Citadel - Throne Room

The King knelt in front of his throne. The bodies of his loyal soldiers and his cousin the Duke surrounded him. The look of surprise on the Duke's face when his men had turned on him would be etched in the King’s mind for the very short rest of his life. Only five men had stayed to kill him, they hadn’t even thought him worth an honorable execution. The man in the gray camo had left in pursuit of some fleeing guards. One of the men spit on him “Don’t look like much now does he” another chuckled. “All high and mighty in his tower” Dom kept quiet, he hoped Aiden and Mary had made it to the Valkyries. They could get somewhere safe till they knew who had betrayed them. He knew in his old tired heart that Jack was loyal to his son, and if anyone could find him and save him, it would be Jack. He felt a sharp pain in his back as he was kicked forward, falling onto his hands. He closed his eyes as he heard a blade drawn. “Long live the king” Laughed one of the men. There was the sound of a blade slicing through flesh but he felt no pain. Then it sounded again, and then a blade clanged against another. He opened his eyes and looked up. A man in shining armor was fighting three, two were already down. They assailants had their back to him, so Dom quickly grabbed one of the fallen men’s swords and ran one through his lower back. The one next to him was startled and looked back, and that was his last mistake as the King’s savior sliced into the opening at his neck. The last one left turned and fled. The King and his savior didn't give chase. Dom sat there on his knees, staring up at the shiny old armor, of course he would recognize it anywhere. Stewart raised his visor and looked down. He held out his left hand and spoke. “Brother” Dom took his hand as his brother helped him to his feet. “I thought I was dead” mumbled the King. Stewart shrugged as the room flooded with enemy soldiers. “We still are, but a King should not die on his knees.” Dom looked at the insurmountable foe and realized his brother wasn’t wrong. He had fought his way through to die next to him. Dom gripped his stolen sword tightly and put his other hand on his brother's shoulder. “Thank you for coming for me” Stewart just nodded as he turned to face his death. “And I’m sorry. I should have-” “It’s forgiven” Stew spoke “I’ll see my wife soon.” Dom nodded and raised his sword, they stood back to back, a break before the tide.

Citadel - Halls - Jack

Jack felt the dread seep in as they walked toward the doors to the Valkyrie pad. It was too damn quiet. If his weapons weren’t already drawn, he would undoubtedly draw them now. Just before reaching the doors, a man in white camo stepped out of a perpendicular corridor. Jack stopped, then raised his weapon when it spoke. “I’d prefer to handle this just the two of us” Jack stared the creature down. “And why shouldn’t i just fucking shoot you and walk by, i happen to be in a hurry.” as he spoke a several doors opened in the hallway revealing troops with crossbows. “I’ll tell you what, fight me, one on one, no bullets and if you win, my men will withdraw” you could almost hear the sneer in his voice, even if you couldn’t see his face. Jack took a slow look around. They stood a chance, but several of the soldiers with him would die. “I accept” he sighed. Xyla put her hand on his arm “Jack, no'' He looked at her, and the soldiers behind him. He just nodded as he stepped forward. “Finally” the creature said as he drew his two hook swords. “I’ve heard so much about you, lets see if the stories of your battle prowess are real show we?” The creature took a fighting stance with one sword held forward on an outstretched arm, and the other over his shoulder also pointing forward, legs spread wide.Jack sighed internally. His gun kata was formed to be used in tandem with the gun blades, but without being able to fire, he may be at a disadvantage. Jack flashed forward with his right weapon going straight for the kill, he doubted he could end it that quickly, but why not try? The hook sword came down, blocking his strike, coming in low at his knee, in a bad position to parry, he stepped back. The damn weapons had a reach on him he couldn’t compete with. Unfortunately he wasn’t out of distance as he had thought, while he took that moment to breath, the creature locked the end of the swords together and swung them in an arc, adding an additional sword length to the distance. He brought his bracer up and blocked, but felt it crack with the force behind the blow. And Jack quickly moved in again, but the man had again, quickly gotten his weapons separated as they clashed anew. Jack feinted high and stabbed low with his left Katar, but the man moved like a snake and he only caught air. Then it was on Jack again, its longer hook swords flashing and punching as fast as he could block, just barely able to keep up his defences. When he caught one on his left Katar and the other on his right he kicked forward sending the beast back a few steps. But it just smiled and hissed “Is that it? Is this all from the famed Blood Raven?” He hooked his swords together again with a great diagonal slash, followed by a spin kick. Jack dodged to the side of the slash, and took the kick to his left shoulder pushing him back. They were back in the clash, and Jack could actually feel the fatigue. This wasn’t his first battle while exhausted, but goddamn he was tired. They had been running and fighting since his eyes had opened nearly twenty hours before, human only had so much endurance. And clearly he shouldn’t have let his mind wander as he made a grunt of pain, the hook sword tearing open a chunk of flesh on his shoulder. The man stepped back, no longer smiling. “Pathetic, I had expected so much more from what my master had told me. Now I end this” He came on again, wherever Jack blocked, those horrid swords would manage to twist and still cut at him. Jack could feel his overworked muscles ache with fatigue, he was starting to slow down. He needed to end this quickly. With a burst of speed and strength he pushed past a swing of hook sword, closing inside the creatures reach, he flashed with his left Katar toward the beast throat. But the goddamn thing twisted taken the slash on his armor, and bringing down the base spike of its hook sword into his already damaged shoulder. Jack would have screamed in pain as he dropped his weapon, if he had had the energy to do so. The other hook sword came forward with a punch of its knuckle blade into Jack’s face sending him reeling. The hook sword flashed down catching his leg calling him to fall back. He heard Xyla cry out, he couldn’t see her, but saw the enemy's men raise their multitude of crossbows. The goddamn man was scowling now. It walked toward him with his swords raised for the final blow. “Truly, I had expected so much more, my brothers will be so dis-” It shut the fuck up when Jack kicked up into his groin. He swore he could hear something pop as the man bent forward in agony. Jack reached forward, grabbed him by his yappy damn mouth and kicked. The beast fell back in a gurgling scream as Jack stood. Everyone was tense as Jack dropped the man's jaw. The surprise in his dead eyes still visible through his shattered face plate. Jack limped over and picked up his Katars as the enemy soldiers quietly backed away. Jack looked at them and with a quiet menace told them “Leave, leaven now” first it was a trickle, then a flood as they turned back down the hallways or closed the doors to which they had been behind. His own gaggle of guards, gave him looks between terror and hero worship. Xyla came forward and he leaned into her a bit as they walked forward and finally opened the doors to the Valkyrie pad.

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