Disclaimer: Fang the Sniper © Sega/Archie Comics
Ivan the Bear, Mia the Cat and Digit the Livewire © Blank the (Adorable) Snivy
Chapter Thirty Seven
Game Changers
-For christ's sake…-
The sound of a punch landing cracked through the training room air before a distinct growl could be heard.
-Weird how this is getting eas- oh who am I kidding? She's kicking my ass!-
"Will you please ease the hell off!" yelled Fang in an agitated tone as he dodged countless punches that his sister continuously threw at him.
It had been a good hour and a half since Bayonet started Fang on his close combat training and for that entire time Fang had received his fair share of bruises. Bayonet had decided it was a good time for her brother to learn some moves since the battles were getting more intense and she also knew it was another chance to give him a good beating. Another thing that brought the problem to the fore was the fact that a lot of people knew of Fang's poor hand to hand combat skills so Nic figured that some training was in order if he were to survive. During the whole process though Fang had done nothing but complain about how he didn't have a gun while dodging his sister's punches. What surprised Bayonet however was the fact that he could actually put up a decent fight despite all the complaining and she was starting to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Bayonet ducked down and performed a low legged sweep before the Sniper managed to jump up and avoid it. The second Fang's feet touched the ground his sister spun around and stood up before delivering a quick straight kick to his torso that caused him to bring up a cross armed block.
"I asked you to fucking stop!" yelled Fang in a pissed off tone before pushing Bayonet's foot away, making her stagger backwards. The Sniper then stood up and growled at his sister angrily. "I told you to quit it because I hate fighting like this! Besides, I suck at it!" growled Fang with an agitated tone even though he was oblivious to the fact that he was defending himself pretty well.
"Quit your bitchin, you're doing a decent job right now aren't you?" she asked him with a playful giggle since she found it funny how he didn't notice his own skill.
Fang raised his finger at her as if to make a point before he realized that she was right. "Ermmm, well . . ." he trailed off as he tried to figure it out. "That was a fluke, I'm just following my instincts, that's all." said the Sniper in a nonchalant tone before turning his back on his sister and crossing his arms. "Besides I bet any spastic idiot could do it, I mean Ryu could do it." He snickered with a chuckle even though he was wrong.
The Gunner giggled at her brother's stubborn attitude before charging him and before she could get close enough to launch a proper attack Fang noticed the movement behind him. The Sniper quickly turned around with a snarl on his face –I'm seriously tired of this shit!- and took a step forward as Bayonet got closer before they both drew their fists back. Fist fighting was one of the top ways to irritate Fang and now his patience had gone dry. Both siblings then threw their fists forward simultaneously before they crashed into the others' cheeks, sending shockwaves of pain through both of their faces before they staggered backwards.
–I just don't function as well without a fucking gun in my hands!-
"God damn it! I told you to stop!" complained Fang agitatedly as he rubbed his reddening cheek. The pain was virtually gone by now due to Fang's natural toughness but there was still a dull throb that proved to be very irritating.
"Alright already, geez, you can get the stick out of your ass now." chuckled Bayonet, her hand rubbing her own cheek like Fang.
His sister's attitude was getting on Fang's nerves but he knew that she didn't mean to do him any real harm. Fang took in a deep breath before releasing it in a relieved sigh since he knew that his training was over for the day. Bayonet then walked over and grabbed a couple of towels on a rack that were in the training room before tossing one over to her brother. He caught the white towel with ease before he wiped the beads of sweat off his face and walked towards the exit.
"You've got one helluva punch." complimented Fang with a weary chuckle as he stopped near the doorway and looked at his sister a smile on his face.
"You think so? Heh, I wasn't even trying." replied Bayonet with a smirk before she took a sip from a water bottle that she had gotten from a fridge inside of the training room.
"Shut up." laughed Fang as he left the room, a smile still on his face.
-Heh I guess our only way of bonding is beating the living shit out of each other.-
He chuckled to himself at the thought as he walked down the hallway and back into the kitchen before finally opening the fridge to find a quick snack. As he shuffled through the ham, leftover Chinese food, dairy products and other miscellaneous items he heard a loud grunt to his right before looking over to find a large brown bear standing next to him.
Ivan, now out of his prison jumpsuit now wore a brown light brown overcoat, black cargo pants and boots along with fingerless black gloves and a Russian ushanka that covered his round ears. The bear reached into the fridge, bumping Fang out of the way, and took a large bottle of vodka out of it before giving a deep chuckle.
"Hah, vodka is strong, never freezes no matter how cold the environment! Like me!" boasted the brown bear before popping the top and taking a long swig from the bottle.
-It's been a week since Mia's mission with Bark and all I can say is that Ivan is one helluva house guest. Apparently he and Ryu are on a team with some other guy and are good friends and the two spent ages telling stories about missions and assassinations they had completed together. Along with that, Mia was also starting to be accepted by all of us. Nic was very receptive to her once she had made it back and so were Bean and Ryu. Digit didn't seem as swayed as the others but I can tell he's getting used to her being around which is good at least.-
"So Ivan, ready to get out of here now?" asked Fang as he withdrew a can of DigiDrink and cracked open the top. Bark had planned some living arrangements for Ivan and today was the day he was to move out.
"Hah, you just don't want to share drinks with me!" laughed Ivan as he patted the Sniper on the back. "But yes! I am ready to go, Bark tells me he convince Ryu to let me live with him and other friend Zib." nodded the bear, still using his ill grammar.
"Well that's good to hear!" replied Fang with a smile. –Great, stick the drunkard with an insane dog and some other random person who's just as weird as the rest of Ryu's team.- "Have you seen Mia around?" asked the weasel curiously as he looked around the room for his girlfriend.
There was then a ding at the elevator, making Fang peer around the corner just to see the double doors slide open. The ivory cat then walked out of the lift with a bunch of shopping bags in hand and a smile on her face. Mia wore a simple blue tanktop, green shorts, and some sandals since it was a sunny day outside. Many things had changed between Mia and the rest of the team after she had completed Bark's mission and she had even moved out of her cell into Fang's room. -Heh, it's awesome, but I won't go into detail- She even gained permission to go outside to buy clothes and other stuff which made her even happier since she loved the outdoors. Digit had also taken the time to forge a fake ID for her so she wouldn't get noticed by G.U.N. and so she could drive the car that Fang had rented for her.
During their off times Fang and Mia did things that most couples did despite the company of other assassins. They'd snuggle and watch TV, eat fast-food together, joke around, play video games –Ohhhhh yeah, she's that kinda girl to- and even spar together sometimes. –I got to admit though, when we spar, we totally forget we're dating and we go at it and even though she has a basic robotic arm she can still pack a punch.-
"Hey Nacky! Hi Ivan." she said affectionately as she walked into the kitchen and set her bags on the floor along with a relieved sigh. "Sparring with your sis?" inquired the white cat as she noticed the weary Fang.
"Heh yeah, she's just beating the crap out of me in close combat." chuckled the weasel before Ivan laughed and left the room with his bottle of vodka in hand. "I'm just not good with that sort of crap, I use guns not fists." he shrugged before taking a swig from his can of DigiDrink.
"Oh you'll get used to it." giggled Mia with a smile before walking over next to him and reaching into the fridge to grab a bottle of beer. "Besides," She said before twisting the cap off with some effort. "Close quarters combat is like something every killer should know no matter how good their aim is and every time we spar you do a pretty decent job." she stated before taking a swig from the bottle and smirking at him.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right, I just really hate it." groaned the Sniper before chuckling a bit as he watched Mia drink. "Don't you think it's a bit early for a drink?" laughed the violet weasel before wrapping his free arm around his girl.
"It's never too early." replied the white cat with a sly smile as she relaxed in his arms.
-God I love this woman.-
Fang planted a small kiss on her cheek before he let go of her and took another sip from his drink. The bond between the two was strong now and even though they had met each other on odd circumstances they still managed to keep a strong relationship. There were still some things that Fang had to learn though since he wasn't really good with keeping relationships before –I'd rather not talk about that- so he did mess up from time to time and was even more thankful that Mia was so forgiving towards him.
"So you have any other plans for the day except for getting your ass kicked by your sister?" asked Mia curiously before finishing her bottle of beer with a big swig.
"I was planning on giving my ass a break for the day actually," he chuckled simply. " I've been training for the last couple of days anyways so relaxing wouldn't hurt." replied the purple weasel with a simple shrug.
"Whatever you want Nacky, I'm just gonna take my new clothes into your room and put 'em in my pile." she said before grabbing her shopping bags. "But ummmm I know he doesn't like me too much but would you mind checking up on Digit for me?" she asked him curiously.
"Digit? Why, what's wrong with him?" replied the Sniper curiously with a raised eyebrow.
"Well the last few times he seemed stressed about something and it's not just because I'm here." answered the cat with a shrug. "He's also been on his computer typing furiously about something or other, so I just want to make sure he's alright." said the feline with a worried look. "I mean I'd do it myself, but I just doubt he'd tell me anything." she then explained.
"Hmmmmm alright then, I'll see what I can do." nodded Fang in agreement, knowing that he had to make sure Digit's psyche was still intact. –Well he did manage to get over some of his trauma from Anesthesia, but I just know that there are still some things he has to work out by himself. But whatever this new problem is, it definitely doesn't sound like some sort of 'crazy doctor in my nightmare' problem.-
Mia smiled back at him before taking her bags into Fang's room as the purple weasel continued finished his can of energy drink. His muscles still ached from his session with Bayonet, but Fang was able to tough it out to the point where he barely noticed it. It had been a good month and a half since his last hit and he knew that today Bayonet was going to be briefing him on his newest target. There were only three more targets left and Fang knew that they wouldn't go out without a fight.
-G.U.N.'s getting antsy, getting some of the world's best fighters just to take me out. These targets . . . these, other assassins, must be really important to them, probably why Eggman needs them out of the game. Good ol' lard-ass needs less professional guns trained on him, and I feel sad for the last two I have to capture and give to him. Eggy'll probably torture the crap out of them for the info he needs. But hey, I won't judge as long as it isn't Mia he's hurting.-
"Hey." came a broad yet familiar voice that snapped Fang out of his daydreaming to find a large polar bear standing at the end of the hallway.
The purple weasel looked up to see Bark staring back at him from the hallway with a serious look in his eyes. From Fang's experience he knew that Bark was more or less a laid back sort of guy with caring attitude packed together with immense power. When he came back from his mission with Mia he was surprised to see him covered in blood with very few injuries on him, but overall impressed at the carnage he could cause.
"Briefing time dude, time to learn about who we're going to be killing." stated cockily the polar bear with a smirk and his arms crossed.
Fang's eyes widened a bit. "We?" he asked in a surprised tone.
"Yeah man, it was bound to happen sooner or later." chuckled the bear before turning around and heading towards the briefing room. "Now hurry your ass up." he said before walking into the room.
The Sniper chuckled under his breath before tossing the empty can of Digidrink into the trash and heading to the briefing room. Fang was particularly ecstatic about working with Bark since it had been a long time since he had the pleasure of killing alongside him. He entered the briefing room to find the holo-table lit up and ready with Bayonet and Bark already around it.
"Alright, your target this time is . . ." trailed off Bayonet as a random assortment of lists and written accounts were rendered through the holo-table. What Fang found odd though was the fact that there were no names or pictures listed on the holo-table and soon enough he knew why. "nearly a total mystery." concluded the Gunner with a sort of defeated sigh which made Fang and Bark look at her with confused expressions.
"Ummmmm, come again?" asked Fang in a bewildered tone.
"Out of all the targets you've got Fang, this one is the most mysterious, which is actually kinda the reason I chose to get rid of him now instead of later." shrugged the female weasel with a bland look on her face. "All I was able to get out of my search was his name, a few shoddy soldier bystander accounts of what they saw of him and a crap quality Helmet-Cam recording." explained Bayonet as a small video recording was brought up on the holo-table. "Now, heheh watch closely, this is pretty weird."
Transmission# 11-55. Designate: Zulu
Alpha Squad inserted into the |||||||| along with Beta and Charlie Squads
Target: Quincy Markz
Sgt. Blaine Manson SN# 920-11-115
005 hrs |||||||, 20||
The video didn't have very much detail to it and so far the only thing they could see in the video was that the soldier recording it was running around in some desert city warzone down east. The framerate was absolutely terrible along wih horribly pixelated details. Rapid gunfire chattered around the soldier as more of his squad members rallied around him and made their way towards a nearly collapsed bunker for cover. Explosions rang around the soldier as he turned his head left to see one of his squadmates get blown to bits by a grenade.
"Shit!" cursed the soldier in the video as he hurried and slid into the bunker along with the rest of his squad members.
"Base this is Alpha Squad! We are taking heavy fire from the east and west and are taking cover in bunker!" yelled someone frantically making the camera turn to find one of the soldiers screaming into an army standard radio. "You said you sent reinforcements! Where the hell are they!" demanded the soldier angrily as more gunfire sounded around them.
"We are so dead!" whimpered one of the other soldiers in the background as he peered out to see more bullets soar through the air.
"Alpha Squad this is base, reinforcements are on the way," came a calm reply over the radio that was loud enough for everyone to hear. "I repeat he is on the way."
"HE! Is this some sort of joke!" yelled the same soldier into the radio in an agitated tone.
"Tanks! All sides!" yelled one soldier as he came forward and pointed.
"Son of a bitch!" screamed another soldier as large green tanks came rumbling forward around the soldiers' position.
More explosions sounded before the tanks came to a halt and aimed their main guns at the bunker with a loud mechanical groan. All of the soldiers within the bunker began to panic and tried to find someone who had proper anti-tank weapon but quickly found that no one was armed with one. The sound of the tank's main gun preparing a shot then filled the air, sending the soldiers into a frenzy as they tried to run out of the bunker.
"Get out now!" yelled Blaine frantically as he climbed out of the near caved in bunker. Dust and grime filled his helmet mounted camera as he got to his feet and ran before he started to notice a few other soldiers looking up.
"Wait! What the hell is that!" screamed one of the soldier before the camera looked upwards to see a glowing green object falling from the sky.
Seconds later the green object crashed on top of one of the tanks causing it to cave in and explode in a plume of fire. All of the soldiers watched in awe as a pair of neon green eyes lit up within the fire and turned to look at the other tanks. The camera turned left to look at the rest of the mechanical war machines as they turned their main guns towards the newcomer instead of at the infantrymen. Before any one of the tanks could fire a single shot a large green beam of energy sailed through the air and pierced one of the tank's armor before causing it to explode from the inside.
"Oh shit!" yelled the soldier recording the video before backing up and turning back to the newcomer still standing within the fiery wreckage.
A slim, shadowy figure holding onto a rocket launcher could be seen within the flames before the soldiers. The figure's rocket launcher then seemed to melt away into some sort of odd black liquid that contorted and moved before turning into an assault rifle like some sort of weird liquid metal. The figure then aimed its assault rifle before firing a barrage of green energy from within the fire at the rest of the tanks. Blaine watched as the glowing green spheres of energy soared through the air before smacking into the heavy armor of another one of the tanks and melted right through the metal. The barrage of shots just kept on coming before they finally melted through the armor and made contact with one of the tank operators inside, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Are you getting this!" asked one of the soldiers before turning to the camera. "This is cra-"
Before the other soldier could finish his sentence, an explosion sounded off camera before Blaine turned to find another one of the tanks destroyed by the newcomer. Blaine then looked over at the glowing green eyes still floating within the fire before the figure within it sailed forward, a neon green trail of light following after it. The camera didn't catch any physical features of the assailant before it jumped onto one of the remaining tanks.
Blaine watched as the odd black assault rifle in the assailant's hands disassemble into some sort of liquid-like material before it seeped into his hands. The shadowy figure then started to pry the hatch on the tank open before it managed to snap it off. A torrent of screams could be heard as the tank operators went crazy from the sudden attack before the assailant raised one of his hands above his head. The same black liquid then started to seep out of his hand before it began to coalesce and form a large handgun of sorts with a green flame at the tip before Blaine realized that it was some sort of flamethrower. The figure then aimed the small flamethrower down inside of the tank before letting loose a torrent of green flames into the trapped enemies inside.
"Alpha Squad this is base, we are broadcasting on a newly acquired frequency, listen up." said a voice from the integrated radio in Blaine's helmet. "Meet your reinforcement, trained killing machine and your best friend until Quincy Markz is dead." explained the voice over the radio. "He goes under Designation: The Kid, or Kid for short, just tell him what to kill, maim or destroy and he'll do it, but due to some higher-up secrecy and some shit, we're required to disable all your HeadCams after this goes out." continued the voice before the green eyed figure looked up at Blaine. "Happy hunting guys." finished the voice before the video ended.
The video recording then ended with the picture flickering to a dark screen which left Fang totally speechless. The room was deathly silent as the three assassins let the new information sink into their brains. Bayonet seemed to be agitated at the footage while Bark kept a serious glare painted on his face.
-What the hell was that!-
"From what I've gathered, The Kid is named Wrath Metitore." stated Bayonet studiously as the video disappeared and was replaced with more written work and random map locations. "That's pretty much it really other than what you just saw." explained the Gunner dismally. "Seeing all that power though, you're lucky to be working with Bark on this one." snickered Bayonet before looking over at Fang.
"Why's that?" asked Fang curiously, not really sure what made Bark so important for the target.
Bayonet looked up at Bark who was already walking out of the briefing room as if disturbed by the footage.
"Out of everyone you've met so far, except for Ryu maybe and maybe even you," Bayonet pressed a few buttons before she turned to look at Fang again as the holo-table stopped displaying information on Wrath and on someone else. "Bark ranks really high on strength and ummmmmm murderous intent." said the Gunner before wanted posters, images, written accounts, newspaper articles and short videos of Bark popped up on the holo-table.
–Oddly enough a good majority of them were in Russian.-
Fang looked at all the information with a shocked expression before he started to walk up to the holo-table. From what Fang could tell, Bark was wanted in four countries, had committed numerous murders, killed many government leaders, competed in and underground fighting tournament and even participated in some sort of Russian civil war. Before Bark was a near pacifistic sort of person, never wanting to kill anyone or cause too much property damage, but from what Fang was reading he had been turned into some brutal war machine.
"You're saying that after I part ways with Bark, he goes and becomes some killing machine?" questioned Fang in a disbelieved tone as he looked through all the information.
"That's how the story goes." shrugged Bayonet simply. "From what he's told me, he kinda hit a rough spot after the first break of your little team." explained the Gunner. "Something about family problems, money problems, country problems, all that crap." said the purple weasel.
-Woah . . .-
"Look Nacky, that's all I know, if you want to figure out exactly why Bark decided to bring hell to Russia, you'll have to ask him." explained the Gunner before walking over to Fang and patting him on the back two times. "Who knows, since you're one of his good friends maybe you can learn more." she giggled before walking out of the room.
Once again Fang was left alone with a load of new information at his disposal. There was his powerful new foe to think about and now his old friend's odd history. With all of this on his mind Fang was a bit stressed from the new turn of events and he just let out a sigh before he rubbed his brow. Before he could let it get to him Fang just decided to head back to his room and think about what he was going to do.
The door to his room hissed open before Fang walked in and just flopped onto his bed burying his head in his pillow.
-Bark, Wrath, oh and Digit too. Damn it! One's a brute with a past, one's some sort of military juggernaut, and another's a recovering trauma patient. Well this is just great. One of them I need to talk to, another I have to kill and another I have to help, there are just so many things I have to do. Gah, this just sucks.-
Fang then felt someone rubbing his back comfortingly out of nowhere, one hand felt warm while the other felt cold like metal. –Well this is an easy guess.-
"Well you seem stressed, and it's only been a couple minutes since we last talked." stated Mia simply with a smile before Fang got up and she stopped massaging him.
"Yeah, just got some news on my target and other stuff." replied Fang with a faint smirk, trying to hide his stress.
"Oh really? Which one of my ex-teammates are you going to kill now?" asked Mia curiously before Fang suddenly had an epiphany.
"Holy crap!" said Fang in sudden realization that Mia used to work with his next target. "I totally forgot you were part of C.A.R.D. for a second!" admitted the weasel before getting off the subject quickly. "Do you know anything about Wrath Metitore?" questioned the Sniper.
"Who?" asked Mia in a confused tone lowering Fang's sudden boost in confidence. "Are you sure you have the right intel Nacky? 'Cuz I've never worked with any 'Wrath.'" giggled the cat before lying back on the bed.
"What! Are you sure!" asked Fang frantically. "He's some weird um, thing, with glowing green eyes a-"
"Glowing green eyes?" asked Mia suddenly, looking at Fang with a serious expression which made Fang nod. "So that's his name? Wrath? The name sure does fit him." continued to cat seriously. "I've never really 'met' him before. Every time I go on a mission with him he's always holed up in some big metal box, like some toy soldier." explained the ex-engineer in a dull tone. "He's always got that weird mask on, looking forward, ready for anything . . ." she trailed off, a sudden pang of sadness hitting her. "But every time I look past that mask and all that machinery, for some reason I feel . . . sad."
"Sad?" questioned Fang in a confused tone. "I just saw a video of him blowing tanks away and destroying tons of crap and you feel sad?" he asked her. –Damn, just thinking about him scares me a little.-
"Yeah, I know, it's weird." replied Mia before shaking her head as if trying to make sense of it. "Wrath is a trained killing machine, born and raised under G.U.N. and I heard he has no emotions whatsoever on the battlefield. But there's something about him that just breaks my heart."
"I see." said Fang before trying to piece all of the weird information together. "Guess I'll figure it out when I take him out then." shrugged the weasel in a defeated way, tired of trying to make logic of everything.
Mia just looked over at him and laid her head on his shoulder. "You figure it out and tell me when that time comes then." she giggled before tossing the weasel his phone. "Oh and you got a message while you were gone, figured it'd be important." shrugged the ivory cat.
"Oh cool, thanks babe." replied Fang before flipping his phone open and listening to the voicemail.
'Oh hello? Fang? Bah doesn't matter if you're there or not.' came a familiar brisk voice on the other end that made Fang's expression lower. –Robotnik- 'Well as a sort of change to things, I no longer need you to capture two of the agents for me.' explained the doctor over the phone calmly. 'Instead I just need the last one, their leader, alive. Payment stays the same and so on, have a nice day.' laughed the doctor before hanging up.
"Who was it?" asked Mia curiously as she watched him end the call.
"Some fatass bringing some good news." smiled Fang simply.
You know we thought you were dead and yet your god damn name just happens to slide across my desk after we hear one of our agents goes awol and kidnaps you. I know you're reading this god damn it! Fucking talk to me! We've been worried sick and the next time we see you you're working for the enemy! There'd better be a good fucking explanation for all this. If you've grown up and become a man, say something, don't just hide from us, because you know we'll find you. And whether you like it or not, you're coming home.
Worried purple eyes scanned the email displayed on the laptop screen before slowly shutting and a sigh sounded in the dark room. It had been a few days since receiving the email and the Chihuahua had read over it so many times as if praying for the text in the message to change. Nothing changed sadly and the pale green Chihuahua was still left with the choices in hand. He could decide not to reply and hope it would blow over or confront the person who sent him in the message.
~I can't hide from them any longer but what will Nic think? I've been hiding for a year now and I knew something like this would happen.~
Digit closed his laptop and let the darkness of his room consume him. The Chihuahua tried to come up with a plan to get out of his situation despite the fact that he knew there really was no way out. He sighed and pinch the bridge of his nose as he screwed his eyes shut.
~God damn it, I hate my brothers!~
Dun! Dun! Duuuuuuuuuuuun~!
Now we're getting to the good stuff! Mia is starting to get some acknowledgement in the group while Fang starts a new hunt with the icy brute Bark! But what the hell is this Wrath guy with his crazy powers! And what has Digit been hiding!
Find out next update, though I plead the people who know who these people actually are not to spill the beans. You know who you are and thanks!