Fight for Freedom

(a/n) Hello again, thanks for you helpful reviews about the chapter titles and things. Thanks for help Lacrease and all other. Sorry John didn't make an appearance, but I assure you it's not going to happen again unless I suffer from sudden memory loss. Anyway, the first Onslaught match is here, yay! I'm looking forward to writing this, especially with the vehicles as well, and thinking about it I'll be the first author to try a proper experience. :) Read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter 9: Rev up and ride

Amon burst into John's room looking very excited. John was still asleep.

"John wake up. C'mon hurry!" she was almost jumping up and down on the spot with excitement. John slowly opened his eyes and groaned.

"What? Why you bugging me it's only-"

John looked at his wrist and then the other. They were both bare.

"Where's my watch?" John said in a puzzled and tired tone.

"You never had a watch." Amon said patronizingly.

"Damn. Whatever, what is it?" he sat up and swung his legs off the side of the couch.

"We've been picked to fight in the first ever Onslaught match! We're gonna be broadcast all over the world!" Amon always loved attention; she couldn't get enough of it.

"Oh goody." John said sarcastically.

"Well aren't you excited? This means we'll be at the top of the ladder instantly if we win this match. We'll be champions for once!" Amon was still ecstatic about it. She couldn't wait.

"When's the match then?"

"First thing, Lock told me to wake you up so you could get ready."

"Ok, ok I'll be ready in a sec."

"My god you sound like my teenage daughter." Amon giggled slightly.

"You have a daughter? What are you doing here for?" John's tone of voice lightened up and he was curious as ever.

"Well, she was the reason I'm here. I wasn't told to come here; I went on my own accord. My daughter was killed on some field trip with the school. They were on a tour where the first ever space craft was invented, man that was a long time ago. There.....there was a riot in the Liandri building opposite, it broke out and my daughter was...killed." Amon swallowed.

"Oh my god" John said as he stood up and put his hand on her shoulder. Amon continued.

"I questioned the school all about it; they said it wasn't their responsibility because nobody filled in a letter or document about it. They told me to talk to Liandri, they said the situation was out of their hands and it couldn't have been prevented. Assholes, ever time I went I was turned down. Two guards had to drag me out one time" She chuckled. "So that's why I came here, to join the tournament and get my revenge on Liandri, I bet a lot of people would tell you that they wanted revenge too." She sighed and tried to look on the bright side.

"I really came here for revenge" she said. "But then I grew to like it, I thought it was fun and I loved the attention, so I stayed."

"Whoa, at least you have an honest story." John said.

"What happened?"

John was about to answer when Lock came into John's cell as well.

"You ready? We gotta go in five minutes; I'll meet you at the lift." He left. Amon looked at John.

"Tell me later" she said and walked out. John looked up at the ceiling and let out a long, deep breath. He went to get his armour on.

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The team Kill Switch was against was the Hellions. The group of rough outlaws who had been caught in their pirate days and then sent into the tournament as a punishment. It certainly cut down the number of gang and pirate reports throughout the whole city.

Baird came out of the bathroom, he had his armour ready with the chip inserted making it go red.

Garrett was in the same room waiting for him to come out. He sat up from the couch when he saw Baird. They nodded at each other and headed out of the cell.

They walked past their team mates doors and banged on them repeatedly until the got a response or an acknowledgment.

The walked up to the lift and rode it up together, neither of them said anything, they were concentrating on the battle. They got to the top and saw the whole place was packed already, nobody could see them yet as they kept back in the elevator exit area.

Garrett thought back to his pirate days, the way he had been cruelly beaten and put in here; at least he thought it was brutal and cruel for him.

Garrett had the biggest record for drug dealing and general piracy. 45 people had been killed by his hand in one week. He had been put in hospital numerous times because of injuries from fights and gunshot wounds.

He looked at Baird, who wasn't looking at him. His eyes then trailed off towards the floor, then to the crowds outside. Banners and small flags were flying all around.

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John was the last person to join his team up at the elevator. As soon as Lock saw John he called the team in closer and started a battle plan.

"The map we guys are playing in today is called 'Torlan'. I was looking at layouts and drawing of the map most of the night and I've got a pretty good battle plan."

Lock pulled out a map from his right boot and spread it out on the floor. "We start here." Lock poked the picture of a blue power core on the map. "First, we need to set up a stable foundation for when we attack, if we have no foundation, we get knocked back, we're finished. The two power nodes closest to us are here and here." He poked some more parts of the map. "I want everybody to focus on these at the start, and then we can get our attacking done. If we get these parts before they get theirs, we have an instant head start, we can attack first."

He paused for a second and looked at the team to make sure they were paying attention, as he looked at each of them; they nodded to say that they understood. Lock continued.

"Next, if we can get straight down the middle, hopefully a Redeemer on top of this tall structure in the middle should help us disable some more power nodes. These guys aren't going to drop their last power nodes without a fight, so we need some people to be constantly attacking that power node for a distraction while the rest go for the power core. Gunther, I want you and John to do that, keep suppressing and don't let up until you're dead. Got it?" He looked at Gunther and John, and then John looked at Gunther and nodded.

John didn't think he would need to listen to the rest, he'd got his orders and he knew the team was able to pull off any tactics they wanted if they tried. For once he was confident going into this match, he had a feeling he could do it.

He looked out into the stadium area and saw the increasingly large crowd out there. They weren't cheering yet. John had never seen a crowd so big, maybe they were waiting for another match to come on after theirs.

Lock's voice was just a blur in John's mind he wasn't listening anymore. The team seemed to say some sort of motto. John didn't hear it. Gunther patted him on the shoulder and he spun around to look and Lock.

"Well?" Lock asked

"Er...yeah sure let's do this." John said uncertainly.

"Good to hear it!" Lock said and he rolled up the map and put it in his boot again.

The announcer's voice came on and the large speakers boomed with his heavy voice. "Well ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another day of fantastic action in the tournament on Neurovision. Today we have a special match and hopefully the beginning of a whole new era! The first ever Onslaught match will be played today by Kill Switch and the Hellions!"

The crowd went crazy. Amon giggled, she couldn't help it. 'Maybe they are here for our match' John thought as he saw banners and flags go up everywhere. John couldn't help but smile, it gave him a big confidence booster.

"So let's welcome to two teams playing today!" the announcer said. The crowd got louder. Lock nodded as usual and they all walked out together, the Hellions did the same and John looked at them.

He saw the team leader. Garrett, John cringed as he saw him. 'Dammit he's ugly!' John thought. He tried to look at the other team but he couldn't bring his eyes away from Garrett.

Before he knew it they were on the platform and were about to be put in the match. John managed to pull his eyes away from Garrett and focused on the match. He remembered Lock's orders.

"5...4...3...2...1...Begin" John spawned next to weapons locker. Large rectangles and squares flew around and vehicles thumped down on the map with a light 'thud'. John grabbed the weapons on the locker and ran up a small ramp and got in a Raptor.

"How the hell do I fly this thing?" John said under his breath. He pressed a button on the joystick in front of him. The vehicles rose up about 20 feet in the air, and then it started to fall back down again.

John hit the button again and held it until he was at a good height. He pushed the stick forwards and the Raptor dipped its nose and glided silently through the air. He looked down and saw the first power nodes.

Rae jumped out of a vehicle and walked over a small platform. It flashed blue, and she started shooting at it with a link gun. The beam turned blue and the node reached full health.

John scanned for the other node he had to get. He spotted it in the distance. He let go of the button and started descending towards it. Gunther pulled up in a Hellbender and took the node.

"Ok! We've got our foundation! Now let's attack!" Lock shouted over the radio. 'Missile Lock-On!' flashed up of the small screen in front of him. "Shit" John said as he saw a rocket hurtling towards him.

John didn't know what to do; he had seconds before he was smashed to pieces. He stamped with his left foot on a pedal; the craft veered to the left and dodged the missile. John looked at his foot and saw the pedal; there was another on his right.

'Missile Lock-On!' the warning flashed up again. John swore again and spotted the other Raptor firing at him, but he couldn't see the rocket. 'Bang!'

John found it, in his right engine of the Raptor. Smoke bellowed out from the side and John needed to move as it wouldn't be long before he was killed.

"Stay alive John! We need some air support if we wanna win this!" Lock shouted over the radio. John gritted his teeth and hit the left pedal again, he dodged another rocket. He looked at the joystick and hit the button opposite the 'ascend and descend' button.

A rocket flew out from underneath the Raptor. It automatically homed in on the other Raptor. John steered to the side and fired again. Smoke was coming out of the other vehicle and the second missile hit with ease, blowing it to pieces.

"Top Gun!" the announcer boomed. John smiled and flew down to the center building. A lot of fighting was going on down there. John couldn't make out what was going on down there; it was full of explosions and smoke from the other damaged vehicles.

John saw Lock in a Manta charge into the fray with all guns blazing. A large explosion sent a huge clump of earth sky high right behind him. Another one came in and it was a direct hit.

It sent the small vehicle about 20 feet into the air and it landed with a crunching metal sound. John's eyes widened as he saw it happen.

He lowered the craft and hit the third button on the joystick. Lasers burst out of the turrets on the front at an alarming rate and cut several people to shreds. A shell missed John by an inch and it made it shake vigorously.

There was still a lot of smoke coming from the central power nodes that everybody was trying to get. Nobody could get around to constructing it because it was destroyed as soon as they activated it.

John fired a rocket into the smoke, the shape of a tank rumbled forward. It aimed it's turret up and John opened his mouth and he saw the flash of the turret and it was too late.

The explosion in the craft echoed through John's ears. He couldn't see through the thick black smoke coming out of the engines. The joystick had snapped and the foot pedals were twisted and doused in oil.

Lock saw John spinning out of control. "Stay with it John" he said quietly to himself. The Raptor starting spinning in the air, it was heading towards the tall building in the middle. "Oh crap" Lock said.

Lock got his head down and took the central node. 'Bang!' Lock looked up again and bits of twisted metal started raining down on him. He hit the deck as the main chassis of the vehicles smashed into the ground next to him.

John respawned back near his power core and didn't find a vehicle nearby; he loaded up at a weapons locker and headed out. He looked for a vehicle but didn't see anything. He went off on foot.

John stopped to look at his wrist pad and saw the layout of the map. The central node had been taken, but was under attack, he might as well help it out. He ran as fast as he could to the power node.

Amon jumped into the Goliath. "Oh yeah" she said as Rae climbed in and took the dual machine guns on the top. Amon slammed the handle down and the huge tank grumbled forwards.

Amon peered out of the narrow slot at the front of the tank and could see the central node. It was under red control; Amon fired and hit the node. It was destroyed with ease, and Garrett was killed with it.

The tank rolled forwards towards the power node and Rae got out and ran to seize it. Amon saw a Scorpion race into view, the fired with the turret and scored another direct hit. It flew into the air and its wheels rolled in separate directions, one nearly hitting Lock.

"Blue power node under construction" the announcer said as John ran up behind the tank and clambered up onto the machine guns. "Let's go!" he said to Amon, she put the tank at full speed and it wasn't long before John could see the red base.

"Straight ahead John, look lively!" Amon shouted up at John. He didn't need to be told twice. John pressed with both thumbs on the plate trigger and bullets tore three people to pieces. "Multi-kill!" the announcer said.

Suddenly, a red Goliath slowly rumbled up and stopped ahead and to the left of Amon and John's tank.

"Amon watch it! Over there!" John shouted whilst pointing manically at the tank.

"Yeah, yeah I see it!" Amon replied calmly. John was amazed by how calm she sounded. The turret twisted slowly to point at the other tank, the other did the same. John ducked down behind the machine guns.

Both tanks fired at the same time. Amon hit and the other tank missed John by a few feet. Amon fired again, but missed. This time, the other tank hit.

The whole thing shook like crazy. John and Amon were thrashed around the tank whacking their heads on the sides of the interior. John got the courage to pop his head out again.

A Manta glided past the tank and started blasting away with its lasers. It looked like Vick was in it. He raced straight towards a few people. The vehicles dipped down and the fans at the bottom made mince meat out of them.

Vick strafed again and started shooting at the red power node. Amon recovered her senses and finished off the enemy tank. She fired again at the power node and it was nearly down.

John fired on the node with his machine guns, it was destroyed and Amon was ready to move on. "John get the hell out of the tank! Go go go!" Amon screamed at him.

"What? Why!?" John shouted back. Amon didn't answer; she just ran up from underneath John and shoved him out. John toppled out of the tank and flopped off the side.

Amon leaped out of the small hole and hit the deck. Rockets came out of nowhere and annihilated that tank. John covered his face with his arms as metal flew everywhere. Amon got up and helped John up.

"When I say get out, you get out, ok?" she asked firmly.

"Yeah, sorry about that" John said quietly. They both headed off again to destroy the power node.

"Blue power node destroyed" the announcer said seconds after Amon and John had just started shooting at the red one. The force field came up around the node and neither of them could damage it.

Amon checked her wrist pad and swore. "We've lost one of our main power nodes, we haven't got a foundation anymore" she said quickly and ran towards a damaged Scorpion. "Get in!" she shouted.

"Where? There isn't any room." John answered back.

"Hang off the side or something just hang on!" Amon revved up the engine. John clambered on to the side of the vehicle and wedged his foot in between a bar and the engine and told Amon to step on it.

The scorpion took off with amazing speed. John felt the g-forces press against his stomach as they tore up the ground. "Watch out!" Amon shouted. John didn't see what there was to worry about.

Suddenly, two huge blades unfolded from each side of the buggy. John jumped when he saw them and nearly fell off the side. Kaela was running towards the action and the blades were coming towards her.

Blood splattered on the blades, turning the steel silver into total red. Both parts of the corpse fell to the ground and blood leaked everywhere.

Amon ran over another two people: Baird and Outlaw. She had a disturbing grin on her face. "I find it hard to believe you're in here because of your daughter!" John shouted over the noise of the engine. Amon looked at him and laughed.

They both pulled up at the node Amon stopped the engine and clambered out with John close behind. Garrett was guarding the node and shooting it with his link gun. John took quick care of him with his minigun.

The node was barely constructed anyway. Amon and John shot it and it blew up. Then John created a new one. He was half way through when a shock rifle burst hit him right in the back.

He let out a cry of pain and fell on all fours. Amon started shooting at where the shot came from. A Hellbender came into view and started firing shock balls in their general direction.

Amon ignored them and carried on shooting at the vehicle. A long chain of balls kept coming towards them, and then a shock beam set off the chain reaction. Amon gasped as the shock combos teared down the line, killing both Amon and John.

Lock, Gunther and Vick saw it all. They had moved around in a group using a Hellbender to get around. Vick charged up the cannon on the back of the vehicle, and fired. He smashed in the front end of the other Hellbender with one fully charged hit and permanently crippled it.

Lock stood on the accelerator and charged straight towards the enemies without a vehicle. He ran Baird over. "Vehicular Manslaughter!" Lock chuckled to himself and spun back around for another run.

This time he got Kaela and Outlaw. The other Hellbender couldn't go anywhere, so Vick and Gunther shot it with their weapons. Vick scanned the area. "Area secure" he said to Lock.

He spoke too soon, Garrett fired at them with an Avril and it struck the front end of the Hellbender. The windscreen smashed and glass hurtled through the car, hitting Lock in the face several times.

Glass embedded itself in Lock arms and face, basically blinding him. He cried out and clutched his face with his hands and tried to pick out the rest of the glass. Vick spotted Garrett and killed him before he could fire again. He watched his body slide quickly to the bottom of the steep mound.

Gunther climbed through to see if Lock was alright. He helped with picking out the glass, but some was too hard to get out. Lock could see out of his right eye, but not the other and he insisted that they carried on.

The three of them took back the power node. Gunther decided to drive this time; they headed towards the central power node and spotted Rae and Amon repairing it.

They drove past quickly and found John moving quietly towards the last node they needed to have access to the other team's power core. The large Hellbender roared by, completely blowing John's cover.

John saw it and dropped his arms by his sides and abandoned his approach and ran after the Hellbender, and starting taking a lot of fire. Bullets hissed and snapped around John's body.

John just kept running at full speed after the Hellbender; and somehow, made it without a scratch. He then used the Hellbender as cover. Lock and Gunther got out, with Vick still firing in the vehicle.

"Thanks for blowing my cover!" John shouted over the noise.

"Hey it's our pleasure!" Gunther replied and laughed.

"Stealth won't get you anywhere kid!" Lock said and started shooting the power node. Gunther and John joined in. Rae and Amon made a run for their position but Rae was cut down by a manned laser turret.

The power node was destroyed along with the Hellbender they were standing next to. The explosion killed Vick in the actual vehicle, Lock, Gunther and Rae. John was the only one to survive the explosion, but he was hurt badly.

He wasn't able to make a new power node without being killed, but he tried, to no avail and was killed with a single bullet from a minigun.

John respawned and saw the rest of the team heading off towards the power node. John got in another Raptor. "Better luck this time" he said and flew off towards the action. Ground fire was the worst problem in a Raptor, small shots, and lots of them are hard to fight against.

'Missile Lock-On!' "Oh come on!" John shouted at the ground in disbelief. John managed to dodge the first shot but the second followed quickly afterwards. He was hit in the undercarriage, probably the place where the most armour was.

John felt the dent in the bottom through his seat. He fired with his lasers and the ground was covered in kicked up dust.

Amon had taken another tank and was blasting away at the base entrance allowing nothing to get out alive. A Manta was blown over one of the walls and left as a pile of scrap.

Gunther was also in the tank and was on the machine guns killing any lucky survivors. "Red Power Core is vulnerable" the announcer boomed. "Ok let's go!" Lock shouted excitedly.

Gunther told John to remember their orders and keep suppressing the node until the core is destroyed. John felt disappointed in having to hang back. He thought this match was going well, he was actually having fun in the tournament, and this could be a new start for his life.

Outlaw and Baird were making a run for the power node and John watched as they over powered Gunther. John fired a rocket and it landed just in front of both of them, knocking them over.

Then he let rip with his lasers and cut them both to shreds. "Double-Kill!" The red power core started taking a lot of damage. It was down to 70% already.

'Missile Lock-On!' John didn't want to see that. He stood on the right pedal and felt his stomach get pressed down to his feet with the g-force. It didn't dodge the rocket either. More smoke came out of the side of the Raptor.

"I'm getting tired of this!" John said as he flew the vehicle closer to the ground so he could bail out. John jumped out when he was about 10 feet above the ground, and as he did, another rocket flew in and destroyed the Raptor.

The red power core had really taken some considerable damage. John and Gunther didn't have much to do guarding the node. They just watched the action in the red base from where they were.

"You like this match?" Gunther asked sarcastically after a Manta exploded near them.

"Yeah, for once I'm actually enjoying it" John answered.

"For once? Shit I couldn't li-"

"Watch out!" John shouted and pushed Gunther on the floor and the leapt to his left. A Scorpion was sprinting towards them with its blades open about to slice them in half.

The blades went over both their heads by inches, and then came back round for another run. "Watch this!" Gunther shouted with a smile on his face.

Gunther got back onto his feet and then went on one knee. He had a lightening gun with him and he aimed down the sight. The vehicle was dangerously close. John was getting nervous about Gunther's safety.

Gunther waited some more, then fired a well placed shot at the engine of the Scorpion. The engine cut out instantly, skidded sideways and rolled over with great speed. When the vehicle lost momentum and stopped, Kaela the driver, was dead.

John was about to congratulate Gunther on his good shooting when Lock came on the radio panicking and sounding injured. "We need backup!" he shouted and then the radio fizzed out with the sound of gunfire.

John looked at Gunther. "I got it!" Gunther said and pointed at the tall building in the middle of the map. "On top of there, there is a Redeemer, get and finish of the base!"

John looked at him and nodded uncertainly. Gunther sprinted off for the base and John headed for the Redeemer.

Gunther charged in with his minigun and mowed down Outlaw with a few shots to head. Amon was fired rampantly with her flak cannon at the core, damaging it badly. Gunther ran up next to Amon and started shooting with her.

They were both blown away instantly with a blow from a Goliath, their body parts scattering the area. Lock and Rae followed suit.

John grabbed the Redeemer. It was heavy, a lot heavier than all the other weapons. He cradled it in his arms and got back in his Raptor. He flew straight in with the Raptor and ignored all the ground fire he was getting.

He landed it badly and crushed the bottom of the vehicle. John leapt out and looked over the power core. He pointed the Redeemer at it and fired, at the same instant, he was killed by Garrett with a minigun.

Rae felt the explosion ripple through the map. "Blue team is the winner! You have won the match!"

"Wooo! Yeah!" Amon shouted and jumped up into the air. John respawned and realized what had happened. They all spawned back into the stadium.

"What a match that was ladies and gentlemen! Our first ever Onslaught match and what an action packed fight it was. But most of the credit must go to Kill Switch's newest team member: Viper!"

John was embarrassed and looked at the floor as the whole crowd went wild. It was so loud it made John's ears hurt. Lock came over and patted John on the back and couldn't stop laughing.

As usual Amon was I her own world blowing kisses and waving. Even Vick was looking happy as the crowd kept on cheering. The team headed back towards the lift and went down back to their cells.

John caught a glimpse of the Hellions, they didn't make a sound.

(A/n) Phew! Sorry for a painstakingly long chapter there. I wanted to make it shorter but I just had to write everything that came into my head. I did think the action was really flowing in this, but I did think it started to droop towards the end. Oh well, hope you liked it! Please review! :)