THEM TO DO THE SAME THING TO OTHERS?"

"I'll stop them, and I'll stop you. Now WHERE THE HELL IS FIRAS?"

He huffed. "You can show yourself, Firas."

Wait, what? I was puzzled. Why would he call him out like that if he was the hostage?

Then I found out. The hard way.

I heard something zip behind me. I turned around to see no one there. It continued to move around me as I turned along to where it was headed. I caught a glimpse of a figure in the trees once, then it disappeared in a flash. I saw it move again, but I didn't make out where he went. I shifted around to locate him, then the figure appeared by Avenue Eiffel Gustave. He was just a tad taller than me. I had a look at his face, and he seemed to look like someone I know. I couldn't analyze him for long, because he popped up right in front of me in a blink of an eye. Before I could even react, he sprung his fist right into abdomen so hard, it sent me across the other side of the foot of the tower. Like it was... Force aided.

"Danny!" Thea exclaimed.

Inertia kept me going, tumbling until the floor slowed me down to a halt. I laid on the ground as I groaned in agony. I was a bit fazed and my vision blurred. Blood was coughed out, enough be a small puddle. I rolled to get to a sitting position facing the assailant and Williams, panting. I tried to get a focus on the attacker's face, taking some time. He was the last person I'd expect to be by Williams' side.

"No...! NO!"

Firas wasn't taken hostage. He was used as bait.

I had a hard time trusting my eyes of who I saw. The sense of debilitating shock felt like someone had knocked every wisp of air out of my lungs, laid down trying to breathe, to speak, to do anything.

"I believe you two know each other, yes?" Williams asked sarcastically.

I struggled to stand up. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM!?" I yelled.

"Oh, I haven't done a thing to him. He was the one willingly to join me."

That and the pain I suffered brought near to tears. "Firas... Buddy, tell me he's lying!"

I waited his reply. "You abandon me at that hellhole, yet you have the audacity to call me your friend!?"

I stood, back bent, holding my midsection. My heart cracked, but not shattered. "So it's true..." I felt a sharp sting inside, so I began Force Healing. "Why...?"

He gave me a vengeful stare. "The day you put me in juvy. That was the day my life took turns for the worst. Everyday I spent in there, was a living hell.

"That reform school was a place for under-aged criminals. Heartless people. Strong people who stand with each other and picked on the weak. I was one of the weak ones.

"I'd take a beating everyday from the stronger inmates for the past few months. I lived in fear and endless physical suffering. I'd wake up every morning and hope for the worse to happen. At noon, I'd have to surrender my lunch to a senior inmate, and still get beat up with the scars from yesterday. At nights, I couldn't sleep because I wallow in the pain I endured during the day, sometimes through a whole night thinking of what might happen to me in the next day. I couldn't adapt. I thought I'd always be weak, never overcoming what I chose to endure. Then one night, I realized something. Someone could've done something to prevent me from going to that dreadful place.

"You."

"What the hell are you talking about!?"

"If you hadn't turn me in, I wouldn't have end up at that reform school in the first place."

"You were a convicted juvenile felon...(spits blood) proven to commit acts of terrorism! What was I supposed to do? Let you walk scot free!?"

"You were my friend! If you'd only care, the very LEAST you could've done was to send me to a better facility!"

"So what!? All that happened you this past few months was all because of me!? Is that what you're trying to say!?"

"AND YOU KNOW THE HELL IT WAS!"

"Oh no, man..." I shook my head. "You don't get to say that. DON'T YOU FREAKING DARE GIVE ME THAT. You and I both know that what happened to you was ALL your own fault! If you hadn't spied on me and the team and got caught, you wouldn't have gotten yourself into juvy!"

"Shut up..."

"If you had just been honest with us from the very beginning, Geronimo's team could've helped you save your parents!"

"Shut up...!"

"If you hadn't betrayed me... we could've still be friends...!"

"Shut UP!" He Force Sped behind me and landed a Force-amplified kick on my back.

"D'ARGH!" I was dragged again, stopping in between Williams and Firas.

I turned into a crawl, coughing up more blood. "I felt like that you were my own brother, Firas. You were the only one there when I didn't have anyone else. But then you sold me out... I trusted you to keep my secrets. Looks like I trusted you too much until I was blinded about the fact that anyone could turn against you. That's the only part about it that's my fault."

"Save your breath for when I kill you."

"Kill?" I sneered. I mockingly giggled at his words. "Like you've ever tried to kill anyone before..."

"You know what about you that pisses me off? Underestimating your opponent before you take them on."

"Yeah, you're a Force user. So what?" I stood again. "You think being a Sith like him makes you stronger? Think again."

"Don't you patronize me, you scumbag!"

"OR ELSE WHAT? YOU GONNA BEAT ME TO A PULP?"

"WAS THAT A CHALLENGE?"

"If you think that being a Sith makes you more powerful, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND PROVE IT TO ME!?"

As Williams hopped away, Firas bared his teeth and grunted, Force Speeding at me in an instant.

He had his lightsaber wielded, swinging his first move. I stepped back and dodged that, igniting one blade of my staff saber.

His next series of strikes came, and each of them were quick. I parried, blocked, and dodged them; up, down, and sides.

Our sabers clashed, our bodies twirled to the momentum of the swinging sabers, and all I did was defending myself just until the right moment. Firas would keep attacking until he had me, but we both knew that that wasn't easy.

I could sense something in his strikes. I could see it in his moves. The way he was just thrashing at me with no organized plan, he was just winging it. He was trying to go for any open spot and he swung his blade there as hard as he could before being parried and blocked. The anger and hatred he had towards me fueled his wrath. He felt the need to take me down as hard as he can just to satisfy his rage.

His attacks were fast and full of power. All that energy wasted. I used this to my advantage, and upped my defense. Let him drain himself out, and then counter him when he was replenishing.

My strategy was working. I could feel our blades colliding with less power and he slowed down. I was able to keep him away if he got too close with light Force Pushes. I countered him at some point and struck his blade a few times before Force Pushing him away.

"You were all I had... You helped me out so much when I lost it all, and I was grateful to have a person like you in my life," I expressed my gratitude. "I couldn't have asked for a better friend..."

"I could've said the same if you didn't put me into juvy..."

"That was because your own mistake."

"I TOLD YOU THAT I WASN'T GIVEN MUCH OF A CHOICE!"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP, YOU DID! When you chose wrong, you knew what risks you would've taken. Or you should have. You knew when you chose wrong, you should've know that you had it all coming to you." Firas ignored some of my words. "From the bottom of my heart, I loved you like a sibling! I still do..." His face twitched. "You wanna keep fighting me? Or do you want to fight against the bastard who wrecked our friendship?" I pointed my lightsaber to Williams, at the far side from us.

"He wasn't the one who ruined it... you did."

I was deeply scarred. But I accepted that he didn't see me as his friend anymore.

Firas grunted again before he charged at me. "So be it, old friend..." I stood in a a stance, blade in front of my face.

He threw his saber from halfway running towards me. The red saber hit mine and it blocked the attack. He made it go back to him and charged still.

As he did an upwards diagonal swing followed by a downwards slash, we engaged each other once more. He did all out attacks on me like before but they keep getting parried until I had a chance to retaliate.

I threw a few strikes at him to make him back off and we had another short bladelock. We retreated from each other the reset to our stances.

Firas Force Sped at me again and used the same move as before; I read through that and sped around him and attempted to slash his back, but his reflexes kicked in and he brought his saber over his head and shielded it.

He twirled and faced me again, giving it all he had at me, and a Force Push that I had my lightsaber to absorb. I was pushed back a bit nonetheless, and he gave me a little electrocution with Force Lightning to disable me.

He turned off his saber and sped to me again, this time with his arm in front of him and it acted like a battering ram. I was knocked on my back, dragging across the ground, having my saber stabbing it to stop me from going further.

I saw Firas walking up slowly towards me. His hair shadowed over his face and he had this deadly glint in his eyes as it glowed menacingly red.

"I didn't want it to be like this," I said, picking myself up, covering my aching abs. "I didn't want us to end like this."

"I do..." he replied coldly.

We ran up to each other bellowing and made our sabers clash with all our might and resumed our duel.

---

"This doesn't look too good, Uncle G..." Benjamin said.

"I've eyes on the opponent," Pamela said. "If you want me to put him down, just say when."

"No, we wait," Geronimo opposed her idea.

"Plus... notice how Williams is looking around?" Nicky alerted.

They pointed their scopes at Williams who stood at the first level of the tower. He was overlooking Champ de Mars, scouting for anything that could come to a threat.

"He knows we're here," Geronimo said.

Williams reveals a device he retrieved from his belt and held it high, making a point that it should be taken note of.

"What's he got there?" Violet asked.

Paulina zoomed in her scope. "It's a detonator," she said. "He's telling us to back off."

"Then we'll stand down... for now," Geronimo squeaked.

A foreign radio signal joined the comms channel. "Crew, this is Professor Philips. How copy?"

"Ten-four, prof. What's the sitch?" Geronimo replied.

"Meet me at Avenue Charles Floquet, it's urgent."

Geronimo hesitated. "Copy. Let's move, Crew."

The rest of The Crew retreated the scene and headed southwest. They made sure their movements were undetected by any enemy eyes. All senses were amplified as they made their way to their objective. Eyes peeled and shifted all around. Ear meshes open and alert to noise. Noses extra sensitive to smells of explosives. They marched in a single-file line; weapons aimed as their eyes scouted their surroundings. Scouts Violet and Colette respectively at the front and the back of the group kept watch over the rest of the team for any danger.

Upon entering the street, Colette signaled the team to halt while she checks the corners. She leaned forward with her weapon, switching from right-handed to left-handed grips as she peaked both sides. Violet meanwhile watched over the back. Colette spotted a Koenigsegg One:1 at the right of the corner, so she figured that it must've been Valkyrie. She signaled them to move to the right, and we followed her as she moved.

"Prof, we have eyes on Valkyrie," Geronimo updated their position.

"Copy, I'll be right down," the prof responded.

They spotted the prof come out from one of the buildings. He called them to him, urging them to hurry. As he re-entered the building, they scampered and went in after him. They noticed that a small trailer with the size of a generator was behind Valkyrie and it was hooked to a tow hitch.

They made entry into the building which it's interior was no longer identifiable to what the place might've been. It's been wrecked and terrorized, but the only thing that kept the space faintly lit was a small tactical lantern. Prof Philips was there with Pinky and a small crate.

"Alright prof, how and why did you come here?" Trap asked.

"Ms. Pick and I made our way here about an hour ago, going over two hundred miles an hour. Scary..." he said. "But anyways, listen. Danial isn't fighting a fair battle. He is going to need backup."

"Danny's having a duel with his former friend, which doesn't look so good at the moment," Pamela spoke up. "But surely, it's not like it's gonna escalate to the point that he'll need help, right?"

"It will, and it's not how you might think it's going to be. I had a vision during my nap while Russell and Ms. Pick were coordinating the mission. Williams will call in his mercenaries equipped with Force-aiding gear, including lightsabers, to bring Danial down should Firas be weakened."

"How can we help him?" Thea asked.

"By fighting fire with fire." The prof unboxed the crate to reveal more toys. "These are the basically same prototype gear Williams' mercs will use against Danny, but with slight upgrades."

Thea picked up a set of the equipment packaged in a box. "We're becoming Force users?" she said.

"Technically, yes. At least, until you take them off. These will neurally connect with your brain; instant conscious thought will make the equipment respond to your commands at your will. Gloves enable the use of Force Telekinesis and Lightning, socks enhances jumps and softens landings from very high places as well as gaining the ability to speed, and your lightsaber can produce a destructive shockwave if stabbed on the ground with full force."

Geronimo took some sets of the gear and handed them around. "There doesn't seem to be enough for everyone," Geronimo said.

"There's enough for us to help Danny fend off his extra enemies, but not for everyone, so, no. So, you need to choose the ones amongst you to join in the fight. I recommend anyone who had been sparring with swords recently."

The Crew traded looks with each other.

---

Back at the tower, the stalemate that I had been maintaining broke, and the scales had tipped over towards the enemy's side.

Firas made his saber strike mine in a frenzy of swings. My energy was quarter depleted just by defending myself from his attacks. He elbowed me in the face once, but I recovered and threw back what he threw at me.

"Look at you," Firas swung his saber, "You're barely able to defend (swings saber) yourself against my wrath...!" He threw a triple strike with a spinning jump. I was pushed away. "It was a mistake that you looked down on what I could do!"

"You may think that your powers are unlimited..." I activated my second blade, "but we're only five minutes in and you look like you're starting to run out of steam," I said. I could see that he was heavily panting.

Firas spotted a car parked on the road. He lifted it with Telekinesis and hurled it towards me. I did a Force Repulse and it deflected the car into the air and came back down towards Firas. He rolled out of the way just in time for the car to crash down where he stood, then he sped to me again and threw more attacks.

I blocked slashes aimed at my head and legs, twirling around and brought my second blade to strike his head, but he ducked.

I went for his back but he blocked it, then came back with the other blade to his front that he parried.

Firas went for my head again, but I brought one blade back up to shield my face. He tried for my legs again, failed, then an overhead swing.

I caught his saber with Telekinesis, gave him a thrust kick in the chest and threw some quick strikes of my own. Then he backed away just for one second, twirled his saber and we exchanged more attacks.

I went for his feet, then he jumped before my blades can sweep them clean off, came back around and attempted to go for the head. He blocked it, and upon that, he countered me furiously, then Force Pushed me again about 30 meters.

With a few spins of my saber, I stood in a stance and waited for his next move.

Firas ran towards me then sped to me, then swung upwards but I backflipped to escape. I countered him by jumping and trying to stab him like a spear, but he parried it, then it targeted both blades for his head and body in twirling strikes. He fended them off by spinning his saber around and vertically at the sides of himself.

We took a short breather, circling around each other to look for vulnerable points. I intimidated him by hesitantly swinging my saber. He tried to strike me overhead but I spun my saber and kept his away and countered it by attempting to get his sides as he held his saber in front of him upside down, blocking them. He reused the momentum I had in the last swing and twirled, making his saber clashed mine, and used the same trick to get to my side which I blocked.

He came around and used overhead attacks that I quickly parried, blocked a frenzy of strikes, went around him while still defending, twirled and managed to slash his back with the tip of my saber. He grunted painfully, took a second for himself to recover, then returned to face me.

He swung his blade with one hand overhead. I twirled my saber overhead and canceled it, then he tried it again so I ducked, then countered it by spinning my saber again in the other direction and hit his. He kept focusing on throwing assaults, and I could see that he had grown exhausted by how much less he swung his saber around and how the power lessened when our sabers clashed.

It was my turn. I lashed out with my sabers and targeted his potential weak spots, but he was still quick enough to see where I was aiming and blocked them off. All I needed was to get another slash on his body to cripple him, maybe on his leg.

At one point, he countered me and threw three strikes and hit me with a Repulse. It felt as near as devastating as mine, and it sent me flying a few meters. I did a kip up. Firas was there, recovering from being drained out in the deepest of breaths.

"Look at you, Firas..." I panted. "You're running out of energy. This needs to stop!"

"I'm not gonna stop... UNTIL YOU'RE FINISHED!"

I knew what he was about to do. He exerted reddish-white lightning bold out of his fingers to fry me, but I thought of the same and did my own Force Storm. Our powers clashed in the middle, canceling each other's out. Winds blew as strong as thunderstorms and the light lit the tower even brighter.

We knew what we had to do. The stronger one needs to push the ball towards his opponent to defeat him. It has to be one of us.

His Storm... the strength of it was unimaginable. He was using up everything he had in his reserve to get this one last chance to defeat me. The ball of lightning moved closer to me. Firas was pushing it with all he had left. I struggled to get it away from me has I possibly could. Bad news was that it only slowed it down a bit.

"TELL ME HOW WEAK I AM NOW!" Firas raged.

The ball neared me. It was just 10 feet away. I used whatever I had in me to push back, and then...

Miracle struck for me.

His push felt weaker. His bolts got lesser. He had stopped pushing and couldn't push anymore. This was my golden opportunity. The tables had turned and I was pushing back at a faster rate.

"What? HOW!?" He felt baffled.

"IT'S CALLED CONSERVING ENERGY!" I grunted.

I pushed back the lightning ball back towards Firas. Gradually it went away, and I felt Firas' powers exerted in trickles as he forcefully tried to supercharge it back so he wouldn't get hit. Firas tried to push it back but he didn't have enough energy to counter it. It was just 10 more feet from him, then the ball stopped. I couldn't push it, but it didn't come near either. Firas was giving the last ounce of energy left in him hold it across the line to not get himself fatally injured. But it wasn't for long, I felt the ball moving again. Firas was desperate to stop it and if he let go, he wouldn't be fast enough to get out of the way. He couldn't hold back any longer.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as the ball made contact with him.

He was thrown away, tumbling backwards and sideways as smoke trailed off his clothing for nearly 60 meters while his lightsaber stopped sliding beside him.

He groaned and hissed in agony as he laid there, having holes burnt on some parts of his gear and his body. His clothes smoked to the heat of the electric fireball. I collapsed on my knees, replenishing energy from the lightning showdown and began to Force Heal myself of any injuries that Firas had inflicted on me.

I stared at him across the dueling grounds. I felt pity of him because he was enraged and defeated. I felt the guilt because I hadn't got to prevent what had happened to him.

"I didn't want to hurt you..." I tried to speak up so he would hear me out. "But you left me with a choice to either protect myself, or let you kill me, and let me receive the same amount of sins as suicide."

I saw him trying to get up. "Don't even try to pick yourself up," I warned, standing up. "You and I very well know that you're done for."

"I ain't...(pants) done with you...(grunts) NOT YET...!" He pushed himself, back up to a crooked stance.

"Don't do it, man..."'

He held his saber tight and the position of his body says: "I'm ready for a final fight."

"I'm not gonna fight you anymore, Firas," I stated.

"What are you!? A coward!?" he shouted.

"Firas, this is stupid! It needs to stop!" I turned off my lightsaber. "I'm not gonna do this."

"Fine by me..." He charged at me again, with his fierce cry to fire himself up.

I stood strong, holding my ground. I didn't want to fight, and he was too weak. I had to stop him.

I held up my hand and grabbed him with Force Telekinesis, stopping him 20 meters from me.

"Arrgh... ARRGH - LET GO OF ME!"

I shook my head. "I won't let you fight me."

"...Then WE WILL!"

I didn't expect Williams to appear. He jumped down from the first level with his saber activated, landing in front of me with the blade slammed into the ground. The shockwave knocked me back and made me tumble again.

I got back on my feet, dumbfounded. "'We'?"

Several different men in the same gear as his appeared from several different directions. In all sorts of ways. Some sped from behind him, some dropped from above without a single injury, and some rode under spinning staff sabers as if they were helicopters. They assembled right in front of me.

A team of Force users. Eight in total, including Williams.

"If not one Force user can't bring you down, maybe many will!"

"You can't do this - this isn't a fair fight!" I said.

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE!?" he snapped.

"God, help me..."

"KILL HIM!" he ordered his men.

The other seven charged at once. I've never had a seven against one in my life. I had to prepare myself before they got to me. The only way I'll survive is if I defend and evade them.

Splitting my saber, show time started.

The first one struck his saber to my left and right, parried them, blocked one for my foot, then Force Pushed him back.

The second swept his saber for my feet, so I backflipped. He came at me with a series of thrusts and swings, then he sped behind me. Blocked an attack there, elbowed him in the face and Force pushed him away.

The third threw his staff saber as he ran at me. When the saber got back to him, he jumped and got his feet forwards for a kangaroo kick. I caught him with Telekinesis, slammed him to the ground and threw him away.

The next one swung his saber in a chop. I rolled backwards in time for the saber to hit the floor in sparks, shocked him with lightning, and then Pushed him away.

Fifth charged and thrusted his staff saber like a bayonet. I jumped back and escaped it, parried it away, then exchanged a few strikes. I Forced Pushed him away while he left his frontside wide open.

Sixth caught me in a chokehold with Telekinesis and lifted me up. I spotted the car that Firas threw at me, so I took off one tire and pummeled it at the person choking me. I was dropped.

Instantly after touching down, I was hit with Force Lightning by the seventh attacker. I was disabled as the shock hit my body entirely, then I was Force Pushed. I brought myself back on my feet again. The attacker approached me, so I deployed a Force Whirlwind that lifted him, spun him, then brought him away.

Williams himself took me on. He ran at me then deployed Forced Lightning that hit partially. He had me stunned, and he kept charging with his saber. I recovered, just in time before him to swing. I evaded it but I wasn't quick enough, the tip of his blade caught my upper arm and slashed it quarter of an inch deep. He turned around, then jumped to stab me. I rolled in his direction and went underneath him, escaping death. I Pushed him away.

The first came back and faced me for the second time. He Force Pushed, but I held my saber in front to block it. We engaged our sabers, then he elbowed my cheek and threw at me a left hook. He stabbed his saber in the ground and the shockwave blew me away.

I got back up in time for the second to come attack me. He threw frenzies of strikes that tired me down, a kick to the face and side to disable me, and a Push to the chest to send me away.

The fourth ran up to me and and used Force Storm that my lightsaber mostly absorbed, then lifted me up and threw me back. I managed to land on my feet.

The third dashed towards me and tried to slice me upwards, then tried to decapitate me (I ducked), and swept his saber for my feet. He didn't get me once, so he did a Force Repulse to send me flying 30 feet away.

I could barely stand up. With every hit I had taken, I grew more fatigued. The Repulse hit me so hard, it crippled me. The eight picked themselves back up and spread out, ready to jump and attack me again.

I knew I couldn't keep doing this for long. There are eight of them against me. Surrender was useless; they'd kill me anyway.

"You've met your demise, boy," Williams said.

"Then why am I still alive?" I replied.

He gave me a cold stare. "Finish him."

The other seven ran at me again, all at once. I didn't want to risk myself getting killed, so when they got close enough to me, I Repulsed. It was much more powerful than what I was hit with, so they were thrown further away.

They got back up as soon as they hit the ground. "YOU CANNOT DEFEAT US, BOY!" Williams yelled.

"HE'S NOT ALONE!" I heard a squeak. It was Thea.

I was quite surprised.

The whole squad except the three two junior agents appeared behind me from Champ de Mars. I saw saber hilts in their paws.

Williams gave out a mocking maniacal laugh. "Who are you to stop us? You're no more than a bunch of rats!"

Everyone turned on their saber's blades and displayed their colors. They waved around their saber's and stood in their own stances and it gave me impressions of deadliness, and mastery of the art of dueling.

"We're NOT rats! We're mice," Thea shouted in pride.

Williams' smug faded, but not his attitude. "You say it like it makes a difference... Yes, you wield lightsabers, but it doesn't guarantee our defeat."

"We'll stop you, Williams... once and for all..." Geronimo told him.

"You shall try... "

"And we shall succeed," said a familiar, aged voice from a PA system behind me. A roar of a V8 accompanied it and grew louder.

I discovered that it was Valkyrie making a sliding entrance in front of The Crew. Her door was open, and the driver exited her as she slid across.

Professor Philips was joining the fight.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't Graham Philips," Williams recognized him.

The Prof stared at him cold and regretfully. "Hello old friend."

"You don't look so different from the last time we saw each other."

"The years were kind enough to let me be as I was."

"You can't stop me, Philips. I have more power than you ever will."

"I may not have the amount of power you do, but I will use everything that I have to put you down. I started this, and I'll stop it."

Williams put his devilish smile on. "Do try, I do love a good challenge..."

I Sped back to The Crew and took my position. "Danial, you and I are taking Williams. The rest are taking on the mercenaries."

"Let's do this..." I murmured.

Everyone stared at their opponents long and hard. My mind raced to think up what I can use to take Williams down. My grasp tightened around my lightsaber. Pressure started to kick in and made me tremble.

But with family fighting alongside me, I felt reassured.

"AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!" Williams and his men bellowed.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!" The Crew bellowed.

Both parties charged at each other. We gathered momentum for our sabers for the time we swing them. A few seconds later, we clashed with our targeted enemies and engaged in an epic battle.

Midway towards Williams, Prof Philips hunched his back to boost me. I hopped on top of him, then hopped off to the left and overtook him, spun clockwise with my saber striking Williams'.

While I was recovering, the prof swung a couple of attacks that Williams fended off. He switched to me, throwing a few slashes that I blocked and parried. He landed a kick that made me lose balance.

Williams switched back to the prof. He defended himself from the prof's triple-swing and planted a foot on his chest.

I took his place and continued to throw my blades at Williams in a series of strikes. He wasn't distracted by me so he caught the prof trying to get him from behind. Williams countered him and fought both of us at once.

He Force Pushed me away once he felt the pressure was too much. He battled the prof, and both were equally matched. Strike after strike, blow after blow, both managed to defend themselves from their own attacks. I got back up again, then ran towards Williams to jump him from behind. I swung upwards, but he anticipated that and blocked it. He fought me, but only for a few seconds. After a few strikes, I Sped behind him and created a shockwave by stabbing my saber into the ground. Prof Philips predicted that and backflipped outside the radius. Williams reacted too late and got hit, flinging him about 5 feet up and 10 feet away.

He did a kip-up and he had a look on his face that said "I'll tear you apart, limb from limb."

"HIIIYAAAH!" Thea swung her saber, getting it blocked. She swung another to the right; parried. Then her blade came from the bottom and went upwards, brought it around over her head, then slashed downwards. She turned frenzy mode on and did a streak of strikes before resetting after a blade lock.

Geronimo was being attacked and did his best to defend. He was observant though: he analyzed his fight pattern and discovered that his opponent creates a one second window after a few strikes. He used this to tip the balance towards his end.

After three staggering blows done towards him that made him step back, he used the window to deploy a zap of lightning from his fingers and stunned the opponent. Geronimo immediately retaliated and delivered his attacks, quickly and effectively.

Trap may seemed big and half-witted, but if he was he'd never be accepted as an Interpol agent. His reactions and awareness towards his opponents attacks were as alert as the mouse he is.

He was dodging his opponent's saber most of the time as he defended himself, and then delivered quick attacks when he found the chance. He struck his opponent' saber in a backhand swing, brought it back in a diagonal forehand and twirled, getting a hit combo of two.

Pamela had been using powerhouse moves. Her strikes had so much power and momentum, each one threw her opponent off.

She swung a forehand, then drove a backhand, and another uppercut swing, and ended the combo with a spinning backhand. She carried on with an overhead chop, a downwards forehand, and a Force Push. The opponent charged at her with his saber pointed behind him for more momentum, but Pamela had spun her saber over her head and countered with a Saber Shockwave, blasting the opponent away.

Paulina used more fist and feet than her saber. Every few strikes, she'll find an opening to deliver a few punches or kicks.

She swung her staff saber in a right-hander downwards, twirled it and did the same thing with the second blade, twirled it again around her and brought it back in front as the blades hit her opponent's thrice, got the saber to her right, and ended her combo with a forward thrust to stab. The opponent was off his guard, so Paulina took the chance. She turned her blades off, jumped forward and launched a superman punch right to the jaw.

Colette meanwhile played a game of cat and mouse with her opponent. She swung three strikes before a spinning backhand, and had a blade lock. The opponent pushed her back and retaliated with a rapid series of strikes, got Force Pushed a few feet as the lightsaber absorbed the energy. She did a Repulse as the opponent charged at her to keep her distance away for a short while. To recover, she Force Jumped away to the first floor of the tower in retreat. Her opponent tailed her, and as he was about to land Colette planted her saber into the floor that caused a shockwave. The opponent was flung a few feet and slid on his back. He did a kip-up while Colette pulled her saber out, then she Sped to the other end of the floor, waited, then the opponent Sped to where she was and Colette sped to another end of the floor. Both of them did that for two more times, then they resumed their duel.

Violet was the second staff saber wielder; she had the hilt separated for dual-wielding. She had also been using more acrobatic moves.

She threw an upwards forehand, spun then struck her opponent's saber with a backhand, spun in the same direction again but this time with a two-hit combo in a butterfly twist. Both had a bladelock, then backflipped away to reset to their stances. Both ran at each other, but then Violet jumped with her blades forward. As she dived face first towards the opponent, she struck her sabers with the opponent's in mid air. The opponent blocks it, and Violet used the pushing motion he used to block her attack to do a kip-up, then landed behind him.

Back to our 2 vs 1, Williams had been persistent against the prof and mine's attacks. He parried my strike with a powerhouse swing, switched to the prof, parried his top bottom two-combo and retaliated with the same move and a twirling slash. I came for him again, and he saw my overhead chop so he did an uppercut, a right swing then a left. The prof and I saw expected something, so we backflipped to safety as he deployed a Force Repulse.

Between the prof, me, and Williams was 10 feet of empty space. "When we charge, you'll jump ahead of me and then I'll do a Repulse," I proposed. "You'll attack him from above."

With a nod, we ran towards him. As planned, I Force Jumped, Prof Philips Repulsed and sent me flying in a big arc with Williams at the end of it. But as I was about to strike my saber at the enemy...

"YOU'RE MINE!" shouted an enraged voice.

Firas Sped to me and slammed me out of nowhere with his arm again, intercepting me. I veered off to the side, away from Williams and thudded about 15 feet from Firas.

I never felt so much agony on the side, I thought I broke a few ribs. "Argh... Freakin' hell..." I groaned, struggling to get back up.

"As long as your death isn't in my hands, I won't be satisfied..." He snarled as he turned his lightsaber on.

I began to Force Heal. "It's a fight you want, huh?" I asked rhetorically, getting back up. "C'mon then! I ain't backing down!"

His chaotic smile grew wider. "My PLEASURE!"

He Sped to me once more, and I activated my lightsaber in time to receive his lash-out. He threw a frenzying set of attacks at me, and all I could do was defend. He left no opening for me to counter him. I was still Force Healing myself, so my focus was divided in halves.

Prof Philips and Williams were left to their own duel. Williams delivered a forehand, a backhand, an uppercut swing, then a chop that engaged in a bladelock. "All I've done is all because of you!" Williams said.

"You were plunging the world into another war with the bloody chip!" The prof countered his statement.

They broke free, and the prof gave Williams his attacks back, and they had another bladelock. "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR TAKING IT AWAY FROM ME!" Williams shouted.

He pushed the prof back hard, then executed another Repulse that blew the prof away.

Meanwhile, scales were tipping for some the members of The Crew. As they grew more and more exhausted, they lost focus.

Pamela got battered by multiple strikes incoming at once aiming from multiple points. Just like her attacks, she could block only a few at a time. She was lucky enough that her senses weren't degraded so the opponent's saber doesn't hit her. With a final stream of attacks from the opponent, she backflipped, and as the opponent charged at her, she Repulsed that told him to stay back.

Trap's stamina was running out. All he could do was defend, but the best he had nearly killed him. After three swings he took from his opponent, the last one made his saber to be pushed aside and exposing his abdomen. Trap in reflex turned his left shoulder forward to shield it as another swing came, and it slashed his forearm about a quarter inch deep and made him spin.

"ARRGH!" he yelled.

The opponent took this moment to advance, but Trap faced himself forward again to deploy a Force Push with Force Lightning; it sent the opponent airborne towards Champ de Mars.

Violet was still holding strong, but she had showed signs of fatigue. She dodged a chop with a near miss, a swing that almost touched her armor plate, and backflipped away from an uppercut. She sped to him with three fast swings, and locked blades. The opponent kicked her left side, electrocuted her with Force Lightning, and Force Pushed her away.

Thea had lots of strength left in her. She saved it from dodging, and countered as many as she could. At the moment, she was dodging a random thrashing, paused it with a bladelock, pushed the other saber away and began counterattacking. She swung a four-combo, a twirling backhand from the parrying momentum, then thrusted forward for a stab. It got parried away.

Paulina was on her own level. She had to lessen the use of bare-pawed moves, because she was left with no more openings to slide them into. She was charging at her opponent, jumped and spun, then brought her saber around. The hit contained so much momentum, it pushed the opponent back. She resumed with an uppercut swing, then a frenzy of swings to throw the opponent off before she Force Sped behind him. She aimed for his back, but he blocked it. She Force Sped away before she got hit by the opponent's Repulse.

Colette kept her flow going up at the first floor. She dodged a right swing, then a backhand, and backflipped to avoid an uppercut swing. She charged and threw in a few attacks, then she got countered. The opponent threw back what Colette threw at him. At the last swing, he spun and Force Pushed her to a cafe. The sets of chairs and tables broke her fall, but despite that, gave her a hard landing. She recovered quick enough to see the opponent charging, then she had an idea. She stood in a stance and waited for him to get closer. She gripped her saber tight. Just as the time was right, she Force Pushed the chairs and table in front of her to the opponent; they slammed at him head on and sent his back a few feet away.

Geronimo seemed mildly worn down by his constant mix of offense and defense. He couldn't keep up unless he was given a chance to take a breather, but sadly the opponent didn't plan to lose either. At least that's what I thought his situation was.

Geronimo blocked three swings. "Why are you doing this...?" He spun to the momentum and came back to parry another attack, then two more. "Do you even realize," he countered with a three-combo, "...what Williams is capable of?"

Both engaged in a bladelock. "What makes you think I care if he creates another war?" the opponent said in his American accent going through a voice changer.

They broke it off and stood apart from each other. "You're his hired soldier."

"Exactly. He pays me, I stick with him. I stick to this code that I keep telling myself; my clients pay me good, so I make sure that I make them see if I'm worth their money."

"Then what happens if he turns against you?"

"Never have, and never will..." The opponent Force Sped to Geronimo with his saber charged. When he swung, Geronimo parried it to the left, used the momentum to spin, then brought his saber back to strike his enemy's saber.

Geronimo kept it going with a few strikes, then the opponent countered it with near twice the amount he threw. He was Force Pushed away, rolling back on his paws in a crouch.

"Hahahahaha..." the opponent chuckled, then his voice changer made him sound nightmarishly deep. "Is that all you've got?"

"What if I told you that I was simply holding back?"

The opponent seemed fazed. "Is that so?" He deployed Force Storm, but Geronimo saw it and did the same. Their powers clashed in the middle just like when I fought Firas. Both were equal; the ball of lightning not budging even an inch. Geronimo had enough because he didn't want a battle of powers; he wanted to show how it would be if he didn't hold back. So he pushed the ball to his upwards left, and let go. The opponent kept pushing and it touched the first floor of the tower, nearly hitting Colette as she jumped out of the way.

"Crew, retreat to Champ de Mars!" Geronimo ordered. He Sped away, and his team followed.

The mercenaries tailed them and stopped in a formation like The Crew did. They stared down at each other, waiting for anyone to strike first.

"Let's settle this..." Geronimo muttered, activating his lightsaber. Their duels resumed on the open and empty grass field surrounded by trees.

---

The prof was holding on to what he had. Most of the time, he'd defend himself and countered whenever possible. Williams was vicious towards him - he put all the energy he had in every single swing. He threw furious frenzies of attacks without giving the prof an opening to counter and retaliate, but the prof did better at defending anyway.

"You are weak, Philips!" he insisted as their sabers twirled and collided each other. "You should've joined me!"

"And cause death an destruction through war?" he said, parrying Williams' fast-paced attacks. "YOU SICK MONSTER!"

Williams delivered a three-combo. "For what you've done to me," he twirled his saber over his head and swung a forehand, "by God, I'll do whatever it takes," he did a cross-swing twice, "TO END YOU!" He deployed Force Storm at point blank, but the prof's lightsaber was able to absorb every single bolt.

"And by God," he replied as the was absorbing the Storm, "I'll do anything," he took a step forward, "and everything," he steps forward another time. "in my power," he then takes a final step, "to stop YOU!"

A status bar on his hilt showed that the saber was full of electric charge stored. The moment to strike back came as Wiliams spent his last ounce of energy and stopped.

The prof twisted the hilt to trigger the hidden weapon. All of the electric energy absorbed from the Storm fired back at Wiliams in one, tremendously destructive blast twice as powerful as his Repulse.

The electric blast shot Williams 6 meters up and 80 meters away (actual figures may vary) with smoke trailing his flight arc. He slammed on his back hard upon landing and tumbled.

My fight with Firas was getting out of hand. The more I manage to fend off, the angrier he gets to a point that he used Dark Rage to supercharge his saber abilities.

"Firas, look at yourself!" I parried left and right. "Why did you let him corrupt you like this?"

Firas chopped, slashed left and right. "He offered me powers," he did an uppercut, a backhand, then a downwards forehand, "but the best part about it," he did a cross slash and another chop, "he offered me revenge!"

I dodged his thrust to the side and countered with a backhand uppercut and a spinning forehand. "We're friends! You're not my enemy!" I blocked one going for my leg, then a forehand. He beat my saber with multiple chops out of hatred and I blocked with a blade lock. "And I'm not an enemy to you!"

"Our friendship ended when you put me in juvy!" He pushed harder and closer. "You're now an enemy of mine, AND ALWAYS WILL BE!"

From my grip, my fingers let of a bolt of Force Lightning, and I Force Pushed him away as he was stunned. He kipped up and Sped at me.

I jumped back to dodge a forehand. "You can't keep this up forever, Firas!" I blocked a three-combo. "Neither of us can!"

We engaged in a bladelock. "If that's what it takes for me to put you down..." he pushed me back and delivered a frenzy of strikes, "...so be it!"

I backflipped away. "I don't have time for this..." I panted.

"Then let me END THINGS QUICKER!" He pushed out all he had in a Force Storm. My two sabers absorbed every single bolt of lightning.

After five seconds, he was out of juice. "My turn," I whispered.

I had a plan. It was to mislead him into giving chase, so I Force Sped to one corner of the tower. "Don't you RUN FROM ME!"

I did what Colette had done. I Sped to another corner as he arived to where I was, and the process repeated for a couple of more times at several random corners. I then Sped at the center of the base, let Firas go there, disappear, then Speed by him while delivering punches for a few times from random directions.

I topped it off with a forearm ram to the side like what he did to me, and dragged on the floor.

---

On Champ de Mars, The Crew were still surviving. Both sides grew more and more fatigued with every attack thrown and defended against.

Thea blocked several attacks, had a breif lock, pushed the opponent, and found a window to counter. She bursted into a frenzy, thier blades flying around in circles as both spun, twirled, and moved. Sparks fly from the colliding blades, and she can't leave any room for mistakes.

Geronimo, as you have read about him before, isn't the one to fight. But that wasn't the case.

He had been using acrobatic moves he learnt in school and combined it with his fighting style. The result was quick evasion.

Geronimo parries three strikes, jumps and flips forward to behind the opponent to evade his swing, and goes for his back. The opponent blocks it, turns around just to fend off more of Geronimo's strikes.

"When you said," the mercenary parries four swings, "you were holding back," he parried three more, "you weren't bluffing!"

"You thought," he did a forehand then a right-hander, "Mouse Island's (uppercut swings) best Olympic fencer," he made another backhand and thrusted, "would fight (three-swing combo) so poorly!?"

Geronimo put in the last series of attacks before his opponent backed away to recover and reset to their stances.

Trap was just holding on. He had no strength to duel anymore, and surrender was not a good option. At the moment, he could only parry two strikes before he ran in the shadows of the trees - or jog, if you will, and stopped for a gasp of air. He didn't get far though; the opponent was just about 14 paces from him. The opponent took a stroll towards him and chopped two thin-barked trees at the sides of the footpaths just to give a bit of a scare.

Trap walked backwards facing him. "Alright, I give! I give!" he whimpered, but his plea for mercy were just waste of squeaks.

"I'm not taking prisoners today..." the mercenary said coldly.

Trap received four strikes that he could barely parry, then went off a few paces.

Trap stopped and looked back, panting. He spotted a large pebble on the grass, so he picked it up with Telekinesis and threw it at the mercenary. The merc only held his saber up and the pebble vaporized. The same thing happened to a trash bin. As an ineffective last resort, Trap even hurled a nine-inch twig. It annoyed the mercenary at most.

"Please, don't do this! I beg you!" Trap whimpered again. The mercenary only responded by menacingly slashing the ground twice, leaving glowing marks.

The situation got worse. Trap tripped over a brick border between the footpath and the grass, thudding on his butt and his lightsaber turned off. He crawled backwards as the opponent got closer. There was no escape this time. His death approached him and glared him in the eye. His breaths got shorter and his heart rate climbed.

The mercenary raised his lightsaber over his head, ready to strike Trap and end his life.

Until his instincts kicked in.

Trap made his final attempt of survival by letting off a Force Storm. Bluish white bolts engulfed the mercenary, making him suffer 45,000 volts of electricity for 8 seconds. He was finally weakened, smoke rising up from his burnt gear. Trap quickly raised his hilt and turned on his lightsaber, stabbing the mercenary through his heart.

Realizing the fight was over, he turned his saber off and witnessed the mercenary deactivate his saber and collapsed to the ground.

---

Colette hadn't have much more in her. The mercenary fighting her had toned down just for the fun of it. All Colette can do then was to attack poorly, defend desperately, and run.

Both stared down at each other in the dark. Lightsabers glowing pinkish purple and red, reflecting off of each other and hummed into their ears. Colette held her saber with the blade beside her face in a simple stance, highlighting her cut cheek and blood trailing down her chin from her mouth. The opponent only stood with his blade facing forward.

Colette moved forward and threw a forehand, a backhand that got dodged, another forehand, then an overhead chop, and a forehand that missed and cut the bark of a small tree instead. As the tree fell, the opponent attacked her with simple swings. She thrusted but it was parried, and the opponent reused the momentum from the swing to bring his saber back around, but Colette nearly tripped and the tip missed her, slashing completely another tree bark.

Colette fled for a few paces, enough to to give some distance between them. She did a Saber Throw, but the mercenary dodged it with a narrow miss, then Force Pushed her against a lamp post, slamming back first with a painful grunt. She dropped back on all fours, weakened and spat blood.

The mercenary closed in slowly and looked down upon her. Colette backed up against the post in a crouching position. Her face expression said nothing but only to beg mercy, but she knew that wouldn't matter...

Because she had been controlling the flight path of her Saber Throw all along.

The noise of something whirring grew undetectably louder, and at a fast rate. By the time the mercenary realized it, it was too late. Colette made her saber return to her and impaled the mercenary through his heart from the back. The mercenary dropped dead, and Colette collected her lightsaber with a sigh of relief.

---

Pamela was fighting nearby where Colette was. At the moment, her stamina had been running low by every strike. She needed to end it fast.

She parried hard, that made the enemy's saber come back to her legs. She parried that, one for her head, then one to her left side again. She parried more incoming attacks with quick succession until they came to a bladelock, the backed away to reset to their stances.

The opponent spots one of the two trees that fell during Colette's battle to his right and picks it up with Telekinesis. He hurled it towards Pamela horizontally, but she saw it coming and held her saber up in front of her and sliced the bark into two. He found the other one, pulling the same move as before, but Pamela expected that and countered by Force Pushing it back to the opponent, hitting and then pinning him against a tree to the right, about 15 meters away.

Pamela ran to him to thrust her blade into his chest, but the opponent threw his saber at her to prevent her form coming any closer. Luckily, she parried it elsewhere, threw her saber back at him, and this was where the mercenary's luck ended. Without any weapons to deflect it, he couldn't save himself from being stabbed in the heart against the tree. Pamela realized it, slid sideways in a crouch to stop just in front of the mercenary, and collected her lightsaber. She watched him as his life force faded away.

---

Paulina came back stronger with her staff saber split for dual-wielding, otherwise known as Jar'kai. She was the one throwing most attacks for the remainder of her duel.

With her left paw using a normal grip and a reverse grip on her right paw, she threw a right forehand and spun to deliver a backhand then swept up, spun again with a jump, then brought both sabers back around to strike him with a downwards slash. She continued with two forehands from each saber, an uppercut swing from her left saber, another forehand from her right, spun left, then Force Pushed as soon as she faced front.

The opponent countered that with a flip and landed with a crouch, then jumped towards her for an aerial strike. She was quick to catch him with Telekinesis in midair, then slammed him on the ground three times to weaken him. She moves him further away as far as 40 meters, then pulled him back with speed. She jumped and spun with her left leg retracted and her front facing down. As the mercenary came back at 50 mph, she sprung her left leg to smack the sole of her boot on his face. Paulina belly-flopped on the grass while the lifeless mercenary dropped a few feet after her.

---

Violet was this close to getting killed. Her front armor plate was slashed by the tip of the enemy's saber half a centimeter deep.

She stood her ground as her opponent ran towards her. She gave him a Force Push which he countered with a double backflip. She ran into the trees where it was dark, but her lightsabers gave away her position. So the mercenary pursued.

Violet ran in one row of trees while the mercenary was neck and neck with her on her left side. Violet threw one of her sabers across at him. He jumped out of the way, then as he landed, threw his at Violet. Violet jumped out of its way, landed and Sped forward to intercept the mercenary. By surprise, she delivered a forehand from both sabers, grabbed the enemy's right shoulder strap of his vest and lifted him up as she jumped. She threw him down, slamming him on his back and came back down as she thrust her saber.

The mercenary rolled away on time so Violet's lightsaber couldn't go through his chest, but she picked him up with Telekinesis, spun, then threw him across an empty lawn space. As the mercenary tried to get back on his feet, Violet sped to him and thrust her blade for one final time. The blade impaled the mercenary's abdomen right through his armor plate. Violet hung her head down and panted, her saber still through her opponent. It took her time, but she realized that it was all over. She turned off her sabers, let the dead mercenary drop, then left to regroup with the others.

---

Geronimo, meanwhile, threw three slashes, twirled then a forehand at his opponent.

Thea threw four attacks, twirled her saber then a forehand, spun and swept her saber for her enemy's feet.

Geronimo parried three strikes, sped behind him but his counter-atack was blocked.

Thea parried two strikes, blocked half a second's worth of Force Lightning, then uppercut swings, and an upwards backhand.

Geronimo was Force Pushed, but he charged with his saber, jumped and spun, then swung a hard forehand.

Thea went all out in a frenzy of strikes, but he sped behind to counter her by giving a swift roundhouse kick to her back. She tumbled and rolled forwards to recover in a crouch facing her enemy. The enemy Force Pushed her 20 meters into a tree, slamming her back hard against the thick bark, screaming. She rebounded and dropped on the dirt in a half fetal position and grunted.

When she pushed herself to get up, she saw her opponent closing in. He gestured his hand and picked Thea up with Telekinesis by the neck. She squirmed to hopelessly get free. The mercenary pushed her against the tree once again and she screamed, pinning her up there. He then made a gesture of his fist closing slowly.

That's when she felt the grip around her neck getting tighter.

Her heart raced and her breaths got shorter. She reached her neck for something that was choking her, but nothing was there. She began to panic. The mercenary squeezed her neck and the airflow to her lungs got shorter, so she started to gag.

The others saw what was happening. "THEA!" Trap called out.

Trap and the Thea Sisters rushed to Thea's aid, charging at the mercenary with their lightsabers. But once they got in close proximity, the mercenary slammed his saber into the ground, blowing them away in a shockwave.

Geronimo continued to weaken his opponent with three strikes.

Thea was running out of air, but she could do nothing.

Geronimo swung a backhand and an uppercut, then a triple butterfly twist.

The mercenary clenched his fists even tighter.

Geronimo countered with an elbow to the merc's nose, slashed his armor plate thrice and then hit him with Force Storm briefly. He finished him off by thrusting his blade through his heart.

Thea almost lost all hope. She could only struggle to call out a name in the most faintest of voices.

"Geronimo..."

As he turned off his lightsaber, Geronimo's ear twitched. Miraculously, he heard his sister mention his name. His eyes widened in shock.

"Thea?" he uttered.

He turned to face where Thea was, and what he witnessed was something so tragic and unforgivable, something inside him snapped.

The sight of his dear sister being harmed.

A spark inside him had ignited a fire so furious, Geronimo couldn't contain his rage. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

He sped to Thea's opponent, facing his right shoulder forward and slammed it into the side of the mercenary. The mercenary was thrown back, but he turned himself into a crouch with his leg extended backwards.

Thea dropped on the ground once more and gasped deeply for air, coughing countless times right after.

Geronimo panted in anger. "You're DEAD, scumbag," he mumbled, then activated his lightsaber.

The mercenary charged at him. Geronimo twirled his saber vertically at his right and did the same. Midway towards each other, both bellowed out their battlecries. Geronimo dropped on his knees and slid, lowering his back to the ground and raising his saber up. The mercenary jumped low in a dive over Geronimo, clashing his saber with Geronimo's and landed in a roll. Geronimo stood back up once he stopped and turned around.

Both had a duel with moves too fast to keep track of. Geronimo went all out, releasing his fury in every swing. The frenzy lasted for half a minute until the stalemate broke when the mercenary tackled his foot, forcing him to kneel on one leg. Geronimo dodged the enemy's forehand, and the enemy dodged his. The mercenary went for a chop but Geronimo blocked it, having both in a bladelock.

Geronimo's position wasn't good. He'd been pinned down by the enemy's push, and the kneeling made it worse. The mercenary put all his body weight to push his saber, trying to make Geronimo's own blade touch him. The leg that extended backwards started to grow sore, but he needed it to push forward. With every grunt, he used every ounce of energy to keep his own blade at bay. His opponent leaned more and more against him, making the blade go an inch closer to Geronimo's snout.

He knew what went wrong. He was was too angered for what his opponent had done to his beloved sister. He was fighting in rage, and all he thought about was to brutally lash out on the mercenary in revenge. Despite the violent popping from the sabers, Geronimo closed his eyes and thought to find a way to counter. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind, letting go of all hatred, and found peace.

Then he had a lightbulb lit in his head.

He used the force acting against him to his advantage. He rolled back, having the mercenary on top of him, put his feet on his abdomen, then sprung them out. It flung the opponent up and sent him a few feet away as Geronimo got on his paws in a crouch.

Geronimo stood up and faced his opponent. During the counter move, his blade touched and destroyed the mercenary's saber hilt. The mercenary recovered and looked at his unusable saber, then dropped it. He then used Telekinesis to pull a nearby staff saber from one of his fallen mates and ignited both blades. Both stared down each other to intimidate one another. Geronimo held his blue saber beside his snout in his simple stance. The opponent twirled his vertically and stood in a bent-leg stance. Geronimo breathed in deep, then sighed out to keep himself calm.

The two squinted into each other's eyes, getting narrower and more furrowed eyebrows by each second. Geronimo stayed cool and waited.

The mercenary broke the silence when he grunted, jumped, twirled his staff saber over his head, and swung for the left side of his head. Geronimo blocked that and another swing that went for his right leg. The mercenary made a fatal mistake by blocking with his hilt in the middle, so Geronimo dissected it in half and the tip of his blade slashed a lethal wound on the mercenary's chest. It all happened in a fraction of a second.

Geronimo stayed in his legs-apart stance. The mercenary later collapsed on his knee and fell to the ground on his side.

The others had already attended to Thea the second she was dropped. Geronimo turned his lightsaber off and ran to her.

"Thea...?" he called, placing her hand on her cheek. She appeared to be just taking a breath.

Her face lit up a bit. "Hey...!"

"Is everyone okay?"

Everyone gave a positive answer. "I'll be fine... Could've been worse," Thea said.

Geronimo smiled.

"Thanks for saving me back there."

"I'm your brother, I'm supposed to protect you."

Protect. A word she remembered since the day she was sent to protect me.

Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh... Danny!"

"Right, he's with Firas."

She propped herself up. "I gotta go help him- AH!" She felt a sharp sting in her ankle and nearly fell.

Geronimo caught her on her shoulders "Thea!"

"I think I sprained my ankle."

"Give me your arm." Thea swung her arm over her brother's neck. "Slowly now."

She chuckled. "I've climbed trees for good photos and jumped one storey down from a fire escape to stop a perp... I drop from ten feet after being choked and get this."

Together, they walked their way along the field towards the tower.

---

My duel with Firas reached a stalemate. I tried to match his skill so I wouldn't hurt him badly. There were parts here and there where I hit him with bare hands and feet, but they didn't seem to weaken him one bit.

Firas threw a cross swing that I parried, a spinning backhand and a thrust. I hopped back to dodge it, spun, then threw one of my sabers at him but he parried it back. I Force Pushed him, but he blocked it with his saber then jumped for a Saber Shockwave. I cleared the blast radius, then executed a retreat.

I jumped across to the first level of the tower. Firas tailed me and landed where I was as I jumped to the second level. He followed behind as I climbed up the frame of the tower all the way to the top.

Harsh gusts of cold wind blew at the top of the tower. I disappeared from sight as Firas arrived on a maintenance platform, confused. He looked around and began circling it. He took slow steps to not alarm me, but little did he know that I climbed up a bit more and clung onto one of the radio antennas with my lightsabers off. I waited for him to go by me, just so I could catch him by surprise. I saw the golden moment and jumped down before he went to far.

Upon landing behind him, I ignited one saber and attempted to get him with a forehand but Firas reacted quick enough to duck under and turned around to counter me with a Force Push. He charged and ignited his blade and swung a left and right forehand, finishing with a thrust kick to the chest. My back slammed against the guardrail, and from there I was pinned. He came for me and swung his saber, but he slashed the guardrail left and right of me as I dodged. I gave him a punch in the gut to get him to back off. He used Force Lightning that repelled me backwards, hitting the damaged guardrail.

The cut parts broke off, making the guardrail bend outwards from the tower. I fell on it, bounced, and rolled off the side. Luckily I held on, but the sweat from my palms made it hard to grip and I was beginning to slip. Below me was the safety cage for the visitors' platform, but I didn't dare to let go.

Firas appeared on the edge of the platform and looked down on me with his lightsaber pointed down. I saw the satisfaction in his evil smile once I was in this situation.

"How I've been waiting for this moment..." he shouted through the wind. He raised up his saber, about to cut the base of the guardrail.

"WAIT! Let me say something..." I stopped him. He let his saber down. "At the bottom... When you said I hadn't done a thing for you during your time in juvy."

"That's right. You haven't done A THING as a brother to make my life better when I was in that hellhole! You didn't visit, I got no letters; not even a single hello from you since we parted. I get that you were mad at the time, but I know you. I know that you would NEVER stay mad at me no matter HOW bad I screw up. But when never I heard from you again, to me the message was clear."

I tried to strengthen my grip. "That's what you might think. You wanna know the truth?" I was about to tear up. "ALL THE THINGS YOU SAID THAT I DIDN'T DO? I DID!"

Firas was taken aback. "Liar."

"I went back to visit you every week, flying in and out of Mouse Island, just to see YOU. Because you were a member of a terrorist organization, they didn't allow visitation. I'd write to you every few days, asking how you were doing. I sent pictures of me and the Stiltons for you to see how I was doing. I wanted to share the happiness I found thanks to you. I hoped to get something from you in return, but all those that I sent you got sent back to me. They didn't want you communicating with the outside world. I even requested for you to be transferred to a different facility once I found out about how you were treated. That's right, I knew. But the court didn't allow it.

"That's why when you said that I never cared, I snapped!" A tear rolled down my cheek. "You didn't know about what I did to make your life less miserable, and then you go around accusing me of cutting off our ties! You put yourself where I was, how would YOU feel?"

He was shook. Remorse was all I saw in his eyes.

I lost hope in him. "If you hate me so much, then do it..." I hung my head down and closed my eyes, enduring the freezing winds hitting my face. "Because I promised that I'd be with you... till the end of the line..."

I heard him breathing heavier. Adrenaline surged into his veins as I heard him raise his saber up to cut the base. Then I waited for my time, embracing my demise.

There was a pause in between, and I began to wonder what had taken him so long. I actually wanted it to be quick, because any longer and my fingers would get frostbite.

Then the rail vibrated to someone grabbing it. No. It couldn't be. Was it?

I opened my eyes, slowly looking up at the platform.

Good God.

Firas got hold of it and was pulling me back up. "Firas?" I called.

He was fighting gravity with all his might to get me back to safety. "I gotcha!" he grunted.

The rail was lifted back up inch by inch along with me hanging on to it for dear life. "HaaaaAAARRRRGH!" he strained.

I pulled myself up as well, and at the third quarter way up, I vaulted over to the platform.

"Firas, I-"

Not letting me finish, he pulled me into his tight embrace. He wept over my shoulder, expressing his fault. "I'm sorry...! (inhales) I'm so... sorry...!"

It was a miracle. Firas, corrupted to his very soul by the Dark Side - reformed. He must've felt conflicted inside, compelling to kill me. My heart felt so warm, I felt having tears of joy.

I hugged him back and cried as well, patting him on the back. "It's okay, buddy... (sobs) It's okay..."

At the bottom, Prof Philips was overpowered. His stamina had faded with time. Williams was pushing him to the edge, and the prof was on the brink of defeat.

The prof parried Williams' diagonal uppercut, his chop, his backhand, and backflipped away from his mace chop. Williams cancelled it midair with a Force Push, throwing him back a few meters but lands on his feet. The prof wasn't quick enough to react to the Force Lightning, so he felt the shock for one whole second.

He Force Speeds to one leg of the tower, then to the first floor behind Williams. Williams wasn't able to track him, so the prof jumps down to strike him. Williams felt it, though, so he turned around to catch him while airborne with the Force and slams him down on the ground. Williams lifted him back up, then the prof Repulsed and freed himself and touched down. Williams sprinted at him, and when he was in proximity, the prof swings a forehand but missed when Williams dropped down and slid, going past to his left, and swung his blade. It sliced half of his right cybernetic leg.

The prof bounced on his left leg before losing balance and fell forward on his hands. As Williams stood up, the prof turned around to face him, trying to limp away as he paced him.

"I had good intentions with that microchip." Williams panted. "I wanted to get rid of the American military occupations because they're the ones always stirring up trouble. They couldn't leave the Middle East alone, they've dropped nuclear warheads over two civilian populations... THEY ALWAYS POKE AROUND AT OTHER PEOPLE'S SHIT AND THROW THEM UP AT A FAN!"

"I took that chip away from you because your intentions would cost millions of innocent lives..." The prof kept limping backwards. "And the only thing I regret from that is that I claimed it as my own. I should never have done that knowing what you were capable of. Thus, I'm truly sorry,"

"Apologies won't change a thing. Apologize to yourself because you created your own enemy and brought yourself to your own oblivion." Williams raised his saber. "So long, Graham."

Just as he was about to strike him down, something held his arms from swinging. The prof was Force Pushed away sideways to safety, tumbling. After a moment of dumbfoundedness, he faced the direction the push came from.

Firas was the one who held him back while I pushed the prof away, back to the field at Champ de Mars.

"You...?" Williams muttered.

"It's over, Williams!" I shouted over.

Williams Repulsed to get free. "Do you really think that you can trust that traitorous scum to fight alongside you?" he said.

I activated both my sabers. "Time to find out..."

With the twirl of my blades, we charged at him - I was in front and Firas was three meters behind me to the left. I jumped, spun and struck a double backhand against Williams' blade and we locked. Firas went for his leg, but Williams stepped to his left and missed, in the same time disengaging the blade lock and made me stumble forwards on my own. He tried a chop at me as I did, but he missed too.

Firas swung left and right forehands, a left backhand, spun, and then a downwards backhand. I finally recovered and joined, both Williams and I throwing the same forehands at each other multiple times. He found an opening, so he countered with some muti-directional attacks aiming for my neck, body and legs.

The Crew watched the fight from afar as they made their way. "A red blade fighting with another red blade?" Trap pointed out.

"It cannot be..." Colette said in disbelief.

Geronimo couldn't believe it either. "Firas has reformed..."

Meanwhile, Williams switched back to Firas as he delivered a downwards forehand from behind. Williams fended him off with a series of strikes, finishing his turn with a spinning back kick to his chest.

I came at him with a forehand and a riposte, but both parried. I tried to close the distance with some strikes, but he keeps taking steps back to avoid my saber from getting too close. He stopped because he thought he had seen an opportunity to counter, but the distance made me see the chance to stab him so I went for it. He dodged it to the left and parried my saber downwards. I swung my second blade at his midsection but he blocked it, pushed it up, and Force Pushed me away.

Firas went for a head-on assault. He frenzied out with the quickest of moves, making Williams backing up with every strike. But his attacks beared no fruit because Williams kept up. He did a cross-slash, a spinning backhand, a downwards forehand, and stabbed the ground for a Saber Shockwave. Williams was pushed by it but his lightsaber absorbed most of it.

"You fed me with lies... made me turn against my own friend and corrupted me..." Firas glared at him, about to unleash his furious wrath.

"You were too easy to manipulate, boy..." Williams threw his saber to his side. "It shows me that your mind is weak."

"Aren't we all?" Firas sneered.

Williams's eyes widened.

He jumped out of the way of two blue lightsabers flying towards him from behind. He landed, but I made my sabers circle back towards him. When they got close, Williams parried them away and I made them come back to me as I sprinted to him.

Firas went and fought him, throwing a cross-slash again, a two forehands delivered in a double butterfly twist, and a backhand. Williams countered, throwing an upwards forehand, a backhand, brought it back around to his right to get Firas in the side. Parried, Williams spun and did a flying roundhouse kick for Firas' head but he leaned back and dodged it. Upon landing, Williams sprung his right fist and landed a right jab at Firas.

With Firas recovering, I jumped and landed in front of him with a chop, but he held my blades in a lock, and pushed me back. I slashed upwards with both blades like a propeller, and swung them down as I faced him back. He retaliated with a baseball bat swing, an upwards forehand, twirled and aimed a strike for my head which I parried. He continued with a fast set of moves targeting mostly my limbs and abdomen, but none of them touched me. I saw an opening, and went for a thrust again. the blade went under his arm as he dodged it. The same arm was used to land a right jab, a left hook that I blocked but he launched a right punch below at my gut, then he gave me the left hook, another right jab, and a finishing blow to my right jaw. I spun around to the momentum, stunned and barely being able to stand in a hunched position. Williams blew me away with a Force Push in which upon touchdown, rendered me incapacitated.

Firas saw it all. "You're gonna regret that," Firas bawled.

Williams turned around from his stance and into a new one with his lightsaber ignited and held it as if he was to pull it out from a scabbard.

A prompt staredown took place. Firas then barred his teeth and charged like a raging bull.

Firas jumped, twirled and struck a forehand, Williams spun to the momentum and countered with a backhand, but Firas ducked and missed that. He swung at Williams' feet, but he parried that with a forehand. Firas spun twice to collect momentum and swing a backhand that Williams stopped from getting to his abdomen.

Williams broke the bladelock by pushing it away and almost knocking down Firas. He recovered in time to block Williams' forehand and ducked to another one. Williams continued to throw another forehand that Firas parried, then spun to try another one from his left. Firas blocked that and held it in a bladelock. He pushed his blade down to get Williams' saber away, and then both twirled their sabers to reset their stances.

Firas twirled his saber at his left, spun and brought it around to his right and swung a strong forehand, Williams doing the same. Firas turned around while Williams twirled, both swung a left forehand and a backhand at each other respectively. Firas twirled again, delivering a low backhand as he dropped on his knees and slid across the floor, but Williams escaped the plasma blade with a butterfly kick.

Williams pointed down his saber on Firas. Firas looked back at him, and rose up to twirl his saber offensively around him and struck Williams' blade with multiple attacks.

Both used quick attacks against each other and at times, found a way to counter each other's moves Williams had an advantage over Firas after a few attacks where his counter led him to throw more subsequent moves at a high rate.

Meanwhile, I regained consciousness and lifted my head to see what had happened between the two. Dazed, I couldn't see clearly - everything was blurry except for the movements of the red lightsabers.

In the duel, both exchanged fast forehands; left and right. Firas then countered with a low forehand and pushed his blade against Williams' in a circular motion, twirled, and swung for Williams' head. He parried it, then after blocking two forehands, he found an opening to counter. He swung one high and one low that Firas pushed away the same way, and he opted for a chop. Williams spun his saber let go - twirling it midair and caught it in time to block the chop.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Both swung a forehand, then a low backhand. After that, while Williams ducked down on one hand, Firas swung a fast forehand. Firas lunged at him to thrust at him but missed to the left...

Williams rose up with his blade and made it impale in the middle of Firas' midsection.

My focus readjusted and I. Saw. Everything.

"NOOO!" I shouted.

Williams held him in that position as his saber violently popped and sparked where it touched Firas. He was petrified, with his face expressing the unbearable agony. He gasped with every last breath he took.

I watched in complete horror as Williams pulled his saber back and pushed Firas down - thudding on the ground. His lightsaber turned off as he rolled limp.

A hole in my heart formed once more as his soul departed. It felt like it sank into an abyss and never to ascend.

I was frozen. I couldn't comprehend on what just happened.

My best friend whom I consider as a brother. Gone.

The Crew were about 150 meters away, witnessing the horrific tragedy. "Oh no...!" Thea muttered.

I felt the feeling of loss once more - consuming me from the inside. Tearing my world apart as he died.

My spirit to fight began to fade - and so did my will to live.

Williams Force Pushed me about 70 meters. He turned to me for just a glance, then walked straight towards me.

I knew he wanted to finish me off. So I just stayed there and let him approach.

The Crew noticed my subtle movements, so they knew I was awake. "Williams is closing in, why isn't he getting up?" Thea said.

"Danny?" Geronimo tried through the comms. "Danny, do you copy?" I heard, but I didn't respond. "Danny, if you can hear me, you need to get up! Williams is coming for you!"

I broke into tears. "Firas... is gone..." I finally replied. "My best friend... gone...!"

"Danny, you have to get up and keep fighting! It's not over yet!"

"He can't," Violet chimed in. Geronimo turned his head around. "To him, the fight's lost when Firas was killed... He's lost his fighting spirit."

Geronimo wasn't having any of that. "Danny, listen to me very carefully... If you don't get up right now, everything we ever fought for will be lost!"

Williams was about 50 meters from me. "What's the point...?" I wept. "All is lost along with him..."

"Then tell me why are we still here?! Just to suffer?! All those men who fought with us before... they gave their lives to protect the people from men like him!" Geronimo gasped to breathe. "If you say that the fight ends right here with you dead, then the fight will truly have been lost."

"All those brave men out there who sacrificed themselves today..." he continued, "those fallen soldiers at the airport, Rescue 1 Sky, Finlay...! They'll all die in vain. Firas will die in vain! And everything we had fought for would've been for nothing. You have to keep fighting, Danny. It's what they all would've wanted."

Williams covered 10 more meters. Then someone else entered the comm channel. "Danny... It's Thea... Just listen to me..."

The softness in her voice - it made my mind stop contemplating on my death to listen. It gave me calmness, even for just a little, despite sounding so sorrow.

"You have to get up... and keep fighting! What Geronimo said was right, we can't let their deaths be for nothing! We can't leave behind everything we've fought for after all those victories we had and just admit defeat at the final battle! We've come so far, why would you throw it all away just for one loss?-"

"DID YOU THINK HIS DEATH WAS JUST A TINY CASUALTY!?" I snapped. "After my family perished, he did EVERYTHING he could to keep my spirits up... He treated me like I was his own brother, he did so much for me, and it meant so much... And you say that his death is just a loss? A LITTLE WORLD OF MINE DIED!"

"BUT YOU STILL HAVE US!" she countered. Her sobs got heavier and she cried. "Danny, what do you think Geronimo and I are here for? What do you think The Crew are here for? You're forgetting that YOU'RE A PART OF OUR FAMILY NOW!" she reasoned.

Oh no... how could I have forgotton?

"Danny, you're my little brother! MY little world!" She gasped and continued: "I love you as much as you loved Firas, you parents and Sarah altogether... From the day I was assigned to you, I promised myself that I'd protect you with every bit of strength I have! I already broke it once, don't make me break it again!"

No... what was I thinking?

Her voice softned. "You're my little brother, Danny... I can't live with myself thinking that I lost you. I'll feel the same way you've felt when you lost Sarah... I don't want to go through that because I know how much it hurt you! Don't make me feel that way, Danny!"

Wha... what was I doing?

"We're your family now... how could you forget that...?"

God... what have I done?

"Get up, Danny!" Trap shouted through.

"C'mon, Danny! Get up and fight!" Pamela followed.

My family... they... they were cheering...

"Pick yourself up, Danny! You can do it!" Paulina said.

"You can do zis! We believe in you!" Colette motivated.

They were lending me their emotional strength.

"C'mon, Danny! We're counting on you!" Violet encouraged.

"Now or never, buddy! Take him down!" Benjamin joined.

They were... counting on me...

"This is it, Danny! Final chance!" Pandora said.

"We got your back, Danny!" Pinky chimed in

I couldn't... I couldn't let them down!

"C'mon, mate! This is it!" Nicky said.

"Keep on fighting, Danny!" Geronimo shouted.

"We're always with you, lad!" the professor said.

Thea's final words gave me what I needed most. "Get up and defeat him, baby bro..."

My sadness had cured.

My spirit to fight had been restored.

Williams had stepped up in front of me to deliver the final blow. I looked up in his eyes as he raised his saber. He swung down but hit the ground instead while I rolled away backwards. I came to a hunched stance, and did a Repulse - flinging Williams 50 meters away.

I straighted my stance and combined my two sabers back into a staff saber and ignited both blades.

Willaims kipped up with his saber activated. "It wasn't easy for me to be put down..." I said. "...And it won't be easier this time, either."

"It won't matter... I'll have more power than you'll ever have," he boasted. "And with it, I'm going to destroy you."

I twirled my staff saber in front of me and held it behind me diagonally, with my left hand held forward.

Williams wasted no time and proceeded to charge straight at me. I twirled my saber above me and parried Williams' diagonal forehand, blocked a second one going for my hip, then a third for my head at the left, and to the right where I stopped and pushed his saber upwards.

I countered by swinging the lower blade up, then a right forehand, a left uppercut, twirled the saber over my head and a left diagonal forehand. I went for a right-handed thrust, so I shut off the blade close to me as Williams parried my saber to the right. I brought the blade over my head again to the momentum and swung a chop, but Williams jumped back and missed it.

I jumped forward and swung midair but he rolled forwards and missed it. My back was exposed, so Williams swung for it. I parried it in time, but he saw a window for an attack and took it. He burst into a frenzy of moves aiming at various places. Our blades clashed and we pushed against each other in a bladelock. I pushed his blade away, and buried a spinning back kick into his armor-plated chest.

I rolled back as Williams swung another forehand and parried his backhand upwards. He continued with a double forehand; one for my waist and the other for my neck, swung it to his left side for another at my head, spun and a right diagonal forehand. He spun again to charge a backhand, then an upwards forehand, and battered me with a series of fast-paced strikes.

He ended it with a bladelock and pushed me back until I almost trampled. I regained balance, but Williams had faced his back towards me and did a frontflip kick to my chin. I was knocked on my back while he landed kneeling. I kipped up and ignited one blade of my saber, twirled my blade around and circled him. I went into offense and swung right and left forehands, went for a chop but he held it back and pushed it to the side. I countered that by striking the butt of my saber's hilt to his nose, then another spinning back kick to the chest, and Repulsed.

He landed a the center of the bottom of the tower, doing a kip up after that. "You're not as weak as I thought, boy..." he admired. "But I have one thing that can turn the tables in an instant..."

"And what would that be...?" I asked.

"Do you remember the vanishing device you saw Clara Dubois plant on one of the tower's legs?"

"What about it?"

"They're still there, several on each leg. Only cloaked so not even your various vision modes can see them. And you want to know something else?" He took out something out from one of his belt pouches.

It was something that could really change the fight for good.

A detonator.

My eyes widened in shock. "No!"

"Au revoir, Tours Eiffel," Williams said.

I tried to deploy Force Push, but Williams beat me to it and gripped the detonator first.

Simultneous explosions lit up the first floor of the tower above us. The shockwave blew me down and shook the ground, hot wind blasted all over me, and the fire was bright red that engulfed almost the entire area above us. I collapsed on my knees, shielding my face from the heat.

The Crew was pushed back by the incredible shockwave so hard, they fell on their backs.

Williams opted for a quick getaway by Force Jumping up into the fire, but I didn't want to let him escape this time. Not again.

So I Force Jumped after him through the blaze, still hot though it began to grow black and cooled down. As I emerged from the smoke, I saw him about 20 meters ahead - landing on the same platform on top of the tower as Firas and I did. I ignited one blade from my lightsaber and upon landing, engaged in a blade lock.

He pushed my saber to the right and landed a thrust kick on my chest. I stepped back and rebounded off the guardrail and countered with a high spinning back kick to his jaw. Both of us swung a downwards forehand, cancelled out each other's backhand, but Williams spun and hit me with a spinning back hook kick on my right jaw. I rolled to the side and engaged him with a frenzy of strikes that ended about 10 seconds later with another bladelock. We backed away from each other and reset to our stances.

That was when disaster struck.

The tower began to groan from the bottom, shake and vibrate, and I could feel my balance shifting about.

From the bottom, this was what The Crew saw. "Holy Swiss..." Trap exclaimed.

"The tower's swaying..." Thea said.

A piece of the structure from the northern leg snapped and the tower shifted. I almost lost balance but I managed to grab on to the railing to keep me from falling.

When the tower shifted, I was below Williams' position. Williams took advantage of the high ground and lunged at me with his foot forward for a kick. I parried it with my forearm, but it pushed me down and made me tumble. I held on to the railing one again and stood up, then Williams charged for an attack.

I parried a reverse-gripped downwards right forehand, a reversed-gripped downwards backhand, a reversed-gripped vertical forehand, then a regular left forehand before a diagonal uppercut.

I went for an opening at his right and sped behind him. I twirled my staff saber over me and did a right forehand, a left forehand with the second blade, another right forehand, then a low left forehand, a double right forehand targeting his head and feet, and a downwards left forehand.

Williams countered by spinning with his blade twice, a diagonal uppercut, a backhand and a forehand, then a short series of strikes. He tried an aerial attack as he jumped over me to flank me.

A loud bang came from below and the tower shook again. This time, my balance kept shifting as if the tower was collapsing.

Because it was.

From the bottom the sight of it was catastrophic for The Crew. The lights that highlighted the tower at night went out as the tower tilted. Sparks fly from the first level from the electricity being cut off. Metal rattling and grinding against each other creating the eeriest noise that sent goosebumps down.

The northern leg couldn't handle the weight after severely damaged and had given up. Williams made a run uphill on the platform as the tower was falling. I chased him up, but he climbed over the railing and jumped off with a swan dive. I wasn't that far behind him, so I jumped off after him.

I caught up to him as we both fell from about 300 meters. I held him by the scruff of his shirt, threw a right jab at him. He blocked the second one and gave me a right hook to the jaw. We separated, then I pulled him closer with Telekineses and launched a thrust kick to his gut. He pulled a small Glock G24 pistol from his ankle and let off 3 shots. I deflected them away, then he pulled me in and delivered a left hook. I used the momentum to spin and give him a spinning backfist, then thrust kicked him away again.

The tower tilted more, until the weight destroyed the northern leg. Electrical explosions errupt from random points, and they were set ablaze with fires emerging from them. It finally came to a collapse and fell onto Quai Branly and the river Seine, shaking the earth surrounding it with might, crushing every car, streetlamp and areas of asphalt that was underneath. The river water displaced shot up as high as 20 feet as the tip fell.

Williams and I reached the bottom - nothing but the base of the tower left showered by debris. As the kick set us apart, we landed on our feet in a crouch with one leg extended and one hand touching the ground. A ring of dust rose up around upon touchdown and settled.

I stood up and ignited both lightsaber blades, and Williams did the same. Still staring down at each other, I twirled my staff saber at my side and pointed one end at him.

William rushed to me again. Before he came, I spun with my saber to build momentum and then parried his forehand when he did. What came next was a backhand, a cross-slash, a spinning forehand, and a bladelock. I let his blade slip forward as I went to the left, turned the second blade off, and jammed the hilt into Williams' forehead. As he stepped back in confusion, I turned the blade back on and slammed it into the ground for a Saber Shockwave.

Williams was hit back and sent tumbling, but recovered on his knee and leg extended backwards. I ran at him and swung an uppercut that slashed the ground on the way, let it go to twirl midair, caught it to my left, and thrust forward. Williams dodged it and parried the blade to the side which let me continue to launch a fast canoe-rowing-like saber move.

Williams told me to back off with a Repulse, so I Sped out of the blast radius. It was powerful enough that it almost knocked me off my feet up to 50 meters, so I became more alert. Williams Sped to me with an uppercut then resumed to lash out in a series of random moves. He finished with a double strike to my sabers in a butterfly twist and a frontflip with a kick to my chin.

I was dazed for no more than a second. So after he landed in a crouch, I swiftly did a spinning back kick to his face. He tumbled around and stood up almost immediately, but I denied it and Force Pushed him away.

He kipped up and I sprinted towards him, executing a Saber Throw. He parried and deflected my staff saber right back at me, so I caught it in a tight grip, jumped and spun, then swung a forehand with both blades striking his. I came around with a backhand and struck with both blades again, spun, then a left forehand.

Williams Force Pushed me back slightly, most of it absorbed by my staff saber and the space gave him room to counter. I was driven back by a forehand, a backhand, a chop, and a backhand uppercut. After another Force Push, we both exerted Force Lightning and battled it out.

"I've stopped you once, I'll do it again!" I shouted over.

"You'll fail like you did at McCarran!" he replied.

The reminder shook me and got me distracted. His lightning hit me and I felt electrocuted for a millisecond. Williams pulled me to him and pushed me back away with Telekinesis and held me upside down with my head inches from the ground. The next thing I knew was that he slammed me down and made me hit my head on the ground, semi-compensated by holding my arms up. I kipped up and shook the pain off.

I waited as he came at me. I blocked his forehand, a backhand, his spinning forehand and a downwards backhand. I hit his nose with my elbow, and countered with a left and right forehand, a left downwards forehand, a right uppercut, spun and came back with a downwards right forehand. I swung another left and right forehand, spun again and came back with a one-handed backhand and shot him with Force Lightning with a bit of Force Push.

Williams set eyes on the car Firas used against me and picked it up with Telekinesis. He moved it towards me, right on top of my head then tried to crush me with it. I used the the Force to hold it up, lifting it with my arms as Williams pushed it down on me.

My legs had been bent and I tried to straighten them up. The problem was that Williams applied more pressure to the point of no return, so I need to think of something before the car squishes me into a pancake.

I had an idea. To fight against the weight is useless, so I pushed it aside and let it slam there. Quickly, I ignited my saber and jumped towards him - slamming one blade to the ground in front of him, resulting a Saber Shockwave. He was dragged on his knee and hand with a leg extended backwards.

I pulled my saber out and Williams was already charging back. His aggressiveness leveled up when he came in with a frenzy of swings - each strike came with quick execution as one after the other were aimed at multiple target points in an unpredictable pattern. He did everything he could to open up my defences and take me down, but I did my best to keep up with his pace and parried every swing he had to give. But at one fateful moment, he broke the streak into a high forehand, a low backhand, and an upwards forehand. He spun backwards, and did a hook kick.

At the hilt of my staff saber.

My weapon was forced out of my hands and flew off to the side, grinding with the ground for a few feet. I was unarmed, my defences were open and there was a short time before Williams attack. Then it came - he swung a forehand. I reacted quick by doing a low backflip, then when his hand was where it was, I kicked my leg up and hit his fingers; making him lose his grip and let his saber go.

This was about to be a short fistfight, and I just knew it.

I blocked a right hook and a left jab, followed by a right cross punch but got hit with a liver punch and an elbow. He immediately went for a spinning backfist but I evaded it and countered with a right hook and a cross, a low hook to the ribs, an evaded left hook, a reverse spinning elbow to the cheek, and spun again for a high tornado kick to the corner of his forehead. He backed up to recover from the blow.

I was in my stance, ever ready to face his attack. He came at me, charging in a hunched position. I launched a thrust kick but it missed to the right, and it resulted in Williams excecuting a takedown.

Williams knelt in top of me as he swung a streak of hooks, punches, and jabs. the first ones managed to hit me, but I held up my arms to block them. I found an opening and uppercut his chin, then grasped the strap of his plate carrier, put on foot on his stomach and thrusted him up and over.

We both got back on our feet. I closed in on him and threw a cross, a liver punch, an uppercut, a reverse elbow, a left jab, and a reverse spinning back kick.

Williams recovered fast and retaliated with a fast right and left jab, an uppercut, and a spinning backfist. He continued with a hook and roundhouse kick, which I blocked, a one-two, and grabbed me by the neck. He threw a right hook and an uppercut in the gut, and another jab in the face and let me go. I got stunned after the second face hit and dropped on my knees. He finished me with a knee to my nose.

I rolled twice on the ground, stopping belly down. Williams took a breather and circled around his spot. "Just give in, boy. Looks to me that you've already lost..."

That. Arrogant. Bastard.

I forced my arms to push myself up. Slowly, my legs caught on and stood me up. I popped my neck and rolled my shoulders - telling him the raging flame inside of will never die.

"Still haven't had enough, eh?" Williams said with a smug face.

I felt a drop of blood running down my nose. "You broke my nose again, you old geezer," I spoke in a British accent.

"You and your childish remarks."

"It's because I am one, you old psycotic git." I stood in my stance, and Williams reset to his.

My heart raced. Sweat and blood ran down his forehead. Both tired of the same thing we always do whenever we two meet - but of course, somebody had to finish the other.

And it wasn't going to be me.

My focus was at its climax. From his stance, he went for a right roundhouse kick t my neck. I blocked it, and he went for a hook kick and a high front kick with the same leg. Both were dodged and evaded.

He proceeded with a spinning front kick and a right hook that got parried, and I countered with the same move with the same result and he grabbed onto it with both of his hands. I clawed on his right one and threw it to the side, exposing his chest and planted a palm on the center of it.

He threw a right jab and missed, going through at the side of me. I swung an elbow to his nose to counter it, but it was semi-compensated with his hand held up in front of his face.

As he backed up, I closed in. I threw a right hook, a low cross, and another right hook. After everything got blocked, he countered with a low right cross that missed, and caught his hand. I went for a left chop but he blocked it, so I took the hand I caught, straightened it and elbowed it at the inner joint, and drove a palm into his upper breast bone.

When he backed away again, slid for a sweep kick and a cartwheel kick that he barely escaped to the left. He opted for another front high kick, but he missed my face and went over my left shoulder instead. I countered by catching his leg, grabbing him by the scruff of his plate carrier and lifted him up. I turned around and slammed him to the ground, pinning him.

He somehow freed himself from the pin and threw me back over him with his legs. We both stood up.

I swung a roundhouse kick that he blocked, a second one to his side, and a spinning hook kick that he ducked under.

I waited for his turn to strike. He threw a left backfist and a right hook that I evaded, a right backhand and that was when I caught his arm. I tucked my arm under his, up until his right shoulder and held his forearm with my other hand. I gripped it tight and threw him with a flip.

He quickly got up and ran back, and threw a fast one two. I dodged them and then he tried to clap my ears, but I blocked them and held onto his wrists, and made myself fall backwards with him on top of me. Before we touched down, I placed a foot on his stomach. I launched him backwards with the thrust from my kick and he went flying.

He tumbled forwards while I tumbled backwards into a crouch. His back was facing me - when he stood and turned around, what awaited him was a tornado kick to the corner of his forehead.

I watched him spin to the momentum transferred and stopped in a rather hunched stance. Eyeballing me as I got closer to him. He glanced over to his left, where his saber was. I saw that and was prepared for what was next.

Williams pulled in his lightsaber with Telekinesis and I did the same to mine. He ignited the blade and swung at me, but I had mine turned on just before it struck. I held it back in a bladelock before Williams lifted it and swung three forehands. At the next swing, I stopped it with Telekinesis and made his lightsaber plant itself into the ground while he was still holding it. He tried to pull it free, but I held it there - stuck in its position.

That's when I sensed his fear.

He let the saber go when I walked closer and took some steps back. I pulled his saber out, turned it off, and crushed it with Telekinesis while still in my hand.

Williams broke into a run. I Force Sped in front of him and he charged a right hook and a left jab, which both I parried, and a right jab that I caught. I squeezed his fist until I heard his knuckles popped. I pulled his arm in to give his collarbone and nose a right elbow, and a blow to his forehead with a backfist.

He did a reverse back hook kick aimed at my neck but I caught it, held it up on my shoulder, brought my lightsaber hilt up over his shin and held it with both hands, then slammed it down. A crack was heard and Williams screamed afterwards.

I took his broken leg and pushed it forwards, making him fall.

Williams groaned in the pain of his broken shin. I looked down furiously on him, igniting one blade and pointed the tip down right in front of his nose. Its color reflected off his eyes and glinted.

"It's over, Williams," I growled.

He gave a slight chuckle. "You're surely not making the same mistake of leaving me alive, are you?"

"The living aren't done with you yet. You're under arrest."

It's done. Williams had been defeated once again. His reign of terror had finally ended.

I turned my glare away, turning off my lightsaber and began to walk away in the direction of The Crew.

Gentle breezes blew and carried leaves away - it felt so soothing and calm while I breathed the midnight air in. Paris was ever dark because the tower's lights were out, but the moon was just bright enough for me to picture my surroundings. Sounds of distant gunfights ceased - only wails of sirens reverberated through the city.

I saw The Crew making their way here, still on the green fields of Champ de Mars. As the moonlight shone over them, I saw their happy faces - maybe they were glad that I came back with only a few scratches. I saw Violet walking with Colette, holding her side due to a broken rib. Paulina was beside them, slightly limping, but she had a satisfied smile on her snout. I saw Pamela carrying Professor Philips on her shoulder; the prof hopping every step on his one leg. Trap appeared exhausted compared to everyone else. Geronimo looked proud and glad at me, obliging the effort I did to put Williams down.

And then there was Thea, being carried by her brother while she had her arm wrapped around his neck. Her smile was the widest amongst everyone's. I missed seeing her this happy; it brought me so much joy. I saw tears sparkle in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away so I wouldn't see them. I just wanted to run up to her and give her a big cuddly bear hug and squeeze her like how she does to me. Heck, I'd give everyone a hug...

Until suddenly all of their happy smiles transformed into a horrified expression.

"DANNY, LOOK OUT!" Thea alerted. Then I remembered about one small detail.

Williams still had his pocket pistol on him.

I turned around fast as everything around me went into slow motion. I saw Williams barely standing on his one leg, aiming his small Glock at me. The fury I saw in his face - he couldn't accept the defeat he received and tried to square up with me. I saw his trigger finger moved, just a few more inches before he let off a round.

That was when I heard four shots in the distance to my left that made me duck, and four bullets impacted Williams' armor.

Who could've just saved my life? I looked to my left to see who they were.

I was absolutely astonished.

Nicky, Benjamin, Pandora and Pinky appeared from the other street and came to assist.

They made their guns fire two more shots each, but all eight hit Williams' armor and metal arm. The impacts made him fall over, but Williams was determined to get a shot at me. As he lifted his head up and aimed, Pinky took the final shot with her M4A1 and hit Williams at the direct center of his forehead.

He dropped his gun and laid there dead. Motionless. I had a hard time believing what I just saw. Brazier Williams had finally fallen for good.

I turned to the other junior agents and Pinky. I saw her stowing away her weapon behind her back on a sling and scampered towards me. The others tailed after her. She looked awesome in her combat gear, by the way.

She looked so glad and relieved to be able to see me again, and I could say the same for myself. She had a smile on her snout as her sky blue eyes glistened with tears of joy. She approached me and straight away gave me a big hug, and I embraced her in return.

She sobbed on my shoulder, out of words to say. She could only squeeze me tighter. I patted her on the back to console her. "Miss me, Pinky?" I asked.

"Yes...!" she choked. "You smell..."

"I know... It's been a long night. Thanks for saving me."

She slowly let go, grabbing me by the cheeks with both paws and turned my head around to tend to any wounds. She saw the cut in the corner of my forehead and cheekbone, so she took out a dressing and bandage from one of her belt pouches and applied them on.

"Felling better now?" she asked sheepishly.

"A lot better. Thanks."

Thea and Geronimo made it to where we were. "Hey there, champ," Thea called.

"Thea!" I gave her the exact bear hug I mentioned earlier. "You guys made it!"

"They were tough... but we were tougher."

We let go of each other, and everybody assembled. "Thank you. All of you! You guys had my back when I needed it."

"We're family here, Danny," Benjamin said. "We always have each other's backs."

Pamela and Professor Philips came last. "Prof... your leg..." I muttered.

"You don't have to worry too much. My prosthetics are replaceable," he said.

I looked back at the fallen tower. I started to feel some sort of guilt inside. "I wished it didn't have to be like this. I wished I could've saved the tower."

"Don't take it hard on yourself, Danny," Geronimo said. "We had no way of knowing. What matters is that Williams has been taken down."

"Yes... but at what cost?" My eyes once again became flooded with tears. I silently gazed at Firas' corpse.

My heart told me to get closer to him and take one final look at him before we part. So I followed its wishes and went to him. The Crew tagged along behind me. We got to him and I knelt beside him.

The first thing I noticed of him when I got to him that it looked like he was in peace. He was all calm and serene. I know this how?

He had a faint smile on his face.

"He's at peace..." Benjamin pointed out, Pandora crying beside him. I nodded.

A brief moment of silence passed. "You always told us that in Islam," Thea spoke up, "fighters who fall in battle are martyrs."

"He defended the world from Williams... yes, it makes him a Shaheed..." I explained, tearing up more. "You were a great friend, Firas. A great brother. Thank you for being there with me for all those years... forever I'll cherish them."

We stood by him for about a minute as I wrote a letter to whoever might find him with a pen and paper Geronimo lent me then said our final goodbyes. "Until the end of the line..." I muttered.

His lightsaber was still in his hand, so I took it and clipped it on my belt karabiner. I kissed on my hand and transferred it to Firas' forehead. The Crew took turns doing what I did, as a symbol of acknowledgement that he was part of us.

In the middle of that, Geronimo received a call from Hussein. "Geronimo Stilton speaking," he introduced himself.

"Hey, it's Hussein," he said on the other side of the call. "How are things over where you're at?"

"Paris is secure. Williams is now dead, hostage was used as a bait, and now he's killed trying to put down Williams after being reformed."

"Poor Danny. Send him my condolences."

"Will do."

"Anyway, I called to update on Julie. She was escorted to safety at the HQ in Lyon, and she's put into protective custody. She'll be staying at the Ops Command for a short while. Tell Colette that she can call Julie if she wanted to ask how she was doing."

"That's good to know. By the way, my grandfather contacted me just before. He told me to come back to New Mouse City for urgent family matters."

"Not a problem, G. Me and the boys will help with wrapping up."

"Much appreciated, Specter One."

"Fly safe."

As he terminated the call, we were ready to depart. Thea was on my shoulder while he had the call.

"Let's all go home," he said.

I called my cars from the Chateau to come pick us up at the far end of Champ de Mars and they arrived fifteen minutes later.. We drove ten minutes to my Chateau to pack out clothes as fast as we can, then drove another half an hour to the airbase and said farewell to Profs Philips and Von Volt as well as Russell, we boarded a Gulfstream jet that Geronimo requested under Interpol, then flew home to New Mouse City at about 2.30 in the morning.

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A/N: That was chapter 20 guys! I hope the next one will come up in a short while, so stay tuned! Please do drop a fav and review, it really helps me to improve. Hit me with a follow if you want more content from me, and I hope we'll see each other soon!