CHAPTER 35: PURSUE THE ENEMY

A Shocksurge flew through the air over an expansive forest. Aboard the aircraft, Parish was the only one fully awake and conscious. He sat in a seat against the wall, staring blankly in front of him. Incapacitated soldiers were spread out across the fuselage, some vaguely stirring, most entirely unconscious. Tirrell sat slumped against a storage container, his head looking like it might break off eventually. Parish observed Tirrell's still form, and his eyes narrowed as he began to wake.

The engines of the Shocksurge shifted, and Parish looked around as the vehicle decelerated. The aircraft approached a tall cliff face that rose over the landscape, and the rock opened to admit the Shocksurge into a large hangar. The rock-shaped door swung closed and sealed, disguising itself once more while Horizon sat perched in the trees immediately behind it.

The Shocksurge lowered itself onto a dock, and as the engines died, the loading doors opened. Parish stepped out, and he made way for the medical team that came rushing onto the aircraft to see to the wounded battalion of soldiers. Parish didn't speak a word to anyone, and when the medical team attempted to check him for injuries, he shrugged them off. He handed his assault rifle to the person that came over to check in their weapons. While no one was looking, he grabbed a pistol that was sitting on a table and walked away. He moved to the exit of the hangar and entered a long, dim corridor that led to Horizon.

A few minutes after he left, Tirrell stumbled out of the Shocksurge, looking out at the hangar. He looked slightly baffled, yet he struggled to comprehend much through the dizziness inflicted by his injuries.

"Hey," he said to the medical officer trying desperately to administer first aid, "what happened? Where is Parish?"

Six hours later, Parish walked slowly through a corridor on the top floor of Horizon. His face was set, stern, stagnant. There was no one in sight, and yet Parish operated seemingly with the intent of no one noticing him. He made it to the end of the corridor, where he faced a dark-gray double door. Parish placed his hand on the biometric reader next to the door handle, and a scanner over the door took in his visage. The door unlocked, slowly swinging open to allow Parish's entry.

He looked around, taking in everything about his office. He had only assumed this post four days ago. As Director of Silent Arm, it was his job to occupy this office while overseeing the operation against the insurgency. However, even standing in here now, he felt like he was on a foreign planet. Everything felt strange to him–the dark-brown desk topped with a laptop and a desktop computer; the cabinet in the corner that held several pistols and rifles developed with the advanced technology that gave them this base; the wall lined floor to ceiling and side to side with hard drives whose information Parish hadn't even begun to digest.

A quick, loud beep beep echoed through the room, and Parish pressed a button on his desk that triggered the door to his office to open. Tirrell stalked in, followed by Sevak.

"I appreciate you using more conventional ways of entering my office," Parish said to Sevak.

Parish's eyes shifted to Tirrell, who gave him a sour grimace.

"There appears to be something you'd like to discuss," Sevak stated, maintaining her impenetrably calm disposition. "What seems to be the problem?"

Parish didn't look at either her or Tirrell. He started pacing slowly around the office, avoiding eye contact. "You know, Commander Tirrell may have his opinions on how things are done, but he's a good soldier. He follows orders, and he isn't one to let his personal feelings get in the way of his duty."

Sevak smirked, and Tirrell rested his hand on the pistol at his thigh.

"So, I really had to wonder why he went directly against my no-kill command and moved to put down the insurgents that we so desperately needed to capture alive. We needed them to talk, we needed them to give us information on what their motives and plans were. Or maybe that's just what I thought the goal was."

Parish looked mutinously at Sevak, who didn't so much as twitch. "I may have kept my mouth closed, but I always knew where your allegiance was," Parish said to Sevak. "I just blinded myself into thinking that the insurgents were lying to me about the Spatial Hunters. They were the bad guys, they were the ones that were attacking our good cities and endangering the lives of Americans across the nation."

Tirrell's body continued to tense, but Sevak gave no reaction.

"I guess I was just so thankful to have been given a path forward, I paid no attention to why you popped up out of nowhere and so graciously offered your services. What a damn fool I was."

"Parish," Tirrell grunted, "I recommend you stand your ass down."

"I've got to say, Tirrell, I never took you for a cougar hunter," Parish stated.

Tirrell drew his pistol and immediately opened fire on Parish. Parish ducked down, allowing the gunfire to punch holes in the wall behind his desk. Parish pulled out his own gun and fired on Tirrell. Electric blue lines lit up across Tirrell's body armor, and an energy shield formed that intercepted Parish's gunfire.

"I assume I'm authorized to hand it to this asshole?" Tirrell asked Sevak while taking a step towards Parish.

"He has outlived his usefulness," Sevak confirmed.

Tirrell took aim, but before he could fire, Parish pulled from his back pocket three white marbles. He tossed them at the ground between them, and the marbles unleashed a blinding flash of white light while emitting an almighty Boom!

"What the hell?" Tirrell screamed, shielding his eyes.

The flash died, and Tirrell looked around to see that Parish had disappeared.

"What a pissant," Tirrell growled.

"Pursue him," Sevak ordered. "Do not let him leave this facility."

Tirrell nodded, and he hurtled out of Parish's office.

Parish ran down a flight of stairs at full speed, and he continuously looked up the stairwell to check for followers. As he made it four floors down, Tirrell stuck his head over the railing from the top floor. He spotted Parish fleeing and aimed his pistol down. Several shots were fired at Parish, who was able to avoid them before returning fire on Tirrell. Tirrell backed out of sight to avoid the gunfire, and he pulled a grenade from his waist.

Tirrell lobbed the grenade over the stair railing to allow it to plummet down. Parish looked up, saw what was happening, and as his eyes widened in horror, he dove down. The grenade detonated, letting off a blast that rocked the stairwell. Debris rained down across the area, and Parish lay on the ground, covering his head with his hands as metal shards cascaded over him. As the chaos subsided, an alarm went out across Horizon while red flashes bathed the facility. Parish quickly returned to his feet and aimed his pistol.

"Come on, Parish!" Tirrell shouted, his voice echoing around the stairwell. "You know you were never a fighter! Quit making this hard on both of us and come out!"

Parish didn't respond, and he looked above him to see that Tirrell was out of sight. Parish ran down the stairs again, keeping his gun ready for any interference. Tirrell started running down the stairs after him, and he was unable to get a clear shot as Parish made his way towards the bottom floor. Parish was ten feet away from the stairwell exit, and Tirrell took aim and opened fire. A bullet hit Parish in the arm, causing him to grunt in pain as blood spattered across the floor.

Undeterred, Parish kicked the stairwell door open and threw himself through it. Horizon was in a full upswing of activity following the blast of the grenade. Soldiers were mobilizing, support workers were enacting safety protocols.

"Sir!" addressed one of the soldiers to Parish when she saw him. "What is happening?"

Parish ignored her, shooting past her and leaving her to look after him flabbergasted. Tirrell erupted out of the stairwell, looking around for Parish.

"Security!" Tirrell barked into his comms device, "find me Parish!"

A hesitant voice on the other end of his ear piece said, "Uh, he's heading towards the garage, sir."

Tirrell's eyes slowly widened in horrified comprehension. "Lock down the garage!" he ordered furiously. "Do not let anybody take a vehicle out of here!"

Tirrell continued running in pursuit of Parish, leaving the people around him with little idea of what to do.

Parish arrived at a door and placed his handprint on the biometric reader. The reader flashed red and beeped disapprovingly, remaining quite locked.

"Override!" Parish commanded.

The door flashed green and unlocked, and Parish dove into the room beyond. It was an enormous garage, not unlike the hangar where the Shocksurges were kept. However, in here resided a fleet of dark-gray sedans as well as a series of vehicles that resembled motorcycles. These were black in color, having two wheels and a thin, sleek design. Parish closed the door and swung the butt of his gun into the biometric reader, causing the computer that controlled the lock to shut down.

Within seconds, angry shouting came from the other side of the door, accompanied by heavy banging, but Parish ignored this. He turned to the garage at large, and he pressed a button on the wall. The massive garage door that led outside refused to budge.

"Override!" Parish ordered again.

This time, the garage refused to comply, and Parish exhaled in frustration. A crackling sound made him look around, and he saw a blowtorch slowly making its way through the door into Horizon.

Parish thought quickly, taking inventory of everything that was in the garage with him. This wasn't like the hangar; it wasn't a deployment hub where people could gather all the resources they needed for an assignment. There were no armaments or ordnance in here. The only weapon Parish had of any kind was his pistol. He glanced back at the door to Horizon and saw that the people trying to pry the door open were making slow but steady progress. Parish pressed another button on the wall, and all of the vehicles in the garage turned on.

As quickly as he could, Parish situated all of the sedans in a hodgepodge pile against the garage door. There were about twenty in all, and as soon as he was finished with this, Parish took aim at the garage ceiling. He fired a shot, hitting a pipe that burst open and poured a green fluid all over the vehicles. Parish took another shot, hitting some cables and sending electricity streaming out across the ceiling. The electricity mixed with the fluid still pouring out of the pipe and lit ablaze.

The fire spread quickly across the ceiling, catalyzed by the fluid, and the cars ignited as well. As heat and fire built up, Parish fired three more shots. The gunfire hit the point where the electricity met the fire, and a ground-shaking explosion broke, tearing through the ceiling and sending enormous chunks of debris raining down. The blowtorch finished burning through the door to Horizon, and it was thrown open as Tirrell and two other soldiers came in. Tirrell looked, his eyes widening in horror just as a massive chunk of metal and concrete dropped down and landed on the burning cars.

The chain reaction of explosions sucked the oxygen out of the garage, and Parish dove down as debris was thrown across the entire room. Tirrell and his men went for cover as well, and the entire garage quaked as the garage door was torn open. Tirrell and his men were buffeted by the explosion, but Parish shot back to his feet and got onto a motorcycle. Tirrell opened fire on him, but the motorcycle sped out of the way, accelerating with the use of a thruster at the back.

"No!" Tirrell screamed.

The entire garage was in ruins, with fiery light shining across the construct, and Parish weaved in and out of the piles of debris and falling rubble before hurtling out of the garage.

"Sir?" one of the soldiers addressed.

"Stay here!" Tirrell ordered.

Without further word, Tirrell ran over to one of the other motorcycles, pulling it from laying on its side, and he tore out of the garage after Parish.

Parish made his way through the dense forest surrounding Horizon. Within a few minutes he was out of sight of the facility, but the thick foliage forced him to move slowly as he worked his way through. He pressed a button on the motorcycle's command console, pulling up a virtual map of the surrounding area. A yellow blip in the center signified his position, while a blinking red blip behind him moved in tandem with his position.

Parish looked over his shoulder, and while he saw no signs of his pursuer, he quickened his pace through the forest.

Tirrell, meanwhile, gave little credence towards the trees and brush in his path, speeding around them with little regard for his own safety. He used his own radar to track Parish's trek through the forest, and he pressed another button on his command console.

"Come on, Parish," Tirrell said through his communicator. "Don't be like this."

"I don't get you, Tirrell," Parish stated. "What could you possibly hope to gain by being Sevak's lapdog?"

"Well, why don't you slow down, and we can talk about it," Tirrell replied with a sadistic grin.

Parish ignored him, and he continued to push his way through the forest.

United States Secretary of Defense Colton Lazar walked slowly through the main forum of Horizon, looking around at the aftermath of Parish's and Tirrell's conflict.

"I am quite curious," Lazar said in a raised voice to the crowd of people watching him. "I would quite like to know what exactly happened."

"S-Sir."

Lazar looked around to see the woman who had encountered Parish during his escape. She looked nervous and had to put a lot of effort into meeting Lazar's eyes.

"We're not really sure what happened. We haven't gotten any information on what went down."

"Well I would love to know all the information you do have," Lazar responded.

"All…all anyone has been able to confirm is that Commander Tirrell was pursuing Director Parish. Director Parish barricaded himself in the garage before blowing it to hell to get past the lockdown."

Lazar gave her a baffled expression. "Okay, and would you care to explain why a dedicated, decorated military officer would wage an attack on the division I put him in charge of, risking the lives of everyone under his command?"

"I'm sorry, sir…but I really don't know."

Lazar's eyes narrowed, and after a moment of consideration, he nodded. "What's the extent of the damage?"

"There are two central points of damage," the soldier reported. "A grenade was detonated in stairwell 4, and then obviously the ground vehicle garage is basically a complete loss."

"And what about the aircraft hangar?" Lazar asked.

"Undamaged, as far as we can tell," the soldier reported.

Lazar nodded again, and he asked, "Have Commander Tirrell or Director Parish reported in?"

The soldier shook her head.

"Understood. Thank you for your report. Assistant Director Payne will have point on cleanup and damage intake," Lazar informed her.

"Okay, but what about the Director and Commander?" the soldier asked. "Should a team be sent out after them?"

"No," Lazar answered. "I will handle that situation. You just focus on getting Horizon back to operational standards."

Parish made it to the edge of the forest, and he rode out onto a small road, driving full speed across the landscape. As he drove, he looked around on both sides of him for signs of Tirrell. He consulted his map and confirmed that Tirrell wasn't within range of his motorcycle's radar.

Just as Parish started to relax, a projectile surging with electricity shot out of the trees at him. Parish swerved to try and avoid it, but the projectile crashed into his motorcycle and knocked it over. A sphere of energy lit up around Parish and his vehicle, and while the motorcycle rolled across the pavement, the forcefield kept him relatively unharmed. As the wrecked motorcycle came to a rest, Parish came to a knee as Tirrell shot out of the trees. He came at Parish while firing his pistol, and Parish ducked behind the wreckage of his motorcycle to defend himself.

Parish pulled his pistol and fired back against Tirrell, but his motorcycle emitted its own forcefield that defended him. The forcefield disappeared, and Tirrell climbed down from his motorcycle with his pistol raised. He took aim on Parish's position as Parish lowered himself further behind his motorcycle. Tirrell came around the motorcycle, and Parish leapt out at him, swinging the butt of his gun. Tirrell fired a shot while grunting in surprise, but the bullet missed as Parish used his gun to knock Tirrell's out of his hand.

Parish swung his fist at Tirrell, who blocked it with his hand and punched Parish in the gut. Parish was stunned by the strike, and Tirrell punched him in the jaw and knocked him down. Tirrell tried to aim his gun, but Parish fired on him from the ground, forcing him to stumble back. Parish shot to his feet and ran back into the trees, out of sight as Tirrell looked after him.

Tirrell scowled at the spot where Parish's back had vanished in the shadow of the trees, and he walked forward in pursuit.

Parish moved quickly through the trees, and he stumbled over a large tree root and just barely managed to keep on his feet. He looked around, ducking down just as two shots hit trees near him. Tirrell took aim with his pistol while walking steadily towards Parish, and Parish turned and ran laterally through the trees.

"Dammit! Come on!" Tirrell growled as he ran after him.

Parish continued to run, but his engagements with Tirrell were beginning to fatigue him. He was slowing down, stumbling more often. If he didn't find safety soon, Tirrell would catch up with him. It wasn't until Parish's heart felt like it was about to wilt up and his legs would snap off that he came upon an old, abandoned dwelling.

It was a shabby little place; it looked like it had sat here for the last several decades, at least one or two of which had passed since it was last inhabited. Parish looked around to make sure Tirrell wasn't right behind him, and he moved towards the abandoned home. The door was locked, but the mechanisms were so old and rusted that Parish had no trouble forcing the door open. He closed the door behind him and looked around; there was no furniture or decor. The space was empty. The walls had severe cracks in them, the ceiling was boughed downward. This place didn't have long before it would collapse entirely.

Parish saw stairs going to the second floor, but they were in such poor shape that he didn't trust them to hold his weight.

"Parish!"

Tirrell's voice broke through the trees like a cannon blast, and Parish quickly looked around for a place to hide.

A few minutes later, Tirrell came upon the dwelling. He moved cautiously towards it, keeping his eyes and ears open while holding his gun ready.

"Come on out!" Tirrell shouted, his voice echoing off the surrounding trees. "There's no way you're getting out of this!"

Parish, hiding in a hallway just off the living room, peered around a corner and looked through the dusty window pane to see Tirrell slowly approaching the building. Parish came out into the living room and took aim, firing several shots from his pistol that shattered the window. Tirrell ducked down, narrowly avoiding getting hit as he catapulted himself around to the side of the house.

Parish gritted his teeth, and he moved quickly from the living room, trying to keep himself out of the open. He made his way into the kitchen, quickly clearing it before moving towards the back door. He was five steps away when the wall to his left burst apart as Tirrell came charging through. Parish tried to aim his gun, but Tirrell knocked him down and sent them both crashing to the ground.

The two wrestled with each other, but Tirrell punched Parish twice in the jaw. Parish was stunned for a split second before he punched Tirrell in return, knocking him off. Parish scrambled to his feet, and he grabbed his pistol from the ground. He turned to face Tirrell, finding him back on his feet as well, aiming his pistol back at Parish.

"So, what's your deal?" Parish asked, panting slightly. "Sevak offer you some kind of superpowers for helping her, or what?"

"Nah, I just don't like taking orders from incompetent leaders," Tirrell told him. "You've had your head up your ass on these insurgents. Sevak knows how to get it done. If she'd been the face of Silent Arm from the beginning, these assholes wouldn't be a problem anymore."

"And can you really say to yourself that Gibbs, Jack, and the rest of them are actually the problem we should be worried about?" Parish asked.

"You know, it's sad," Tirrell commented. "I used to respect you. You didn't take the bullshit people tried to feed you for any more than it's worth. Now some terrorist gives you a sob story, and you roll over."

"You know as damn well as I do that it is not as simple as that," Parish told him. "We're dealing with a situation outside either of our expertise. How much evidence do we really have that Sevak is on our side?"

"Enough evidence for me," Tirrell declared.

Parish threw himself down as Tirrell fired on him, sending bullets that tore through the kitchen wall and cabinets. Parish rolled to his feet and returned fire on Tirrell, who took a shot to the shoulder. In this brief moment of Tirrell having his guard broken, Parish rushed forward and knocked Tirrell's gun out of his hand.

Tirrell elbowed Parish in the face, knocking him senseless before kicking him through the kitchen wall. Timber and dust cascaded across the ground in the next room, and Parish grunted as he hit the ground, blood dripping down his face from several injuries. Tirrell dove down on him, pinning Parish to the ground with one hand as he struck him in the face several times over.

By the time Tirrell was done, Parish's face was covered in blood, and he took deep breaths as his body fell limp.

"You're done, Parish," Tirrell told him savagely. "You should never have been allowed control."

"Well, funny thing about that," Parish breathed.

Parish held up his arm, and in his hand was a grenade. Tirrell gawked at this for almost a full second before he looked down at his waist, verifying that one of his grenades was indeed missing. He looked back at Parish, who released the lever.

Tirrell dove for safety, and Parish made a break for it as the grenade clattered to the ground. They both barely cleared the room as the grenade detonated. The explosion ripped apart the kitchen, blasting out the walls and sending a significant portion of the house collapsing down.

Tirrell ran through the house as debris crashed down around him, and he dove out of the open doorway just as the carnage settled. Tirrell looked around at the house, and he panted in shock and exhaustion as he looked at the half-destroyed frame of the building.

Thirty minutes later, after confirming beyond doubt that Parish was no longer in the vicinity of the house, Tirrell returned to the road. He looked around, and his eyes narrowed. Lying on the road was the wreckage from Parish's motorcycle. Tirrell's motorcycle, however, was missing entirely.

Tirrell looked up and down the road for any sign of Parish, and upon finding no sign of him, he muttered, "Son of a bitch."

Parish rode along the open highway, and as the sun started to set, he sped past a sign that read, "Welcome to Indiana!"