"C! What are you doing?! Start shooting or get dead! I'm not pulling you out of the muck again!" Dew broke Ceril's trance from the events that had transpired only hours before. He had almost forgetten that he and Dew were both pinned down behind crates, at opposite entrances to two long adobe hallways that met to form a 'U' shape. He took a deep breath, and focused on the bullets that were whizzing over his head. He popped his head over the crate, rifle in hand, and fired several bursts at his enemies on the other end of the hall. They ducked behind the walls, giving Ceril the chance to move up to another stack of crates that was resting several meters in front of him. Just as he reached the space behind this new cover, two identical gang members popped their weapons from behind the walls they hid behind, firing blindly. Ceril swore, ducking to the floor, waiting for the firing to stop.
A sudden feeling struck him that one of his adversaries was going to rush his hiding place and end the fight prematurely. With this hunch, Ceril withdrew the shotgun that was slung over his back, placing his rifle there in his stead. As the air grew silent, save for the sounds of Dew laying siege to the fortifications of her own opponents, Ceril could feel his hands begin to tremble. That's my cue.
As he anticipated, he could hear a single set of footsteps advancing on his position. Just as this lone gangster was upon him, he stood erect, shotgun at the hip. Ceril could see instantly that the lone gangster, a young woman who appeared to be his junior (But it's not her. That must mean that they're using her for other purposes here, or somewhere else. Either way, I'm going to get to her, and there isn't a single one of these goons who's gonna stop me. Count on it, Ella. I'll see you again.) Ceril pulled the trigger, sending a powerful force of Dust pellets flying toward the midsection of his enemy's Aura. While he knew that it wouldn't be a fatal blow, Ceril was certain that it would be enough to make her lose conciousness, or at least hurt enough to lose the motivation to get back up and fight.
"Alright, jerks. You want me? Come and take me." Ceril shouted, a new sense of courage swelling through him. Fully aware of what he was asking for, he popped his neck, unbuttoned the holsters on both of his pistols and loosened the strap on his rifle so that it hung limp at his hip. He checked his ammunition, satisfied to see that he was full up on everything, and then some. He stepped out of his hiding place, standing in the center of the hallway to see his adversaries poking their heads out, hoping to catch a glance at what it was that their enemy was playing at. A smirk crossed Ceril's lips, the hand laying on the barrel of the shotgun reaching up to stroke the light stubble on his chin. "What's the matter? You decided to be conservative now? I'm standing right here." Ceril's courage was wearing off with every second that passed. While he tried extremely hard to sound like a firm, confident warrior, he still felt like a slanky Shade flunkee. Before the apprehension overtook him, One gangmember, armed with a machete, rushed Ceril. Feeling such a bold frontal assault coming, Ceril chuckled with superiority.
He flipped his shotgun in the air, catching it by the barrel with the hand that once held the trigger, holding the stock at eye-level. His other hand reared back, darting forward with enough velocity to turn the weapon into a flying projectile that slammed into the bridge of the gangmembers nose, sending him flying onto his back without a resounding thud. The shotgun flipped back like a boomerang into Ceril's waiting hands. The others, watching this scene transpire, decided to rush Ceril at once, just as he'd anticipated.
The first to reach him was a young girl, slightly older than his sister, with a pistol extended towards him. Whenever she was within arm's length, Ceril grabbed her gun arm with both of his hands and hurled her upwards to the ceiling that connected with her back. Her Aura pulsed, and she fell to the grounf behind him. Without haste, Ceril scooped up her pistol and pistol whipped the nearest member with the handle, sending them flying into another and landing on the ground.
Ceril let loose a barrage of gunfire from his shotgun, sending several more of Ratel's gangmembers flying to the ground, their Auras dealt a heavy blow. When his shotgun was empty, he clubbed two more enemies with his empty shotgun with one hand and raised his rifle up from his hip with the other. He pressed down on the trigger, letting loose another barrage of gunfire until the clip ran empty. To buy himself time, again, Ceril clubbed three enemies with his shotgun, booting another with so much force that they, too, fell to the ground.
There were so many faces, Ceril soon lost the ability to distinguish one of his opponents from another. Each one looked identical, as if they were not human at all, but some sort of ant colony, with their black-and-red clothing, black mirrored sunglasses. All he could think about was how he was going to knock the next one down, and then the one after, and the subsequent one. They were standing between him and Ella, and he would be damned if he was going to let them stop their reuiniting. In all this, though, Ceril let his mind wander back to the conversation that had transpired between himself and Dew.
"What do you mean 'Not Entirely'?""I mean that she wanted to help pay the bills, and get herself through combat school. Bad. She started doing a lot of things behind my back. Startled peddling illegal Dust for gangs like Ratel's, and some other little chores that I still don't know about. After a while, there got to be some dues that Ella couldn't pay just by doing some odd jobs. That's when crap got bad. That Ratel woman's gang came along in the dark of night, slipped her away and tried slitting my throat in my sleep. You know I'm a light sleeper, so obviously that didn't go over well. Of course, even if I took one of them, they still managed to nab Ella. I haven't told Velvet any of this, and she doesn't need to know. I can't shake the feeling that her and that other hottie friend of hers aren't exactly telling us everything about what we're getting ourselves into.""Okay, firstly, you probably shouldn't call that...Kandase girl a 'hottie' in front of me for your own good. Second, I know what you mean. Ever since I met Velvet, I've had to all but use a crowbar to get to her give me any info. As for her friend, I don't trust her at all, so I'm not even going to try to get anything out of her. But, if we're going to survive whatever this is, we need only trust them in a fight. After all, this is starting to seem like more of a point-shoot operation anyway. They point, and we all go a-shooting."
Ceril had only just realized that all but a handful of those who stood in his way were incapacitated. The narrow hallway had gained a small mound of unconcious gangmembers, with the remaining ones at the back climbing over thier forms to get at Ceril. His rifle and shotgun almost completely depleted of ammunition, He tossed his two pistols in the air. Per a special modification that he had made to them, Ceril flipped a switch next to the safety just as they were going in the air. Immediately after, Ceril ducked behind the crate that had sheltered him initially as the shooting started.
Ceril covered his head, and counted to three, the time it usually took for his pistols to rise and fall to the floor. In that time, several gunshots rang out through the air, faint clicking from the guns a signal that the attack was complete. When he arose again, Ceril was pleased to see that anyone who was coming to attack was neutralized, but still alive, thanks to what was left of thier Aura. He was no killer, but he would not have seen the harm if the situation had taken a darker turn, anyway. After all, he did not share the same views as Velvet did on the subject, and he felt himself wise enough to know that there was a time and a place when bloodshed was unavoidable.
There was little doubt in his mind that such strong convictions from his partner (Ceril refused to consider himself as a subordinate to Velvet.) came from a relatively easy life in Vale's borders, with no death or destruction to speak of, save for the Fall of Beacon. Velvet had surely not seen as much despair, felt as much pain, as he had during his youth in Vacuo. He was certain that ,soon, she would spill her first blood soon, and abandon such childish ideals.)
Without the darkness, light cannot find a place to shine. She's never taken a life, so she has no way of realizing that. By the time that Ceril would realize the error in his assessment of Velvet, it would be too late for him to save himself. His arrogance, his ignorant state and narrow-mindedness would eventually prove to be the final seal in his proverbial tomb.
His gazing over the scene of violence was interrupted by the stroke of a palm on his shoulder. Startled, Ceril turned on his heels, pistols in hand, and placed the end of one in the face of Dew. With a look of shock, then passive irritation, Dew clutched the gun with a single hand that wasn't holding her spear, yanking it out of Ceril's hand with ease. "You know the rule. Don't point a gun if--"
"Yeah, yeah. You all finished here?"
"I am. I'd ask the same, but all the knocked out goons answered that before I could even open my mouth."
"What happened with you? Anything interesting?"
Dew became flush, chuckling under her breath. "Well...since you asked..."
The sounds of faint cries for help caught hold of Ceril's ears, however, and he shot up an open hand to silence Dew. She let out a stifled gasp of annoyance, paired with a rude name, but he ignored it. There was no way that he could have explained hearing it, but he did nonethless. He was sure that her voice hit his ears. He reloaded all of his weapons in a haste, despite the fact that he had almost no ammunition to speak of. "What's your problem, Ceril?" Dew asked, arms crossed with spear tucked in the crook of her arm.
"It's her. Ella's here."