Fight for the future

Chapter 21: The battle for Juuban.

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own the well-known characters?

Authors note: This takes place a week after the last chapter.

Week one

Trista and everyone else stand on the outskirt of Juuban all armed.

"Okay people, we're going to take back Juuban, their headquarters is the old school, and there's pretty stiff resistance everywhere." Trista said.

Adam stands Beside Hotaru and the others with an SMG in his hands and a custom made 30mm anti armour rifle strapped to his back and a chest rig full of magazines for it and a Bowie knife strapped to his one of his boots.

"Good luck." Trista said before they move out, everyone splits in to teams and they take different routes. Adam and the others take on the direct road.

"Something's not right, there's no birds." Adam said before stopping and Hotaru turns round and looks at him.

"What's wrong?" Hotaru asked.

"This isn't right, there are no animals." He replied.

"You're right." Hotaru replied.

Suddenly gunfire goes off around them and the take cover on either side of the street whilst Adam kneels down and drops his SMG and grabs his other rifle and looks though the scope and sees an enemy position before he opens fire unloading a full magazine into the position before he reloads the rifle and slings it round his back and standing back up once he picked up his SMG and walks down to the position and sees what's left of the bodies.

"You okay?" Mara asks.

"Yeah… just… oh forget it." Adam said as he turns round and starts to walk away and the others look at each other before they follow him and find him staring at a building.

"They're well dug in around that building, what is it?" Adam asked.

"That's the arcade, where we used to hang out." Hotaru replied.

"Well, there ain't going to be much left of it."

"Why's that?" Hotaru asked.

"Because I'm going to blow it to kingdom come."

Adam walks towards the arcade and doesn't look where he's treading and he steps on a mine before stopping and lifting the front of his boot up slightly to see the mine before putting it back down.

"Fuck." He said as Hotaru and the others catch up to him.

"What is it?" Reiko asked.

"Pass me something heavy." He replied.

"Why?" Hotaru asked as Adam lifted the front of his boot up and Hotaru looks underneath to see the mine before she passes him something heavy.

"Stand well clear."

He moves his boot and attempts to put the object on the mine but it goes off sending him through the window.

"SHIT! ADAM ARE YOU OKAY!" they shout as Adam coughs before he stands up.

"Just peachy." He replied before grabbing his SMG "that'll draw unwanted attention."

They go into the arcade and Hotaru looks around and sees ghosts of the past while Adam's trying to put out the small fire on his leg.

"Fucking mines." He mutters to himself as he puts it out.

"We'll hole up here for the night." Hotaru said as Adam sat down after taking his other rifle off and lies down on one of the booth seats.

"Well, it's going to be a long day." Adam said.

"And how do you know?" Mara asked him.

"I spent three years as her prisoner, she gave me to her daughter as a birthday present." He says as he takes his tank top off and shows them the scars from his three years in captivity before he puts it back on and lies back down "now you see why I got involved in this war, personal reasons what about you lot?"

"To avenge my parents murders." Amelia replied.

"Same here." Mara and Reiko replied at the same time.

"What about you Hotaru?" Adam asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Hotaru replied.

"I understand Saturn." Adam replied.

"How did you know?"

"You knew my mother, I never knew her. I've spent most of my life in a refuge camp." Adam replied.

Later

Adam sits by a window with his other rifle looking out of the window seeing the flashes of explosions and rifle fire.

"Can't sleep." Hotaru asked.

"It's been a while since I could sleep properly."

"Something we have in common." Hotaru replied as she sat opposite Adam.

"What's your real reason for fighting in this war?" Adam asked.

"I guess to avenge the murders of my guardians and my friends." She replied.

"I've seen a lot of good people die, a lot of civilians murdered especially those who were holed up with us for seven days, tortured and murdered before me... I'll never forget them."

Next day

Adam stood up and shouldered his rifle and grabs his SMG before he goes out alone, Hotaru wakes up and finds Adam gone, on a roof somewhere Adam lays down looking through the scope tracking a light armoured vehicle.

"Bingo." He says slinging the rifle over his shoulder and climbs down off the roof and makes his way to where the light armoured vehicle went he stops outside a wall and finds a way to climb over it and jumps down on the other side and checks the vehicles and finds one full of explosives, he drives to the gate before he gets out a grenade and pulls the pin out and throws it in the back and runs before it explodes.

"There he is." Hotaru said.

They follow the path of destruction that has been caused and find him sitting down on some steps.

"What took you so long?"

"We've been looking for you." Amelia replied.

Week two

The previous week had been a tough week; they had encountered more resistance than they thought. Adam now had a few extra guns as he had almost blown up an armoury now he had a light machine gun and enough ammunition for it to last a small siege he had set it up on the back of a pick up truck and Hotaru drove through the enemy ranks as Adam was firing it and the empty cases were flying everywhere s lead found their targets.

"Gotcha didn't I ya little sucker?" Adam shouted as the pick up truck stops and they all get out and carry on foot.

"I haven't seen any of the others." Hotaru said.

"I don't think any of them have gotten this far." Adam replied.

"Let's take to the roof tops for a better view." Mara said.

"Alright." Hotaru replied before they climb up a ladder and get onto a roof to get a better view of the area, they see lightly armoured vehicles on the move as Adam puts down the light machine gun and grabs his other rifle and lays down looking through the scope and squeezes the rigger and watches as the bullet rips through the driver before he reloads and fires again this time the vehicle explodes before he moves onto the next vehicle.

"Good shooting." Hotaru said.

"Hey, I learnt from good people." He replied, "trouble is, they know we're here now, so lets get inside and set up barricades."

They climb down and go inside and start to place barricades around the windows and around a flight of steps that leads upstairs as their fall back position, Adam set the machine gun up behind the barricade before he goes to a window and places his rifle on the floor, Adam gathers everyone and he kneels down and grabs his knife and draws a box into the floor.

"They can only attack from the front and the sides, they won't waste precious vehicles." He said as he drew arrows pointing towards the front and the sides before he stands up and puts his knife back in his boot and walks back to the front window and grabs his rifle and waits for the battle to start.

"What's with him all of a sudden?" Reiko whispered to Hotaru.

"The ghosts of seven days of glory haunt him." Hotaru replied.

Adam brings the rifle to his shoulder and squeezes the trigger and watches as the bullets rip the enemy apart before he reloads and the others take up position as they are attacked on three sides, Hotaru had taken position on the opposite window whilst Amelia and Reiko took the sides.

"How many are there?" Hotaru asked.

"I'd say at least fifty to one hundred." Adam replied as he dropped his rifle and grabbed his SMG and opened fire before dropping it and grabbing his knife and starts slashing the ones that get to close before they retreat.

"Let's go." Adam said.

"No, we're going to wait to see if anyone shows up." Hotaru said.

"You're the boss." Adam said.

Adam goes and sits behind the barricade at the bottom of the stairs with his back to them.

"What's wrong with him?" Amelia asked Hotaru.

"I don't know." Hotaru replied before she walked over to the barricade and finds him smoking a cigarette and notices his hands shaking.

"It comes and goes." He replied before taking another drag of his cigarette "some form of shell shock."

Adam finishes his cigarette and flicks the tab away and sighs.

"When it's all quiet you think you can hear the people who used to live here, and if you're lucky you just might see the ghosts of the past." Adam said "me, I've seen too many ghosts"

"We got movement." Amelia said making Adam and Hotaru jump over the barricade and go to their positions, Adam grabs his rifle and loads it before putting it to his shoulder when the person comes into view.

"Jesus Christ Miho!" Hotaru shouts.

"Hey." Miho replied.

"Where's everyone else?" Amelia asked.

"I don't know." Miho replied.

Miho walks in and they settle down for the night, Miho stays awake staring at Adam as he sleeps next to his rifle before Miho checks everyone is asleep before she pulls out a knife before walking over to Adam, never noticing his SMG trained on her until she hears a click.

"I wouldn't bother Miho." Adam said in his sleep.

"How did…" she asked.

"I sleep with one eye open." He replied as he looked up at her.

Miho charges at Adam but he puts his feet on her stomach and lifts her and throws her through the window before he grabs his rifle and points it at her head.

"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." He said before he squeezed the trigger watching as her head explodes waking everyone up.

"What the?" they all shout as Adam puts his rifle down and goes outside to check the body "Thought I'd seen her before." He said a he removes the sleeve of her t-shirt noticing a tattoo.

"What was all that about?" Hotaru asked.

"I'd seen her before, one of Serenity's guards." He replied before grabbing his rifle and starts to walk away.

"I've got something to do, see you in a couple of weeks." He replied before he started running away from them before Hotaru and the others do the same, Adam kept on running before he almost gets run down by a vehicle causing him to grab the light machine gun and opening fire on the vehicle piercing the petrol tank and watches as it catches fire and the driver jumps out screaming as he burns Adam puts him out of his misery with a bullet.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU SERENITY! YOU HEAR ME!" he shouted before he continues running.

In the school

Serenity sits in the main hall laughing.

"I hear you." She said.

Elsewhere Adam continued on running until he got to the school to find it heavily defended.

"This calls for cut, slash and run." He thinks to himself as he grabs his knife and sneaks behind a sentry and grabs his mouth and slits his throat and lays the body down before moving silently through a gap in a wall and makes it into the compound and decides to wage a little guerrilla warfare.

"You hear something?" one of the sentries said.

"Nah, just you." The other said.

They never see Adam sneak behind them and he cuts one behind the knees and watches as he goes down before the other one turned round and he stabs him in the face before finishing the other one off and running off.

"My lady, he is here alone."

"Bring him to me." Serenity replied.

Week three

"What's with all the gunfire at the school?" Hotaru asked.

"That's where he must be." Reiko replied.

They head off towards the school, at the school Adam set up the machine gun behind an upturned vehicle and was firing it like no tomorrow until it overheated and grabbed his SMG and opened fire with short controlled bursts before beating them to death until Hotaru and the others arrive.

"Hello again." Amelia said.

"I thought I said I have to do this alone." Adam growled back before checking to see if the machine gun had cooled down by spitting on it and it hisses.

"We do this as a team." Hotaru said.

"Look, I want to end this war as much as you but I fight alone."

Hotaru slaps him pretty hard before he goes to grab his gear.

"You call that painful, I've been a prisoner for three years." He replied before he walks away into the school and starts firing his SMG in short controlled bursts whilst Hotaru and the others set up a perimeter at the entrance and they could hear the screams of the dying.

"Sounds like he's having a good time." Reiko said.

"Doesn't it just." Hotaru replied.

Inside a chemistry lab Adam turns the gas on and sits outside the room with his lighter ready and throws it in the lab before scrambling away from the flames before he stands up and runs through the flames and continues on his way.

Outside

"You hear that?" Amelia said.

"Sounds like he blew up the chem. Lab." Hotaru replied.

Hotaru grabs her SMG and runs inside followed by the others and they follow the trail of death carved by Adam and they get to the chem. Lab or what's left of it and their jaws drop to the floor.

"He couldn't have caused all this… could he?" Reiko asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him." Hotaru replied.

Elsewhere Adam continued on killing until he comes to a split corridor.

"Which way?" he says to himself.

He goes down the left corridor and comes to a dead end and sets off a booby trap blocking off the way he came. Noticing an air vent he manages to climb into it and goes through the air ducts spending half the day in them before he finds a way out of them and ends up in the main hall.

"Ah, I wondered when you'd arrive Adam." Serenity said.

"Ah fuck." Adam replied.

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

Adam drops his guns and grabs his knife.

"That's more like it, this is how I killed your mother." She said.

Serenity walks towards Adam and lightly touches his face.

"You know, my daughter really likes you."

"If you leave now we will meet years later to end this war." Adam replied.

"Very well, but I will not give up Juuban without a fight." She replied as she left leaving Adam alone before Trista walks into the hall and finds Adam standing alone with the knife still in his hand.

"You can put that away now." Trista said.

"You've followed me the whole time haven't you?" he replied.

"Yes, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'd say we've got about a week to set up defences." Adam replied as he started to walk away.

"I will lead the people and you will lead them into battle." Trista said to herself as she watches Adam walk away.

"He shouldn't have to bear this, none of them should."

"You're right Mina." Trista replied before turning round and seeing the ghosts of her friends.

"How long has it been?" Ami replied.

"A long time, they're getting more and more like their parents except Adam, I'm afraid he'll do something stupid and get himself killed." Trista replied.

Elsewhere

Adam sits on a roof staring at a handgun beside him before he picks it up, checks the clip before sliding it back in and cocking it putting a round in the chamber and puts the barrel to his temple.

"I wouldn't do that Adam."

"Great, now I'm hearing voices of the dead." He mutters to himself.

"You're not Adam."

Adam looks up to see Ricky sat on the edge of the roof with Yuki.

"How's it going in heaven?" Adam asked.

"There's no bar." Ricky replied.

"I bet you're bummed." Adam replied.

"I have to go to hell to get a decent drink."

"What about Yuki." Adam asked.

"I've kept her out of trouble." Ricky replied.

"That's good to hear."

"Anyway, we gotta go." Ricky said before they disappear as Hotaru walks onto the roof.

"What' up?" she asked Adam.

"Nothing." He replied as he put the handgun down.

"We should be getting back…"

"You go, I'm going to spend the night here." He replied as Hotaru leaves and heads back to the school leaving him to think about the people he had met and the battles he had been involved in and the seven days of glory in which he was the only survivor and he fought to the last person and almost killed but was spared and the refugee camp he had grown up in for most of his life until he was thirteen.

Week four

Adam manned his position by the main entrance with his machine gun and Reiko as the belt feeder they could hear and see gunfire not too far from their position and see Hotaru and some others run back.

"We did our part." Hotaru said as she dived behind her position and waited until they got into sight and open fire into the enemy ranks killing a lot of them but they keep on coming and soon it turns into savage hand to hand combat which turned out to be Adam's speciality as he was slashing the ones getting to closed to him before they retreat.

"Tend to the wounded." Adam said before he walked out onto the killing field surveying the killing he had helped to do until he sees a wounded kid amongst the dead.

"What's your name kid?" he asked.

"Kei…" the kid replied.

"Well Kei, my name's Adam and let's get the wounds tended to." Adam replied before picking him up and taking him back to his position to get his wounds tended to before he rejoins the others.

"They'll come back." Reiko said.

"Not till the killing fields been cleared." Adam replied.

Later on they clear the killing field of the dead before they go back to their positions and wait for the next attack, they don't have to wait long.

"Spread the word prepare for hand to hand fighting again." Adam said as Reiko leaves and spreads the word before she comes back and notices Adam had put his knife within grabbing distance and opens fire and soon it turns into hand to hand fighting again and they spend the rest of the week doing the same.

Week five

Deprive of sleep they still defending their positions Reiko had fallen asleep on Adam's shoulder and he wakes her up.

"Movement on the perimeter." He says to her as he picks up a sniper rifle and looks through the scope.

"How many?" Reiko asked.

"It's her elite guards." He replied, "Wake everyone up who's asleep."

Reiko goes and wakes everyone that's asleep up and returns to her position.

"This is where it starts to get interesting." Adam said.

"What's that you said." Reiko replied.

"This lot will fight to the last person."

"How many are there?" Reiko asked concerned.

"I'd say a hundred to a hundred and fifty." Adam replied.

Adam opens fire as they get past the first line of defence and start to break through Adam's line of defence and he grabs a rifle and uses it to beats the ones close enough to him to death.

"FALL BACK!" Hotaru shouts and they fall back into the school leaving Adam outside swinging his rifle at their heads killing them, inside Hotaru notices Adam missing.

"Where's Adam?" Hotaru asked.

"Still outside I think."

Outside Adam was making a desperate stand slowly making his way into the school opening fire on the enemy killing some of them as he backs into a classroom and finds some others in it.

"Get separated from everyone else?" he asked them and they nod back.

"What do we do?" one of them asked.

"Attempt to fight our way out." Adam replied as he holds the rifle like a club and the others do the same and they fight they're way out by beating the enemy to death and run away as fast as they can before they turn round a corner and stop.

"There's six of us, two people stay here fire then run, the next two will stand at the next corridor and do the same and so on until we find the others." Adam said as he turns round and brings the rifle to his shoulder and someone else stays with him and does the same when the enemy turns round the corner Adam and the other person fire before they run past the other two and they do the same and so on until they find the others in the main hall.

"Glad to see you made it alive." Hotaru said.

"Same here." Adam replied, "I think there's fifty to seventy left."

Week six

Adam and everyone else had set up a barricade and were kneeling behind it with their rifles pointed outwards.

"Fuck this, if I'm going to die it ain't going to be like this." Adam said as he stands up and holds is rifle as a club and several others do the same and soon everyone does the same and they step over the barricade and wait for the enemy to break through the door, Adam closes his eyes.

"For everyone." He says as they break through the door and they run to meet each other shouting and killing each other.

Hours later

They had started clearing up the bodies and burning them.

"The battle for Juuban is over but the battle for Tokyo is yet to begin." Trista said to herself.

Authors note: I had to condense the days down and trying to work with Heero Maxwell1 is hard especially when he's drinking… R&R