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Chapter 9: Where do we go from here?
So there we sat that night. We quietly mourned Bjorn's death in the study of our dorms. He had cheated death once, but now there was nothing left to even recognize. We were obviously disheartened by the loss of our other team mates, but Bjorn was our leader, our captain, and my mentor. The hours passed in melancholy silence until finally a new recruit named Anthony spoke up.
"So… what now?" That was an excellent question. Immediately the younger soldiers said that Arielle or myself should take over, since we were now the veterans. It went from discussion to arguing very quickly though as the decision of a new leader added fuel to everyone's already volatile emotions. Arielle stood up and silenced everyone.
"Stop it, all of you!" Everyone quieted down. "We've had too many losses today to do this to one another, we need to be a team now more than ever. If you want Jordan and me to lead the team, then we will, together though. It may be best that we have two leaders in case a scenario like today happens again, alright?" Everyone slowly nodded in agreement. "Now, we're all really on edge, so I think we should all call it a night and get ourselves some rest." Dark Phalanx slowly filtered out of the study and into their own dorms as the minutes passed. I was impressed how Arielle handled the situation, perhaps I was the more skilled soldier, but she was a hell of a lot better natural leader than I would ever be.
I began to undress for
bed. My hair still dripped a little from the shower I had just taken,
but I couldn't be bothered to properly dry it, I just wanted to
forget that day. A knock came from my door, I grumbled and put my
pants back on before I went to the door. I opened it up and in my
doorway stood Arielle, always a pleasant surprise. Then I looked down
and saw her wearing a very short robe that tied around her small
waist, also a pleasant surprise. She walked in and closed the door
behind her.
"You okay?" she
asked me, pacing awkwardly around my dorm. I nodded and tried not to
look at her too much. "Are you sure? I know you really admired
him."
"I'm fine." I
said trying not to sound too distant. Arielle then untied her robe
and let it fall to the ground. I couldn't help but notice her
incredible body that stood before me.
She came close to me and put her hands on my shoulders and kissed me.
I went with it, hell if I was going to complain, I'd been waiting
for this for years. She pulled away and looked down.
"I think we both
need this, we've had a rough day." I was momentarily confused
until she ordered me to lose my pants, then I knew what she meant.
I rubbed my eyes as the
morning light shone into my dorm. I looked over to see Arielle asleep
next to me, it hadn't been a dream… thank you God. I got out of
bed and headed to the shower. She was awake by the time I got back to
my room, she sat on the edge of my bed, wrapped in her robe.
"Sorry." she said
calmly.
"About what?" I
answered.
"Last night, was I
wrong? This won't make things weird will it?" Damn, I had hoped
she wanted to be with me, turned out she was just as frustrated and
in need of a vent as I was.
"Nah, it's cool."
"Okay… good."
She looked down at my floor for a bit then stood up. "I should get
back to my room." She quickly left and closed my door. I fell back
in my bed and sighed. I should have been the happiest guy alive, I
just had a night with the woman I'd wanted for years, but instead I
felt like an ass… when a woman is worried if a night of sex will
interfere with a professional relationship, you know you're never
gonna get a second night. I look at it now and I guess I should have
been happy I at least got that, but I guess I was never sure if I
only wanted that, or something more.
Needless to say, without experienced leadership, we slipped in the standings a little for the second half of the season, Juggernaut on the other hand was on fire and steamrolled through every team and by the end of the season they were on top in every match type… a feat never accomplished before in the tournament by any team. As a result, Gorge was offered a direct allowed match with Xan instead of having to have finals, but the sick bastard asked for one death match before his championship match with Xan. He was allowed to select every single one of his opponents, needless to say everyone who he had an unsettled score with, he requested to be in that match, myself included.
Two days later I was on board a starship that had been converted into an arena and awaited the ten man match to begin. I had a solid strategy going into that match: avoid Gorge at all costs. The buzzer rang and immediately I started running into the next room, making sure to keep moving in case Gorge DID find me. There was an interesting stipulation to this match: if somehow Gorge was not to win, the winner would get Gorge's shot at Xan for the championship. I had to fight that temptation, I had to stay focused… hell, I had to stay alive. I ran into the next room and saw an Iron Guard and a Thundercrash soldier in a firefight, they didn't even notice me. I took the gamble and opened fire with my assault rifle, aiming for the heads. Both soldiers fell dead, and I shot up to first on the scoreboard. Seconds later I saw Gorge running down a ramp into the room I was in. I dove down a nearby ramp and sprinted for all I was worth, hoping he never saw me. Suddenly the scoreboard shot up, Gorge now had three kills, taking first place over my two… Gorge wasn't playing for points, he was playing for keeps. I rounded a corner and came face to face with a member of the Hellions. I jumped quickly to my side to dodge his flak rifle fire. The shrapnel bounced back at him and sliced him up pretty bad. I took an enforcer and fired a single bullet into the side of his head, tying the game. There were four of us left, Gorge and I were tied at three kills each. I just kept moving after I picked up the flak rifle. I ran down a long corridor and came across a Necris soldier. Before he even saw me I blew his head off from behind via flak rifle. I looked up at the board, I was up by one kill, all that remained was Gorge, myself and a Nali commando, and the timer was down to mere seconds. I felt electric, I was going to beat out Gorge and take his championship match against Xan! Then just before the buzzer sounded, the Nali died… Gorge and I tied at four kills apiece. Liandri officials thought fast and declared a three-way match for the championship, declaring that Xan was now somewhere in the arena. The buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the final match. I trembled, I never imagined going into that day that I would be in the championship match. Xan came out of nowhere and opened fire with a minigun. I felt each bullet punch my armour, winding me. I had no choice but to fall onto my back and lay in pain for a few moments. Xan scored a point already. The droid shouted a robotic taunt at me and just kept running, allowing me to get back to my feet. The match went on like this for a while, I had really no choice but to let Xan and Gorge go at each other and then try to pick up the pieces when they were both weakened… either of them could have trashed me in a frontal assault, I wasn't even willing to TRY both at once. When the alarm for the last minute of play sounded, I took a quick look at the scoreboard. Xan was ahead of Gorge by a point, and I was behind Gorge by only three points, I could still do it. I found a ripper and narrowed my eyes, this baby was my best chance to get the edge on those two. I caught Gorge from behind and fired a blade into the back of his armour. It stuck in and knocked him down, gaining me pair of points for the takedown and the critical hit on Gorge. I rounded a corner and waited until Gorge got up, then I quickly ran back around and took him down again, gaining another point, leaving me tied with Xan. I ran hard looking for Xan, I had fifteen seconds to find him and take him down. I sprinted into a corridor and saw him… ten seconds. I fired a ripper blade and it cut off his left arm, sadly for me he shoots with his right. He blasted me with his minigun, taking my strength down quickly… five seconds. I forced myself to stay on my feet and fired off another blade…
Who's going to win who's going to win oh my God the suspense!... sorry, keep reading.
