Fight for Freedom
(a/n) Thanks for reading and reviewing my story people. I would like to thank Lacrease, Miranon, Dynamis, Uninu and Cursor. I'd just like to make it clear that there is something between Lock and Rae, sorry if I didn't make it obvious at the start. But hey, this is my first fic after all; I might do another and bore you to death even more! Mwhahaha! Ahem.... I'm actually running out of chapter names at the moment (I don't think I'm a very creative person), so if anybody has any decent ones can they just give a few examples in a review please. Thank you! Nice to see most of you like it when Xan gets hurt. Read, enjoy, and review! :)
Chapter 8: Clash of the Champions
"Blue team scores!" the announcer boomed as Malcolm scored for his team. He had been waiting for this match a long time; he was out for most of the tournament anyway. Even when he was injured he tried to make it to as many matches as possible.
He frequent visits and coaching helped Thunder Crash get to the top of the ladder in most things.
The score was 3-2 to Xan's team. Xan's team scored the first points using a complete gung-ho attack and caught them off guard. It was a rare tactic, only used when every point counted. Malcolm didn't count on them doing it again, the same thing happened, and it was 2-0.
Thunder Crash got one back when Riker fired a good shot with a Redeemer and cleared the path for Tamika to get back to base and score.
Now it was Malcolm who had just got the point after a brutal one-on-one moment with Xan, Malcolm saw the double damage, got it, and pounded Xan it pieces of scrap. And now Malcolm had to do it again.
"Incoming!" Aryss shouted over the radio before it fuzzed out with sounds of gunfire. Malcolm ran down to the parallel bridges. He passed a screen with the match being shown on Neurovision. 'CTF finals. CTF-Absolute Zero' it read at the top of the screen.
Malcolm looked at the score and headed down to the two parallel bridges. He chose the path on the left hand side. Malcolm looked across to the bridge on the right and saw the entrance engulfed into explosion and what looked like Riker's body being thrown up and out of the door way.
"Get in position and hold the base at all costs!" Malcolm shouted at his team. "Roger that" came the reply from all of them
Malcolm figured he could sneak past and use the action as a diversion so he could at least make it to their flag. He saw more of Xan's team rush into the fray, many of them being gunned down as they entered. Malcolm sprinted into the red base.
Xan was rushing into the fray with his minigun blazing. Tamika was on a birch above the entrance sniping everybody who came towards her.
Xan opened up with his minigun and she was hammered back into the wall behind her, red smearing the walls around her. She keeled over and dropped off her perch; much to Xan's satisfaction.
Riker was the next person to get past, and charged at him and hit him with his shoulder hard and smashed him back against the wall. Riker was quick to recover and came back with a hard blow with the butt of his link gun in Xan's stomach where most of the wires were.
It didn't have much effect on Xan, but it was enough to get him angry. He clenched his fist and gave Riker a huge uppercut, a crunch sound was heard from Riker's jaw as he was thrown about 3 foot in the air and landed flat on his back clutching is jaw.
Cathode came through and shot Riker on the ground Xan turned to looked at her.
"Do you mind?! I was having fun for a moment!" he shouted at Cathode as she tried not to look at Xan fearing the worst. She quickly ran off in another direction and was instantly gunned down by Othello. Xan took quick care of him using his minigun and carried on towards the blue flag.
"Red flag taken" the announcer said calmly. Malcolm's heart pounded in his chest. It had been a long and hard match, he was getting tired and it felt like his knees were going to give way any second. He took a few hits earlier in the match.
Malcolm took a deep breath and ran out into the most likely place he could be picked off: the two bridges.
His knees were still sore but he still kept on running. The bridges seemed longer coming back; they always did. Rockets flew in all around and Malcolm did his best to dodge most of them.
Annika came up to Malcolm to support him, but she wasn't much good; she was blown away with one shot of a well placed sniper bullet.
"Shit" Malcolm said as the body flopped in front of him and he nearly tripped over it. "Need backup!" he shouted down the radio. He couldn't afford another close one like that; at least he was inside his own base.
"Blue flag taken". Malcolm didn't want to hear that. He ran up to the double damage that lay near the entrance and loaded it into his Flak cannon. He ran towards his flag.
By the time he got there the double damage was all gone and he was left standing there like an idiot with nothing to do.
"Get our flag back people! I'm stuck until here until you get it!"
"Roger that! Shall I cover you sir?" Tamika shouted to be heard as sounds of gunfire and explosions muffled the radio.
"No thanks! I can handle my self!" Malcolm shouted back.
Tamika nodded and jumped down onto the bridge and went to look for the flag. Xan appeared in the opposite direction. He had a minigun and he opened up on her. Tamika took a shot in the chest and stumbled back.
Xan was about to shoot again, suddenly, his gun shocked with electricity. Xan dropped the gun and lay on the floor; then melted away quickly after nobody picked it up.
Xan pulled out another weapon; the same happened. Xan screamed in rage and grabbed for another weapon. Tamika looked on in amazement as Xan struggled to even shoot at her. Xan was still shouting and cursing angrily.
"Well don't cry about it you baby, cry when you get back to all your pussy friends!"
Tamika shot at Xan with her Shock rifle and it hit Xan in the side of the neck. He stumbled and nearly fell. Tamika fired a shock ball and then hit it with a normal shot. The large explosion tore Xan to shreds and what was left of his body gliding off the side of the bridge.
Tamika smiled as he disappeared from view and went off the side. She was still trying to find the flag. Annika ran up next to Tamika, "Let's go" she said and they both ran into the red base.
They covered each other, every time they turned a corner one would cover whilst the other went in, Tamika pointed her gun around the corner took a blow in the chest from a shock rifle.
She stumbled back and blood seeped through her armour, she clutched the wound, another shot knocked off a piece of concrete and it hit Tamika square in the jaw.
Blood escaped Tamika's mouth as she was knocked back onto her backside. Annika leapt round the corner into view and her eyes widened as she saw Cathode, Enigma and Virus standing with shock rifles and rocket launchers.
Annika kept her finger on the trigger and managed to kill Virus with a blow to the head with her flak cannon. Enigma and Cathode both fired a three rocket spiral; Annika gasped and pulled her arms up to cover her head.
It didn't do anything to stop the rockets, they tore through her flesh and took her arms clean off, and her body was blown to the back of the room with ease. Tamika saw the body hit the wall and collapse in a pool of blood. She let out a long breath as Enigma came around the corner and shot her on the floor.
'Bang!' an explosion hit the wall behind Malcolm, he leapt forward and saw Axon with a rocket launcher, he was loading three rockets at once and was about to fire when Malcolm blew him away with his minigun.
Divisor came into view from one of the ramps to the left of Malcolm, flak shells bounced around the room, deflecting off everything around him.
Malcolm hit the deck and fired at Divisor with his minigun, he was inaccurate with one hand, but he pierced open her armour like a hot knife through butter. He was doing ok defending for himself. Malcolm wanted to get a shot at Phoenix after what had happened to him, he knew he cheated, no question, but he couldn't beat a cheater, even if he was a coward.
Xan entered the room and fired with his shock rifle, it hit Malcolm in his left knee and he nearly fell to the floor. Malcolm's stumble made Xan miss the next shot he fired at him.
Malcolm fired a burst from his minigun and half of the shots missed, one bullet hit Xan in his elbow joint and his left arm started twitching. Xan went to fire; his weapon clicked, and then disappeared from his hands.
He whipped out his sniper rifle; he was saving it for long range combat. He shot and it hit Malcolm in the bare part of his forearm, it tore through the flesh and burst out the other side.
"Aah!" Malcolm cried as the bullet left a hole in his arm.
"Hadn't had enough?" Xan said and fired another shot. Malcolm rolled to the side and dodged it. He let rip with his minigun and it hit Xan in the chest several times. Xan still was a bit weakened, but it wasn't enough to really hurt him.
Xan aimed a shot at Malcolm's head, he was cornered, and he couldn't move anywhere. The weapon disintegrated in Xan's hands.
"Godammit!" Xan screamed and shouted up at the ceiling. "Why does this keep happening to me!?" he shouted some more. Malcolm seized his chance and swiped out Xan legs.
He fell on his back with a sharp crunch and his large metal body made the light iron plated ground shake. Malcolm reacted quickly and was up on his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm and knee.
Xan lurched forward off the ground towards Malcolm, he dodged it easily. They were both up on their feet, neither with a weapon. Xan had a distinct advantage, but Malcolm knew every weak spot on Xan's armour, he beat him in the 4th tournament finals, and he could do it again.
Malcolm made the first move and went for a kick in Xan's lower abdomen. Electricity spurted out the side of his hips and he wobbled.
Malcolm smiled slightly as he was satisfied with his strike. He unwedged his foot from Xan's side but he grabbed it and threw Malcolm by the leg across the room.
Malcolm landed propped up against the wall. Xan lunged at him wall he rolled out the way and Xan's hand went straight into the wall. A large dent was left behind, Xan wasn't put off, and he carried throwing wild punches at Malcolm.
Xan swung a left hook and Malcolm's face; he ducked and delivered another low blow in Xan's lower abdomen. Xan twitched some more and clutched his bruise and elbowed Malcolm in the face.
He let out a cry and fell to the floor. His nose was bleeding badly, his bones crushed by the weight of the metal on Xan's elbow. Xan was about to deliver another blow to Malcolm, when Cathode appeared from the steps with a sniper rifle.
She took a shot at Malcolm, a bad one, it hit the floor next to Malcolm and Xan turned to face her.
"You mind?!" he bellowed at her. He grabbed her head in his large metallic hand, and literally crushed it. Oil and wires snapped and leaked out; Cathode's dropped lifelessly to the floor, dropping the sniper rifle.
Malcolm looked at the sniper rifle and saw a ray of hope. He took out Xan's legs again by hitting him in the back of the knee, crippling him momentarily. He leap-frogged towards the sniper rifle.
Xan saw what Malcolm was trying to do and charged towards him. Malcolm wheeled around and saw Xan just a few feet from him. 'Crack! Crack!' two loud shots rang in Malcolm's ears.
Two gaping holes lay in Xan's chest and blood started leaking out. Xan staring eyes met Malcolm's, and then he hit the floor with the sound of metal crunching. "Blue flag returned!" the announcer said. "Oh yeah!" Riker taunted down the radio.
Malcolm smiled and limped towards the flag clutching his arm. "Blue team is the winner!" Malcolm didn't want to go back to the arena injured. He raised the sniper rifle to his head and fired so he would get out healthily.
The team respawned, the crowd was a mixture of cheering and utter confusion. All the people routing for The Corrupt were in anger and confusion. They were shouting for the chairman off the Liandri tournament to inspect the match.
However, the Thunder Crash supporters didn't really care. They had now got to the top of the ladder after losing their vitally important team captain. The commentator's voice came on.
"Well ladies and gentlemen! It looks like we have our new capture the flag tournament champions: Thunder Crash!" Half of the crowd went wild, the other half didn't. They were still cursing and shouting.
Thunder Crash wanted to get out of the way before the judges brought up anything about a rematch. The team quickly disappeared from view down the lift.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Phoenix couldn't stop laughing. He had to sit down his stomach hurt so much. He loved this new system, he had just stopped Xan from getting a clean shot at him, and Xan had Malcolm in his way.
He had tested what the computer could do on other matches. He could make things disappear into thin air, change the maps, kill people without reason, and most importantly, fix every match.
Phoenix still had to get around the Liandri, if they really took notice to this then they would find the culprit. He had to keep Erik from talking, so he could do what he wanted, and keep Liandri off his back.
He left the room quickly, still chuckling to himself; he went through the double doors and they swung gentle shut as soon as the Liandri guards came to check the computers. They found nothing; Phoenix left without a trace.
(a/n) Well, there you go. Sorry if this chapter had nothing to do with John or anything. I was going to try and write an Onslaught match and try my hand at it, but I decided to just try and give a small impression of what Phoenix could do with the computer. So, the next chapter should be longer and better. Please review! I'm grateful you're reading this! :)
(a/n) Thanks for reading and reviewing my story people. I would like to thank Lacrease, Miranon, Dynamis, Uninu and Cursor. I'd just like to make it clear that there is something between Lock and Rae, sorry if I didn't make it obvious at the start. But hey, this is my first fic after all; I might do another and bore you to death even more! Mwhahaha! Ahem.... I'm actually running out of chapter names at the moment (I don't think I'm a very creative person), so if anybody has any decent ones can they just give a few examples in a review please. Thank you! Nice to see most of you like it when Xan gets hurt. Read, enjoy, and review! :)
Chapter 8: Clash of the Champions
"Blue team scores!" the announcer boomed as Malcolm scored for his team. He had been waiting for this match a long time; he was out for most of the tournament anyway. Even when he was injured he tried to make it to as many matches as possible.
He frequent visits and coaching helped Thunder Crash get to the top of the ladder in most things.
The score was 3-2 to Xan's team. Xan's team scored the first points using a complete gung-ho attack and caught them off guard. It was a rare tactic, only used when every point counted. Malcolm didn't count on them doing it again, the same thing happened, and it was 2-0.
Thunder Crash got one back when Riker fired a good shot with a Redeemer and cleared the path for Tamika to get back to base and score.
Now it was Malcolm who had just got the point after a brutal one-on-one moment with Xan, Malcolm saw the double damage, got it, and pounded Xan it pieces of scrap. And now Malcolm had to do it again.
"Incoming!" Aryss shouted over the radio before it fuzzed out with sounds of gunfire. Malcolm ran down to the parallel bridges. He passed a screen with the match being shown on Neurovision. 'CTF finals. CTF-Absolute Zero' it read at the top of the screen.
Malcolm looked at the score and headed down to the two parallel bridges. He chose the path on the left hand side. Malcolm looked across to the bridge on the right and saw the entrance engulfed into explosion and what looked like Riker's body being thrown up and out of the door way.
"Get in position and hold the base at all costs!" Malcolm shouted at his team. "Roger that" came the reply from all of them
Malcolm figured he could sneak past and use the action as a diversion so he could at least make it to their flag. He saw more of Xan's team rush into the fray, many of them being gunned down as they entered. Malcolm sprinted into the red base.
Xan was rushing into the fray with his minigun blazing. Tamika was on a birch above the entrance sniping everybody who came towards her.
Xan opened up with his minigun and she was hammered back into the wall behind her, red smearing the walls around her. She keeled over and dropped off her perch; much to Xan's satisfaction.
Riker was the next person to get past, and charged at him and hit him with his shoulder hard and smashed him back against the wall. Riker was quick to recover and came back with a hard blow with the butt of his link gun in Xan's stomach where most of the wires were.
It didn't have much effect on Xan, but it was enough to get him angry. He clenched his fist and gave Riker a huge uppercut, a crunch sound was heard from Riker's jaw as he was thrown about 3 foot in the air and landed flat on his back clutching is jaw.
Cathode came through and shot Riker on the ground Xan turned to looked at her.
"Do you mind?! I was having fun for a moment!" he shouted at Cathode as she tried not to look at Xan fearing the worst. She quickly ran off in another direction and was instantly gunned down by Othello. Xan took quick care of him using his minigun and carried on towards the blue flag.
"Red flag taken" the announcer said calmly. Malcolm's heart pounded in his chest. It had been a long and hard match, he was getting tired and it felt like his knees were going to give way any second. He took a few hits earlier in the match.
Malcolm took a deep breath and ran out into the most likely place he could be picked off: the two bridges.
His knees were still sore but he still kept on running. The bridges seemed longer coming back; they always did. Rockets flew in all around and Malcolm did his best to dodge most of them.
Annika came up to Malcolm to support him, but she wasn't much good; she was blown away with one shot of a well placed sniper bullet.
"Shit" Malcolm said as the body flopped in front of him and he nearly tripped over it. "Need backup!" he shouted down the radio. He couldn't afford another close one like that; at least he was inside his own base.
"Blue flag taken". Malcolm didn't want to hear that. He ran up to the double damage that lay near the entrance and loaded it into his Flak cannon. He ran towards his flag.
By the time he got there the double damage was all gone and he was left standing there like an idiot with nothing to do.
"Get our flag back people! I'm stuck until here until you get it!"
"Roger that! Shall I cover you sir?" Tamika shouted to be heard as sounds of gunfire and explosions muffled the radio.
"No thanks! I can handle my self!" Malcolm shouted back.
Tamika nodded and jumped down onto the bridge and went to look for the flag. Xan appeared in the opposite direction. He had a minigun and he opened up on her. Tamika took a shot in the chest and stumbled back.
Xan was about to shoot again, suddenly, his gun shocked with electricity. Xan dropped the gun and lay on the floor; then melted away quickly after nobody picked it up.
Xan pulled out another weapon; the same happened. Xan screamed in rage and grabbed for another weapon. Tamika looked on in amazement as Xan struggled to even shoot at her. Xan was still shouting and cursing angrily.
"Well don't cry about it you baby, cry when you get back to all your pussy friends!"
Tamika shot at Xan with her Shock rifle and it hit Xan in the side of the neck. He stumbled and nearly fell. Tamika fired a shock ball and then hit it with a normal shot. The large explosion tore Xan to shreds and what was left of his body gliding off the side of the bridge.
Tamika smiled as he disappeared from view and went off the side. She was still trying to find the flag. Annika ran up next to Tamika, "Let's go" she said and they both ran into the red base.
They covered each other, every time they turned a corner one would cover whilst the other went in, Tamika pointed her gun around the corner took a blow in the chest from a shock rifle.
She stumbled back and blood seeped through her armour, she clutched the wound, another shot knocked off a piece of concrete and it hit Tamika square in the jaw.
Blood escaped Tamika's mouth as she was knocked back onto her backside. Annika leapt round the corner into view and her eyes widened as she saw Cathode, Enigma and Virus standing with shock rifles and rocket launchers.
Annika kept her finger on the trigger and managed to kill Virus with a blow to the head with her flak cannon. Enigma and Cathode both fired a three rocket spiral; Annika gasped and pulled her arms up to cover her head.
It didn't do anything to stop the rockets, they tore through her flesh and took her arms clean off, and her body was blown to the back of the room with ease. Tamika saw the body hit the wall and collapse in a pool of blood. She let out a long breath as Enigma came around the corner and shot her on the floor.
'Bang!' an explosion hit the wall behind Malcolm, he leapt forward and saw Axon with a rocket launcher, he was loading three rockets at once and was about to fire when Malcolm blew him away with his minigun.
Divisor came into view from one of the ramps to the left of Malcolm, flak shells bounced around the room, deflecting off everything around him.
Malcolm hit the deck and fired at Divisor with his minigun, he was inaccurate with one hand, but he pierced open her armour like a hot knife through butter. He was doing ok defending for himself. Malcolm wanted to get a shot at Phoenix after what had happened to him, he knew he cheated, no question, but he couldn't beat a cheater, even if he was a coward.
Xan entered the room and fired with his shock rifle, it hit Malcolm in his left knee and he nearly fell to the floor. Malcolm's stumble made Xan miss the next shot he fired at him.
Malcolm fired a burst from his minigun and half of the shots missed, one bullet hit Xan in his elbow joint and his left arm started twitching. Xan went to fire; his weapon clicked, and then disappeared from his hands.
He whipped out his sniper rifle; he was saving it for long range combat. He shot and it hit Malcolm in the bare part of his forearm, it tore through the flesh and burst out the other side.
"Aah!" Malcolm cried as the bullet left a hole in his arm.
"Hadn't had enough?" Xan said and fired another shot. Malcolm rolled to the side and dodged it. He let rip with his minigun and it hit Xan in the chest several times. Xan still was a bit weakened, but it wasn't enough to really hurt him.
Xan aimed a shot at Malcolm's head, he was cornered, and he couldn't move anywhere. The weapon disintegrated in Xan's hands.
"Godammit!" Xan screamed and shouted up at the ceiling. "Why does this keep happening to me!?" he shouted some more. Malcolm seized his chance and swiped out Xan legs.
He fell on his back with a sharp crunch and his large metal body made the light iron plated ground shake. Malcolm reacted quickly and was up on his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm and knee.
Xan lurched forward off the ground towards Malcolm, he dodged it easily. They were both up on their feet, neither with a weapon. Xan had a distinct advantage, but Malcolm knew every weak spot on Xan's armour, he beat him in the 4th tournament finals, and he could do it again.
Malcolm made the first move and went for a kick in Xan's lower abdomen. Electricity spurted out the side of his hips and he wobbled.
Malcolm smiled slightly as he was satisfied with his strike. He unwedged his foot from Xan's side but he grabbed it and threw Malcolm by the leg across the room.
Malcolm landed propped up against the wall. Xan lunged at him wall he rolled out the way and Xan's hand went straight into the wall. A large dent was left behind, Xan wasn't put off, and he carried throwing wild punches at Malcolm.
Xan swung a left hook and Malcolm's face; he ducked and delivered another low blow in Xan's lower abdomen. Xan twitched some more and clutched his bruise and elbowed Malcolm in the face.
He let out a cry and fell to the floor. His nose was bleeding badly, his bones crushed by the weight of the metal on Xan's elbow. Xan was about to deliver another blow to Malcolm, when Cathode appeared from the steps with a sniper rifle.
She took a shot at Malcolm, a bad one, it hit the floor next to Malcolm and Xan turned to face her.
"You mind?!" he bellowed at her. He grabbed her head in his large metallic hand, and literally crushed it. Oil and wires snapped and leaked out; Cathode's dropped lifelessly to the floor, dropping the sniper rifle.
Malcolm looked at the sniper rifle and saw a ray of hope. He took out Xan's legs again by hitting him in the back of the knee, crippling him momentarily. He leap-frogged towards the sniper rifle.
Xan saw what Malcolm was trying to do and charged towards him. Malcolm wheeled around and saw Xan just a few feet from him. 'Crack! Crack!' two loud shots rang in Malcolm's ears.
Two gaping holes lay in Xan's chest and blood started leaking out. Xan staring eyes met Malcolm's, and then he hit the floor with the sound of metal crunching. "Blue flag returned!" the announcer said. "Oh yeah!" Riker taunted down the radio.
Malcolm smiled and limped towards the flag clutching his arm. "Blue team is the winner!" Malcolm didn't want to go back to the arena injured. He raised the sniper rifle to his head and fired so he would get out healthily.
The team respawned, the crowd was a mixture of cheering and utter confusion. All the people routing for The Corrupt were in anger and confusion. They were shouting for the chairman off the Liandri tournament to inspect the match.
However, the Thunder Crash supporters didn't really care. They had now got to the top of the ladder after losing their vitally important team captain. The commentator's voice came on.
"Well ladies and gentlemen! It looks like we have our new capture the flag tournament champions: Thunder Crash!" Half of the crowd went wild, the other half didn't. They were still cursing and shouting.
Thunder Crash wanted to get out of the way before the judges brought up anything about a rematch. The team quickly disappeared from view down the lift.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Phoenix couldn't stop laughing. He had to sit down his stomach hurt so much. He loved this new system, he had just stopped Xan from getting a clean shot at him, and Xan had Malcolm in his way.
He had tested what the computer could do on other matches. He could make things disappear into thin air, change the maps, kill people without reason, and most importantly, fix every match.
Phoenix still had to get around the Liandri, if they really took notice to this then they would find the culprit. He had to keep Erik from talking, so he could do what he wanted, and keep Liandri off his back.
He left the room quickly, still chuckling to himself; he went through the double doors and they swung gentle shut as soon as the Liandri guards came to check the computers. They found nothing; Phoenix left without a trace.
(a/n) Well, there you go. Sorry if this chapter had nothing to do with John or anything. I was going to try and write an Onslaught match and try my hand at it, but I decided to just try and give a small impression of what Phoenix could do with the computer. So, the next chapter should be longer and better. Please review! I'm grateful you're reading this! :)
