Chapter 32

Blaze pulled over close to the gated entrance next to Wood Oak City docks. By the time she had arrived, the place felt empty and cold following the rain, plus it was now pitch black outside. Even though there was currently an hour left on the clock until 11pm, Blaze knew that her sister had to be close by with Tim already there. After opening the trunk to Adam's car, she stared down pessimistically whilst delving through its contents in front of her.

Blaze quickly checked the loaded gun she had on her before finding a crow bar hidden underneath some of the junk that Adam had kept in the trunk. "That's more like it," Blaze smiled to herself, holding up the metal weapon.

After locking the vehicle, she proceeded forward until reaching the gated area that she easily climbed over.

In the distance, Blaze could see the lights reflecting off the still night water and stationary cargo boats. But there was no sign of anybody or any of her enemies out in the open ahead of her. So she took the crowbar then started loudly hitting each warehouse door one by one so that anybody around the docks could hear her from a mile away.

"MURPHY! MURPHY I'M HERE!" Blaze yelled at the top of her lungs. The echo of the noise could be felt throughout the entire area.

"Murphy, you asshole! Where the fuck is my sister?!"

Blaze shouted aloud, demanding that he show his cowardly face. "I'm here, I got Washi's record you want and I'm turning myself in. So WHERE IS SHE?!"

After another minute of silence, Blaze was starting to lose her patience.

"Murphy, come out now and stop hiding like a bitch!" She paced forward.

The officer smirked as he finally emerged from one of the corners. "Isn't that what you've been doin' all this time?"

"Where's my sister?" Blaze hatefully snarled.

"She's alive. But first I need that record and I need you to drop the weapon…"

Without hesitation, Blaze threw the crowbar down onto the concrete. It made another echoed loud noise as it hit the ground.

"...And your gun," he insisted.

She stared back at Tim for a moment, pissed off that he realised she had the weapon on her. It was evident that he had somehow kept tabs or had been watching her as soon as she arrived and maybe even on the journey there.

Blaze held onto the gun loose in the air with one hand up before disarming the weapon. She then threw it forward on the ground and far out of the way for her to reach it again.

"Good. Now I'll give you what you want…"

Tim loudly whistled as two other officers who Blaze recognised, Ralphy and Ferroccio, dragged her shaken sister out by each of her arms. Amira's white blouse was blood stained in the middle and her mid length brown hair was stuck to her face. She had duck tape around her mouth and her hands were also taped up in front of her.

Ralphy proceeded to aggressively pull the duck tape off of Amira's mouth.

"BLAZE!" She shouted with tears in her eyes.

"It's ok, everything is going to be ok. Kaiden is safe now…" Blaze tried her best to remain calm, reassuring her sister from a distance.

"Let her go Murphy!" Suddenly a familiar voice appeared behind Blaze as Adam emerged from around the corner with Axel and Cherry accompanying him.

"I wouldn't step any closer if I were you Hunter," Tim threatened whilst more of his officers and thugs appeared onto the scene behind him as back up. They were armed with guns, chains, bats and tasers.

"You understand that I have the authority to arrest you and your men and that I can take away your badge any time, don't you?" Adam pointed his gun forward.

"And you're harbouring a wanted criminal over there who is on the run. You're no better than me, are you Adam?" Tim replied, signalling towards Blaze.

"Just let her go and you can have this piece of shit back!" Axel interrupted, taking the record out of Blaze's hand.

"What the hell are you doing here?! I said I can handle this!" She angrily muttered under her breath at him.

"What does it look like?" Axel shrugged.

"Trouble in paradise then?" Tim smirked.

"Here's your fucking record! Now let my sister go!" Blaze shouted, snatching back the device from Axel's hand then tossing it forward towards one of the officers to catch.

"I'll tell you what you're going to do! First, Hunter over there will drop that gun, then you're going to follow exactly what I say if you want your sister back alive."

"NO!" Amira screamed whilst Tim dragged her by the neck close to his body with his gun pressed against her back. Once her hair was out of her eyes, Blaze could see that her sister had been beaten up worse than she first thought with the bruises on her cheeks and blood stains under her nose and lips.

"Just don't hurt her anymore, ok?" Blaze pleaded with her hands in the air, "I'll do exactly what you want," she agreed.

Adam stubbornly remained there for a second aiming his gun at Tim, but it was no use as they were now outnumbered by police officers pointing their firearms back at them. Finally however, with much reluctance, he lowered his weapon to the ground then kicked it away. "Happy now?!" The SIF officer shouted.

Tim quickly turned his attention back towards his right hand officer, Feroccio.

"Place these around Blaze's wrists before we make the exchange," he ordered, handing his colleague a set of silver handcuffs.

"I'm sure you're going to love what I have in store for you!" Tim smirked.

Blaze replied back without argument whilst holding her hands forward, "just let my sister go.."

"Cuff her before she steps forward! I ain't taking any risks!" Tim barked as Feroccio started to make the 10 metre walk towards Blaze with the handcuffs and taser dangling by his side.

"I have a feeling you're going to really enjoy prison life, Fielding! Wait till you see everything I have in store for you darlin'!" Tim callously smiled at her whilst he remained with a tight grip around Amira's neck.

"Please, just…."

As she stepped forward, Blaze suddenly felt a tug at the back of her arm pulling her back.

"You don't have to do this!" Axel quietly said to her.

She then turned around to face him. "That's my sister! He'l kill her if I don't turn myself in and I ain't leaving that kid without his mother," she shook her head defeatedly whilst staring at the ground between them. Neither of them wanted this, but Blaze didn't have a choice.

"Awww! Don't feel bad about this, old partner!" Tim shouted from a distance at Axel with sarcasm in his tone. "I'll make sure she's taken care of, just like I did when you disappeared all those years ago", he grinned.

Axel hatefully stared back at him, wanting to rip that smile so badly off of Murphy's face.

"Look at me…" Blaze quickly turned Axel's attention back towards her. "I'll be ok".

"Don't do this," Axel worriedly shook his head at her.

"He'l get what's coming to him for everything he's done. They all will, I know it!" She whispered back.

The two of them paused for a moment with their eyes fixated on one another. It was almost as if the last 10 years had never passed by and the feeling in this moment was like a flashback into everything that was laying dormant between them. The pair of fighters had changed physically and mentally, but they were still the same two people with feelings for each other that had never died during that whole time.

As Feroccio continued his approach towards them, Blaze was unexpectedly caught off guard once again. Within a blink of an eye, Axel took her hand then pulled her close towards him. He rested his other hand on the side of her neck and her cheek as he passionately kissed her on the lips for the first time in almost a decade. The others standing around them were stunned at what was happening, and even Blaze didn't have a chance to react or process the situation. The two of them closed their eyes in the middle of the chaos with their lips locked together. He had dominated the kiss which had lasted for less than ten seconds, but Blaze had found herself wanting to stay there for longer, feeling shivers running down her spine.

"Knock it off, it's time to go!" Feroccio interrupted them.

"I'm just saying goodbye to her…" Axel regretfully replied, reluctantly ending the kiss. As Blaze opened her eyes, she quietly held her hands forward for the officer. In doing so, she suddenly felt something sharp by the side of her tongue inside her mouth. It was a metal pin that Axel had discreetly given her to pick the lock. Blaze quickly understood there and then that he had an escape plan, but she wasn't sure how it would all go down.

"On my signal, jump in the water…" Axel whispered in her ear.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Tim aggressively shouted from a distance as Feroccio started to lock the cuffs around Blaze's wrists. "And no more funny business!" Tim hatefully glared at the couple with jealousy in his eyes.

Feroccio then held his gun to Blaze's back as he began to push her forward.

"Move!" At the same time, Tim forced Amira to also step forward from the opposite direction. "If one of you tries anything else, I'll shoot both of them!" Tim shouted with his gaze mainly aimed at Axel who was now standing between Adam and Cherry.

For a brief second, Blaze glanced back at him with an anxious look on her face.

"Keep moving!" Ferroccio insisted.

As the two sisters reached the halfway point, Blaze gave Amira a relieved smile that she was going to be ok. Whilst the two siblings passed one another, Ferroccio held up his taser, pointing it straight at Amira as a warning when she attempted to reach her tied up hands forward to hug her sister. Tears were now flooding down her face with fear and guilt behind Amira's worried eyes. At that moment, she felt helpless. Her little sister had been her hero and protector for most of her life, but now, Blaze was paying the ultimate price in sacrificing herself to save her.

"I'm so sorry…. I love you sis," Amira cried as they passed one other.

Blaze gave her a nod and a light smile, signalling that she was going to be ok and that her sister had nothing to feel guilty about. This was all Tim's and the Syndicate's doing.

"Welcome home darlin'" Tim held out his arms as Blaze approached him with disgust on her face.

On the other side, Adam quickly grabbed hold of Amira as she limped into his arms, shaken and wounded. "Are you ok?" He asked.

She gave him a brief nod, but her attention was behind her where her sister was now standing in the same spot that she was being held in less than a minute ago.

Adam started to feel blood over his palms. "We need to get her to a medic before she bleeds out!" He panicked, noticing a puncture wound under her blouse.

"I'll go with her", Cherry insisted.

"No. The fastest way out of here is with the chopper. You can't fly it!" Adam sighed.

"Then I'll stay here and fight." The teenager said with determination in her eyes. Adam briefly glanced at Blaze in the distance and Axel in front of him, before turning back to face his own daughter. Adam's two oldest friends needed all the help they could get and there was nobody else he would rather Cherry fight alongside if she had to do so. Now came the moment where he had to simply let go and place his trust in Cherry as a fighter.

"Ok," Adam nodded. "But be careful," he replied as he backed away, carrying Amira in his arms and out of danger.

They started to see more helicopters approaching from behind Tim with ropes being lowered to the ground as more precinct officers climbed out. Axel and Cherry were now under attack and would have no choice but to fight.

"Sensei, what do you need me to do?" Cherry looked towards Axel.

"Wait for my signal. Then you'll know what to do…" he gave her an optimistic nod whilst the pair of fighters took their stances.

"Aaaaa!" The two of them then heard a scream in the distance as Tim punched Blaze in the stomach. She fell on the ground to her knees as Tim caught the pin that flew out of her mouth.

"You forget Axel that I used to be your partner in the precinct!" Murphy shouted, holding up the piece of metal in his hand.

"Yeah, used to be…" he replied.

"So I know how you think and I know how she thinks too!" Tim then pulled Blaze back up to standing. "I'm not stupid and I knew this wouldn't be so easy. So, I requested backup…."

By now, four helicopters were hovering above them with their lights shining down over the group. "Take her up!" He ordered, forcing Blaze to walk towards the ladder.

"We can't just stand here and let them take her!" Cherry shouted at Axel who was staring blankly focussed, straight ahead at them "...wait, what are you….?"

Suddenly, two blinding white flames appeared from Axel's fists. He lept in the air, landing on one knee as he slammed his knuckles into the ground below his feet. Several officers looked at one another in horror as the concrete underneath them started to crack.

Blaze immediately crouched down then rotated her body, sweeping Tim down from the back of his legs using her right shin. Still with her hands cuffed, Blaze ran as fast as she could through the helicopter lights towards the edge of the dock. Several gunshots were randomly fired at her, but none of them could stop her from jumping 30 feet down into the dark water below.

"Find her and kill her!" Tim angrily ordered several officers.

As he rose back up to his feet, his team started to see several fireballs projecting towards them like rockets which came out of nowhere. One fire bolt crashed into the blades of the helicopter hovering directly above Tim. It began to spin out of control until it bursted into more flames in mid air. Several more firebolts hit the surrounding cargo crates, causing the whole dock to instantly burn into an inferno. Most of Murphy's officers were now on fire or injured from fallen debris.

"Holy shit! Did you just…" Cherry looked up at Axel with amazement on her face.

"Go and find Blaze and take out any officers by the edge of the docks," he ordered.

Cherry immediately ran towards the side where Blaze just jumped off less than a minute ago. In doing so, she fought off four armed police officers including Feroccio and Ralphy. Cherry was able to drive her guitar straight into the Feroccio's chest, who was three times her weight. She then jumped and spun in the air, locking her legs around Ralphy's neck until he fell unconscious. Shortly after fighting off the last two officers using her speed and agility, Cherry dashed away her guitar to one side, then she dived into the water.

Meanwhile, Axel charged forward with his fists on fire straight over to Tim.

"You're a fucking traitor! I'll burn you alive for this!" Axel promised.

"But I have the whole precinct and the Syndicate in my corner, Stone. You don't stand a chance against me." Tim smirked, wiping the blood away from his lip using his sleeve.

"Why did you do it, huh? You were one of us!" Axel yelled back with anger in his voice.

"You'll never understand. You've always had everything you ever wanted then you threw it all away. You deserve everything you've got coming to you Axel! …. Kill him!" Tim ordered, before his officers started to fire bullets.

Tim then reached for one of the ladders dangling from above. He could see a single pilot waiting in the open cockpit of the helicopter that towered over him.

"Son of a bitch!" Axel hatefully spat, not giving up. The fighter ran forward, somersaulting high in the air to grab onto one of the stabiliser bars at the bottom of the chopper. By now, Tim had already successfully climbed up inside the cockpit just in time, but Axel's weight on one side underneath was causing the vessel to dip at an angle as it struggled to fly higher.

"Radio for Mr Y, we need more backup immediately!" Tim ordered the pilot. "PULL UP!" He demanded.

"I can't, he's dragging us down on one side!" The pilot replied with frustration in his voice.

Axel struggled, gripping on tightly with his arms and legs wrapped around the metal bar whilst the pilot aggressively spun the helicopter around. After 20 seconds, there was a brief moment of silence as the chopper levelled out.

"Do you think he's fallen yet?" The pilot asked, unsure.

As Tim cautiously glanced over the edge, they started to see a red flame forming a hot line underneath them that tore through the floor of the helicopter.

"Shit!" The pilot panicked, "The whole thing is gonna blow!" He shouted whilst the warning lights flashed on.

"Too bad," Tim coldly replied. "I'll see you around…"

"What?!" The pilot answered. From the side, he could see another rope being lowered down. Above them was the wind and noise of another helicopter with Commissioner Bernstein waiting patiently inside for Tim.

"Thank you for your sacrifice," Murphy tapped the old pilot on the shoulder as he reached for the rope.

"Wait, let me come with you!" Before the pilot could finish his sentence, his colleague was gone and was climbing his own way up to safety. The back of the helicopter quickly lit up into a bright flame surrounded by smoke. The helicopter then violently spun out of control whilst dipping its front down towards the ground. As soon as it was low enough, Axel released his grip on the scorching bars. He fell hard then tumbled several feet down a grass hill still within close proximity of the docks but outside of the area. On the way down, debris from the cracking chopper fell on top of him.

Only seconds later, the helicopter crashed into one of the cliffs before it eventually exploded into pieces.

From the water, Cherry panicked in fear of Axel's life as soon as she witnessed the scene.

"Blaze?! Blaze can you hear me?" She shouted, continuing on with her search. It was deeply worrying because the female fighter had jumped into the water after several gunshots, plus her hands were still cuffed so Blaze wouldn't have been able to swim properly.

Suddenly, Cherry spotted a small object floating just under the surface of the water. It reflected the light from the fires in the distance. She decided to swim several metres in the other direction towards it. As the teenager drew in closer, she could see a gold hooped earring.

"BLAZE?!" Cherry shouted, scanning 360 degrees around her with her torch whilst she held tightly onto the earring.

"Here! Help!"

In the distance, she could see Blaze struggling for air. Her cuffed wrists kept hovering above the water whilst her head kept going under.

"I'm coming!" Cherry shouted back as she swam as fast as she could towards Blaze. The young girl used all the strength she had left in her arms to lift Blaze past the surface of the water in order to stop her nose and mouth from drowning. Cherry then swam the two of them backwards towards the edge of the docks to safety.

As soon as the pair were out of the cold water, Cherry found her guitar.

Blaze worriyingly started to cough out the water that she had swallowed. "What are you doing here Cherry?" She asked, struggling to say anything.

"Keep your wrists apart," Cherry advised.

The teenager then aimed the top edge of the guitar forward. A small electrical spark left the tip of the instrument, instantly breaking through the chains that separated Blaze's wrists.

"Thanks kid! You saved my ass," Blaze sighed with relief. The two of them stood still for a moment, shivering and soaked.

"Where are the others?" Blaze asked.

"Dad's taken Amira to hospital and as for Axel, I don't…" Cherry hesitated to finish her sentence as she turned to stare at the flames in the distance.

"I understand. Take these keys and get yourself out of here to safety. There might still be officers or explosions around and they'll arrest you if they find me."

"But…" Cherry froze.

"You've been so brave coming after me and jumping in that water. I don't wanna put you in any more danger. Can you drive?"

"Yeah, Uncle Sammy taught me," Cherry nodded.

"Your dad's car is just outside those gates. Get yourself out of here… now!" Blaze ordered.

She was wounded herself, but Blaze paced forward ahead away from Cherry as fast as she could towards the crashed helicopter site. The flames around her quickly grew more and more intense, as if a full scale war had just taken place on this site. There were barely any survivors around, but for those who were, they were badly injured or burnt due to the flames. All that Blaze could remember before jumping into the water were the shots being fired at her. It was strange because rockets had appeared as fire above her. They flared up in the air from nowhere aiming straight towards Tim and his officers.

Somehow, Blaze knew that Axel was behind all of it, remembering the last words that he said to her about jumping into the water.

Blaze searched high and low through the aftermath, hoping that he was still alive and that the Syndicate and Tim's men hadn't captured him. The flames were scattered around and Blaze knew that she had to find Axel quickly before more officers would have the chance to arrive.

Then, finally past some more of the helicopter debris, Blaze spotted a ripped chequered blue and white shirt on the ground. Beyond that, she could see Axel's body lying still on the ground next to a large rock. His head was bleeding and he had sustained several fractures from the fall, but there were no burns, which was expected due to his powers and immunity to fire. The only evidence of fire were the holes burnt through parts of his white t-shirt.

She anxiously checked his pulse, now fearing the worst. A short sigh of relief came to her face as soon as he started to open his eyes.

"Blaze?... Get out of here….." Axel's words were faint.

"No. I'm getting us out of here, I promise…" She replied determinedly as she placed one of his arms over shoulder.

"But the feds will be here soon, you have to go…" his voice croaked as he coughed out blood.

"I don't care. I'm not leaving you here!"

He gulped, swallowing his own blood as he reached up to gently touch her face. "I don't think I'm gonna make…" Axel's eyes painfully started to close once again as his hand fell back down towards his side.

"No! No, no, no, stay with me…. Please…." Blaze buried her head against his as she held him close.

Suddenly, a bright butterfly flickered past her eye towards the direction behind her. As Blaze glanced up it disappeared, but she could hear the engine of a car revving in the same direction.

"Hold on," Blaze rose up to standing, carefully laying Axel's head back down against the rock before running forward to investigate what was going on.

There, in front of her eyes, she could see Adam's car swerving around.

"OVER HERE! CHERRY!" Blaze swung her hands up high so that the teenager could spot her from afar.

Cherry pulled up abruptly in front of them then she got out of the driver's seat to open the doors.

"Is he gonna….?" The teenager asked with sadness in her voice.

"I don't know yet," Blaze nervously answered as the two of them lifted Axel's body into the back of the car.

"Do you think you can get us to Zan's lab from here?" Blaze pleaded with tears in her eyes as she sat at the back of the car with Axel's head resting against her lap.

"Yeah, I'll get us there," Cherry nodded.

The fact that Cherry wasn't the most experienced driver, underage and that she was speeding as fast as she could was irrelevant to Blaze at that moment. The young girl was one of the team and Blaze trusted her. All that mattered right now was that Axel made it out of here alive. Blaze stayed at the back of the car holding him for the entire 20 minute journey, trying her best to stop the bleeding whilst holding back the tears in her eyes.

"You have to stay with me this time, you hear me? Please don't ever leave me again…"

Her words felt like a distant echo in Axel's ears and he could feel the warmth of her body with her arms wrapped around him. Axel understood what it was like to be on the verge of death. He had felt this very same way the first time he had left for the wilderness before Eru found him. And he had seen what death was the day he found the volcano in his meditative state. Somehow however, Axel needed to stay alive but as the minutes flew by, it all became more and more difficult as he drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes

Thank you for hanging in there and sorry this has taken a while to write, as you can see it was a longer chapter than normal but a lot was going on. This is all just the beginning of the fight that is about to come and the final events leading up to game #4.

So please keep your messages, reviews and support coming in, it really means a lot and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :-).