Fight for Freedom

(a/n) Hello again, sorry I haven't updated for a few weeks, just been doing other things. I'd like to thank Dynamis, Cursor, Baronic, Miranon and Vaporium Iridum for their reviews. I'm really glad to see you liked my attempt at the Onslaught match, I felt pleased with it too. So this match should fulfill the request for a match in Dm-Rankin. Read, Review and Enjoy! :)

I would like to dedicate this chapter on the 6th of June to those who fought and died on D-Day for the liberation of France, and most importantly, the end of the second world war. We will remember you.

Chapter 10: Another step up

Sweat poured down John's forehead as he sat up from the couch; his eyes wide open. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand. John looked at his right leg. The scar and the wounds were still there.

"Oh god." John said to himself and lay back down on the couch. He thought this dream wasn't bothering him anymore. There was still a voice murmuring inside his head. John couldn't figure out what it was saying, a female voice, saying the same thing over and over again.

The three gunshots rang out in John's head, making him jump back up to a sitting position. More sweat came down John's forehead, he wiped it away again. Light was just seeping into the room, the thin yellow rays crossing the room and getting John in the corner of the eye.

John tried to get back to sleep; he couldn't, it was the dream that haunted him, and it wouldn't stop until he found it out. It was a splinter in his brain, desperate to be picked out and thrown away for good.

The light rays shone even bright through the small window, illuminating the walls slightly. John switched on the TV, it was early morning, and they were showing re-runs of the greatest matches of all time.

It was Malcolm versus Xan Kriegor in what was easily claimed as the Tournament's best ever match. Liandri made millions from viewers alone; people queued outside for days just to get in have a front row seat in the action.

Xan was blown into flaming pieces as Malcolm dashed across the camera screen in a flash. Both of them had super quick reflexes, anything that came near them they could sense what they were going to do next, even if it wasn't mildly threatening.

Malcolm ducked behind a crate as Xan ran straight past him. Malcolm shot Xan in the back he stumbled; Xan wheeled around gave Malcolm a few link shots in the face, sending him flat on his back next to the boxes.

Xan aimed his link gun and Malcolm's wounded body, he fired, Malcolm rolled to the left and dodged the shots. Xan kept firing at Malcolm who was still rolling; soon Malcolm would run out of room to go.

A wall was inches away from Malcolm when Xan ran out of ammo, Malcolm flicked him self up onto his feet and made a dash for the flak cannon on the other side of the room. Xan was one step ahead and fired right where the flak cannon was, causing Malcolm to slow down.

Xan then whipped out his Shock rifle and blasted Malcolm in the back repeatedly until he stopped moving. Malcolm respawned nearby, he blasted away with the now un-serviced Enforcers, one hit Xan in the side of the head.

Malcolm was much more agile with a light gun; he dodged Xan's shots and scored another blow to the head, knocking Xan down, dead. Malcolm only needed one more kill to win and become the new Unreal Champion.

Xan grabbed a rocket launcher and ran off to find Malcolm, he couldn't let Malcolm win and claim his cup. HIS cup was at stake! He couldn't lose it. Not to who he regarded as just a kid who could shoot a gun in the right direction.

Xan spotted Malcolm running around a corner, he fired instantly and hit the metal door frame, knocking Malcolm flat on his face, it had been mere seconds and Xan had killed Malcolm; blown him to bits on the floor; a somewhat petty death, but it counted.

John was actually enjoying this match, something he had failed to do numerous times whilst watching. Xan and Malcolm confronted each other again, Malcolm was ducking, side stepping and jumping around to confuse Xan, as far as John could tell, it was working to great effect.

Suddenly, the TV cut out into just fuzz, then to a 'Special Liandri Announcement'. John raised an eyebrow as he watched the TV carefully. "Would all professional tournament fighters please listen carefully to this announcement."

John scoffed at the word 'professional'. "Pfft. Professional my ass." He carried on watching eagerly. "As most of you know, the monthly random picked Deathmatch fight is today, and we will be picking the contenders in a few short moments."

It was the usual commentator's voice. He sounded unrecognizable when he was speaking in a normal, more humane voice. The screen went black, and then flashed up with a list of names suddenly. John feared his name being on the list, he reluctantly searched for it, his eyes glancing at all the names, his uncontrollably nervous eyes twitching at every name he looked at.

He froze. His eyes made contact with his name. John squeezed his eyes tight shut. It can't have been right, he thought only the best tournament fighters went into this fight, but then again, it was randomly picked.

John opened his eyes again and it was true, there was his name, in black and white. He looked along the other list of names. His heart sank, he abandoned all chances of getting anywhere (not that he had much anyway). Malcolm, Lauren, Skakruk. "Oh my god" John said breathlessly.

He didn't want to look at the other names, he didn't want to make it any worse, there was no way he could even come second from last, not with a crowd like this against him. "Would all fighters that have been picked, report to their nearest lift to the stadium immediately. The map that has been picked to fight in is..........DM-Rankin."

The TV cut back to the fight between Malcolm and Xan, most of the action had been missed, Malcolm was collecting his trophy for the championship and Xan was taken back to the Liandri research lab for extensive repairs and upgrading.

John ran his fingers through his hair and let out a long breath. He was going to get slaughtered in there. With Malcolm, Lauren and Skakruk in the fight, it was obvious who the fight between the top three places would be for.

But now all that's changed, Malcolm in first, John close behind in second and Skakruk in third. All the images John had of being slaughtered in the match were gone, as was the head of another victim.

It was a big match, first to 100 kills won, the match started 5 minutes ago, and 16 fighters were in the match overall, including John. Malcolm was winning with 38, and John was a second with 35, and Skakruk almost out of the picture with 27 in third.

John had only confronted Malcolm once, and short, violent and nasty was the only way to describe the fight. Malcolm's flak bounced off the wall behind John and it connected with his back and he was down for the count.

Lauren had been hurt rather permanently when she was ganged up on by three people with miniguns and she suffered a lot of blood loss, and she had a limp in her step. This slowed her down greatly and she was second from last. Not good for her team's reputation.

John loaded another shell into his flak cannon, pointed his gun around the corner with caution, the action had died down momentarily, tension drifted about the arena, as it did with the spectators of the match.

A badly placed rocket flew past John's leg; he turned to find Frostbite loading up his rocket launcher with three rockets. John didn't give him the chance to even shoot at him again.

John leapt forward and fired with his flak cannon hitting Frostbite all over and making him fumble with his weapon. He fired again and pierced the armour around Frostbite's neck and head, and then another shot took him out for good, with his face barely left intact and covered with blood and scalding hot metal shards.

The action quickly started again, the tense moment was gone and the arena was hell again. 'Malcolm is on a killing spree' flashed on John's wrist pad. "Dammit" John said under his breath.

And it was obvious why. Malcolm had taken the double damage power up and was dishing out some serious punishment. Enigma, Lauren, and Baird lay dead around Malcolm as slowly more and more people started surrounding him and attacking him.

John jumped in on the action. Bodies and limbs flew around the area with Malcolm dodging and jumped around the room. He had his back to John, he took his chance. John dropped down and was about to fire when Malcolm jumped and ran down the left corridor of the main cross roads in the center of the map.

Some others followed him, firing frantically; then one was blown backwards by a rocket. John took his chance to get another kill by shooting Jakob in the back whilst he was chasing Malcolm.

It rather surprised John to find a Thunder Crash team member hunting another Thunder Crash team member. At the start of the match, the fighters were bias towards their own team, like not killing them and working together and then running off to avoid being caught being co-operative, after all, it was a death match.

John was the only one from Kill Switch in the fight, so he couldn't team up with or fight along side anybody, and now he realized he would have to face Malcolm alone if he caught up with him.

He spotted him, he jumped and then wall dodged up onto a level higher up. John hadn't tried that before, but he made an attempt. He jumped and then stuck one leg out, put it up against the wall and then pushed out.

His foot slipped when he pushed off, throwing him off balance and leaving him hanging off the side of the upper level. John just managed to heave himself over. He rolled onto his back and left the arm with his flak cannon swinging over the edge.

Malcolm was there to greet him. He had a lightening gun ready that he had obviously picked up earlier. John eyes widened and his spirit sank, he knew he was finished. But, there was one hope.

Malcolm hadn't spotted the weapon in John's hand as it was still over the edge. Malcolm slowly walked up to John on the floor. He was amazingly cool under pressure, and he looked it at the same time.

John waited until he was just close enough; he swung up his weapon from over the edge and bore a large flock of red hot metal into Malcolm's torso. Blood burst out from under the armour and John fired again.

Malcolm was knocked back by the second shot, and then fell, with blood dripping from the wound in his stomach. John smiled and got back on his feet. Satisfied.

"Yeah! You show him John!" Amon shouted eccentrically at the TV as she jumped up from the couch. The whole team was in Amon's room, watching Neurovision and cheering on John. The camera mainly stayed with Malcolm, seeing as he was obviously the favourite to win the match.

Lock smiled and looked proud. John had come a long way since he first came in. When John won his first match he was trembling when he came out after the fight, but Lock's main worry was John getting too arrogant or obnoxious.

He was doing well; he'd give him that, especially just after killing the person who was considered the deadliest fighter in the tournament. Bragging was the only thing that made Lock truly angry, people who have their head so far up their ass it's amazing that they can actually breathe.

But that wasn't important right now, if John did start to get too cocky then Lock knew when to step in and mention it. It's happened before when Lock's newest member back in the days when Kill Switch had just started out caught the arrogance virus.

The kid was so full of himself he couldn't even fight straight in the arena, even when he came last it was a triumph for him. Until one day, he got fed up of the rest of the team's attitude towards him.

He left to find another team. Instantly, he was in a fight with somebody and was taken away by Liandri guards and was never seen again.

Lock snapped was snapped away from his thoughts when a large cheer came from Amon and Gunther. Rae was laughing and clapping as well. However, Vick was nowhere to be seen.

Apparently the cheering had been because John had just killed Malcolm again, and then Skakruk straight afterwards, two very feared warriors taken by the little man who looked quite frankly scared shitless.

It was true, John was scared shitless. But no bravery, craving or emotion made John do what he was doing. Only when he stopped for a few moments to take a breather, did John truly realize how scared he was, sweat dampened his face, and he was constantly wiping his forehead.

He set out again; he knew that Malcolm and Skakruk would be very angry with him. This obviously made him feel more uncomfortable with his current situation. Suddenly, a bone bending explosion came from down on the crossroads below him.

He struggled for balance and nearly fell over. "What the hell was that?!" John said to himself. He skidded down the angled planks and ran into the center of the crossroads. Bodies and limbs lay everywhere.

"What the fu-" Another explosion with exactly the same force burst out of nowhere. John was completely pulverized. The entire group of fighters respawned in exactly the same area. None of them even had a Shield gun or Assault rifle.

Nobody knew what to do. They all looked at one another, no one said anything. Even Malcolm looked a little nervous. Something had to give way; a Skaarj couldn't stand within a few feet of somebody for a minute and not have the urge to impale them with their razor sharp spikes on the ends of their fists.

Malcolm started to open his mouth, but John butted in:

"What the hells goin' on?!" John said loudly and looked at all the others standing near where the flak cannon usually spawned, it wasn't there though. Sweat dripped off the end of John's nose, he bit his bottom lip and knew something was going to happen.

Malcolm sensed it too, he moved his feet and leant slightly forward as if he was just about to get hit by something moving quickly straight at him. A flash of lightening from outside set it off.

The rumble of thunder came coincidentally in time with serrated edged blades bursting through Hyena's chest. It had to be the Skaarj who started it all. Hyena coughed blood and spluttered before Skakruk's fist was violently ripped out from the gaping hole in Hyena's chest.

The chain reaction had started. Malcolm's early act of bracing himself paid off. Frostbite saw the chance to swipe at him with his left fist. Malcolm took the blow in his right arm and stumbled slightly.

Juggernauts were meant to be stronger than normal human beings; it was no surprise that Malcolm's arm nearly broke. Malcolm grabbed hold of Frostbite's arm and tore away some of the loose wires coming from Frostbite's arm.

All hell broke loose, it was brutal. Enigma was being torn apart by Skakruk, sparks flying in all directions. Divisor took the chance and took out Skakruk's legs. He crashed to the floor, Enigma still twitching on the end of his claws.

Divisor stepped down hard on his neck, crushing it. Skakruk grabbed her leg and swung her away with ease. She went crashing into the wall behind them. Enigma was dead by now.

With Divisor up against the wall, Outlaw used his elbow to smash in the face of Divisor as if it was just a pillow. The body twitched and collapsed to the floor. Outlaw turned his head and received a smack in the jaw from Jakob.

Outlaw gave him a sharp uppercut in the chin and knocked out a tooth. Jakob retaliated fiercely. He grabbed hold of Outlaw's throat and began shaking and choking him. He released one hand from Outlaw's throat and hit him several times around the side of the head, and then once in the temple.

Jakob pulled back for one final punch, someone grabbed a hold of his arm just before he was about to deliver the knock out blow. Succubus grabbed hold of the arm and twisted it in a very unnatural position.

'Crack' Jakob screamed in agony as his arm had been wrenched out of its socket and then snapped in half. Jakob fell flat on his back, clutching his arm and screaming in agony.

Nobody had started attacking John, and he was grateful nobody had as well. Malcolm was getting pounded by Frostbite but he was barely withstanding it. Something told John he should help Malcolm, but then he thought of what might happen afterwards.

This was every man for himself, if John helped Malcolm out of trouble, Malcolm would start on John. It was risky; John took the chance, hoping and praying that Malcolm would appreciate his help and not hurt him.

Malcolm glanced over at John, John looked back at him. He could easily see in Malcolm's eyes that he needed help. Even through his tinted sunglasses that hid his emotions from all living beings. The eyes are the only opening to the soul.

Frostbite's back was his weak point; John struck with a firm kick to the back. Frostbite yelled out, Malcolm saw the small interval he had to hit him and took it.

He tackled him to the ground, and then pummeled him in the face until he stopped moving. The main body of the fighting had slowly moved away from Malcolm and John. Virus had backed around the corner and the rest followed.

Malcolm stood up and looked at John. Fear filled John's mind and his heart started beating rapidly. Malcolm started walking towards him. 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit' was the only thing in John's mind as Malcolm took another step closer.

John braced himself; he drew his fists up slightly and waited nervously. Malcolm was about 2 steps away from John. He reached his hand out and patted John on the shoulder. He smiled. John was so relieved; he hadn't been killed or hurt by the Tournament's deadliest man.

Malcolm jogged off around the corner. John smiled and watched as he moved around the corner. Flashes of red and blue. John and all the other fighters respawned back in the arena, they all had weapons.

"But why the hell is there a Goliath on the middle of the map?" John said as he found himself boxed in because of the sheer size of the machine. It disappeared again; it was gone, as were the rest of the contestants.

John checked his wrist pad. Everybody except him and Malcolm had been 'pulverized'. 'A one-on-one with Malcolm?' John shouted to himself in his head. Thinking of the man, he appeared, with a Flak cannon, and blew John to bits.

"Man, this is seriously fucked up!" John shouted as he respawned again.

It was pretty obvious who was behind all of this. Phoenix, who else? But this time somebody was with him. Probably the only man who was not with his team watching the match. Vick was standing next to Phoenix who was sitting in the chair laughing aloud.

For the first time, Vick was chuckling too. Something that only happened once in a life time for him. They were both enjoying the carnage they were causing in the arena. But it was broken by 6 Liandri guards with 'Grace' (from Unreal 2: The Awakening) guns.

"Hey you! Step away from the computer. Now!" the lead guard shouted at them. He cocked the pistol, and the other guards did the same. Phoenix calmly stood up from the chair and approached the guards.

The guard took a step back, pointing the gun at Phoenix's head. Phoenix grabbed the weapon from his hand blew the guards head off without a second thought. A wry smile spread across Phoenix's lips.

The other guards; startled by the brutality were reluctant to fire. Phoenix approached them as well. He punched another guard in the face, the others started shooting. Only three rounds were fired, and in the time it took Phoenix to kill 6 people with one gun, a stray bullet had hit the computer and made it reset and malfunction, another missed, and one hit Vick in the foot.

"Godammit" Phoenix said as the computer fizzed and melted under the heat. Vick was not happy either; he hopped on his good foot over to the computer and observed the damage.

Everything was back to normal in the match, but the scores had had 10 points added on, this didn't really bother anybody, it just gave them a confidence booster, even though they gained no actual advantage.

John grabbed the lightening gun and looked down over the area where the Flak cannon usually appears. It was clear; John dropped down and took the Flak cannon and the ammo surrounding it.

He loaded the flak into the gun and headed down a long corridor with a creaky wooden floor. A double damage was directly in front of him. "Oh yeah" John said to himself and ran over it.

A purple shield went over John's gun, it felt more powerful already. Outlaw was the lucky victim. Outlaw was going to check that the double damage had appeared, and John was waiting for him.

With one clean shot, Outlaw's diaphragm was blown completely of his legs. Blood smeared the walls. John moved on.

Malcolm dodged left, and then leap-frogged to his right, narrowly avoiding the rocket. It crashed into the wall behind him, blowing him forwards and onto his front. He was quickly back up on his feet.

The lightening gun wasn't good for this type of fighting, the only other gun he had was an Assault Rifle, which wouldn't do much good against somebody with a rocket launcher, even if he did have an advantage over them with skill.

Remus paused to load up his rocket launcher, Malcolm rolled to his left, aimed down the sights for a split second and a burst of electricity took Remus' head gracefully off his shoulders.

The lifeless body dropped to the floor, Malcolm picked up his rocket launcher and dropped down on to the lower level and ran towards the crossroads. 'Viper is on a killing spree' flashed up on Malcolm's wrist pad.

Malcolm smiled and was ready to take care of it. The crossroad was pure havoc, and Malcolm's presence didn't help in calming it down. He spotted John, the double damage working greatly to his advantage.

Malcolm wouldn't be able to take John on frontally, even if he had skill advantage, skill is nothing when the other man has a much more powerful weapon. He'd have to catch him by surprise.

John's double damage only had 10 seconds left, he had made good use of it though, he still had enough time to get a few more people. He wheeled around and looked down at the main crossroads for any victims.

Malcolm silently ran behind John's back, John wheeled around to where Malcolm had just been, there was nothing there. He turned back. Malcolm was right in front of him. John gasped and opened his mouth from the surprise.

Malcolm finished him quickly with a flak cannon of his own. The double damage on John's gun had run out. Malcolm checked his wrist pad; John was only 1 kill away from tying with his score.

He needed some quick, important kills to get a fresh margin above John's score. Blobs of toxic waste flew in from Malcolm's left. He turned to see where it came from, his split-second reactions narrowly avoiding him from taking a shot in the face.

It sailed past him, almost in slow motion. It was Baird firing at him. Malcolm rolled to his left, more blobs of the toxic material sticking to the floor around him; forcing him to take his steps carefully.

Baird ran out of ammo for the Bio-rifle. Malcolm saw the chance and charged towards him, Baird couldn't think what to do; he was smashed back into the window behind him, the glass cracking with the force of his corpse.

Something told John to duck, a sixth sense. He turned around and ducked, Skakruk's jagged claws merely scratching him on the cheek. Fresh blood trickled down the side of John's face.

This was the first time he had faced a Skaarj head on. Skakruk took another swipe; John rolled to his left and fired at his leg with his Shock rifle. He hit it, but didn't really cause any damage; it just made the Skaarj angrier.

Skakruk snatched the gun from John's hand and literally tore it apart with his claws. The strange purple gas in the shock rifle dispersed into the air. John pulled out a Shield gun, the last resort he had.

Skakruk tried to do the same with the shield gun, John quickly put up the shield and blocked Skakruk's claws from ripping it apart, but it did take out all the power left in the shield, it was nearly depleted.

John switched off the shield for a split second to recharge it, Skakruk took another swipe, the shield wasn't enough to block it, and the weapon was slashed out of John's hands. Skakruk also slashed John's lower arms in the same motion.

John grabbed his arm; blood seeped out of the wound and ran down his arm like tear drops. The Skaarj towered over him, he was at least 7 foot tall, and he looked even bigger after he bowled John to the floor.

John leapt back up on his feet; he saw the shield gun just teetering on the edge of the level above the flak cannon spawn area. He quickly made a dash for it; Skakruk was way ahead of him.

Before John even took a full step, Skakruk tripped him and caused him to land on his hands and knees. John got back up; he had twisted his ankle in the fall, only a slight hindrance.

The fight was very unfair, John wasn't as violent and ruthless as a Skaarj, some people would argue with that, but John didn't think so. John ran at the Skaarj, at least if he was killed he would go down trying.

A fresh burst of anger and rage came over John, he sprinted towards him, it took the Skaarj by surprise, but John could tell this is what he wanted. John faked a punch to his upper body, then went low and kicked him the leg that he shot him in earlier.

He wanted to work on the leg until he truly crippled the Skaarj, he went in with another shot, the Skaarj let out an angry cry. He grabbed the back of John's head and lifted him off the ground.

John's legs kicked and waved around violently, it reminded him of the court case when he was taken away. Skakruk readied his right hand and it was imminent what was going to happen.

John swung with his leg and scored a lucky on Skakruk's elbow joint, making him bend his arm and drop John from his grip. John had another flash back, Skakruk's body being smeared out and the small moment when John knocked over the jug of water when he was being dragged away.

Skakruk was on the attack this time, catching John off guard and cutting him across the left cheek. John desperately tried to ignore the stinging sensation and carried on fighting. John looked at the wound his Skakruk's leg, he knew he that the Skaarj knew he was going to go for the wound.

John lunged forwards and upper-cutted the Skaarj with force. He was knocked back; John hit him in the wound. The Skaarj howled, it echoed throughout the whole arena. Skakruk was really angry; he threw John back against a wall and approached him quickly.

He used his sharp elbow repeatedly on John's face; he was pinned up against as wall, blood came down from John's temple, he was nearly slipping out of consciousness. He fought against it, his vision kept blacking out, but it slowly came back each time.

Skakruk was obviously toying with him, taking his time when he hit him. John was timing his punches. '1-2-1-2' John waited for a gap in the pattern, he struck, a sharp blow in his wound, making him keel over, then an uppercut in the side of the mouth with his foot.

It broke one of his small tusks off. 'Crack' was the only sound John heard, and then the roar of the Skaarj as green blood escaped his jaw and the other open wound. John limped over to the shield gun, his face, leg and arms hurting.

The shield gun felt heavier than ever before mainly because of the wounds John sustained. John's limp turned into a fast jog, then that formed into a sprint, he charged up the shield gun still running towards the injured Skaarj, he pushed the gun up into Skakruk's chin, the top of his head burst open, his body dropped to the floor.

John dropped the shield gun, he checked his wrist pad. He was 5 kills behind Malcolm, now 6. He needed to move and catch up. He started running again, he lost all energy, he lost his senses, he dropped to the floor, drained of everything, dead.

John was relieved he was given up then, now he was fully replenished, even with the scar across his arm still there, it didn't cause much of a problem. John was back in the action. Malcolm was on 96, John was on 90, he needed to catch up and get a few kills.

John ran forwards and up a rather steep wooden ramp, collecting some health vials as he went. He came up to the place where he had just fought Skakruk earlier, and surprise, surprise, Skakruk was there again, crouching at the edge and looking down over the flak cannon, ready to take out any unsuspecting victims.

John crept up behind him; he launched a grenade from his assault rifle just behind his back foot. The grenade went up, blowing Skakruk up and over the edge, his severed leg following him.

John fired another grenade down to his body, just to be sure; Jakob was in the wrong place and the wrong time, the aimless grenade exploding right by his head, blasting him into a crumpled heap. "Double Kill!"

John dropped down to get the flak cannon, he loaded some spare flak shells into the weapon, Baird came from around the corner and rushed for the flak cannon, ignoring John just for the weapon.

John fired at Baird in surprise, he fell down, a fresh wound in his foot stopped him. He was being chased, that's why he wanted the weapon so badly, then Malcolm came around the same corner.

John fired again, yellow flashed around Malcolm, he must have got the shield pack, he fired again, with the same result, again he fired, finally piercing the shield around him. Malcolm turned and fired with his link gun.

A powerful beam shot out of the gun, John ducked and the beam hit the wall behind him, it was like a tracking device, constantly following him everywhere, John was just managing to avoid it. He was ducking, jumping, dodging and rolling to get way from it. He took a small shot in the gut too.

A break in the fire gave John his chance, leapt for Malcolm and fired a close range shot with his flak cannon, he then fired a ball of red hot flak into the area and obliterated him. Then, without thinking, he killed Baird who was just making his escape.

The score was 97 to Malcolm, 95 to John, he was catching up. John picked up some health vials and swapped his flak cannon for a discarded rocket launcher. Divisor came up onto John's level from down on the crossroads.

John fired one rocket, it was all it took, Divisor's body was punched by the rocket, she hit the window behind her at an angle and then fell the 12 foot drop back down on to the crossroad level.

99 to Malcolm, 97 to John now, John was getting more nervous every second, desperate to beat Malcolm's ever increasing score. Havoc reigned again down at the crossroads; John stood at one end of the road, and fired a three rocket spiral into the fray.

A body flew out from the smoke. It was Succubus, her limbs hacked up. He fired another rocket into the smoke, another kill. It was Outlaw. That put him equal with Malcolm's score.

John's heart beat was the only thing he heard, sweat continued to pour down his face. Suddenly, a subconscious count down started in his head. '5...4...3' he kept going, John knew Malcolm's winning kill was merely split seconds away.

John ran into the crossroads, he saw Malcolm, firing at somebody with a minigun. '2.....1' John was only a few feet away from Malcolm, he fired a single rocket at him.

'1...0' the count down stopped.Malcolm got the kill. The match stopped. Malcolm, John and all the others spawned back into the stadium. Just in time, the rocket missed him by inches. John saw it miss. A let out a cry of disbelief. "Godammit! So close!"

The thought that John had just been barely beaten by Malcolm in a few milliseconds didn't occur to him. For everybody else, it was a huge triumph, getting within a kill of the Tournament's deadliest man.

Everybody was back in the stadium. The crowd was almost deafening, most were cheering for Malcolm, but it was hard to tell, many were looking at John, cheering, there was so much noise it was impossible to tell what they were saying.

"Did you see that sports fans?!!" the commentator screamed excitedly. "What an amazing match we had there. Malcolm the victor, but so, so close behind was our new fighter, VIPER!!" the crowd went absolutely wild. Malcolm walked over to John.

John wasn't afraid this time, he smiled and laughed as he walked over. Malcolm reached out his hand. John shook it gladly. Malcolm smiled and waved at the crowd, camera's and banners going up all over the place.

He timed the hand-shake just right; anybody could tell he had been in this business for years upon years. John and Malcolm walked down to the lift together and disappeared from view with cameras and cheers still raging.

As the lift went further and further down, the noise of the crowd was reduced to an almost sound. Malcolm and John didn't say anything to each other; Malcolm was looking down at the floor. John was looking at Malcolm, almost in awe of him.

The lift slowed down and the doors opened. Malcolm strode out calmly; John came up to his cell. Malcolm offered to shake his hand again. "Well done kid." Malcolm said, his voice was cool and calm. "When you rise up through these ranks. I'm sure you'll kick some ass, even if it's mine. And hey, get Phoenix for me too man." John smiled and let out a small chuckle.

Malcolm turned the corner and John went into his cell. Seconds after he came in and sat down, Lock, Amon, Rae and Gunther burst into his room cheering and clapping. "What a match, what a godamn match!" Lock shouted above the noise.

Vick hear the noise from a few meters away, he limped up right outside the cell. He needed to bandage his foot quickly; if he had a limp it would raise suspicion. He couldn't get it healed at the Liandri medical area because it was an unauthorized injury, and had nothing to do with the tournament.

Vick crept past the cell, ignoring the pain; he slipped silently into his room and rummaged around hurriedly in the bathroom for a first aid kit.

(a/n) Phew. Sorry for another painstakingly long chapter, that was bordering on 15 pages there. But most of it was action so I hope it was worth it in the end. I wanted to make this match semi-realistic. I hate it when brand new fighters who have never fired a weapon in their life come along, and within two matches they just own everything. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to D-Day and all those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom. I was thinking of doing Overlord Assault match for the original UT to honour them. Please state in a review if you think I should do it or not. Thanks! :)