"The Final Hurdle"

There looked to be a light at the end of the maze of trees, but Alan skid to a halt just short of falling off the edge of a cliff and on to an open field of scorched Titan hulls and chunks of rubble from the ruined wall on the far side of the clearing. The frontline of the I.M.C. Airbase was deathly silent, the guns had ceased, the defenders were missing, and the skies were all but clear.

"Warning-ing, Pilot, hostile Titan approaching." Evi notified her Pilot. As Alan turned around, he saw a burning, damaged, speeding Ronin smash into him and shove the both of them off the cliff. Hitting the ground with a heavy thud, Alan's Titan was quick to throw off the Ronin while the Pilot himself tried to recuperate from the sudden fall.

"Damn, you are relentless!" Alan exclaimed as the Ronin was already on its feet and pressing the attack. The Militia Titan sent an arc wave, which Alan dashed to his right to dodge, then came a second arc wave which had Alan dash to his left to dodge, and finally the distance between the two closed before Alan threw a powerful punch into the opposing Titan. The I.M.C. Pilot was sick of dealing with the Ronin and stood over the fallen Stryder, but before he could do anymore, he was alerted to a barrage of rockets launching into the sky and spread out to pepper the area he stood in. Crouching to a knee, Alan made sure his profile was a small as could be, even if it meant unintentionally protecting the Ronin he was on top of, and with his vortex shield he managed to intercept the missiles that would have otherwise been direct hits. Alan redirected them to the side before rising to his feet again and from the smoke and ash, from behind the crumbling walls that defended the airbase, a Vanguard Titan emerged, ready for a fight.

"I gave you a chance to run away, but of course you had to be some noble savior of the I.M.C. Look where that's brought you." Alan heard a familiar voice call out to him. Alan readied his weapon against the new Titan, the first Titan he had no experience with outside of a handful of simulations. "it's a shame my own Titan was destroyed during your damn ambush, this Militia-made, glorified Atlas is just that. Intelligence never could tell when information was fake or not." The man, Reidar, finished as a flash of light emerged by the Vanguard's side. Alan made a quick look to his feet to see the Ronin Titan was missing.

"We can take him together." The Ronin's Pilot suggested to Reidar.

"You and your sister faced a man who was already one foot in the grave," He began as the Vanguard kicked the Ronin to the ground, "Yet you failed." He continued as he finished off the Ronin himself. After a quick scream and a small explosion, the Vanguard continued, "My outfit does not take too kindly to failure. As for you, Alan Stassov, allow us to continue our duel. No support, no interference, no mercy."

Alan gulped down his shock and disgust at the sight of a man killing his own allies, he would not allow this to stand! "I already put your predecessor down, you will be no different."

The other man laughed, "The proclaimed 'Reaper', was weak, he obsessed over being the greatest, about being 'perfect' in his record, and that was what ultimately led to his demise. I do not make those mistakes, but I'll humor you." Reidar said, "There's a Widow dropship that's supposed to be waiting for me just up ahead. Kill me, and it's all yours. Go home, go rescue the Draconis, it hasn't taken off yet, hell, I'll even give you the codes to board one of our carriers and let you loose on the crew if you would like. But enough talk, we're wasting daylight. You have the first move, Pilot."

Alan rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath. It was do or die here: A Vanguard against his already worn Brute. Things weren't looking like they were in his favor. "P-Pilot, rec-recommend tactical withdraw-aw." Evi suggested. Had it been just another match, he would have complied, had his Titan been on the brink of destruction, he would have run, but right now, he refused to. The odds were against him, so what, his life rarely went in his favor. His family, dead, former friends, dead, even his old squad he was forced to kill. So why the hell would he cower away now?

Alan charged the Vanguard with as much speed as he could muster, evading what gunfire he could while catching the rest with his vortex shield. He locked onto the Vanguard and fired off two missiles which were caught with the Militia Titan's own vortex shield. Not being deterred, let loose a barrage from his quad rocket launcher. Caught by the shield. Alan fired again, and again, but on the third shot he noticed the protective shield glow red and dissipate, sending the missiles right back to him, but that was just what he was hoping for. Alan caught the clump of missiles with his own vortex shield and, knowing that the Vanguard in front of him no longer had a defensive option, hurled them back in force. From the heavy smoke and large explosion, the Vanguard reemerged and grabbed Alan's Titan. The Vanguard itself was damaged, but it was nothing like what Alan had hoped. The enemy Titan pressed forward and slammed Alan into the ground and readied its acolyte pods for a killing blow, but Alan did the same and the two simultaneously fired, Evi being barely a single second faster in pulling the trigger on her own. As the rockets exchanged, both Titans lost their missile pods and were forced to back off from each other, "Warning, shie-ields are down, Pilot." Evi warned. Fortunately for Alan, the Vanguard had lost its both its offensive weaponry which immediately turned the battle to his favor, so he believed.

As the two charged each other again, Alan opened fire with what little ammo he had, saving one rocket before engaging in a brawl. Now he was starting to see signs of damage on the Vanguard, it wasn't enough to boost his confidence, but it was definitely enough to let him know that it was start. The Vanguard threw the first punch, which crashed into Alan's side and had the smaller Titan slam into the ground, but the small Brute got up again and swept its leg to throw the Vanguard off its balance but the attempt to bring it down had failed. The two Titans then clashed into a grapple with the larger of the two having the clear upper hand. "Pilot, I am out- of- Of-Offensive options offline." Evi reported to her Pilot who was struggling and losing in the match of raw strength.

Slowly Alan was being shoved back into what remains of the protective wall, Evi's structure was creaking, he could hear the very strain as warning signs lit up and wires started to fall loose, things got so bad the even a small portion of his screen view went offline and fell to static. He had to think, think of how to escape the killing grasp of the Vanguard when he heard a little 'clink' on his chest. Alan looked down to see the two frag grenades and Firestar rattle together as the interior of the Titan shook, then he looked back at the menacing optic of the Vanguard before an idea came to mind. "Evi, open the hatch!" He yelled to his Titan.

"Warning, Warning, Warn- Ov-Overriding, good luck, Pil-Alan." She said as she forced open her canopy. In one clean throw, Alan ignited his last Firestar and flung it an angle to where it hit the eye of the Vanguard dead on. Then, as the enemy Titan was blinded by the burning thermite that slowly seared its hull. Alan jumped from his seat and climbed the Vanguard with the aid of his jump kit. He reached the top, but to his horror, there was no battery wait to be stolen. Just as he realized this, the Vanguard shoved Evi through a portion of the wall, and fell on top of the still resisting Brute. Alan too, fell to the ground with the rubble scattering around him. From his back, he looked at the Vanguard that was now trying to tear off the stubborn Stryder's arm, but from his view he could recognize the sight of three batteries on the Vanguard's lower-left back. The Pilot used his grapple to quickly pull himself close, then grabbed onto one of the handles and pulled on it with all the strength he had. When the first battery came out, the Vanguard turned its attention to the Pilot at its feet, but Evi was quick to remind the Militia Pilot not to ignore her by using her hover jets to bring the both of them into the air. Alan watched the Vanguard punch Evi, then again, and again, before the Brute finally let go and the larger Titan fell and crashed into the concrete below. Unfortunately for the two of them, the Vanguard and its user were quick to get up. Evi rushed over to kick the Vanguard back further before it hit a wall. Alan on the other hand was quick to notice the two fuel tanks on either side of the enemy Titan and drew his pistol, shooting either of the tanks before the Vanguard could get up and running again. He then took his two grenades, unpinned them, and threw them at the growing pool of fuel and Vanguard sitting within it. Meanwhile, Evi picked up her fallen quad rocket launcher and fired its last shot at the explosive tanks.

The Vanguard scrambled to its feet in an attempt to escape, but the ensuing explosion but was engulfed in the flames. Alan turned to Evi for a job well done, but then a hook with an attached cable latched onto Evi. Alan turned around to see the destroyed pieces of the Vanguard scattered about and the fire burning hot and bright from the added fuel, but from the flames emerged a horribly injured man. His right arm and were exposed, the flesh black and red from horrible burns, helmet blackened and visor cracked, blood dripped drop by drop as Reidar pulled himself forward with the grapple and landed on Evi, kicking off Evi and swiping a leg at Alan before throwing back an arc grenade at Evi which stunned her. "Should've tried harder!" The man said with a raspy voice.

Reidar followed up his failed kick with a punch to Alan's face, then another to his stomach but that was deflected. Alan kicked Reidar's leg and grabbed the other man's helmet before smashing his knee into it. The Militia Pilot stumbled back and shook off the hit with a growl. The Militia Pilot pulled a syringe from one of his pouches and stabbed his leg with it. In an instant Alan could see the man's body relax and ease up, but it was clear what was going to happen next.

Now drugged up on Stim, Reidar charged forward at a rapid speed and engaged Alan in a fist fight. The latter of the two couldn't keep up the pace and faced punishment for it, punch to the face, stomach, kick to the leg, knee to the chest, even being picked up and thrown against a wall. Alan managed to dodge a punch that hit the wall behind him, leaving a small crack in it as Reidar continued his assault. The stim started to wear off, but with his last bit of enhanced energy, the Militia Pilot grabbed Alan by the throat and raised him up against the wall and off his feet.

Alan choked for air as his hands panickily scrambled as if grabbing the air around him would help him breath. As he looked into the trembling ma before him, Alan's vision slowly fell to a haze, he couldn't so much as think strait as each second slowly made him grow weaker and weaker. He dug his fingers into his foe's arms, trying to pry himself free but to no avail, he tried to hit the man with a weak fist but of course it did nothing. "Do you feel it, Alan?" Reidar began, "That's fear. You so desperately deserve it." He finished as Alan strength started to waver. The edge of his vision slowly went from a fuzzy haze to black, with the last amount of energy Alan had he tried to think. Alan's only sight was of the other man's sheathed knife that he could barely make out, but something inside him clicked and that was enough. The rest of his body operated on instinct, desperate to survive and save itself, so it mustered all the strength he had left in him. Alan let go of one of his assailant's arms and grabbed the handle of his own knife, then in one swift slice Alan cut across Reidar's stomach, surprising the man who ease up on his grip around Alan's neck. With just a tiny amount of air slipping through and giving Alan that much more energy, he flipped the knife in a reverse grip and stabbed through Reidar's visor.

Alan fell to the ground as the Militia Pilot dropped him and stumbled back in a scream, "You fucking-" Reidar swore, grabbing the knife and yanking it out of his eye, he was still standing, "I will not be defeated. I will not be defeated by a hound like you, Alan Stassov!" He exclaimed before charging forward with the knife in hand. Seeing the charging Pilot, Alan grabbed his pistol fired twice times into Reidar's chest. The man dropped the knife and continued walking forward weakly, but he only managed a few extra steps before death finally claimed him. The Militia Pilot fell to his knees before collapsing to his side permanently. Taking deep breaths, Alan picked himself up as he remembered what he was here for.


A.N:

As always, enjoy!

~Firetoast312