Chapter 33

"Cherry! What the…" Adam ran forward with urgency on his face whilst his daughter pulled up outside of Zan's lab.

Blaze was next to emerge from the car she had stolen from Adam. Her eyes were red and puffy whilst her hair was damp and wavy. She struggled, slowly pacing forward with Axel's arm draped over her shoulder as she carried him towards the door.

"Hey, I'm here" Adam ran over to her, placing Axel's other arm over his own shoulder. The two of them carried him together all the way into the building. Floyd was the next person to come to their aid, taking Axel's arm off of Blaze's shoulder.

"You and the Doctor have to save him! Please, he's barely breathing…" Blaze pleaded with tears running down her cheeks.

"We'll do everything we can, ok?" Floyd calmly nodded at her.

Without hesitation, he and Adam carried Axel into another room set up with emergency equipment all around. Before the doors shut, Blaze could see between the door and its frame a hospital bed inside the room, as well as an oxygen mask that was placed over Axel's face.

As she stepped forward, she felt Adam pulling her hand back. "No, just wait a while. Let them do what they have to do. He's in the best place right now," he reassured her, gently placing one hand on Blaze's shoulder. Blaze couldn't help but stare at the closed room with fear on her face.

"Trust me, he'll be ok. Axel's the best fighter I know…."

"I hope you're right," Blaze sighed. "It was pretty bad back there in the car. I tried to stop the bleeding but…"

"It's ok. He's made it this far hasn't he? I know he's hanging in there, just be patient".

"Ok," quietly Blaze nodded, understanding that there was nothing else she could do right now. "How's Mira holding up?" She asked, feeling overwhelmed.

Adam nodded,"much better than when we got here. She had a stab wound to her side that was causing the bleeding, but she'l be ok eventually."

"Thank you for saving her life", Blaze exhaled with relief.

"No, you were the one who saved your sister's life. I just bought her here. Wanna see her?"

"Yeah," Blaze gratefully replied.

The two of them quietly opened the door to another room opposite the larger lab where Floyd and Zan were operating on Axel. This room was silent however, with Amira peacefully sleeping on the bed but still hooked up to a ventilator. Cherry had recently taken over sitting by her side when Adam was busy helping to move Axel.

As soon as the teenage fighter saw her father and Blaze, she immediately rose up to stand when they walked in. "I'll give you guys some privacy…."

At almost midnight and following the fight, Cherry now looked exhausted and drained.

Adam gently placed one arm around her shoulders. "Take Floyd's room upstairs for a few hours. Go and get some rest, you've had a long day".

Cherry nodded in agreement, yawning down at the ground. "Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise you'll let me know if Sensei…" she hesitated.

She didn't want to say it out loud, but everyone in the room understood what she was thinking. Axel was in a critical state and was fighting for his life.

There was a brief, anxious moment of silence between the three of them. Cherry then worriedly stepped forward, handing over to Adam his car keys. "I'm sorry about your car, but I think it's still in one piece…"

He stared back at her with the same hazel brown eyes, reassuring her that he wasn't angry at all, giving her a warm smile. "It's ok. Don't worry about it."

Without saying anything else, Cherry quietly left to go and take some rest.

"She's a good fighter you know, just like her dad." Blaze half heartedly smiled. "The girl saved me from drowning and then she came back for us when I told her to leave."

"That's Cherry alright, never listening to instructions," Adam laughed.

"You should be proud of her."

"I am," Adam nodded. "Speaking of family, I'll give you some alone time with your sister now. She's asleep off the meds, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything on Axel."

"Thanks," Blaze replied as she sat down next to the bed.

The two fighters paused for a moment but were alarmed as soon as they heard loud knocking on the front door.

"Wait here. If they followed the car, they would have found us." Adam cautiously instructed.

Blaze however, ignored him then followed her old precinct partner towards the door. At that point, Floyd and Zan were too busy in the other room trying to keep Axel alive, whilst Cherry was upstairs resting.

"We'll do what we have to do in order to stop them", Blaze nodded whilst Adam slowly approached the front secured doors.

"Police! Open up before we break down this door! We have a warrant!"

"Shit," Adam muttered under his breath with annoyance.

"It's ok," Blaze whispered. "I'd rather they come and arrest me quietly without busting this whole place to pieces". She briefly looked back towards the lab door leading to where Axel was being treated.

Adam closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself, unsure about even opening the door.

"Go on, open it." Blaze insisted.

The blinding lights from the police cars immediately shone over Adam's eyes. The first person he recognised was the tall and broad Commissioner Bernstein, dressed in the same plain white shirt, black suspenders, tie and pants.

"Is Murphy and his team with you?" Adam questioned.

"No. We're here to arrest Fielding only. Then you can go about your own business…" his old boss held up a familiar looking document appearing to be an arrest warrant.

"I can't let you do that," Adam shook his head.

"Don't," Blaze softly said as she stepped forward, volunteering to go with them without any more trouble.

The Commissioner suddenly felt a sense of relief after the battle he had witnessed earlier and the officers he had lost to injury or death. He knew that someone had to take the wrap for Mr X's death and finally, his solution for forcing the twins to back away was standing right in front of him.

"Maybe we can all come to some sort of arrangement about a kinder death penalty for you when the trial is over. What do you think?" His eyes darted towards Blaze.

"Do what you want to me. Just leave the rest of my friends, my sister and my nephew out of all this from now on".

"I can assure you that no harm will come to them after tonight from us or from the Syndicate," Bernstein agreed. One of his officers immediately stepped forward to make the arrest.

Adam however reacted, wedging himself between the officer and Blaze whilst he stood blocking the doorway.

"Move away Hunter. Or I'll be forced to take away your gun and your badge!"

"No! Neither you, nor your pussy group of officers here will ever dare to challenge me to a fight! You know that would be serious mistake", Adam snarled.

"Very well." The Commissioner bobbed his head. He then lept forward his index finger in the air with a whistle, gesturing towards one of the parked police cars. What Adam witnessed next left him feeling astounded when he saw the officer who stepped forward into the light following Bernstein's orders.

"Estel? What are you doing here?" His jaw dropped in complete shock as he stumbled on his words.

"Officer Aguirre, arrest her. And if Hunter continues to remain a problem, you know what to do," Bernstein barked.

The blond officer coldly charged into the doorway past Adam without giving him a second of eye contact. "Blaze Fielding, I'm charging you with 64 counts of vigilantism, including the murder of Senator Don Xanthos aka Mr X. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say and…"

Suddenly, Estel's arrest speech was brought to a halt as Adam aggressively perched himself between her and Blaze.

"Officer Hunter, I'd suggest you step aside right now and let me do my job!"

"Your job? Is that what is all is? You and I had something so good once. I don't know what happened to you but now you're working for this lunatic?!" Adam frowned with disappointment. "Bernstein, his officers stand against everything you've ever believed in! Everything that we believe in!" Adam shouted.

"Sir, I've ordered you to step aside. It's for your own good…." Estel glared back blankly at Adam as if he was just another citizen. All the memories she ever shared with him, his family and friends may as well have never existed.

"Then you know what? Arrest me too then!" Adam insisted.

"The warrant is for Blaze Fielding only. The twins need justice served one way or another for their father's killer…"

"JUSTICE?!" Adam yelled with sarcasm. He then threw his police badge and gun down on the ground, holding out his own arms in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"You know what? If you have to arrest Blaze for being a vigilante and taking back justice for this city, then you'd better arrest me too."

"Adam, I…" Estel shamefully glanced down with hesitation in her voice.

"And you might as well arrest the rest of us too. I mean we're all vigilantes right? That includes my daughter, who you've known since she was four years old. And whilst you're here, Zan and Floyd are over there in that room just trying to save another life. I'm sure they're high on the Syndicate's wanted list too. Plus don't forget when you bust down that door to also arrest Stone! That's if he's still even breathing!"

Estel froze there for a moment with her gun and cuffs shaking in her hands.

"If you take Blaze away, you take all of us!...GO ON! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Adam yelled impatiently at her.

Without doing anymore, Estel sheepishly turned around to face Bernstein and her team of officers waiting outside. She sighed before she spoke out. "This warrant doesn't justify Fielding's or any arrests on these premises. I can see it was signed off by Tim Murphy, who was once personally involved and in a relationship with the accused. I would suggest that in order for a judge to even consider taking this to trial, we should come back on another day when we have gathered enough evidence…."

Bernstein glared back with disappointment in his eyes. But Estel was right, the warrant they had wasn't sufficient enough to bring this case to a court of law based on how his team went about it. "You're the expert, Aguirre," Bernstein casually shrugged. "I'll see you around Hunter", he promised as he signalled for his officers to leave. Without turning around to say another word to Adam or Blaze, Estel graciously walked forward with her back towards them, following her officers out.

"Next time you won't be so lucky, Hunter". Another fed who they knew by the name of Barney remarked, being the last of them to step into a police car.

Once they were all gone, Blaze took a deep breath as her pulse was still elevated.

"What the hell were you thinking?" She asked Adam with concern in her voice.

"Mr X's death and everything that's happened wasn't just your responsibility. It was all of ours…."

"What about your job? And the SIF?"

Adam shook his head regretfully. "I should have done this a long time ago. After the stunt the feds pulled tonight along with everything the Syndicate have done to you, to me, and to Axel, this means war!" Adam promised.

"Adam, are you even listening to yourself? This is more than just you and me. It's Cherry, it's Sammy…"

"Nah, they've been crossing the line for far too long!"

"But we can't beat them! Don't you think I've tried already?!" Blaze shrugged defeatedly.

"It's different this time, we're all here."

"No, Adam. Fighting them now is no use. Look at where they've got us! Our team are down!"

"Axel will fight this, I know it. And Max is on the road to recovery. I should have listened to you a long time ago, but instead I had my head up my ass. We brought down the Syndicate ten years ago as vigilantes, and we'll do it all over again!"

"BUT I'M DONE FIGHTING!" Blaze shouted back.

"What are you gonna do huh? Turn yourself in and give up on your life?!"

"If it means it's for the greater good for everyone else, then yes." Blaze turned around to walk away.

"If you follow those feds and you walk out that door, you'll never see justice again. For yourself, for Axel, for our team or for that baby! Next time, it could be any of us lying almost dead in that car park. If you walk away now, everything you've been through over the last ten years would have been for nothing!"

Blaze abruptly halted in her tracks, standing frozen in front of the door as she took a deep breath.

"Think about it Blaze. You're a fighter! We all are, and I swear to you I'll do whatever it takes! Because if we don't, then Cherry, Kaiden and the rest of the next generation will suffer as a consequence of us giving up the fight!"

Blaze slowly turned around to face her old friend. She took a moment, staring down at the ground whilst softly nodding her head. Adam was right and nothing was ever going to change unless they changed it.

"Ok," the two of them locked eyes together. "But we'll fight as a team from now on like we used to. That's the only way we can win".

"Agreed. With us resisting arrest tonight, the twins are gonna strike back at us another way as soon as they can. We need to be ready for what's coming. Are you in?"

"I'm in," Blaze nodded.

1am.

Mr and Ms Y soulessly sat in two chairs in front of their father's old desk whilst Commissioner Bernstein entered their office on the 51st floor of Y-Tower.

"Commissioner. I am disappointed that our father's killer is not in your custody as we speak" Ms Y folded her arms, welcoming the police official with a deathly stare.

"There was an issue with the warrant signed off for Fielding. We will rectify it as soon as possible…"

"Fielding?!" Mr Y laughed, surprised. "I was under the assumption that Stone was the one who killed our father. The knife contained his prints, did they not?" The young man cocked his head to one side.

"Yes but, my sources have notified me that it was Blaze."

Mr Y couldn't help but heckle to himself.

"What? You underestimate a woman, just like father did. That was his downfall and it will be yours if you're not careful," Ms Y snarled at her brother.

"I don't care which one of them did it! They all deserve to die and you and your team of law enforcement are going to make it happen!" Mr Y yelled.

"It isn't that simple…"

The young man instantly lost his temper, slamming one fist into the middle of the desk. "SIMPLE?!... Commissioner, my sister might be able to put up with your shit, but I am starting to lose my patience and faith in you. I want the original three at least dead and buried. I don't give a fuck how you go about it or what laws or bureaucracy you have to break! The team responsible for my father's death must die! Follow my orders Commissioner or next time you show your face around here, you won't be leaving this place alive!"

"Erm…" The Commissioner shook nervously for a moment.

"What must you say?" Ms Y asked, irritated by his presence.

"Er…..I think I've found a solution…. a weakness even, and a way we can easily lure them into a trap. And it doesn't have a single bit of paperwork or law enforcement attached to it…."

"We can't just send our fighters in to kill them! You forget that it's not so easy, especially with some of their supernatural abilities," Ms Y interrupted.

"Right now, they're weak with Axel dead or incapable of fighting, so we have to act fast. Now I'm not talking about arrests, a full scale fight or doing anything illegal… well technically speaking."

"What did you have in mind then?" She asked.

"What I had in mind is the best solution that will suit all of us without breaking the law and without me losing any more of our officers," Bernstein explained.

Mr Y raised one eyebrow as he sat back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other with his cheekbone tilted and resting against his closed fist. "Fire away!... I'm listening…."

Author's Note

So this chapter marked the beginning of the team becoming reunited together after 10 years of being apart. I also wanted to put a spin on this chapter when it came to Estel. Even though she is an officer with good intentions, she does start off as one of the baddies in the game, so I wanted to highlight a slight betrayal from her, even though she had already appeared as an ally previously.

The last part also paid homage to Mr X, describing how he would sit in his chair. Even though they are different enemies, there are many similarities between him and his son.

The next chapter is going to be quite exciting with two major developments in the story, so I hope you enjoyed this one :-).