The endless boom of gunfire rang endlessly through the hallways of the smash mansion. The fallen smashers, still under Jormungard's influence, hid in cover while bullets raked the ground around them. Ice hounds, in an almost endless supply, charged the stairs but the high ground was taken and held by tree figures with assault weapons. Each one of the fallen smashers tried to break cover but was forced back or to return when the searing hot lead was finding their mark. Yet while the smashers didn't advance, the Ice Hounds did. Connected by massive synapse wolves, they all attacked with a single and undoubtedly a unified purpose. Kill.
The three figures on the top of the stairs really cared less if they were individuals or synapse beasts. They all would die the same way. Chips of ice flew from the hounds like dislodged chitin on a insect. The bullets that they were firing were designed to puncture personal body armor, and they did about the same result on the ice hounds. A small pile of shells was beginning to form around them and soon they were standing all around expelled shells. While the ad plenty of ammunition , the one on the far left began to question whether they had enough to last much longer.
"A curse on you Ike, Zelda, Lithia… whomever. We need to be falling back soon, I don't think we should die here for naught." Samus yelled over the din of the gunfire. She blasted apart another Ice hound before expelling a spent magazine and slamming home a fresh one. She was about to rack the bolt but saw Wolf break from cover. She knew she couldn't fire the bullets off at him and he was about ready to dash up the stairs. She smiled and kicked about thirty expended shells down the stairs. The result was as comical as it was practical. The founding member of Star Wolf began to lose his footing and a look of uncertainty played across his features as he tried to regain his balance. Nana popped up and tossed a large chunk of ice, slamming into the head of Wolf.
"Stand and fight Samus!" Tobey yelled back at her after he got a chuckle in as he watched Wolf topple backwards head over heels for thirty steps before dragging himself back to cover. "The others will be finished before you know it. Just give them a damned moment." He fired a ten round burst of shells into the charging swarm, each one of his bullets was a kill shot. Like wise, he ran dry and passed the spent clip to Lucas, who loaded a fresh magazine and passed him a full clip. Tobey took it with an appreciative nod and chambered the next round.
"I'm out! I need another magazine." Cherry yelled and expelled her clip. Lucas tossed one over to her, which she caught and began firing again. Tobey grimaced. They were running low on ammo, and the more they blasted back, many times that number came charging at them Tobey had made a mad dash back to his room, which held his personal arsenal of weapons. He brought back two duffle bags full, and they were almost out of assault rifle rounds. They still had shotgun shells, but only a few drums because the twelve gauge shells took up so much room. SMGs and pistols used the same ammunition, but lacked the needed punch for a one shot, one kill. They were living on dwindling time
He could make another run, but the little ones couldn't handle the mule kick of his assault rifle, and he would not want to trust the making the run by themselves alone. He snarled as his gun clicked empty again and passed it to Lucas to reload. He pulled out his revolver and fired. He then smiled as an idea formed in his head as he saw the smoke form from the end of his .44 magnum. He reached under his coat and produced two white phosphorus smoke grenades. He pulled the pin on both of them and tossed both of them downward.
The chokingly thick white smoke soon engulfed the end of the flight of stairs and paused back into the fallen smashers. Tobey gave a nod to Cherry Bomb, who knew what to do. She grabbed the empty duffle bags and ran to his pad in the mansion. Tobey then gave orders for the little ones to take the remaining guns and clips and scatter them out. They looked at him with a weird expression, but nodded when his eyes narrowed. Samus did the same expression but kept on firing, this time with her arm cannon. Tobey finished off the last of his pistol, then kicked up a drum-fed shotgun. He fired off where his gut told him, and the sound of ice breaking under bullets brought a smile to his ear. He fired off fifteen shells, placed the ground down and dash over to the next one on the other side, this time a hand cannon.
He did this to make sure that while in the smoke, the smashers would not have noticed that Cherry was missing from the firing line, and that in fact others may have joined the battle. Saying a silent prayer to God and the elements Tobey hoped the fighting would be over soon. He was almost out of smoke, and soon he would have to engage in melee combat soon. His lips curved into a smile and pulled the trigger again, damn them, he was looking forward to that. He hoped the ammunition would last until then, or else it looked like this was going to be a short venture.
Link swung the Master sword around, slicing along the side of Fenris. The wolf howled in pain and lashed out with dagger like claws. The claws cut through his armor and blood dripped out of the injuries. The Hylian snarled and swung again and again. He had fought wolves before, and even in the form of one. None of them could even come close to comparing to this monster of a beast. Teeth that were sharper then swords, fur that was thicker than and as dense as plated armor and the vitality of the mountain wind. Link himself was exhausted from the fight he had escaped from, but he offered no complaint.
Laughing quietly to himself, he leapt back and felt his back slam against Ralof's. The two were taken back for the briefest of instances and the Nord swung his hammer around, shattering the skull of a lesser giant. Link looked back to Ralof as He notched an explosive arrow to his bow. "Holding up over there?"
The Nord bellowed with laughter, though it was ragged and as tired as he was. "Not working hard enough elf. Sigmund could hold his own in battle, if I was to intervene, he would have to worry about my sorry hide along with that of his wife. I would be more concern with yourself, you fight the jaws of oblivion." Link nodded and fired the arrow off at Fenris. The wolf took the brunt of the explosion and the spell of burned fur, flesh and gunpowder filled the nearby area and Link strained his eyes against the smoke to see if there was a wolf there.
The answer he got was one that leapt out of the smoke with a howl. Link let out a yelp in surprise and raised his arm to shield himself. He felt Fenris bite through his coat and he could feel him gloat. He looked into Link's eyes in surprise as he gnawed on his arm. Link smirked. "What's the matter you poor bastard? Can't get a good taste?" Link thanked the surgeon for installing such a good arm. He strained against the wolf and began to lift Fenris off the ground. He flicked the wolf back and brought his leg up sharply at a one hundred and eighty degrees. Three teeth were suddenly dislodged and spilled out on the ground before Link while Fenris topped backwards. Link flexed his mechanical arm and cracked a small grin.
He popped his neck and grabbed his Master sword again and ran forward, screaming a hard war cry. Fenris only saw a green line charging at him before he felt steel run through his hide and rupture one of his lungs. The End Wolf howled in agony and bashed link across the face, ending the Hylian on his back. Link got up after a moment, and the two stood across from each other, looking at the other to see who was going to attack next. Link held his mechanical hand out to the wolf and beckoned him to come forward and attack. Fenris growled with glee and obliged the Hero of Time. Again there a storm of both fur and steel. Neither one was giving quarter to the other.
Sheik counted out her throwing knifes again for the third time in a minute, trying to be sure she was getting the number again. She swore as the result was the same, she was almost out of throwing knives. She could retrieve her knives from Surtur, but they were in his flesh. To retrieve those was risky enough even without the fact that the bastard was on fire. Ulfric was not far from her , his enchanted axe of endless frost placing him on an even playing field against the flaming sword. Ganondorf was at Ulfric's side and was delivering punishing arcane attacks against Surtur. Sheik picked up another knife and tossed it end over end until it ruptured the flesh of the giant.
The lord of fire howled in agony and turned his balefire gaze upon the blond ninja. In three long strides, he was up close and personal with her. She tried to disappear into a puff of smoke but he grabbed her before she could do such a thing. He tossed her aside as if she was a ragdoll, causing her to fly twelve feet before slamming her back against the walls. She let out a gasp in surprise and tumbled to the ground, falling unto Surtur's awaiting spear.
She howled in pain as her side was impaled and cauterized in seconds of each other another lesser giant grabbed the spear and looked ready to finish her off by pushing it further into her. She then heard a primal yell of rage and saw clad of furs leap high into the air. The giant turned and was met with an axe primed to kill. The axe buried itself in the warm fire giant's flesh. The axe was ripped out and slammed again and again into the side of the neck, eventually severing the thing all together.
Sheik and the spear toppled to the ground as one and so did the headless giant. High King Ulfric came over to her and pulled the spear out of her. She had lost quite a bit of blood and saw that it was beginning to pool all around her. She felt two massive Nordic arms drag her behind some cover. "Don't move, Sheik. You ill only hurt yourself if you do." Ulfric's voice calmed he down, strangely. She never felt that type of a feeling before. Once behind some cover, the Nord reached into his satchel and produced a red elixir. "Drink this, it will help you heal the wounds faster." She nodded and threw her head back, drinking the slightly bitter potion.
Once she finished the bottle. Ulfric took it back and rested one of his hands on her shoulder. "Stay here, your wounds will heal shortly." He rose and began to charge Surtur, who spun around with his own weapon at the ready. "Giant, see me and fight me. See me and DIE!" Ulfric bellowed and lashed out again and again on the giant. Surtur laughed manically and swung the two handed sword around . Sheik watched the exchange and felt fire form in her stomach, as her wounds healed. Ganondorf and Ulfric fought almost as a single individual, not as two separate people. Each hack and cut with Ulfric's axe worked in unison with Ganondorf's warlock punches.
"Sheik, are you ok?" Peach asked as she ran up with Marth and Snake. She nodded, but breathed in sharply as the sudden movement caused her wounds to twist. Snake looked at Surtur and looked disappointed that he wasn't getting in on the action and pulled out (from who knows where he keeps everything) a missile launcher. He fired off four consecutive rockets, each one finding their mark on the Fire Lord. Surtur tried to reach Solid Snake with his blade, but the nimble soldier dodged and avoided all of the incoming attacks. The Mercenary tossed three primed grenades at the giant, easily fitting all of them in such a small blast radius.
Explosions racked the Fire Lord, who roared in pain. He lashed out with his sword. Caught off guard by the sheer ferocity of the explosion, Surtur swung his entire sword around. Ganondorf and Ulfric were casted aside, each one of them with gaping wounds. Sheik sprung into action and ran over to Ulfric, panic lacing her features. The sword got his side good and she rolled him over and over to get the fires out from his fur covered body. She felt his pulse, and noticed that it was beginning to become slower and slower. She took off her cowl and wrapped it around the wound in a despite attempt to stop the bleeding. "Come on, stay with me." She whimpered under her breath.
Ulfric opened up his eyes; their clouded pupils looked up at Sheik and chuckled slightly. "Am I still alive, or am I dead and looking into the face of a beautiful blond angel?" Sheik forced a smile and pulled Ulfric back behind Marth and Peach, who had treated Ganondorf. The evil wizard was too stubborn that he didn't allow a wound like that to slow him down. Sheik placed both of her hands over the bleeding wound in an attempt to slow it down. "Sheik, save your energy for those who need it. Don't waste your time with me."
She shook her head, "Don't say that Ulfric. You are the High King of Skyrim and… someone I care about. I won't let you die.' She whispered some words to the Golden Goddess and asked for help. Ulfric's heart rate was slowing down considerably and Sheik felt her own adrenaline begin to pulse through the veins as she prayed even harder for help. Marth placed his hand on her shoulder and she threw it off, not wanting to let him die.
Ulfric looked up at Sheik and cracked a smile, his teeth colored red with blood. "I know Sheik, and I felt the same about you. You may be in the body of an Elf, but you have the heart and soul of a Nord." Sheik smiled and leaned in with a kiss offered. Ulfric accepted the kiss and the two were unmolested for a second. Each one of them savoring the bittersweet moment.
Sheik then felt the necklace on her neck being pulled and the sound of glass breaking came in between the two. A small blue orb that was on her necklace was shattered and a small fairy came out of the gem and encircled Ulfric, his wounds mending. Though they were not fully healed, he was no longer at deaths door. Sheik ten remembered the healing necklace she was given… rather Zelda was actually, a long time ago. She had completely forgot about it but Ulfric must not have. Ulfric was laughing for a moment and Sheik gave a playful scowl before smacking him over the head. "If you saw a fairy trapped in my necklace, why didn't you say so?"
"And ruin the moment?" He replied while She helped him to his feet. He then became instantly somber and gestured to the battle field ahead of them. Sigmund and Ralof were fighting Thrym and it appeared that the Frost Lord made the mistake of threatening the Dragonborn's wife. The same fury and dedication that Ulfric heard about when Sigmund fought Alduin the World Eater was being applied against the frost giant. Ike and Zelda were weathering the attacks of an darkness empowered Lithia, while Leman loosed his father from the chains with Jormungard reeling from the latest series of attacks made by Leman. Even Link was fighting, and surprisingly winning, against Fenris. "We will talk about this later, now there are enemies to kill." Sheik nodded and the four rejoined the fray.
"All I wanted was to be with you! Can't you see that?" Lithia bellowed and threw her halberd all around, Ike easily parried the massive halberd. He stuck out her free hand and bolts of violet lighting shot out. Zelda used her own magical abilities. She charged the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom. She wrapped her electrified fingers around the Hylian's neck. "Lay down and die, it is the only way."
"Your treasonous ways end here!" Ike bellowed and slammed Ragnell down into the ground, causing fire to explode all around them. Lithia was caught off guard and spun around to face Ike. Zelda slammed her knife into Lithia's arm and the goddess howled in agony. Escaping her grasp, Zelda backed up a few paced before beginning to use her magic to counter Lithia's black lightening assault on Ike and herself. "You are too eager to believe the lies of daemons and deceivers Lithia. They only bring you destruction and ruin."
Lithia spun around with her halberd again and bashed Zelda aside, leaving Ike and herself alone and to each other. Ike cleared out all of the other sounds of battle, focusing solely on Lithia. She swung around with the cackling halberd coated with her perverse new energies. The two had been fighting for so long, even before they were now in solo combat, Ike had began to study her combat methods. He had seen her fight and the two had sparred on multiple occasions. From the way she gripped the weapon, to the way she set her footing, Ike could tell which stance of combat she would place herself in.
He knew that she was a sucker for taking advantages of openings in her opponents defense, though she never tried to create her own. Ike decided to play with that advantage and pushed her back. She swung at him again and ike dug his foot into the ruined carpet and slammed a balled fist into the side of her head. She reeled and he himself charged her. Sword slamming into flesh, Lithia howled in agony and struck at him again. Her halberd dragged across the walls, and she noticed that Ike was pushing her into a corner. If she moved to her left, where there was more room, she would encounter four more opponents.
Metal hissed through the air as Ike, son of Greil, commander of the Greil mercenaries , and smasher pressed his advantage. Lithia lashed out her lightning again , but Ike used Ragnell as a rod to attract the energies, the holy aura around the blessed metal absorbing the corrupting energies. In desperation, Lithia tossed aside her halberd and unsheathed her short sword. While it was quick and agile, she had to first break past the vanguard the Mercenary Commander had created. Ike heard his named called and saw Math tossing him his own sword to shore up his defenses.
Ike grabbed the red leather hilt and after a brief second of familiarizing himself with the weight. Lithia knew that her fate was close to being sealed. Ike carried both a carving sword, and now a shorter slashing and thusting sword. She lashed out with the sword, Ike easily parrying the blade and held it up, exposing her chest. He placed a firm boot in the opening he created and sent her tumbling back. To the trained eye, one might have noticed that her powers were beginning to wean, her blows became much more uncoordinated and random. Ike pressed both o f the swords against her and slammed her against the wall.
A dagger flew into her hand and she was about ready to bring it down on Ike's eye. Ike leapt back and narrowly avoiding contact with the blade. While the blow drew blood, the damage was minimal. "Your feelings for that whore aren't real Ike. She will discard you the second-" She tried to tempt him again, but Ike cut her off.
"THEY ARE REAL TO ME!" He bellowed. Losing what little self control he had left, he attacked with every fiber of his being. Hacking with Ragnell and thrusting with Marth's blade, Ike released a maelstrom of anger. Blades cut through armor, flesh and bone and blood splattered Ike, the wall behind him and Lithia's tattered body as it slumped to the ground. Ike could taste the salty iron life force as it saturated the air all around him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder that caused him to stop. "Ike, its over." Zelda whispered into his ear. Ike paused for a moment and looked around. It was true. Surtur was pinned down by the combind might of Ganondorf's magic, Thor's strength and Sky forged chains. Thrym was a bleeding wreck with Sigmund holding his weapons at the throat, ready to kill at any given moment. Fenris had escaped back to whatever oblivion it belonged to along with the World Serpent. Hel was no where to be seen, but it was likely that she two slithered on back to… well, hell.
Ike turned back to Lithia, "It isn't over while she still breaths." He then looked to her, a smile forming around his blood splattered lips. He held Ragnell to her at the hilt. "You were the one she abused, tricked, and most of all insulted all of this time. I feel as if you deserve the honors." Zelda looked back down on the bleeding temptress. She deserved way worse then a death by the sword, endless pain and torture was what she would deserve.
She turned to Ike, yet kept one eye on Lithia. "Are you sure you want to do that. I'd strap her down and stab nonleathal areas of her body making sure she's awake the entire time. And I'd just love hearing her scream begging me for mercy... Or I'd just beat the living shit out of her. I tend to like to stay out of the dark side of my mind." Ike took one step back from her and Zelda laughed for a moment, "It will be my pleasure Ike." She said as she took Ragnell from his hands.
"Make it a good kill." He said. Zelda nodded and looked down at Lithia. She aimed the claymore, the sword Ike used for as long as she knew him. She lined up the kill, just above the shoulder blades. She drew the heavy sword back and every muscle in her body screamed in anticipation.
"CEASE!" The moment broke like brittle glass as a new force entered the chamber. The burning, stony mind of a warlord, hard as granite, radiating cold fire. It eclipsed all in its wake, a silent inferno of pure will. "By my command put up your weapons." Odin filled the room with the great weight of his presence, his aura the very echo of the runes that adorned his armor. Flanked by Tyr and Freya , the lord of the Gods threw his story gaze across the smashers, and each of them fell to one knee. Ike and Zelda followed suit, Zelda boweing her head in respect for Odin. Ike looked at Odin with an unflinching gaze, quite an accomplishment.
Odin approached Ike and gestured for the others to stand. He looked over his shoulder to Lithia, who laid bleeding out. Zelda could feel the question looming. "You want her dead as much as we do."
Odin nodded, "Yes, but not before she tells us Loki's secrets. "
"You wish to interrogate her?" Snake spoke up from behind him.
Tyr nodded, "We will take her and the Giants to a place far away, where we will question her. Put her on trial for aiding the enemy. Then we will execute them, to show the world, they no longer need to fear them."
Zelda looked back to Lithia and sobbed, "If I let her live, she will haunt us all forever." She raised Ragnell and closed her eyes and brought the sword down. "It ends today!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as she did so. Lithia screamed in agony as Zelda cleaved off her right arm, matching Link's wound. "I let you live, mongrel. I promised I wouldn't listened to my ancestor's spirits, but I knew that if I did that, I was no better then you will ever be. I…Let…You…Live. You will never forget that."
She turned around and Odin nodded to Freya and Tyr. "Get something to hold them." The two nodded and Freya would have to do the giants, as she could no longer stare at her broken daughter. With the power of a though the doors opened and the smashers came with Odin through those open doors along with Sigmund, Alyssa, Ralof, and Thor in tow. When the exited the door, they saw six battered figures catching their breath. It was quite clear that they had been fighting for a while and it was evident they had engaged in hand to hand combat. Tobey looked up and saw Odin and swore colorfully under his breath.
The sight that greeted them at the bottom of the stiars was about thirty or so unconscious smashers along with a lot of ice. Odin approached Tobey. "You certainly have a lot of guts for an elf. Not only to you manage to retrieve the heart of the elements, you manage to slip out of death's embrace and come back to the land of the living. Normally, I would have beaten the brave man down and dragged him by the ear like a child to the afterlife again…" He paused for a second, looking at Cherry's reaction. "However, given the circumstances, I will allow this to slid. You will live out the rest of the years you have, and when I see you again, I'll put you on mead hall arrest." Tobey chuckled along with the god.
The other smashers let out a sigh of relief , but Thor approached Tobey. "A commendable effort, Tobey Sue." There was a snicker coming from Solid Snake and some of the other smashers about Tobey's real last name, but he ignored it. "But answer me this. Why?" He paused as he figured out how exactly to word this. "When the glory was to be had in the final battle, did you immediately opt to take in the defense?"
Tobey looked to Cherry and Samus, as if seeking permission to respond. The nodded and he looked back to Thor. "Because we didn't see it a glorious, Thor. A haughty goddess, three beasts and two towering dumb brutes, where is the challenge in that? Look at your armor." Thor looked down at his pristine suit of armor, then back at Tobey. The shadowrunner had his jacket torn in at least three dozen places, His chest armor was cracked open and he had a deep gouge on the side of his head.
Tobey rose and tapped the suit of armor with a bloody baseball bat, undoubtedly the same one he used to knock out the sentinel and many of the smashers down there once they escaped Jormungard's influence. "Not a scratch on you is there?" Thor opened his mouth as if to respond, but found none. The elf was right. Tobey turned to Cherry Bomb and embraced her passionately. "It's finally over." He sighed with some relief.
The gods nodded and took their leave. All of the smashers stood around the stairs. They looked at the damage all around them. Was it over? The feeling was alien to them, and they couldn't believe it. Was it all worth it, the blood, pain sweat and tears? Zelda kissed Ike on the lips with great passion. Through it all, he had never doubted her. He knew that what he heard and witnessed was only a trick set up by Loki. Others did the same in front of the kids, who made weird faces as they did so.
After a while, Peach looked over the mansion and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, if I recall correctly, the Hands are due to come back tomorrow. We got our work cut out for us."
A few curse words were passed around as the others knew hey had a long night of work ahead of them.
Well, looks like we are almost done. One more chapter and it's the end of the story.
I want to say thanks to all those who read this, namely Purple Mercenary for her constant help through it all. concisponci for her reviews and help. Total Romance Fan for the reviews and criticism. And Demeter16 for her help and reviews.
I hope you all have enjoyed this because I know I have. See you all at the last update.
As always, remember to review!