Jack’s vision blurred as his body felt like it was being engulfed in excruciating pain as the spell held onto him. Every nerve felt like it was on fire, and his muscles clenched in a vice-like grip as the sensation threatened to overwhelm him.
But even as the sheer agony threatened to consume him, a fire of defiance ignited within him, which bellowed out in a growl of anger that grew louder and louder, as the pain faded further and further away…
“He’s resisting my spell!” The Vivren cursed with a snarl. “Quick! Hurry up and finish him! Do it now, while he’s held!”
Staring at the Vivren woman in hatred, her commanding appearance became much clearer to Jack, looking to the deathworlder like an intimidating manifestation of pure malice. Her dark heavy armour was adorned with a sigil of a dark red star, and the many rough-looking piercings all along her face looked rusted and poorly fitted, almost by design, a sentiment echoed by the barbed wire peaking out along the neckline of her armour!
It was like this monstrosity of a Vivren represented Pinhead far more than Mrs Schlart!
“You can’t hold me!” Jack roared as he pushed through and resisted the potent spell, regaining control as the Vivren snarled in a rage of her own as she unhooked her spiked chain and lashed out at Jack with supernatural prowess…
“Aegis!” Jack yelled, raising his forearm and summoning his shield which took the blow of the powerful weapon like the striking of a gong.
‘You want to try and torture me?’ Jack snarled in his mind. ‘Let’s see how you like it!’
Retracting his shield, Jack saw nobody in the line of fire behind the intimidating woman, and that worked just fine for him.
He planned to bring a lot of fire!
“Agni!”
With a flick of his other wrist Jack activated his flamethrower, the air around his hand cracking with anticipation as flames burst forth from his hand with a roar, engulfing the Vivren in a violent torrent of fire. The air around him filled with the acrid stench of burning flesh, before Jack’s eyes suddenly went wide as he heard a cackle through the screams of pain as the Vivren charged forward fearlessly through the inferno and swiped her chain, catching Jack in the side as it caught him off balance with a strange lance of pain…
“Woof!” An angry bark sounded out as the Vivren jerked back and shuddered in a series of spasms as a continuous jet of electricity lanced out and caught the bitch full force in the back as Dante dashed into position to help the human.
Wasting no time, Jack dashed forward to prevent the Vivren from lashing out at Dante with the backswing of her spiked chain, grappling for the weapon as he snapped forward with his foot, successfully catching the woman between the legs with a bone-shattering cunt punt.
Grunting, the Vivren got to one knee and quickly thrust her palm forward as she muttered a word of power, sending Jack flying backwards with brutal force. He flailed wildly as he was hurtled towards a table with terrifying speed.
With a deafening crash Jack collided with the table, the sound of splintering wood and shattering glass echoing throughout the room as he tumbled and rolled across the floor, his body bouncing and bouncing off the wet floor with bone-jarring force. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Jack got to his feet, his muscles screaming in protest as he fought to regain his bearings.
Sensing movement next to him Jack quickly switched to his Dominator as he let off a close-range burst of photon shots that surprised one of the Regulators before another shot him, his helmet absorbing the impact and giving him a ringing in his ears as he instinctually returned fire, fortunately not hitting anyone that might have been behind them as the Regulator backed away and dashed behind one of the stone pillars near the wall.
Before Jack could even begin to think of chasing after them, he suddenly sensed a looming presence approaching from behind him. With an instinctual surge Jack pivoted on his heel as he narrowly dodged a vicious swipe from the Redeemer, who was now wielding the heavy hammer he had seen him carry the last time he saw them, with the crude metal of the massive hammer’s head ending in a bunch of blunt spikes, probably designed for tearing through armour or something.
Apparently, they weren’t confident enough to do this with their bare hands anymore…
“Come on then!” Jack snarled, taunting his enemy as the Redeemer pressed their attack, their movements ferocious and relentless as they really wanted to overwhelm Jack with sheer brute force, swinging their warhammer with reckless abandon.
Jack backpedalled frantically, agilely hopping back as he danced out of reach of the swinging arc of the hammer, narrowly dodging each time…
“Coward!” The Redeemer snarled as he tried to go for Jack’s feet, before the human backed away with a cocky grin that only enraged him even more.
“Says the guy that needs his mates to stand a chance against me,” Jack taunted back as he waited for the perfect moment, biding his time as he watched for an opening amidst the flurry of blows. It was too close to get his gun out, but he was no slouch up close…
Finally his patience was rewarded as the Redeemer roared and aimed his next furious swipe at Jack’s head, overextending and throwing himself off balance…
Within a split-second, Jack’s axe was back in his hand as he counterattacked with an explosive swing of his arm, lashing out like a coiled snake, aiming for the Ogar’s head but catching his axe in the Redeemer’s shoulder as with deceptively good reflexed they backed away with a growl, ripping Jack’s axe out of the solid plate of metal, and leaving a thick gash.
‘That got through the armour, we’re getting somewhere.’ Jack thought to himself. ‘Shit, I know we need to get away, but if I can kill him…’
That thought was immediately halted in his mind as the Redeemer dropped his hammer, shuffling back to make space and switch to their huge gun…
Where the fuck did this guy find the time to go grab his weapons?
It was the same one the Redeemer had the last time during their chase on the motorway from hell, and Jack knew all too well how potent it was. With two prongs and crackling green energy arcing between them, the last time Jack saw it fired, it destroyed half a truck…
‘Agni!’ Jack quickly yelled, as the familiar jet of fire returned, blasting the Redeemer in the face as he reeled back. Not letting up, Jack thrust out with his other wrist, blanketing the space in front of him with a torrent of twin blazing flames…
‘Now!’
Jack’s gut instincts yelled at him to move as he dove as hard and as far as he could to the side as a lance of green energy sparked out, shoddily aimed through the thick plume of fire close enough to where he was just standing, almost melting the very ground underneath where it blasted across, and definitely singeing his eyebrows.
He didn’t want to know what a direct hit could have done to him…
With a deafening roar, the searing blast of almighty energy tore through the side of the building with the force of a hurricane, sending shockwaves rippling through the building, causing the walls to tremble and the foundations underneath them to rumble as the entire bar threatened to come down all around them. Dust and debris blanketed the air in a swirling tornado, completely obscuring Jack’s vision and choking at his lungs as he fought to hold his breath.
“Aegis!” Jack spluttered out as he summoned his shield, raising it above his head as shattered glass and splinters of wood rained down from above like deadly hail.
“Guys?” He yelled at the top of his lungs in between coughs, realising that the shitty music that was playing before had died down. “Where are you?”
“Here! We’ll get to you!” He heard Nika yell out, but from where he couldn’t tell.
“Lictor! Zruul’s down!” He heard another voice yell out over the carnage, a younger-sounding male. “We’re losing too many!”
“That doesn’t matter, Klast! They’re replaceable! Target the Outsider at all costs!” the voice of the Vivren roared out angrily.
“Oh fuck…” Jack groaned under his breath. “Where did you cunts even come from…”
“From anywhere we want, Outsider!” The same male voice responded tauntingly as Jack sensed movement approaching him. “Thanks for revealing your position!”
“Won’t help you!” Jack snarled as brought up his Dominator, keeping his shield up as he shot at the blur of movement, who somehow seemed to anticipate the move, swinging his body to the side while swiping across with an open palm that glowed a faint blue, deflecting the blast of photon energy harmlessly away from him to smack into the nearest wall.
‘What the fuck?’ Jack asked himself before he dropped the gun, allowing it to magnetically clip back onto his armour as the speeding blur closed the distance, dipped to the side past his guard and attempted to grab at his shield arm, before Jack shuffled back and retracted it.
Now that he had a good look at the pale-skinned man, he looked to be an Eladrie or Eladra, older than him by several years and handsome, with flowing loose white hair managed by a topknot that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Chinese period movie. With light and tight-fitted armour he also wore the insignia of the red circle he had seen on several others tonight on his chest.
“Really, Outsider? I was expecting a challenge!” They sneered as Jack swung at him with his axe, with the male, who Jack assumed was Klast, dodging before leaping at Jack with a punch that caught him in the mouth, following through with a spinning kick to Jack’s chest that he didn’t really feel any pain from thanks to his armour, though it still knocked him back a few steps.
Klast dashed forward with a cocky grin, and Jack took a stance, preparing for another flashy fung-fu attack, before suddenly the martial artist was lit up by a volley of fire from the turrets above, smacking them in their back as Jack used the opening to charge with his axe, swinging as quickly as he could while Klast was distracted.
Realising the danger, Klast moved to spin away, but Jack scored a hit, catching Klast in the hip as he leapt away, twisting to avoid the worst of the attack but still gasping as they got hit. Jack refused to let up as he swung again at the backpedalling fighter, who quickly rallied and parried the next axe swipe at the haft, grunting slightly in pain at the strength of the blow, but still managing to halt Jack as he followed through with a backfist enhanced with that same blue glow that clocked Jack on the nose as he ducked his head back in an effort to avoid the hit.
Klast struck with another punch, before Jack threw his arm forward to parry, eating the hit on his shoulder as he closed the distance. Klast shuffled back again before he grunted in surprise and alarm as Jack grabbed a fistful of his long hair, holding him in place.
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‘And that’s why my brothers kept teasing me about getting a haircut!’ Jack thought to himself with satisfaction. ‘Come on gauntlets, don’t fail me now!’ Jack thought to himself as he lashed out with a wild punch with his other fist at Klast, who moved to block it as best he could with his limited vision and movement. Jack repeated the attack again and again, being blocked by hands or armour before the metal spike that had grown on the end of his arm punched through Klast’s armour plating and slammed into his stomach.
“Help!” Klast gasped weakly as he struggled even harder to get out of the grapple as Jack lashed out again and again, before another wave of magical pain hit him as he saw the Vivren quickly dash towards him out of the corner of his eye.
Grunting with effort, Jack fought the pain again, this time throwing it off much more easily as he disengaged, with Klast twisting and squirming with all his effort as he pushed away, aggravating his injuries as his stab wounds opened themselves up even more.
Recovering much more quickly than the Vivren expected, Jack drew his plasma rifle and blasted them on full auto, which was absorbed by their armour, but caused them to lash out once again with their wicked spiked chain, before they shuddered mid-attack as they were blasted with a full jolt of electricity as Dante came to his aid once again.
Sensing movement to the side he saw Klast shuffling away, clutching his side as he called to his comrades for assistance.
“Where are you going?” Jack growled as he dashed for the fighter, who to his credit grit his teeth and put up a guard. “I thought you wanted a challenge?”
Klast grunted in exertion as dashed out of range of Jack’s axe, leaping back as their familiar blue glow seemed to surround their body before desperately snapping forward with a flying kick that Jack checked with his elbow as he brought his axe close to his chest, alert for a possible disarm attempt, backing away as Klast followed through with a frantic flurry of punches, before Jack snapped back with another vicious chop with his axe, causing Klast to jump back out of the way.
Exactly the kind of flashy move Jack was waiting for…
“Caltrops'' He whispered, summoning as many as he could into his hand, before quickly tossing them at the ground where Klast was poised to land, the fighter realising too late what had happened as a painful spike of metal went through his foot. Yelling in pain, he lost his footing and tripped, slamming to the floor as many more spikes embedded themselves into his back.
“Shit! Help! Someone!” Klast yelled as Jack drew his gun to finish him off, before he was sent flying, caught off guard with a sudden strike to his side as the force of the impact sent them sprawling. With a grunt of pain Jack landed, before quickly rallying and hopping to his feet, tightening his grip around the handle of his trusty axe as the Redeemer charged towards him, a good half of their armoured form blackened and charred from his previous flamethrower attack.
With a defiant roar, Jack met the charge with one of his own, his axe blocking the maul with the sound of a thunderclap as they collided, trying to overcome the other.
“MY KING!” The Redeemer yelled out. “GRANT ME MY VICTORY THIS NIGHT, OR I SHALL ANNIHILATE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!”
“You’re insane!” Jack growled back as he shoved back, launching a kick at the Redeemer’s knee to try and sweep him off his feet as they both struggled with their clinch, before the Redeemer let go of his maul and threw Jack into the far wall with a crash. Looking up, Jack fully expected to meet another charge but grinned as he saw a huge section of crumbling balcony crash into the Redeemer, knocking him down.
Everyone! Get to the breach in the wall! He heard Chiyo project her ‘voice’ into his mind. I think Sephy has control of the turrets!
Jack looked and saw that where the Redeemer had tried to shoot at him with that stupidly powerful gun of his had formed a decently sized hole that several of the remaining patrons were using to escape.
Looking down Jack saw the Redeemer’s maul near his feet. An unusually crude-looking weapon, it had various strange engravings and markings, almost tribal, perhaps having some sort of sentimental value to the crazed zealot. As the Redeemer got to his feet Jack got there first, and stomped on the haft of the weapon, bending and almost snapping the weapon in two, rendering it useless.
“YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THAT OUTSIDER!” The Redeemer snarled, taking a nasty hit from Jack’s axe on his forearm before he grabbed Jack and bodily smashed him into the wall with a sickening crunch as Jack’s axe clattered to the ground, before he quickly felt it clip back onto his armour. Jack lashed out with a punch that caught The Redeemer on the chin, following up with a headbutt that connected with their nose and caused the cracks on their helmet to rupture even further, before the Redeemer threw a powerful haymaker that rocked Jack back, then grabbed the human, lifting him up above his head with all his strength…
Jack squirmed and struggled to try and fight out of the grip. He could see the floor beneath him, and knew that a slam to the ground would finish him…
“Knife!” He growled as he got his hand free, closing his fist around the handle of a blade as he desperately swiped down, connecting with something as the Redeemer yelled out in pain and dropped Jack to the ground. No sooner had Jack sprung to his feet than he was bodily tackled around the waist, losing his balance as The Redeemer charged again.
Panicking, Jack frantically stabbed at the Redeemer, the metal of his knife pinging off armour plates with each strike, before suddenly he saw a crack between the Redeemer’s helm and shoulder plates where he had damaged it earlier. Aiming for that area, Jack stabbed once, twice, then finally the third time before the Redeemer cracked Jack against one of the stone pillars, before throwing the human several metres. As Jack skidded to a halt he thought he saw a glint of dark blood spatter off his knife as it scattered along the ground, before dissipating as quickly as it appeared.
Swiftly getting his bearings, Jack suddenly heard a sudden loud yelp close by, which quickly erupted into a torrent of horrifying screaming barks. Looking up he saw Dante writhing on the floor, as the Vivren pointed a wand at him, cackling as she maintained her torture spell on the ‘dog’ as he twitsted and shrieked on the floor…
“I’ll send you back to Astara a whimpering shell!” The Vivren sneered at Dante, as she unfurled her spiked chain to lash out at him…
Target motherfucking acquired!
Jack’s Ring of the Berserker flashed a deep scarlet as he charged with a bellowing roar. Sneering, the Vivren ended her spell on Dante, turning to him as Jack felt the familiar pain rend his nerves, with the Vivren’s eyes bulging in shock as Jack kept charging, his jaw set, and his eyes laser focused as he drew his axe and swiped, catching his target with a glancing blow to the shoulder as the Vivren ducked back, drawing her spiked chain to parry his next furious swipe, before he had just enough sense left to brace and get his guard up as The Redeemer caught up to him, grabbing him once again, and throwing him away from the Vivren to smash through a wooden table sending splinters flying.
“YOU DIE TONIGHT OUTSIDER!” The Redeemer roared as he brought up his huge gun to point directly at him, with the twin prongs sparking with powerful green energy…
“Oh no you don’t!” Jack yelled as with a sudden burst of adrenaline he scrambled to his feet, and in a single motion lobbed his axe straight at the Redeemer, who, caught off guard by the desperate move instinctually brought his gun up to block, which whined angrily with the blow as it began to billow a plume of thick black smoke.
“NO!” The Redeemer yelled as the weapon fell apart in his hands “YOUR REDEMPTION IS NIGH!”
Jack dived towards his axe to pick it up, before he was knocked back by a wild thunderous punch from the Redeemer, his massive fist catching him in the shoulder with the force of a sledgehammer. Using the momentum of the move, Jack clipped his axe to his back as he saw the Redeemer begin to charge him, before suddenly, they shuddered and dropped to one knee. Confused, the Redeemer put an arm down to steady themselves, feeling their strength sapped, and rapidly fading away.
And Jack saw why.
Between the helm and shoulderplates of The Redeemer’s armour that Jack had exposed, the same area that Jack had plunged his knife into was now painted crimson as The Redeemer’s blood dripped onto the ground below in a steady stream that had intensified into a torrent as the wound was ripped open wider and wider during the fight…
“OVERCHARGE!” Jack yelled, seizing the moment and putting distance between them as he pulled out his Dominator and fired. The air crackled as the powerful blast of photon energy hurtled towards The Redeemer with deadly accuracy. With a resounding boom, it connected dead centre in the chest with furious force.
Stumbling back, the Redeemer crashed into the wall behind and raised an armoured hand, now fully slick with blood to keep them standing as Jack saw the aftermath of the shot. A gaping, blackened hole now billowed with dark smoke from the charred remains of the Redeemer’s armour. Shorn and melted, Jack could see slight movements within the burned hole, telltale signs that he’d gotten through to flesh.
Placing his hand on his neck, The Redeemer grimaced in pain through wet, ragged gasps, before he glared at Jack with a look of pure hatred. With a roar the Redeemer charged again, no longer caring about the mortal, gushing wound on his neck, picking up speed as he threw all caution to the wind.
"IF I FALL, YOU FALL WITH ME! FOR THE EMERALD KING!”
Jack got his plasma rifle up and fired a 3-round burst, the heavy bolts of green energy blasting the Redeemer between his chest and left shoulder, two of the rounds going straight out the other side. Jack fired another burst as the Redeemer slowed down, aiming closer to the centre, with only one shot going all the way through. The Redeemer gasped for breath with lungs that were no longer working, before finally coming to a stop, the body no longer responding to the will of the mind.
“Redeem this!” Jack snarled, as he raised his gun further up and put three bolts of plasma straight through the Redeemer’s brain, as the dead Ogar slammed to the ground. “Cunt.”
“Jack! Nika! Come on!” Alora called from the breach, as she waved her wand and pointed it towards him, as Jack felt a wave of warm energy envelop him and numb the pain he was feeling. He saw Dante blink over to them while Sephy gave the ‘dog’ some covering fire, as he saw the Vivren lash out at one of the overhead turrets keeping her occupied. A few errant shots were sent their way, but they were easily deflected by a shield that Chiyo had summoned, with the Ilithii even having the chance to move a few of the unconscious bodies of bar patrons next to the walls out of harm’s way.
“Jack, you good?” He heard a familiar voice as Nika bounded up beside him. “Let’s go!”
“Yeah…” Jack nodded, feeling dazed as he stared at the smouldering corpse of The Redeemer, before he allowed Nika to pull him into action, forcing him to get moving while she quickly pointed her scanner at the dead body.
“Are we all good?” Jack asked as he stumbled over to the breach, spinning around to give Nika some cover, as the Kizun quickly made a detour to the weakly crawling body of Klast, swiftly executing him with two point-blank shots to the head.
We’re alive at least. Chiyo confirmed as she pulled out her Cane of Travel. Get ready to run!
“Head back to the shuttleport!” Alora called out.
Don’t actually do that, Alora’s fooling them by speaking out loud, Chiyo confirmed as she channelled power into her cane, using it as a focus to cast a spell. The thing I’m casting is a weaker version of that potion you took at ScrapHaven, Jack, but will affect all of us. Just stay close! I already cast another spell to work out the optimal route.
“Got it,” Nika replied as Jack nodded in agreement.
As Chiyo waved the cane around, pointing it at all members of the group, Jack felt much lighter on his feet, his heart pounding in his chest as they allowed Alora and Chiyo to lead the way, but not before Nika dropped a smoke grenade behind them to cover their retreat.
“I’ve got the turrets on an auto-cycle, they’ll keep the Regulators pinned down unless they have any outside,” Sephy whispered as they quickly ducked down an alleyway, easily hopping over a sleeping drunk as they navigated the maze-like streets, avoiding trouble as they soon found themselves at the waterfront.
“I think we’ve given them the slip! Now where the hell do we go?” Nika asked as they heard several yells and shouts in the distance behind them..
“Turn right!” Alora ordered, not stopping as she ran the fastest Jack had ever seen the Eladrie accomplish. “They’re at the far end!”
“You’re trusting them after that shit?” Sephy asked. “Seriously?”
The Corvin Enterprises shuttle has already left, Chiyo pointed out. We don’t have much choice if we want to get out of here. However, I think the crew were honest with us, or at least believe themselves to be.
“Guess the Run is still on, but I don’t like it.” Nika shrugged.
“Neither do I, but hopefully things will have cooled off by the time we get back and we won’t have any problems,” Jack reasoned. “I think that’s them up ahead.” He pointed up ahead in the darkness, and it took the others a few seconds for their eyes to adjust.
“Anyone behind us?” Alora asked as they got closer.
Nobody, Chiyo confirmed as the group gave a collective sigh of relief.
“Good, they look like they’re about to leave without us,” Alora noted. “Let me do the talking,” she whispered before speaking up as loud as she dared to get the crew’s attention. “Captain! We’re ready for a prompt departure!”
Captain Ripples-On-Salt couldn’t keep the surprised expression off his face. “By the gods girl, you look like you’ve been through a riptide! Get on board, all of you! Stay hidden behind cover, we’re ready to go!”
Not even thinking of arguing, the group dashed across the gangplank and immediately crouched out of sight behind the nearest low wall as the giants around them unlatched ropes and manned their stations, quickly and quietly pushing the boat into the currents, as the sounds of chaos behind them began to fade away into the night.