Chapter Six: X-Factor-Part 3
"Alright." Giovanni said. "You have two options: A: X, you surrender and come willingly with me. B: I kill your friends and drag you away."
"How about C? We beat the bejesus outta you and leave."
Giovanni chuckled. "I'm afraid option C is not applicable. But you humans always are defiant. Very well, then." He brandished his sword. "Come on."
Pyro looked around and found a sword right above him. He jumped up, grabbed it, and waved it. Shadow picked up two short twin blades and spun them in his hands. X found a long pole and spun it.
Giovanni shook his head. "Sad." All three jumped at him, but not into him, for they didn't want to make the same mistake the agents did. Shadow struck first and Giovanni blocked. Shadow tried swinging the other blade to stab him, but he slipped away and bashed his head with the back of his hand and swung a foot up to kick away X's pole. Pyro's blade struck Giovanni's, but bounced off it. Giovanni swung his foot around, catching Pyro's jaw.
X planted the pole and kicked Giovanni, who again blocked, then jumped to a spinning kick, knocking him to the ground. Shadow gave an unblockable spinning slash with both blades. Giovanni jumped back and kicked one hand away, only to be met with the other. He evaded again and blocked Pyro's sword as well. He bent back to avoid Shadow's blades again and X swung his pole under him, knocking his legs away.
Giovanni caught himself with his hand and flipped backwards, then continued to another backflip, kicking Pyro in the jaw and into Shadow. X dove forward and got a swing at him, which Giovanni barely ducked under. He went for a stab, but X moved and tried to strike from above him. Giovanni reached his hand up and caught the pole, then punched him into the opposite wall.
Pyro got the first hit in, kicking his face after he hit X. He tried a spinning slash, but Giovanni avoided it, then pushed him back with a hard strike of the sword, which connected with Pyro's. Shadow performed a flipping slice, which Giovanni avoided and spun a kick. Shadow ducked under it and kicked at his legs. Giovanni jumped over it and kicked his face, knocking him back.
The three of them all charged again. Giovanni stuck his sword in the ground. Pyro was first, so he gave a great uppercut, which knocked him into the air. Then, X was swept off his feet and kicked up to join Pyro. He was kicked perfectly, so he would fall at the same time as Pyro would. This let Giovanni throw Shadow up just a little and reel back his fist. When they were all together, he gave an incredible punch, rippling the iar and knocking them into the opposite wall.
While they attempted to get up, Giovanni casually sheathed his sword and used it for a cane again. "Humans amaze, confuse, and annoy me. All three feelings arise when you choose to fight back."
Pyro suddenly tossed something at his feet. A grenade! Giovanni jumped back as the explosion rang out, blasting pieces of the floor everywhere.
"Run!" Pyro commanded, and they did.
When the smoke cleared, Giovanni looked around. They were gone.
"It's not that easy to escape." Giovanni said. He turned to the doors behind him.
"Who is this guy?!" Shadow exclaimed.
"Heck if I know!" X returned. "All I know is he wants me for some unknown reason. I got the impression that he was like another Merovingian."
"Like we need another." Pyro snorted. "How do you get outta this place?!" He'd noticed they seemed to be going in circles.
X flipped on Neovision. "Whoa."
"What?"
"All the doors lead...virtually everywhere. I keep seeing flashes of various places, but the code keeps changing randomly."
"Remember what Riley said?" Shadow asked. "Everywhere leads nowhere and nowhere leads anywhere."
"Just look for a door that works." Pyro turned and opened one. Bedroom.
Shadow tried. "C'mon, c'mon." He opened it. Another hall. "Shoot."
X grabbed the doorknob. "Somewhere far from here." He pleaded. He opened it. Neovision was still on, so when he opened the door, X saw a quick flash of red code. It startled him, but received no harm. But he'd seemed to open the right door.
"Weird. Hey, guys! Found one!" They followed him and closed the door.
They seemed to have gone out a back door to a small building somewhere they didn't know. Pyro called Hero.
"Get us an exit before someone finds us."
"What?! Where did you guys go?"
"One of those warp-door things. Run a search."
He did. "Okay, I see you and I'm working on an exit. Just stay there."
Suddenly, the door opened again and Giovanni stepped out.
"Not an option, Hero!" Pyro hung up. "How did you get here?!"
"You can run but you can't hide. And you can't run very long at that." He reached for his sword. Pyro drew his gun and fired rapidly. While Giovanni was running, the guys ran for it.
"Over there!" Shadow pointed to a parking lot and ran for it.
"Split up!" Pyro shouted. Shadow had hesitated in entering the garage. He looked back and saw Giovanni running for them.
"Go!" He shouted. "I'll distract him!" He fired a 9mm as he ran. Giovanni hurried for him, but then saw two cars zoom out of the parking garage. He looked back and Shadow was gone. One of the cars held his prize. The other was useless to him. But which was which?
"Doesn't matter." He said. "Find him, I win. Find his friends, win a side-dish." He ran for a car.
X had no idea where to go. At first, he thought that splitting up was a good idea.
Then he remembered that he didn't have a phone.
"Just what am I doing, anyway?" He simply drove around aimlessly. Then, his window shattered. X ducked down instinctively as his car was ripped with bullets. He pulled to the side and got out. He had no weapon other than the pole he's taken from the Merovingian's wall, which wouldn't be of much use to him.
The firing soon stopped and X peered over. Siren tossed her empty gun down.
X stood. "How did you get here so fast?"
Siren held up a key. "With the right keys, you can go anywhere." She put it away and walked to him. "Did you think it would be that easy to escape?"
"You can't seduce me." X said.
"I don't plan to." She pulled two knives off her belt. "I tried to have little fun, but you leave me no choice."
X twirled his pole. "Try and stop me."
Siren jumped and spun in the air, blades flying. X jumped back and put his weapon up to block a few strikes, which proved effective once Siren actually struck him. She swung a low kick, but X jumped over it, giving him the air to swing his staff and knock one of her blades away, but she spun with the hit and sliced his cheek.
X stumbled and struck again. Siren blocked and nearly stabbed his stomach before he twisted out of the way and grabbed her wrist. Then, he grabbed the other and stood behind her with both of her blades to her throat.
"You know what?" He asked her. "You're a real pain in the neck."
"As are you." She shot her foot up impossibly high, kicking his face, then spun around, getting a slash at his stomach. He jumped back and sucked in, barley missing the deadly blow. Siren jumped up and kicked his staff away with one foot and bashed his face with the other.
X fell to the ground and Siren would have stabbed him had he not blocked, then kicked her head. Both adversaries jumped up, ready for more.
Shadow kept running after distracting Giovanni. But he would need a vehicle all the same. Shadow yanked open the door to the nearest car: a cab that some poor fool had left unguarded. He got in and hot-wired it. He was about to put it in gear when the back door opened and slammed.
"Drive." She said.
Shadow turned and looked at her. "What?"
"Just drive!"
"Uh, I'm not-"
"Are you deaf?! I said go! I don't care where and make sure you go fast."
"Miss, I'm not a cab driver!"
"Hey!" A man on the street called. "My cab!!"
"Looks like you are now." The young woman in the back said.
"Okay." Shadow took off.
Pyro, too, was lost. He was planning to turn back around and find the others, but his plans were derailed.
Pyro was holding his breath as he crossed a bridge over the freeway. He hated being anywhere near it after all the stories he'd heard. The freeway was known to be the most dangerous place in the Matrix; so many had died there due to "caused accidents". He didn't want to be the next.
WHAM!! Someone rear-ended him. A black car zoomed up beside him and slammed his side, ramming him into the wall of the bridge. Pyro fought back, but the car he'd chosen wasn't the strongest. He slammed the brakes and turned the wheel in order to pry away from the black car, which turned into a position to ram him again.
Pyro grabbed his sword and got out, jumping away from the vehicle as it slammed into his own, smashing it. Pyro jumped up and looked around for some way to escape and saw it. Timing it right, Pyro jumped off the bridge. He landed on a large truck, using his sword to stop him where he was. He'd made it...
Right onto the freeway.
"Great." He sighed. WHAM!! Pyro spun around and saw Giovanni standing on the truck. He, too, had jumped, but the bridge was too far to jump...well, too far for a human. Somehow, he was still dressed to impress. Pyro brandished his weapon again.
Giovanni chuckled and tossed his cane into the air, making sure to toss it far forward. He slid off his suit coat and caught his cane upside-down, put the coat on it, then batted the tip of his top hat, knocking it onto the cane. He flung his cane back, holding it by the sword hilt, causing the scabbard, coat, and hat to fly away onto the freeway while keeping the sword in his hand. He flipped it around his hand close enough to his neck to cut the tie, then stuck the sword into the truck roof. Giovanni unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt, as well as the cuffs, then rolled the sleeves up so they wouldn't slide down again. He picked the sword back up and gestured to Pyro.
Pyro struck his own sword into the ground, slid off his trench coat, took off his shades and tossed them both away. He drew his sword again and beckoned him to come.
Giovanni charged and Pyro was right there to meet him. Their swords clashed, but Pyro was the one who was knocked onto his back. He catapulted up, flipping into a slash, knocking Giovanni onto his knees. Pyro flipped his foot up, striking Giovanni in the face, knocking him onto his back. Pyro swung down upon him, but Giovanni rolled away, then swung his feet up over his head, hitting Pyro across the face, spinning him to the ground.
Both of them jumped back up and circled each other. Pyro soon saw something in Giovanni's eyes. He stole a glance behind him. A bridge would nail him in seconds. He quickly dropped to his stomach, but to his surprise, Giovanni made no move to duck, nor jump. Instead, he stuck his sword up in the air and waited. When the truck pass under the bridge, he passed through it. Concrete and metal shattered around Giovanni's body and sword. He didn't flinch at all. By just standing there, he had formed a giant hole in the bridge. Cars flew off the gap and crashed into those below.
"Geez." Pyro whispered. Giovanni kept his cool grin and walked towards him. Pyro jumped back up and block Giovanni's strike, but the force was so strong that Pyro was forced onto his knees. Giovanni kept pressing down harder and Pyro's ankle was getting crushed and twisted, increasing in pain. Finally, Giovanni got tired and just kicked him back a few feet. Pyro tried standing again, but his leg wouldn't allow it for a minute. He rested himself on his knee and held his sword up in defense.
Giovanni saw his weakened prey and smiled. He began walking towards him.
BLAM! BLAM! Giovanni's head turned and saw an agent in a car firing at him. Pyro thought this would buy him some time. But once more, Giovanni surprised him.
Giovanni jumped off the truck and landed on the car, smashing it, but then jumped back-up-to-the-truck!!
Pyro's jaw dropped. What was this guy?! He was no ordinary program, that was for sure, but he was far surpassing the bounds of the physically possible.
Giovanni watch the car fall behind and turned back to Pyro with a smile. He ran for him and stabbed downward. Pyro rolled just in time and the sword struck into the truck roof. Pyro swung his foot up and kicked Giovanni's head with all his might. He flew back a foot or two, nearly rolling off the edge of the truck. Pyro jumped up and kicked the hilt of Giovanni's blade just as hard, breaking it off the sword. Giovanni was weaponless now. But that didn't stop him.
Pyro hobbled on his bad ankle and stood with his sword in hand. Giovanni stood ready. Pyro jumped up and swung. Giovanni simply put his arm up and stopped the blade with his arm. Pyro stared at him. No way. Giovanni swung his foot up, kicking him hard in the chest. Pyro spun in the air and flew right off the truck.
Pyro kept spinning as he fell off the side. Frantically, he stabbed his sword into the side of the truck. The plan worked. His fall was stopped and he hung there just an inch or two above the asphalt. His eyes were wide. His life was hanging by a thread. He looked up and saw Giovanni, who seemed equally surprised. He wouldn't just stand there for long. He'd think of an idea.
Fortunately, the agents were back and firing at him again from the other side. Giovanni was hesitant, but turned away to destroy anther car. He had a few seconds. Now what?
A car next to him honked. Pyro looked over and saw a cab. The right window rolled down and Shadow waved to him. Pyro couldn't believe it. Then, he heard the sound of a car being crushed under Giovanni's force.
Pyro positioned his feet on the side of the truck and kicked off, flying away from it and into the passenger seat of the cab. He also rammed into Shadow, almost causing the car to ram into the car next to them.
Giovanni looked at the cab in which Pyro had jumped into. He could see them inside. He could crush them easily. Suddenly, the truck swerved out of control, nearly knocking Giovanni off. It pulled away from the cab and the cab pulled off the freeway as fast as he could, nodding to the agent driving the truck.
"Shadow," Pyro said. "I owe you big."
"Don't worry about it, Pyro. Let's just get outta here."
"Pyro?" A female voice piped up in the back. Pyro spun around.
"Veronica?!"
"You know her?" Shadow asked. "Wow. That's weird."
"What is she doing here?!" Pyro exclaimed.
"Nice to see you too!" She snorted.
"She hopped in the cab and refused to get out." Shadow explained.
Pyro thought about it. "Yeah, that sounds like her." He looked at her. "What are you doing here?" He looked again. "And...what's with the duffel bag?"
She looked up at him and opened her mouth.
Brriiinnnggg!! Pyro sighed and answered. "What?"
"Having fun with your girlfriend?" Hero asked him.
"Shut up! Just get us outta here before Giovanni comes back."
"I have an exit, but first you have to go back and pick up X. And tell Shadow to step on it." He told him where both X and the exit were. "And make sure to drop her off before anything happens."
"I will."
"Question." Veronica said. "Who's Giovanni, what are you guys doing and how in the world did you end up on the side of that truck?!"
Pyro and Shadow looked at each other. Of course, Pyro had to answer.
"My job." Shadow gave him a look.
"Your job?" Veronica asked him.
"Sure." He looked at Shadow and gave him the directions. "And hurry. I think X is in trouble."
X was in trouble, a lot of it. Siren was a lot faster than he was and X was getting hurt. He was already lined with numerous slices while Siren had barely taken any hits.
X spun his staff this way and that to block Siren's onslaught, then spun a few hits of his own. Siren bent out of shape to avoid them, then spun three more slices to his face. X stumbled and fell onto his back. Siren jumped up and swung down at him. X rolled, but so did she. She ended up over him again and struck. X grabbed her wrist, but Siren smiled and held up her other blade. X found that Siren's foot was on his other hand.
He suddenly found a burst of energy swell within him and launched his lower body back, flipping her over, then he swung his staff, knocking her away. She landed on her hands and flipped back up. X was tired and beaten, but Siren was still full of life.
Siren ran in for the kill, disregarding her orders. She faked a few swipes and X fell for it, blocking futilely and leaving himself open for a strike. But when she tried, X's instinct kicked in, flipping his foot up, kicking her blade into the air, then he jumped, spinning his staff to knock it away, then continued the spin to knock her back to the ground. She got up, but X kicked her back into the street, where a cab ran into her and stopped.
Shadow got out and looked at Siren, then X. "Cool." He said. "C'mon."
He hopped in the back. "Where were you...and who is she?!"
"Veronica." Pyro said. "The girl who took me in when I was knocked out, remember?"
"How did she get pulled into this?"
"Her own fault." Shadow said. "Won't leave."
"Geez." She said, looking at X. "What happened to you?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll live."
WHAM!! Everyone's head spun around and saw Giovanni on the trunk, glaring at them all.
"Or will you?" Pyro asked.
"Who is that?!" Veronica demanded.
"Hang on!" Shadow commanded. He slammed the brakes as hard as he could. Giovanni dug his fists into the trunk and stayed there the whole time. Shadow looked at him.
"Oh, yeah. They have to be on the hood for that to work."
"Just get out before he kills us all!" Pyro said. Everyone got out and Giovanni looked around at them.
"Another round?" He asked with a laugh.
"Again," Veronica said, "Who is that?!"
"Veronica, listen to me." Pyro said, grabbing her shoulders. "You need to leave. Just go, run, run anywhere, but get out of here!" She was hesitant. "Go! Go now!!" He pushed her and she ran, looking back at him.
"Look out!"
He spun and met Giovanni's foot, which knocked him to the ground. He looked up at Veronica.
"He's right, human. Run! Run fast and run far!!" He let out an evil laugh and she did run.
Shadow jumped high, blades up raised. Giovanni turned and jumped back and X jumped over him, smacking his head with his staff. He stumbled farther and Pyro made sure to get the extra kick in to knock him to his back. They all ran.
"The exit is in that warehouse in an office area." Pyro said. They ran inside.
"Up there!" X said, pointing to an elevated area with stairs leading to it.
Suddenly, a crate flew from behind them and shattered the stairs leading up to it. All three turned around to see a very irritated Giovanni.
Pyro brandished his sword. Shadow twirled his blades. X spun his staff. They were ready.
Giovanni looked around, then jumped up high, grabbing a chain around a beam and yanked it down. He swung the chain around and cracked it like a whip against the wall. Concrete pieces flew everywhere. The chain rattle when hitting the floor again. All was quiet.
"Great." Pyro sighed. Giovanni swung the chain again and they jumped over it, running for him. Giovanni swung back. Shadow and X ducked while Pyro jumped over, then shadow and Pyro jumped out of the way before they were shattered by the chain. Giovanni kept on swinging that wild chain-whip around, shattering whatever he hit with hit. The trio was having a very difficult time jumping and diving all over just to stay alive, much less attack.
X finally got an idea. He flailed over a strike and waited for the next. Sure enough, the whip came back towards him. He ducked down and stuck up his staff. The chain caught on it and wrapped around it. X held it in places and spun a few times to shorten the chain around himself, making it simple for Pyro to slice the chain with a swing of his sword.
Giovanni's chain was a good deal shorter, but could still be used. Shadow jumped for him, but Giovanni stepped back and when Shadow landed, grabbed one of the blades with the chain and yanked it from his hand, then spun and kicked his head in time to avoid Pyro's sword, then kick him and X away. Shadow bounced back up and went in for a low swing and cut the rest of the chain smoothly.
Giovanni dropped the useless links and blocked two kicks, then shot his foot up to knock away X before swinging it around to slam Shadow into the wall. Pyro swung upward, giving him a slice on the chest, but Giovanni took the hit and punched Pyro in the chest, then spun into back fist.
Finally, they came up with a little move they'd been working on. Pyro and Shadow ran for him from different sides. X slid for his legs, so he jumped, but Shadow was behind him and kicked him, flipping him forward. Pyro jumped in and kicked him into the wall. When he started to fall, X was already up and performed a jumping back flip kick, knocking him right back. Shadow knocked his feet out from under him and Pyro did another back flip kick powerful enough to knock him to the ceiling. To end the move, Pyro was strong enough-in the Matrix-to lift up X on one arm and Shadow on another and swing them forward so that both of them could slam their feet into Giovanni when he fell in place, Then they landed and flung Pyro into Giovanni and held him there so he could plant dozens of quick kicks into his chest, then one last two-footed kick which would break every rib in a human's body. Pyro flipped back and landed with his comrades and they picked their weapons back up.
Giovanni slowly rose back to his feet, eyes burning.
"Getting all fancy now, are we?"
Giovanni's struck his hand into the wall behind him. It didn't break or anything, it just stuck in there with a dim red glow. Suddenly, the rafter above broke loose and dropped. They all jumped away, but then the next one fell. They kept running as pieces of the building fell all around them.
"This is crazy!!" Shadow shouted. "We have to get outta here!"
"Shadow!" Pyro said. "You're the fastest! You go!"
He was hesitant to leave his friends, but then again, he really wanted to get outta there. Pyro grabbed a two-by-four and threw it at Giovanni, who was swung his hand and chopped through it. He kept throwing as Shadow ran, performing a Matrix-only jump to get into the office because the stairs were gone. He grabbed the phone and left the Matrix.
"Okay, you go." Pyro said.
"No, you first." X protested.
"He's after you."
"So he can't kill me!" He jumped at Giovanni, leaving Pyro to go for the phone. He ran and jumped into the office and hung up the phone. It rang again and he answered it.
X had no idea what he was doing. He ran to Giovanni and struck him with one of his viruses. Giovanni looked at it for a minute, then at X. "Come on. You can do better than that." He kicked X, knocking him backwards...right to the office. X jumped into it and hung up the phone. Just as it started ringing, sparks flew as a beam in the ceiling fell down and crush the phone, almost taking X's hand. He jumped back as more pieces fell down, eventually trapping him in a corner.
Soon enough, Giovanni peeled off the rubble and stuck his hand in X, just as he'd done the wall.
X's eyes shot open and he looked down at the hand. How was this happening? Slowly and painfully, he flipped on Neovision. It was amazing. Giovanni's code was interfering with X's.
"Sleep." Giovanni said. X saw the same red flash as he'd seen at the door just before he fell unconscious.