[MechWarrior Kazuki Kintaro]

Trapped in a headlock, Abel dragged be through the rubble and filthy squalor that used to be his makeshift command centre. He firmly pressed a cold pistol against my temple. The gun uncomfortably prodded and exacerbated my aching head with an unforgivable tenacity. It didn’t help that I had a throbbing headache that I ironically felt, only a bullet could immediately cease. To make matters worse, the adrenaline shot Abel had administered earlier meant that I was wide awake throughout the ordeal; an insomniac forced to stay awake on caffeine. Abel, you bastard. If I only had the energy to overpower him, we’d all be done with this sordid ordeal!



“Okay, lets just ease up a second…” Abel panted. Although he had a hostage, he still had the challenging task of lugging my crippled body around unstable and unfamiliar terrain. I could tell he was already cooking up the next part of his scheme. He keyed open the comms unit stolen from me earlier and after catching his breath, spoke firmly into the mic.



“Well, Captain Wolf, I think it’s time that you and I had a little chat. I hope you’re listening carefully. I have, in my possession, a certain Kazuki Kintaro. Say hi Kazuki – “ He paused briefly to clout me round the head with the butt of his pistol, causing me to shout in pain. “ – Now, as you may have surmised, Mr Kintaro isn’t in the best of shape. In fact, I’d say he’s pretty banged up. He probably has about 20 to 30 minutes before the adrenaline shot I administered him wares off and, well, I’m not at liberty to say what exactly will happen – I’m not a doctor, so I couldn’t say.



But I digress. I’m going to make you a deal. You have something I want and I have something that I’m sure your conscience couldn’t bare to let go of. I want a secure route out of here for me and Mr Kintaro. Once I have escaped your proximity, I will leave your comrade alive and well at a point of my choosing. Doesn’t that sound fair to you? I’ll give you 5 minutes to reply. If I don’t hear anything after that then I guess Mr Kintaro will have to persuade you. 5 Minutes.” And with that, he clicked off the comms and returned the pistol to my head.



“If you expect me to say anything after 5 minutes, you are gravely mistaken.” I insisted, ignoring the swelling sensation amassing at my toes.



“I wouldn’t start trying to piss me off if I were you, because if I don’t hear anything back after 5 minutes, I’m going to bite off one of your fingers and feed it to the rats!”

[Captain Adam Wolf]

Objective Charlie
Rochelle
May 22, 3067
____________________________________________________

“Well, Captain Wolf, I think it’s time that you and I had a little chat. I hope you’re listening carefully. I have, in my possession, a certain Kazuki Kintaro. Say hi Kazuki – “ The sound of Kazuki's breif cry of pain, the dull thud indicating the use of a blunt object, caused me to clench my fists even more, get an even angrier look on my face and start pushing myself to run even harder.

“ – Now, as you may have surmised, Mr Kintaro isn’t in the best of shape. In fact, I’d say he’s pretty banged up. He probably has about 20 to 30 minutes before the adrenaline shot I administered him wares off and, well, I’m not at liberty to say what exactly will happen – I’m not a doctor, so I couldn’t say."

"But I digress. I’m going to make you a deal. You have something I want and I have something that I’m sure your conscience couldn’t bare to let go of. I want a secure route out of here for me and Mr Kintaro. Once I have escaped your proximity, I will leave your comrade alive and well at a point of my choosing. Doesn’t that sound fair to you? I’ll give you 5 minutes to reply. If I don’t hear anything after that then I guess Mr Kintaro will have to persuade you. 5 Minutes.”

The extra surge of adrenaline that flooded my system as renewed anger washed over me allowed me to push myself back to peak speed despite the exhaustion that was taking its toll on my body as I lugged around the weight of my combat armour. Normally allowing anger any room to flourish in a combat situation is one of the worst possible things you can do, but right now I wasnt in direct combat and one benefit of anger was that it could blind the body to weariness that would normally be difficult to overcome. The two soldiers I came across in my path probably wished I hadn't let anger take hold of me, they may have gotten off a little better.

As I continued to break to the left, with Marcus now out of my sight I assumed he was still heading towards the right flank of where Abel was assumed to be, I came across a pair of soldiers from the dropship. What their intentions were I don't know, and while my reflexes and situational awareness were not impaired while I let my anger push me forward, the more rational part of my mind was lagging behind. I knew that they were enemies and that was all that mattered at the moment. I noted that they both held weapons, not directly raised and neither one being aware of my impending approach did not matter, they held weapons and were therefore a potential threat. Without slowing my stride any I raised my own rifle and squeezed off two short controlled bursts in their direction, of the 8 rounds I fired only 3 at most landed on target, the rest only seemed to surprise the enemy soldiers who probably weren't expecting to run into anyone or at least were hoping not to. The rounds that hit punched a hole through the one soldiers unarmoured leg, a second appeared to have grazed his upper shoulder just beside the ballistics vest both on his left side, the possible third round struck the back of the second soldier's right side judging from how quickly he turned. By this time I was already within 30-40m of their position and rather than firing any more I simply forced myself to but on an extra burst of speed to close the gap quickly, the surprised look on the soldiers faces clearly indicated that they wouldn't be raising their weapons in nearly enough time. The angry part of my mind figured they needed to pay just because they were enemies, I couldnt reach Abel at the moment so these two would have to do, while the still rational side reasoned that if left as they were they could become a potential threat and prevent or hinder my reaching Abel in time. With both sides of my mind placated I leaped over the final pieces of fallen debris in my path and landed directly in front of my two unwilling opponents.

While the combat armour was definately encumbering, both slowing me down and exhausting me much quicker than without it, it did have some significant advantages aside from protecting me from various gunfire. In close combat, any regular tactics against me without a weapon were useless, it was like punching or kicking a steel bulkhead and while it could move me if enough force was in it, it couldn't hurt me. The other part was all of my own attacks, while slower than unarmoured, packed a hell of a punch. Having spent considerable time training in the combat armour I was used to the slower speeds I was able to obtain and I had become able to almost go head to head with our armoured infantry within the Legionnaires, both in and out of combat armour. Not wanting to waste any time I dropped my right elbow straight forward into the sternum of the closer soldier, the one who hadn't gotten shot in the leg. With my arm now crossing my body I shot it back out at the stumbling man and with the strike augmented by the butt of the rifle I was still holding in both hands I heard a resounding thud as I connected just the his right side of the sturnem most likely cracking ribs as he collapsed to the ground his eyes wide in shock, fear, and pain. The second man, now finally trying to bring his weapon to bare, only took a single sidekick from my left leg into right knee and he collapsed with a scream and clearly broken knee, the extra weight of the armour combined with the unforgiving angular steel surface probably made it feel like getting clubbed with a steel beam through the knee. With both men out of commission I leapt out of the side of the small crater of debris that they had been in and continued making my way towards Abel's assumed position.

"Gunman, its Wolf, I've got a new fix on Abel's position after his last transmission. Appears he either has continued to move or the original transmission had some interfence that wasn't accounted for. His position should be within a 200m radius of a location 500m due east of the original estimate."

"Blake's blood, damn it all" I swore out loud before activating the mic to respond to this new information. "Alright, thanks Wolf. Move to the new location to provide us cover, Talus and I will move to engage on foot."

"Did you catch that Talus? Appears our buddy has moved, I'm altering my course to intercept."

"I heard it sir, if my judgement is correct that should mean that he's directly in front of me, give or take. I should only be a couple hundred metres away by now. Should I wait for you?"

With the exhaustion starting to return as my rational mind began to retake control, the news of a more definate fix on Kazuki's location forced the years of conditioning and training to take over again, I responded through mildly laboured breathing. "Negative Talus, I want you to continue ahead... if you engage Abel before I arrive stall him... any way you can without threatening Kazuki's situation... I'll be there as soon as I can."

[Lieutenant Commander Marcus Braddock]

"Negative Talus..." Captain Wolfs' voice was frantic and laboured, his fatigue starting to show, "I want you to continue ahead... if you engage Abel before I arrive stall him... any way you can without threatening Kazuki's situation... I'll be there as soon as I can."
Great. Stall a homicidal maniac with a dead-mans' grip on our newest recruit. No problem.
The way it laid out in my mind, Abel had Kazuki a hundred or so metres to my front, while Gunman was astray by several more hundred to my ten o'clock. That didn't leave us much room to manouvre.
I vaulted a broken gouge in the earth that looked to have been torn by humvee tracks and kept running. My legs were burning, but I knew I could keep up the pace - I may not have been one for pumping iron with Van de Graff and his boys back on New Earth, but I kept up the same running regime I'd held to most of my life around the broken and uneven ferrocrete of our compound. Legwork was nothing new to me - Legwork with a showdown at the end was something I was slightly less prepared for. My right hand clutched the Moray 10mm in a white-knuckled grip as it pumped up and down with my booted sprinting.
Ahead of me, amongst a scattering of field tents and scorched earth, I made out the outline of a vehicle. One of the Chaos Irregulars fleet of hauler-trucks, its' forward section and cabin mangled and deformed by some clamitous force. There. Abel would be there. The ground rose for a few dozen metres on either side, creating a small vale - Natural cover.
I frantically tried to scan the area as I closed on it. No personnel out and about - that I could see. I hoped that even if I did encounter any of the multitude of Chaos Irregular mercenaries who were busy scattering themselves about the area, I could easily be mistaken as one of their own with my nondescript fatigues.

My boot clanked noisily over a disembodied plate of metal - debris from the wrecked truck. I slowed, and my muscles flooded with the anaerobic equivalent of relief.
To my left a smattering of tents and prefabricated buildings, deserted and not a few torn open by high-calibre weaponry. Wolf would be coming from that direction. Before me, the askew and silent remains of the broken vehicle, and the dark figures I could now make out towards its' rear. I levelled the flashlight in my left hand under the sidearm in my right. The powerful cone of light cut through the intervening murk and revealed a prone form and a hunched figure crouching over it. The figure snapped its' head up to look at me - a rabbit in headlights. It was Abel, alright. Even with his face twisted in a feral snarl I recognized the man.

"Wolf?!" He spat out. I realised with my light shining in his face all he could make out of me would be my silhouette. I tightened my grip on the pistol.
"Different man, same can of whip-ass, Abel." I replied, keeping my voice steady. Talking was good. Talking was stalling, right?
"Then shove off, you whoreson bastard!" Uh oh. Maybe I'd spoken too soon. Abel's hand, hidden from my view until now, snapped into sight holding a compact handgun. I threw myself backwards as he opened up, a graceless half-stumble that I hoped would put the warped and off-kilter forward section of the vehicle between us. Abel snapped off four shots in that time, although I was only subconsciously counting. The cold mass of the trucks' bumper slammed into my spine, and explosively expelled the air from my lungs. I wasn't hit - at least I didn't think so. Abel continued.
"I won't deal with lackeys! Where is Captain Wolf!?"
He's coming, you meshuggener. I thought acidly. But he's not coming to deal.
Aloud I said; "A lackey, am I? And I suppose you're not here on someone else's business?"
I risked a glance around the edge of the truck, leading with the Moray. Abel was only metres away, but he had me covered and another shot rang out. Feth it.
"I am not discussing with you! Fuck off!"
Great stalling, Talus. I shifted my weight around so I could edge to the far side of the intervening wreck. Maybe if I could get around there, or ove- But he still had Kazuki, and a gun pointed at his head.
Come on Gunman, I glanced back towards the mess of buildings where he should have been emerging from. Grab his attention.

[MechWarrior Kazuki Kintaro]

”On your knees!” Abel hissed, thrusting his foot into the back of my knees. I collapsed to the ground and grunted in pain. Abel had clearly lost it now and there was no telling what would happen next. He crouched behind me and stabbed the muzzle of his handgun into the back of my head.

”Listen carefully. I know exactly where your friend is and I know exactly how to catch him off guard. If you don't do exactly what I tell you, not only will I shoot you dead, I'll capture your comrade and put him through more pain than you've been through today. Understood?” He buried his pistol deeper into the back of my head to punctuate his point. “Okay. Put your left hand on your right shoulder.”

My heart suddenly leapt into my throat. I could already see what was going to play out in my mind. Hesitant at first, I somehow summoned the strength to raise a shaken hand up across my chest. Before it reached my shoulder, the mad Commander snatched my limb by the wrist and yanked it hard. Excruciating pain rocked me, but I had to bare it. For Braddock's sake.

“Good.” He lent in closer; so close in fact, I could feel his warm, damp, filthy breath hit the nape of my neck. “Hay, whip-ass! Perhaps I have nothing to discuss with you, but I'm sure that your friend here has a few words to say!”

Abel took a deep breath, bared his fangs and bit down unforgivingly on my left index finger.

For a brief, fleeting moment there was no pain. It was as if a cold wave had travelled from my hand and up my arm. The sudden sensation of warm blood dripped down to my elbow before it finally hit me. Abel's teeth gnashed through the flesh and eventually tore through the tendons. I screamed, louder than I though imaginable. I tried to yank my hand away, but the mad man's iron grip and the pain froze me still.

I was only able to seize myself free when his teeth finally ran it's course. Torrents of blood streamed from my wound. I gripped my wrist and cried in terror as Abel cackled manically.

“If Wolf doesn't show himself in the next sixty seconds, Kintaro is going to close something else!”