Chapter Six: The Man in Black
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
The warehouse level was in disarray with movement. Most of the teams sent to the upper levels have yet to return. Drake had heard Mitchell's call for help but ignored it. He was more concerned with his safety and figured he lost too many to hold back whatever was attacking.
Drake and his teams took defensive positions around the pathways leading to the above levels. Everyone was waiting in complete silence. Drake had a hold of his Vindicator rifle, looking around the room. He still needed to figure out who or what was attacking. Was it Eclipse? Blood pack? Aria's people?
He stomped to the comm relay where another man was attempting to work. "Where the hell are our comms?" He screamed at the man. The Batarian voice shuttered back, "I... I don't" Frustrated at the lack of progress; Drake returned to the center of the room when a barrage of thumping sounds echoed throughout the warehouse floor. Explosions followed soon after and began raining death around his soldiers. A man in black emerged from the walkway in front of him, wielding an M-100 Grenade Launcher; The man confidently walked out from behind cover hip firing the weapon. This no-faced man was wearing a harness of steel chains around his torso and, to Drake's utter surprise, seemed to be dragging Mitchel behind him on his back, bound in chains. The man showed little effort in pulling him along.
The man kept firing with complete disregard at the gunfire heading back his way; The men firing quickly became victims to the deadly shrapnel. He kept moving towards Drake, dropped his Grenade launcher, and then pulled out his Viper DMR. He quickly dispatched the three men that tried to stop him with three well-placed shots, *Crack... Crack, Crack.* The men dropped over before getting off their own shots. Drake looked around him in horror, "Everyone's dead." He thought to himself. The man stopped some distance away; Drake dropped behind crates and readied his rifle.
"I've come to make an exchange." The man in black yelled with calm confidence. Drake stayed behind cover; was he all that was attacking? Drake looked behind him, looking for anything or anyone to help him. The man took off his chains and dropped them to the floor as he walked to Drake's left to get a better view. "You have someone I need; if you hand her over now, I won't have to end you." The man spoke.
Drake began to move away from where the man was trying to see him behind the crate. Drake looked at one of the dead bodies and saw it was carrying grenades; he quickly sprang up with his rifle drawn.
He began firing in full auto as he crept toward the grenades. The man reacted by ducking out of the way and behind a crate. Drake kept firing until he bent down, grabbed the belt, and got behind cover again. His adrenaline had fully peaked, and his heart was pumping at an alarming rate.
He hadn't seen combat in some time. Being a local chapter leader was more about credit flow and delegating to his underlings. While he would sometimes join in on more extensive operations, he wasn't ever in any actual harm.
The man sprinted from behind his cover, firing his rifle. Drake hesitated on peeking out as a round glanced off the edge of the crate right above his head, forcing him to recoil back behind his cover. The man continued to move closer, firing every so often in an attempt to keep Drake suppressed. He pulled one of the grenades out and exposed himself as he threw the grenade toward the direction of the gunfire.
The grenade detonated with an ear-piercing bang that echoed off the walls. The explosion also caused a chain reaction with one of the crates, which exploded in a massive fireball. After Drake recovered, he peeked out to see fire and carnage and quickly headed towards the impact with his rifle raised to his shoulder. He climbed onto one of the crates to find the man on the ground, disoriented and trying to get up.
Drake raised his rifle to the man and fired. *Click.* He looked at his rifle and pulled back on the charging handle. He again raised his rifle. *Click.* Frustrated, he threw his rifle aside and jumped to the floor. He gave the man in black a hard right punch as he attempted to stand up.
Drake had dropped him back down to the floor. He stood over him and grabbed his hoodie near his throat, and began punching him in the side of the head. The man grabbed His leg and managed to wrestle him to the ground. As the man appeared to be still dazed from the explosion and being punched repeatedly in the face, Drake was able to gain the upper hand again and roll over on top of him. He continued to drop his fists into his face, and the man attempted to grab his arms. He did manage to get ahold of his arms, and they struggled for a short time. The man forced Drake's body off his stomach and onto his chest by arching his back and then somehow managed to get his boot in front of Drake's face. This gave the man the leverage he needed to pull him off of him.
The man was slow to get up and had allowed Drake to recover. He then charged and forced him into the set of crates behind him. Taking the wind out of the man and trapping him in a corner. The man resisted but was punched in the face from the side. He never let go of the man and head-butted him. This caused the man to stumble onto a small crate, pulling them down. Again, on top of the man, Drake grabbed his knife from his leg holster and forced it against his throat. "Let's see who you are," he said as he pulled the man's cloth mask off.
He didn't recognize the bloodied and bruised human. "Who the fuck are you!" he panted. "Fuck... you." The man strained as blood dripped from his lip. Drake removed the knife in his left hand from the man's throat. He was going to make this nobody pay for what he did. His men, for Mitchell, and to the Blue Suns. The sadistic rage that came over him at the moment, ending it quickly, would be too easy an ending for this human. He lowered the knife to the man's side and pushed it into him. Nice and slow. He could feel the pressure of skin fighting against the blade. Then it gave way as it pierced him, allowing the knife to pass deeper. The man's eyes quickly opened wide as his mouth opened in shock.
The man immediately tensed up and grabbed Drake's collar; his other hand dropped in a vain attempt to stop the knife. "Did you even know who you were dealing with?" He asked angrily. "Did you really think you'd just be able to waltz in and be the Hero!" He began to twist the knife slowly. The man's shocked expression turned into a pained smile. "You. forgot." The man paused his wet, gravelly pained response swallowing the blood in his mouth. "I still have. a gun." Three muffled bangs came from his left side; it felt like three intense bug bites. He quickly reacted, releasing his hand off the knife and rolling off of him. He quickly stood up in a panic.
The pain quickly took over his senses. Looked down at his hand that was just on his wounds, covered in blue blood. Drake began to limp away from the man. He didn't feel well; his insides felt like they had just been put into a blender; he also noticed the right side of his armor was torn open. The rounds went cleanly through him and out his other side. The man slowly stood up, still with the knife at his side. Drake was squarely focused on his injuries, struggling to breathe. He could feel his life leaving as he became cold, his limp turning into a stagger. The man approached him from behind, grabbed him, and turned him around. "Where is she?" he demanded.
Without thought and hoping to be spared, Drake pointed to the warehouse's end. The man shoved him to the ground and stumbled away, holding onto his wound. He had fallen to the floor; hearing began to fail and turned into a ringing tone. His vision began to fade and pass. He realized this was the end and attempted to struggle against it. The energy in his limbs melted away, and a warm feeling soon overtook him.
Velpia was still trapped in the office, bound to a chair in the center of the small room; she heard a massive series of explosions followed by some gunfire. It seemed to be over in a matter of a few minutes. She didn't know what was happening. If the wrong group was attacking the Blue Suns, they might not take mercy on her. Her thoughts were broken when she heard footsteps approaching the door, then stopped. The door split open, and to her utter surprise, she saw a bloodied and beaten Martin. He slowly stumbled over to her without a word breathing heavily. She noticed his knife sticking out of his side. "Martin! What..." She paused mid-sentence; she couldn't understand how he got in. He managed to get off her restraints. She quickly pushed him up against the wall, nearly knocking him over. Focusing on the knife wound.
"Do you trust me?" She asked.
Velpia put her hand on the knife. Martin quickly stopped her. "Don't pull it out; I'll bleed out." He painfully responded. "Maybe in your day, now move." She demanded. She quickly pulled the knife out of his wound; Martin's entire body tensed in pain and took his breath away. He grabbed her arm tightly by impulse. She activated her Omni tool and administered a hefty dose of Medi-gel. It stopped the bleeding, but he'd still need to see a doctor soon, but he had time. She backed away from him. His breathing slowed, and he leaned more comfortably against the wall. "Are you alright?" She implored.
"Yeah, just peachy." she could tell from the pained expression on his face he wasn't, in fact, "peachy." She took to his injured side and put his arm over her. "Let's get you out of here."