Chapter 48 (Jesus Christ this story went for longer than expected) and I am proud of this one. I liked the end product, and I want to know what you people think. The end of this story is near, as the final battles are well underway. Anyway, who wants Servaas to be added to the favorite OC poll? Anyone? Enjoy guys.

Scbenson2001: I don't know if you're just messing around, or if you are an 11 year old fool. That chapter that was supposedly 'copyrighted' was from err...The Lion King? And what sort of fanfic is this? Umm...The Lion King possibly? Seriously mate.

Cheers: JJZ-109


CHAPTER 48. THE WAY BACK

Servaas clutched the bullet wound on his thigh; warm, crimson blood oozed through the gaps in his fingers, and onto the earth. His vision started to blur, and he zoned out from the sounds of battle, awaiting the shot, the shot that would put him out of his and his country's misery. Please be over he thought and bit his lip in pain.

Soon, he was sure his horde had been completely defeated at the hands of the highly skilled Delta-Shadow, and assumed that D-S were either finishing off his people or rounding up survivors. He heard the odd shot, and from there on he knew, that there was no happy ending left. The fear had just turned into acceptance; acceptance of defeat.

He closed his eyes, and kept hearing the horrific sounds of his people being executed one by one or their haunting cries for mercy. But no mercy was shown. Servaas was always a fighting man, and in the back of his mind, he prayed for some sort of miracle over the execution he wanted so quickly. Suddenly, the sounds of miracles, if there was any particular sound to them, were heard. The sound of familiar music.

Servaas' eyes snapped open, and he jerked his head around to look over the rise in the urban road. The music slowly became louder and louder, and he started to recognize the iconic sound of the Gibson SG guitar, and that familiar riff...Along with the sound of engines, many, many engines.

Over the rise in the road, a few hundred meters away, a few moments earlier

Kopa held one hand firmly down on the accelerator of his motorbike and used the other to slip shotgun shells into Agent Dion's Model 1887. It was emergency time. And a cavalry charge was needed. He knew he wasn't supposed to engage yet, but he had no other choice. Their cause was in danger.

He led the host of motorcycles and rode a few meters in front of them. He turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"LET'S LOCK 'EM AND LOAD 'EM LADIES, ITS GO TIME!" The bikers complied, cocking any firearms they had and switching their safeties off.

"Two hundred meters and closing!" One biker yelled out.

"FIX BAYONETS!" Kopa screamed and everyone extended out their knife-tipped broomsticks on their handlebars.

"And turn the music on...it scares the hell out of the dopes." Kopa commanded again. 'The Dopes' was a new nickname given to the drugged up Delta-Shadow by the bikers and some soldiers.

The biker to Kopa's left flank reached back with his free hand and pressed 'play' on a sound system strapped to the back. It played the Pridelander's song of war, and the biker's 'signature song' as they like to call it. It would only inspire them, and strike fear into the hearts of the Delta-Shadow.

Kopa held his readied the shotgun with his left hand and squeezed harder on the accelerator with his right. Music blasted into his ears and engine fumes filled his nose. As they drove over the rise, they got their first view of the battle that had unfolded in the city square. And it instantly reminded Kopa of the aftermath of the airport massacre. Hundreds of bodies lay everywhere, and the floor seemed to have acquired a new red 'paint job'. Kopa scanned through the sea of bodies and finally found the man he needed to see; Servaas Monetenezo. And he was in no fighting state that was for sure. He was only seconds away from being found and executed by D-S. That couldn't happen. Delta-Shadow couldn't win.

They had seemed to handle the civilian horde effectively enough, but were still holding off the two flanking teams of army personnel; and weren't having much trouble with that. Time for that to change. It was time for the cavalry.

Servaas used all his remaining strength to look up and confirm his hopes. Palladino and the rednecks were there. And they were ready to fight. A slight smile came to his face when he saw his to-be executioners look around in fright, and what they saw shocked them; almost fifty motorbikes heading straight for them, led by a man who had a black leather jacket, sunglasses, auburn hair and a M1887 shotgun ready to shoot. They raced back to warn their commanding officer, but they were too late.

"SIR, WE GOT ARMED HOSTILE VEHICLES COMING IN FROM- AARGH!" The Delta-Shadow soldier tried to yell, but was silenced by a twelve gauge slug.

The biker cavalry had engaged, and were taking their toll. No one in D-S had expected it, nor foreseen it. They were too unfocused to check their backs. Now they were trapped.

Kopa's bikers fanned out into the crowd of people, both hostile and friendly, and began to fight on bike-back.

(Back in Black Guitar Riff)

Kopa mouthed the lyrics to the song being played as he swooped in. He swerved between surviving civilians, and didn't hesitate running over Delta-Shadow operatives. Delta-Shadow was in a state of panic and was rushing back to their abandoned weapons. Too late, though.

Kopa caught sight of one of the groups trying to run to a weapons cache but slowly guided his bike alongside them, and held out his shotgun. BANG! One down. He twirled the shotgun around, cycling the lever action with one hand. CLA-SHIK! BANG! CLA-SHIK! BANG! He wasted all three of them. He then maneuvered his bike around so that he didn't smash an armed truck. He skillfully drove in and out of tight crowds, now in a renewed battle. Kopa let his bikers do the dirty work, and for once, he was pleased that Delta-Shadow had someone shooting back at them unlike before.

Servaas watched the battle unfold and quickly tied his belt around his bullet-wound, so that the bleeding would stop and he could get back in it. A motorbike then pulled up alongside him, and he looked up into the eyes of Conner 'Kopa' Palladino, who held out a hand, a hand that he accepted.

Despite Servaas' size, Kopa still managed to pull him onto the bike with ease. He then handed Servaas his shotgun, and revved the engine of his bike.

"I'll drive, you shoot." Kopa told him and Servaas nodded.

Kopa then squeezed down on the accelerator, and began on another slalom through the battle. He weaved through friendly and enemy soldiers alike, while Servaas pumped slug after frenzied slug into the panicked bodies of the Delta-Shadow 'dopes'. Soon, Servaas ran out of shells. But he did at the right time.

Delta-Shadow was bloodied, trapped, and defeated. The firing and fighting had ceased, as D-S were between the Prideland horde survivors at one end, a line of biker cavalry at another, and the two flanking army companies stood on either side, with their weapons aimed. Kopa and Servaas dismounted, and Tojo rushed over to help his new wounded friend.

" 'Vaas brother, you okay?" He asked.

"I'll live."

Kopa then pushed his way to the front of the group and looked over his captives. He scratched his chin and turned to Servaas.

"Now what were our orders again?" He asked, knowing the answer.

"Kill as much as possible." Servaas told him.

"Right, and what were they just doing to your unarmed people before I showed up?" Kopa asked again, making sure Delta-Shadow could hear him.

"Executing us." Servaas confirmed. Kopa could see the enhanced fear in Delta-Shadow's eyes.

"Okay...So who is in charge here?" Kopa asked all the Delta-Shadow survivors.

"WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?" Kopa thundered, and one man walked forward.

Unlike other D-S troops, he wore the red and black armband had extra stripes on his shoulder insignia. He wasn't lying alright. Kopa dragged him back by his neck and spoke to him softly.

"You see this? This is for my father, for my friend, for all the people you just murdered, and for all the innocent blood your organization has shed." Kopa snarled. Vengeance wasn't something he normally believed in, but no one was acting normally were they?

He held up a hand, and closed his fingers into a fist. RATATATATATANG! All the armed Pridelanders gunned down their captives in cold blood. The Commanding D-S officer gasped, and his jaw shuddered in fear. Kopa then drew his knife and slashed off the right ring finger of the D-S commander, and grinned smugly.

"There you are...just like your boss." Kopa growled to the whimpering Delta-Shadow commander. He had just done to this man what Scar had done to Heckler years before, but this time, this man wasn't going to put his country in a terrible crisis over it.

BANG! Kopa had seen enough, and shot him dead.

Kopa then turned to Servaas and nodded. Those civilians that had fled the battle beforehand, had returned, along with local police officers in hiding, and more people that had heard the commotion. Servaas cleared his throat.

"STEP TWO IS COMPLETE! NOW FOR STEP THREE...RAIN FIRE!" He yelled out, and people responded yet again.

"STEP THREE! RAIN FIRE! HOO-AH!"

To be honest, Servaas didn't really know what Kovu meant by 'rain fire', but with Delta-Shadow reinforcements approaching, and the sound of jet fighters somewhere above him, Servaas started to understand. He pulled his walkie-talkie out of his sweaty and bloodstained pocket, and started switching through radio channels.

"Hello? Identify!"

"This is Corporal Colette Lorenzo of the Prideland Royal Marine Corps on air support stand by..."

That was all Servaas needed to hear, before leading his people out to face the Delta-Shadow threat in front of them; with their backs to East Side. Time to rain fire...

No one from Delta-Shadow noticed the F-22s above them start to circle like vultures, nor the mysterious vessels off the coast...

In the Dimitrov Medical Research Center; a.k.a: Heckler's lab

Images of the past few weeks flashed through Kovu's head, the visions, the events, the lessons learned...everything.

Evil

Insanity

Vengeance

E115

Kiara...

Heckler...KILL HIM!

He felt himself open his eyes, to complete darkness, but he heard the sound of a muffled voice. Then he faded off again. He seemed to list all the intended actions he came here with.

Hunt

Kill

Avenge

Free

Fuck

Eat

Stop

Steal

KILL HECKLER!

It was like he had been completely brainwashed. He opened his eyes again, after a light in the pitch black room was switched on. He forced open his heavy eyes, and tried to wipe them. But he found that he couldn't, his hands were stuck behind his back; tied to either side of a chair. What the hell? Slowly, Kovu started to remember everything that had happened; the fight, the explosion and everything going black.

He struggled against the rope, but id didn't budge, and it seemed to be getting tighter. He tried to yell for help, and realized there was packaging tape over his mouth. He tried to yell and yell again, but it only came out as muffled moans.

Kovu twisted his head around, and looked around the haunting room he was in. There were bloodstains on the walls, a switched off TV set, and a door. Next to him in another chair was another person, a woman. Kiara!

Kovu tried calling out to her, but again the sound was muffled. He rocked about on his chair violently in frustration. Kiara heard him and quickly looked at him with a worried face, shaking her head; as if to say; please...don't do that!

Kovu roared in anger, and panted into the tape, but he was quickly silenced. The door to the room swung open, and Friedrich Heckler/Hans Von Gonzo walked in slowly, nodding.

"Bold attempt yes?" Heckler said to Kovu softly. Kovu just growled from behind his tape.

"BECAUSE I FUCKING THOUGHT IT WAS INSANE!" Heckler snapped, breaking the quiet atmosphere, and the outburst made Kovu flinch. The man was downright nuts.

Heckler then swung a punch at him, which caught Kovu in the jaw. To force of the blow knocked Kovu's chair over, and Kovu winced in pain as his head smashed into the floor. Heckler cracked his knuckles and pulled Kovu's chair up straight.

"Kovu Blackburn...There is so much shit I want to do to you right now that I have the opportunity. Out there, you thought you had your finger on the trigger. Now you're here...trapped like a fucking rat! And the thing is, I did not bring you here. You walked in here by your own god damn self." Heckler rambled on angrily.

He then drew a yellow syringe, as well as a knife.

"You've proved me wrong. I thought you had given up, like any other soul on earth would do in the circumstances. But you...you found a way! And your hatred screwed it up for you?" Heckler shook his head in disgust.

"You're smart enough to find a way...but you can't follow through." Heckler held Kovu's bound arm and plunged the syringe in, watching as the yellow liquid ooze into his system.

Kovu's pains instantly disappeared, but he felt a whole lot weaker. And he felt fear...

Heckler's image in front of him faded into the one of Scar, talking to him in Heckler's voice. His vision then began to blur awkwardly.

"You better thank me Kovu...Cause I'm going to free your fucking soul." Heckler snarled.

The E115 brought back the horrific hallucinations, and made Kovu feel scared. Worst of all, he lost the will to fight. He felt so scared. Heckler slit his scar again, making it bleed. It was the ultimate insult to Kovu, but he felt no spite. Just fear. Heckler was then confident enough of his own work to cut Kovu's bindings, and hand him his loaded Luger handgun.

Heckler made Kovu press the weapon against his own head, while taunting him. All Kovu had to do was pull the trigger, and he couldn't.

"Come on Kovu...shoot me. DO IT! Shoot me motherfucker!" Kovu couldn't tell whether it was Scar or Heckler telling him what to do. The image kept changing.

"Pull the trigger! PULL THE FUCKING TRIGGER!" Scar seemed to scream at Kovu, but then he realized it was actually Heckler, and Scar was long dead.

Heckler snatched the gun away from him.

"I've never seen a greater coward in my life. One shot was all it took my friend. I would have thought you'd seen enough hell on earth to not be affected. To not feel fear, but it is that fear that has just cost your country." Heckler said and showed him his watch.

"Look...fifteen minutes. I've still got a chopper loading outside, better get a move on shall we?" Heckler reported and left the room.

There was fifteen minutes until the Pridelands went up in flames, when the nuke detonated. Heckler left the room contently, leaving behind a drugged Kovu and a crying Kiara. He thought he had won, despite the unexpected turn of Kovu making a stand.

Kovu's hands were still left untied. His instincts told him to reach out and grab them, so he painfully leant forward. But the fear stopped him.

You're smart enough to find a way...but you can't follow through.

Tomorrow the Pridelands go up in flames...

Why do you even bother? We're finished.

It was your fault Simba died. You should have been the one that dived in front of those bullets.

The voices of all those he knew echoed in his head, discouraging him. But somewhere within him, he felt Simba's presence, and he fought himself. Believe Kovu...believe...

He resisted the intoxicating E115 induced emotions and against all odds, his hands finally found their way down onto the ropes binding his feet...


How was it? I thought I did well with this chapter, and that it was one of the better ones. What do you guys think? What are your favorite chapters so far? Let's try and breach 200 reviews, (THE DOUBLE CENTURY!) So that means if you are just reading this and don't normally review, give us an opinion!

This has been JJZ-109, and as always mr friends...Have a nice day.