Fight for Freedom

(a/n) Hello there, I'm very sorry about the long wait, I've been on holiday for two weeks and moved house, so I haven't really had much time at the keyboard at the moment. But now that should all change; I've got lot's of free-time on my hands, and I'm gonna use it for my story. So, this chapter sees Vick making a very important choice, one that should reflect how the rest of the story goes! Thanks very much to Lacrease, Dynamis, Kawaiinekoofdoom, Miranon and the Almighty DB, you guys keep giving me the confidence I need to keep this story going. So read and find out what Vick is going to do! Only in 'Fight for Freedom'.

Read, review, and enjoy! :)

Chapter 13: So close, yet so far...Part 2

Malcolm disappeared from view over the top ramp. Vick stood there and watched, trying to ignore Gunther's constant shouting coming down his headset. Vick let out a big breath, everything ran through his mind at the same time, each thought just getting clogged inside his mind and then just left there, for more thoughts to come in and make the blockage even bigger.

'What if I don't go after him? What will they do with me? Kick me off the team? No, no they can't do that. But what if I can just tell them about my foot, then say I just got hit in the match? That should work, but Gunther's been with me all the time, he would have known if I had been hit and lived or not.' All this kept repeating in Vick's mind.

Vick was snapped back down to earth from an exceedingly loud order from Gunther. Vick was startled and made the split-second decision in his mind.

Malcolm was about 50 meters from the submarine, he was constantly checking behind him, making sure that nobody was following him. Malcolm turned his head back round to face where he was going, and was greeted by Lock's face about an inch away from his own.

Malcolm first instant reaction was to press as hard as he could on the trigger. Lock did the same, only he had a Link gun. Lock quickly realized it him who was the one who was going to lose this little confrontation.

Lock's torso was torn to shreds by Malcolm's point blank shot, what was left of the body flew backwards and smashed into the wall behind, Malcolm inspected the blood all over his flak cannon for a few seconds, the carried on.

Malcolm only had a slight wound from the link shot that Lock gave him in the stomach, it didn't affect his progress. But something else just did. A rocket exploded on the back of Malcolm's knee. Effectively ripping his right leg off, Malcolm was barely alive, blood leaking from his large wound, but his pains were short-lived, as another rocket flew in and hit him in the side, killing him and rolling him onto his front.

Vick stepped over the corpse and grabbed the flag, swapping his weapon for Malcolm's, and then limping back to base; grunting every time he took a step because of the ever increasing pain in his foot.

Rae and Amon passed Vick whilst he was on his way back to base to return the flag. Rae patted him on the shoulder whilst Amon whooped slightly: "Woo! Go Vick, didn't know what we'd do without ya'!" Vick smiled and carried on in his limp-jog style motion back towards base.

Gunther and John were even more pleased to see him. As Vick ran up the left ramp, John smiled and Gunther laughed. "My god! He actually did it! Good job buddy."

"Thanks" Vick replied and stuck the flag back in its post. John noticed the blood leaking violently from Vick's boot.

"You're foot ok man?" John asked curiously, while nodding at his foot. Gunther looked down at his foot as well.

"Yeah what is that? You got hit by Malcolm just then?" Gunther asked.

"Err...err... yeah, yeah. Just caught me I the foot before killed him. I'll be fine don't worry."

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'll be fine man, c'mon, let's concentrate on the match here." Vick said, and ended the conversation. John looked at Gunther and then at Vick, he thought he could hear foot steps, neither Vick nor Gunther were moving. It must have been something else.

But that didn't seem to be the case. Malcolm, Othello, Riker and Annika sprinted down the middle ramp, spraying bullets and flak everywhere.

A lucky shot caught Othello in the side of the head, he body collapsing and tumbling down the ramp. Gunther fired a well placed rocket into the crowd, killing Riker and severely wounding Annika, Riker's body falling off the side of the ramp and falling down with blood all over her chest and legs.

Malcolm had dodged the rocket and leapt forwards into Gunther knocking him back against the wall with his gun over his neck, Malcolm pushed Gunther's head to the left, and hit him in the side of the head with his minigun; blood seeping from his temple.

Vick was quick to get involved, jumping on Malcolm and throwing him off the side of the ramp and landing on top of him, Vick started to pummel Malcolm in the stomach. Gunther has quickly recovered and grabbed a minigun from one of the bodies looked down over the side of the ramp where Vick and Malcolm were.

Gunther pointed the gun down at the pair fighting. He was waiting for Vick to move so he could get a clear shot, and his prayers were answered. Malcolm threw Vick off him, his body was open to the barrels of Gunther's minigun. Malcolm lay flat on his back and looked up into Gunther's eyes, and then squinted as he pulled the trigger.

Bullets pounded their way through Malcolm's armour body, blood smearing the wall floor underneath him. Bullets were nearly hitting Vick too; the minigun was quite inaccurate when fired frantically for a certain period of time.

Malcolm was dead, Vick made his way up the ramp again to join the others. Vick nodded at Gunther. "Thanks man" Vick said. Gunther smiled and nodded back. Malcolm's glasses must have fallen off during the fight; they lay at John's feet, undamaged.

John chuckled and picked them up and put them on. Gunther and Vick saw what John was doing, Gunther laughed slightly, whilst all Vick could muster up was a slight twitch of the side of the mouth.

"How do I look?" John said in a cheesy, deep voice. Gunther laughed more, but Vick turned his attention to more defending. John laughed with Gunther, until a sniper rifle bullet tore through the side of John's head. His body dropping to the floor, and the sunglasses tumbling neatly off his head.

Gunther hit the deck and aimed his Rocket launcher down the left ramp, hoping to find the culprit of John's death. 30 seconds passed, there was nothing there. Gunther slowly stood up, still keeping a close eye on the ramp. "You ever see that movie 'Predator'?" Gunther asked Vick.

"No, can't say I have. Why?" Vick replied.

"I don't know, kinda feels like we're being watched by somebody y'know?"

"Yeah, well just ke-" Another bullet ripped through Vick's skull, killing him instantly. Gunther looked around quickly, looking for any tell-tale puffs of smoke coming from the barrel of a sniper rifle. Not a trace of anything.

Gunther glanced up the middle ramp and stumbled as he saw Aryss armed with a sniper rifle looking down on him. Then Malcolm attacked from the right side, Gunther turned to Malcolm to fire, but before he could pull the trigger, Gunther's head flew off his shoulders, whilst Malcolm effortlessly took the flag with Aryss covering him.

"Blue flag taken!" the announcer boomed into Lock's earpiece. He turned his head and look at Rae, she swore. Lock's body was pushed into the air by the jump-pad, Rae followed him. Malcolm leapt down from the submarine closely followed by Aryss.

Lock and Rae were quick to follow, firing off a few rounds just before they ducked around a corner, they were getting very close to their base now, and the outcome of the whole match could be decided by a few rounds fired at just the right split-second.

Aryss made a bold move and stayed by one corner to try and cover Malcolm by fending off Lock and Rae. It didn't work very well. She fired at Lock with her rifle and missed, allowing Rae to make a shock combo right next to her head, the explosion erupting throughout the corridor and the corner; knocking Malcolm to his knees momentarily.

He was soon back on his feet again, and Rae and Lock were gaining on him fast. Malcolm was constantly glancing behind him, checking for rockets flying in, or any figures chasing him. The flag was only about 50 meters away, he could easily sprint that far, he tried it.

Rae saw Malcolm flash around the corner, Rae smiled; she knew that he was out in the open for at least 5 seconds once he went round that corner. She lunged around the corner and shouldered her shock rifle and rested it on top of some boxes.

He wasn't anywhere to be seen, Lock came up close behind her. "Where'd he go?" he asked Rae panting.

"I dunno, he just disappeared." They both walked slowly down the corridor where Malcolm 'disappeared'. Malcolm was watching them, crouched down with his weapon perfectly aimed at the back of Lock's head.

Malcolm fired with the shock rifle, the beam of energy going off target but still killing Lock with a hit to the back. Malcolm sprinted behind Rae and headed for home. Rae wheeled around and fired sporadically as Malcolm ducked around the corner.

Malcolm ran up the ramp of his base, his knees slowly starting to weaken as he took the final steps. "Red teams scores!!!" the announcer boomed into everybody's earpiece. "Shit!" Rae shouted as she sprinted into the Red's base, hoping to catch them off guard.

It worked; Malcolm was just getting his breath back when Rae unloaded a hail of flak into his back, blowing him forwards, his face dragging along the floor. "Red flag taken!"

"Bring it on home Rae!" Lock shouted excitedly. He glanced back at Amon following him and smiled. Amon couldn't help but laugh.

Bullets chipped around Rae's heels, Othello and Aryss weren't letting Kill Switch take an easy flag. Bullets holes were being ripped in the flag with almost every step Rae took. Her eyes darting around the area for any extra cover or pick-ups that could be handy.

She spied some adrenaline behind some boxes; she checked her Adrenaline meter on her wrist-pad, it was 98. She giggled to herself and pounced on the pills as fast as she could. "Adrenaline!" the announcer shouted as Rae lunged herself forwards 4 times to active the combination.

"Speed!!" the announcer said again in the same tone of voice. "See ya' suckers!!" Rae hollered as she sped away from her pursuers. She ducked around the corner to the submarine area, she was practically home free. Othello fired the rest of his minigun ammo at her in a last ditch attempt.

One of the bullets chipped the handle of the flag, nearly knocking it out of Rae's hand; she fumbled with it, giving Malcolm just enough time to zero his sniper rifle.

John was tossed through the air by the jump-pad and was ordered by Lock to give Rae some cover. "I've got your back" John said to Rae as he fired down onto the ledge where Othello and Aryss were firing, he took Othello out with 10 high-explosive rounds in the chest, and Aryss ducked back around the corner to change weapons, she was only armed with her Assault rifle.

John didn't spot Malcolm hiding behind the pipe though. But the sudden tell-tale puff of smoke wasn't enough to stop him. John sharply turned to Rae; all he could do was watch the bullet rip through her chest and her body tumble in mid-air and splash off the side of the sub.

"Shit!" John said under his breath and ducked behind the hull of the sub. Malcolm rolled out to the right and fired another shot right where John was hiding. John knew he couldn't get him, so he focused on looking for the flag. He gasped when he saw the red flag sliding slowly off the side and heading for the water.

It was out in the open, he didn't know if he wanted to risk it and just be another target for Malcolm, or stay in and watch the point slip away. Another bullet 'dinged' off the hull, Malcolm could only fire one shot every couple of seconds, it was not a rapid fire weapon.

John waited for the second shot then leapt up and sprinted dived at the flag seconds before it was about to slip away. John grabbed it with both hands and attempted to jump off the side.

But Malcolm was with John the whole time. He fired another shot just at the right moment, it split right through John's left leg, throwing him off balance mid-air and making John fall on his knee and face on the solid metal floor with a 'crack'.

John let out a small cry of pain. The flag was still in his grasp, he squeezed it tight and raised his head to look around, and any team-mates would have been much appreciated. John's leg was quite bad, blood seeped out of the fresh wound.

John grunted as he tried to clamber up onto his feet, using the flag as support to help him. Then John realized it wouldn't be long until Malcolm was on him again and ready to kill him. Suddenly, a ray of hope emerged, Lock and Amon darted around the corner with their weapons blazing and suppressing the submarine.

They ran up to John's aid; Amon going down of one knee and aiming her Shock rifle just over the ridge of the sub. Lock helped John up by supporting his waist. John let out a quiet cry of pain again. Lock looked at the wound and looked concerned, John looked into Lock's eyes and raised both his eyebrows in a 'help me' gesture.

Amon started firing, launching a few shock beams followed by a devastating shock combo. They herd Malcolm's rifle clatter to the ground.

"That's it let's go!" Amon shouted and checked her ammo for her shock rifle.

"Amon, you cover us while John and I make our way back to the base." Lock ordered.

"Yes sir!" Amon replied and focused her attention back on the submarine.

Lock put his arm around John's shoulders and helped him limp off in a slow jog around the corner and into their base. Amon was firing an amazing amount of ammo at Thunder Crash, the occasional shock combo going off and creating a lot of damage.

She fired her last shot at Annika. She was out of ammo, the only other weapons she had was the Assault rifle. "I'm out!" she shouted and wheeled around to look at John and Lock's progress. She had to help get this point back to make the scores level. She whipped out her Assault rifle and launched all her grenades so they landed neatly by the corner to the submarine area.

Annika didn't notice the grenades until she almost had he foot buried in them, and the chain reaction effect didn't help her either, once one went off so did the whole pile, resulting in a big explosion and not much left of Annika. Amon laughed aloud as she watched the remaining pieces of Annika get scattered around the area.

The trio rounded another corner, making them ever safer from the dangerous Thunder Crash. Amon split from the group momentarily to collect some ammo for her shock rifle next to some boxes. The knelt down and grabbed the ammo and loaded it into her gun.

She stood back and was greeted by a rocket that went off right next to where she had just been kneeling. She was blown back slightly, and was about to return fire when a spiral of rockets ploughed their way through Amon's chest and stomach, killing her instantly.

Lock heard Amon's loud cry as her remains slammed violently into the floor. "Shit" Lock said turned his head back around to where they were facing. "Amon's down!" Lock shouted over the noise of another incoming rocket.

It exploded a couple of feet in front of Lock and John, knocking them both a little to the side. Lock tried to force John to go faster by pulling of his shoulders slightly, but the pain made John even slower. They were nearing the last corner they would have to go around for them to score, but John's effort was cut short by a distant shock beam from Tamika.

John collapsed next to Lock and dropped the flag, Lock swore again and grabbed the flag from John's body and sprinted through to where the blue flag was stationed. Gunther and Vick's conversation was rudely interrupted by Lock's desperate attempt to score. Vick and Gunther were quick to react, covering each exit with a second.

"Blue team scores!!!" The announcer screamed. "Oh yeah!" "Wahoo!" and other cheers came from Kill Switch's radio. The score was now 1-1, and both team had every chance to take the lead. The crowd's tension was released in a huge burst of cheers and excitement; even the commentator could barely be heard over the immense noise.

"Well fans, things are really hotting up now! Kill Switch pull one point back on Thunder Crash making the pressure on both side even greater!!!" the crowd made more noise. This match was far from over.

(a/n) Again I am dreadfully sorry for the long wait, and for making this part 2 of 3. But I can promise you this: the next chapter will be arriving by next week. If the chapter does not arrive by then, you have every right to stop reading this story and do something else. Anyway, on a higher note, it seems like Kill Switch could be in with a serious chance, with all members of the team pitching in. Hope you enjoyed it! Please review! :)