CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: THE REQUIEM

Mayday put two rounds in the chest of another assailant. She witnessed his lifeless body drop backwards and fall to the ground, somewhat contorted with a leg and arm bent in an unnatural position. But at the same time, she felt a hot, stinging pain in her shoulder; the pain was so intense she almost dropped her firearm. She realized that before she completely took him out, he'd shot her in the shoulder. Mayday slid down behind the makeshift computer desk, trying to bear through the surfacing pain and regroup her thoughts.

Jinx was also pinned down and trying her best to avoid stray bullets. She was no longer standing but very still underneath and behind the dead guard, using him as a shield. Fortunately when the guards had made her surrender, they hadn't had a chance to check her for hidden weapons. Which was a good thing, because she had tons of hidden weapons on her, including a nine millimeter strapped to the inside of her leg. Pulling it out, she fired as fast as she could. Aiming at the last guard… other than Boa, anyway, she launched a flurry of bullets at him that he couldn't avoid. Hit with multiple rounds, the guards body dropped to the floor. Jinx cursed. She had been taken out with her flurry of bullets, but at a heavy price; her gun had jammed!

Boa's AR-15 had ran out of ammunition – and just in time, too. There was a period of time when the firing had stopped altogether in the room. Only a few seconds, but the eerie silence crept into everyone's mind – Mayday, Jinx, and Boa… the only ones left standing in the room. Mayday had just been wounded, Jinx weapon had jammed, and Boa ran out of ammunition. But both sides were still alive and ready to fight.

The large enemy soldier with one swift motion dropped his AR-15 and un-slung his minigun from his back, quickly bringing it up in his hands – he was ready to decimate the two women.

Jinx knew he was taking aim right at her and only had a split second to act… all from a lying down position. Moving her human shield to the side and grasping her sword, she threw her ninja blade as hard as she could… and it slammed point first into the electrical motor of the minigun.

She couldn't help but smirk, fully aware that her sword had destroying the weapon.

But she wasn't out of the clear. Infuriated at what she had done, Boa charged Jinx as fast as he could.

She wasn't smirking any longer. Jinx popped up to her feet as quickly as she could, realizing she'd be torn limb from limb if he was able to get a hold on her. Before he reached her, Mayday had recovered from the initial shock of her wound and unloaded her pistol. Several bullets hit the giant, but he remained unfazed.

Diving between his legs, Jinx was able to get out of the way of his crushing fists just in time. However, Mayday now had Boa's full attention… Jinx had destroyed his gun, but Mayday actually put a few rounds in the oversized warrior.

Mayday opened fire again, hoping to take him out before he reached her. His roars practically shook the room ignoring bullet after bullet that slammed into him. Maydays eyes widened with disbelief; they didn't slow him down let alone stop him. She lightly trembled, wondering what this guy was on. His momentum carried him right into her, knocking her to the ground with his enormous body crushing her from his weight alone.

But he didn't grab her. He didn't tear her limb from limb; in fact, he didn't even move. As Mayday pushed up against the body with futility, she felt a warm thick liquid oozing onto her. As she turned her head to the side – which was all she could move since he had her trapped – she saw a pool of blood on the floor. Not her blood. His. Which explained why he didn't pummel her to death. Mayday took a deep breath and looked at Jinx (of which the Asian warrior couldn't help but snicker seeing Mayday in such a position), trying unsuccessfully to push the monstrous carnage off of her, and with a weak wheeze, said, "Get him off me…"!

XXXXX

You're not getting away, Scarlett thought, as if the Imposter could hear her, or somehow sense her thoughts and know she was rapidly chasing him down. With fierce determination to take him down, Scarlett ran as fast as she could after him while loading her crossbow.

He'd made it outside of the building and took off down the alleyway. Scarlett caught small glimpses of him running away from her as he swerved between dumpsters and old beat-up automobiles. He had furthered the distance between her, but now that he was running in a straight line she knew she could close the gap... he was no match for her on the straightaway because of the incredible amount of weight he'd been carrying on his back.

The alley eventually opened up to the rough, rugged terrain just along the cliff side and on the outskirts of the town. Scarlett guessed that the Impostor was heading away from town and along the cliff for the forest, hoping to lose the pursuers amongst the leafless trees and thorny brambles.

Not if she could help it.

Just as the Imposter had cleared the last building and had made it to the open flat, no more than twenty feet off the mountainside cliff, he was bowled over by a black streak that resembled something like a black panther.

Snake-Eyes! Where did you come from…

Once again, the durable warrior had surprised Scarlett and appeared out of thin air… like magic. But Snake-Eyes was no wizard even though his ninja prowess made him capable of feats that no other man could accomplish. She had assumed that Snake-Eyes was still in the building with Jinx and Mayday, but amidst the gunfire and chaos he apparently slipped out and found a different route.

Both Snake-Eyes and the Imposter were out of Scarlett's visual sight since Snake had knocked him behind the building. By the time she caught up, she saw Snake had already cut the rucksack off of the Imposter with one quick stroke of his sword. Both of the upper straps had been severed and judging by the scene Snake didn't hold back; a horizontal line of blood from shoulder blade to shoulder blade marked the path of his sword.

The Impostor howled in pain like a wounded animal and dropped to his knees… but still trying to get up and run away even faster. The sting of the blade was too much; the moment he made it to his feet, he stumbled forward and collapsed to the ground. Crawling towards the cliff side, he had nowhere else to go. He was desperate to escape with his life.

Scarlett moved forward quickly with her crossbow raised, just behind Snake. The warrior stood tall, taking slow and deliberate steps forward towards the injured terrorist… confident of his position but not enough to allow him to drop his guard and make a foolish mistake.

Training her weapon on the fallen man, Scarlett shouted, "Stop right there! You're not going anywhere!"

Scarlett noticed Snake-Eyes out of the corner of her eye; for a moment, she thought the warrior was seriously going to run him through with his blade. It wasn't any one thing in particular she noticed; it was just the way he seemed to carry himself… his body language, and the way his wrist turned his carbon-steel sword back and forth, back and forth. She'd never seen him do that before; not in training, not in the real world. It worried her.

"Snake…" she said with a much gentler voice, now standing by his side… but still fully focused on the Impostor. Snake didn't budge… or even seem to acknowledge her.

"Please… please don't…" the Impostor whimpered as he sat on his back side, crawling away from Snake-Eyes backwards, desperately holding up a hand in a feeble attempt to keep the silent man at bay.

Snake-Eyes stepped forward, bringing the point of his sword to the neck of the Impostor. For a moment, his head cocked slightly to the side… Scarlett knew he was contemplating running him through.

"Snake… we're the good guys, remember? Don't do it…"

Again, Snake-Eyes didn't budge. "Snake-Eyes…" Scarlett pleaded. "I know what he did to Ripcord, too. I know he deserves it. But that doesn't mean we can kill him. As much as I want to… as much pain as he has caused all of us, and despite the damage he almost caused to our country… well, you know we can't. That's what separates weasels like him from the heroes like you."

Scarlett already knew what Snake-Eyes thought. She knew he didn't feel like a hero or believe that he was one… lucky, maybe. But not a hero. Time and time again he would tell her that he always ended up in the right place at the right time and somehow had a knack for escaping death, but he wasn't a hero. Scarlett disagreed.

Scarlett knew he was processing her words, even if he barely budged… let alone signed. His head slightly moved to the side; she knew he was thinking hard. He wanted to run him through, but he had to weigh the options of his actions with the consequences they would bring.

After a few desperate moments that seemed to last forever, Scarlett noticed him move again… very subtle and small movements. His sword-arm flexed tight and he squeezed down on the hilt of his sword with an intense grip. Snake-Eyes carefully applied more pressure to the point of his sword, pressing further against the skin of the Impostor; the victim had dropped all the way to the ground, sniveling as a small trickle of blood dripped down from his neck.

Scarlett's eyes widened, her mouth agape, realizing what he was about to do."Snake-Eyes! Listen to me!" Scarlett shouted in a sharp, fierce tone. "You aren't going to do this! I'm telling you as a friend. I'm also telling you as a fellow soldier. You're moments away from making the wrong move… a move you can't recover from, and a decision that you can't ever change! I will NOT stand here and let you do that…"

She still had her crossbow trained on the Impostor, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Snake-Eyes head move down… no more than a quarter inch, but just enough where she could see she was getting through to the stubborn mule.

Still, this was Snake-Eyes… the man who always surprised her; the one she could never seem to fully read and may never completely be able to understand.

With a lightning-fast motion, Snake-Eyes struck.

His sword and front leg lunged forward before Scarlett knew what had happened; she gasped, startled at what had just transpired.

While her attention at first shifted to Snake-Eyes, she looked back at the Impostor, fully expecting to see his head symmetrically split into two halves.

She looked down at the Impostor, wiping the small beads of sweat off her forehead with the back of her glove. Scarlett realized that Snake-Eyes hadn't killed him, but in fact ran his sword into the ground within millimeters of the Impostors face. It was clear that Snake wanted to thrust his powerful sword right through his head, though. He must have used every ounce of willpower in his body to avoid running him through; the tension in his shoulders and the way he stared intensely at the Impostor… yes, she could tell even though he was masked… was absolutely frightening. She had now just witnessed Snake-Eyes at his angriest moment ever; she had seen the rage course through his veins and, somehow, resisted slaying this face of evil.

Apparently, the Impostor thought he was dead too, judging by the look on his face… the way his eyes were tightly closed, the sweat coming from his brow, and the nerves visibly shaking in his cheeks as he clenched his teeth.

You'll never harm anyone again, you son of a bitch, Scarlett thought. She was half relieved that Snake-Eyes didn't run him through… though a surprisingly large part of her realized that she did have a significant amount of disappointment within her because he didn't kill him. This revelation had shocked her, and reminded her that sparing his life wasn't an easy decision for Snake-Eyes.

But she trusted him… she always trusted him. And with that encouraging thought… well, she couldn't help but smile at Snake-Eyes. You scared me for a moment, Snake. I really thought you were going to kill him. He deserves it, don't get me wrong, but… you really, really scared me.

Snake briefly shifted his attention to Scarlett and nodded to her, as if he understood her worry and concern, before turning his head back and pulling his sword out of the ground.

Scarlett slung her crossbow over her shoulder and pulled out a pair of military handcuffs, bending down to put them on him. "Hands up in the air and roll over on your stomach."

The Impostor started to put his hands in the air, but he had a surprise.

Somehow, without either Snake-Eyes or Scarlett noticing, he deftly pulled out a hidden knife tucked away in a concealed sheath. In an instant, he threw it straight at the heart of Snake-Eyes… with an incredible swift throw.

Had it been any other man, odds were that the knife would have struck true through the heart and kill them instantly. Snake moved at the last minute, dodging the fatal blow with a quick sidestep to the left, but the knife still struck him in the right side of the chest.

Scarlett pounced on the man instantly, ready to beat him into submission… or even pummel him to death, if necessary, but he kicked her square in the chest – the force of his kick was staggering and, more importantly, knocked her backwards and off balance. While it didn't so much hurt her, it did put distance between her and the two men.

The Impostor stood up as quick as he could and charged Snake-Eyes. Snake was ready for him, putting up his hands to block the Impostor, but in his weakened state, he couldn't defend the attacker from grabbing and twisting the knife in his chest, making him almost pass out from the incredible amount of pain.

Snake-Eyes seized up in an incredible amount of pain, staggering backwards towards the edge of the cliff, trying to break the hold that the Impostor had on him.

Scarlett stood back up on her feet as quickly as she could but Snake-Eyes and the Impostor were already grappling in hand to hand combat; Snake was clearly at a disadvantage… yet, somehow, was holding his ground. Had he not been injured, the fight would have been over, she knew. Is he doing what I think he is?

Scarlett ran towards Snake-Eyes as fast as she could, her heart pounding, fully realizing what the man in black had planned on. Slowly but surely, step by step, Snake-Eyes had positioned himself closer to the cliff side. There was no doubt Snake would have been screaming in pain as loud as he could, if he could speak; the grinding of the knife had to have been way too painful to bear, let alone imagine. Yet he still stood on his own two feet and, not only that… he was prepared to take the Impostor over the cliff side and into the lake side water at least a hundred feet below.

"Noooo! Snake!"Scarlett ran as fast as she could, watching the scene unfold in front of her.

Snake-Eyes did get the upper-hand in combat, just like she was used to seeing. With a quick right knee to the ribs and a quick twist of his body, he shifted the Impostor between himself and the hundred-foot drop.

He pushed him backwards and gave a quick push-kick to the chest, but the Impostor grabbed Snake-Eyes leg…

Scarlett saw the Impostor fall down the cliff, but…

Snake-Eyes, in his weakened state, couldn't shake him off. He turned his body, grasping for something to grab and he fell to the ground…

But he was pulled off the cliff and slipped away… just like that… out of her sight.

Already running towards them, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Her outstretched hands reached towards Snake-Eyes.