Close call

They recieved some intel on an offshore oil rig which is most likely under the control of Tristan and his forces. Little did they know, the man himself might just make an appearence...

Nate wakes up in a daze in the recreational room. A note has been taped to his leg: “You decided to have a drink with Merik and I, you had two cans of lager and passed out, it was 7:30, from Jason”.

“That's not like me...” Nate said to himself looking towards the clock to try make out the time. “3:30, well no point in trying to go back to sleep.” Nate turns on the T.V puts the empty cans that have been left on the floor by Merik and Jason in the bin and puts on his favourite shows he had recorded on while he knew he had at least two hours until someone who would mock him woke up (Merik. He didn’t want Merik to mock him.) about an hour later Nate noticed John sneak down the hall.

4:30 AM. Allison appears on the edge of John's bedside table, she has an uneasy look to her.

“John? You awake?” Allison asks softly.

“Huh, wh- what?” John says sitting up and looking around the room, his eyes meet Allison on his bedside table. “Oh… Hey, what's up?”

“I have some concerns about the operation that will be soon upon us. I am worried for our sake.” Allison says twiddling her artificial hair.

“Hey. Don’t worry about it! We’re us, right? Nothing is going to take us down; and I don’t plan on dying this week, if I am going to die, I am going to be prepared to do so, even if I am not, I am not going down without a fight. You hear me?” John says with confidence and a smile.

“Yeah… Right! If you say so, let’s go kick some a*s!” Allison shouts standing up and clenching her fists.

“That’s the spirit. See? Nothing to worry about, you got my back, I got yours, that is how we are going to work.” John says sitting up with his legs thrown over the side of the bed. He lifts his arm and checks the time. “Six hours sleep, not bad for me.” John walks over to his dresser and puts on some sweatpants and a tank top. Allison jumps to his shoulder and sits down with her right hand holding her head up and begins to swipe her left hand across as if she was going through intel. John slowly opens his door and quietly closes it, knowing that if Emily was awoken by him, she would blow the roof off, metaphorically speaking, which then would wake up the rest of the facility. He slowly walks down the hall, past the recreational room where someone has the television on and a case of beer on the coffee table. John heads down the stairs towards the gym, he flicks on the lights and the open space is filled with light as the lights turn on one after another, he draws out the punching bags and puts on his USMC tactical gloves from his Marine days. After roughly half an hour of training he grabs himself a coffee and sits down on a punching bag he knocked off a while ago. John stands up from the punching bag and places the coffee on a nearby table, the entrance to the gym opens and a woman walks through. Octavia is wearing a black tanktop and sport shorts, her hair tied into a ponytail holding a bottle of water.

“A little early to be training isn’t it John? I am usually the only one here.” Octavia says walking over to the table and placing her things on top of it.

“Yeah it is early for me to be fair. But I have got an operation to do with Tristan, a rig, some explosives pretty soon. Oh wait, you already know about that!” John says sarcastically smiling at Octavia.

“Cute.” Octavia says with a brow raised.

“Fancy a spar?” John asks.

“You sure you want to do this? Pretty reckless…” Octavia says stretching her arms.

“I heard about how you met Kimberley, sounds pretty solid from what I can see, thinking I would want to give it a go.” John says removing his USMC gloves and replacing them with MMA sparring gauntlets.

“You’re on.” Octavia says putting on a replica pair of gloves John had put on. Kimberley wakes up from her room sliding off her bed.

“Oh fuc-!” Kimberley rolls off the bed. “Just my luck…” Kimberley spots the light of the T.V in the recreational room. She get’s up and reveals a plain white t-shirt with a teddybear on it and sweatpants, her hair being a mess Kimberley just throws her hair to the side of her face and ties it into a quick ponytail. She walks out into the hall and sees John’s door open she peers through the doorway and sees an empty room, a flicker comes from Emily’s room and some ranting. Kimberley slowly opens her door to see Emily playing video games. Emily hadn’t noticed Kimberley so she just backed out and walked into the recreational room.

“Hey Nate, you seen John around? He isn’t in his room.” Kimberley asks holding herself up over the back of the sofa peering down at Nate.

“Gym.” Nate says finishing off an ice cream cone he has had for a while. “You know what time it is?”

“Nope.” Kimberley rolls her eyes. “Come on it couldn’t be that early!” Nate looks over at the time, it’s 5:30.

“About an hour ago he headed down.” Nate said. “I still got about two hours until Merik gets up… Time for the next episode”.

“Huh, ‘kay thanks.” Kimberley walks into the kitchen opposite the gym and makes a few sandwiches as she peered into gym before and saw John and Octavia in the ring having at it. The doors to the gym swing open and they both walk out.

“Come on! Best two out of three!” John shouts smiling, he has several bruises on his cheeks.

“No no! I would feel bad to put you down again!” Octavia replies, they share a laugh and see Kimberley waiting.

“Aw look at the happy couple.” Kimberley says turning her head towards them.

“You’re not jealous are you princess?” John says before laughing.

“Oh, no we’re not-” Octavia begins pointing towards John and back to herself. She is cut off by Kimberley.

“Oh yeah I know, just thought it would be kinda funny.” Kimberley says smiling. “Oh! Hey, made you both a sandwich, it isn’t gourmet but not like we deserve such a thing.”

“You… Are awesome... “ Octavia says picking up a sandwich.

“Yeah, thanks. Hey, what’s with the shirt? That kind of thing doesn’t suit your personality…” John says looking her up and down. Kimberley gives him a quick glance giving him a angry look. “Not that it looks bad on you! I mean you look great! Please don’t hurt me.” John says with haste, making sure he wasn’t to be misunderstood.

“Good. You live for now, I will accept the compliment.” Kimberley says playfully “Oh! Hey I gotta pack my things and get a shower before the mission, see you guys on the C-130.” Kimberley walks off back to her dorm.

“Thank god, I thought she was about to tear my head off…” John says, still holding the sandwich in his hands.

“Y’know, that’s how all soul mates meet.” Octavia says before giggling.

“What? Her? She’s a lesbian, and it’s not like I would even try it with her.” John says while taking a bite out of his sandwich. He throws his hand over his mouth. “Oh that mother f****r. Oh f**k! Oh f**k! Oh f**k! Grab me some water quick!” John shouts because the sandwich Kimberley gave John had been layered with super hot sauce. Octavia slides over into the kitchen and grabs him some water, he drinks the entire glass and catches his breath.

“You really think she is a lesbian? I used the same thing in high school, worked like a charm.” Octavia says playfully.

“Alright, stop right there.” John says pointing at Octavia with a small smile which is barely noticeable.

“Alright, alright. Hey! Get ready for the operation, this is going to really test your abilities as a team, this is gonna be a tough one.” Octavia says walking off. She mutters under her breath “Totally meant for eachother.” John notices.

“Hey! What did you just say!” John shouts, Octavia continues walking and goes out of sight. “Mother f****r.”

Merik wakes up in a blind rage after Nate had broke the ice cream machine in his dream. Merik storms into the recreational room saying good morning to Kimberley as she walks into her room, he picks up Nate.

“What did you do to the ice cream machine!” Merik shouts waking Jason up

“N-Nothing!” Nate says practically shitting himself as he looks down on Merik. Jason walks into the recreational room rubbing his eyes before leaning on the door post.

“Merik chill. Ice cream machines fine, you were dreaming.” Jason says “I need a strawberry double cone.” Jason begins to use the last of the strawberry ice cream. The machine splutters and comes to a halt. Jason only has one scoop of strawberry ice cream of his double scoop. Jason falls to the ground, tears fill his eyes.

“Merik! There's no more strawberry ice cream!” Jason cries.

“Hold up! Bill will know how to fix this!” Merik shouts putting Nate down and running down to Bill’s lab.

“You’re gonna be okay buddy!” Nate says walking over to Jason and patting him on the back.

“My ice cream! It was innocent! Silence! I must grieve!” Jason says waiting for Merik to return.

Merik bursts through the doors of Bill’s lab to find Bill stood in a minion onesie holding a teddy bear he calls Frank.

“Bill! Emergency! No more ice cream in ice cream machine! Nice onesy by the way! Quick help!” Merik shouts, Bill stumbles over the a large freezer and picks up a refill container for each flavour of ice cream in the machine and makes his way up to the recreational room where Jason is still crying. Bill fills the ice cream machine up and makes his way back down to the lab. Before Bill can get far he is being hugged from behind and lifted three feet into the air.

“Jason. Please put me down.” Bill says still half asleep.

“Bill. You saved me! I love you man!” Jason says swinging Bill around a bit before putting him down and running back into the recreational room.

“Get ready for your mission!” Bill shouts not knowing, nor caring, if he heard him.

6:15 am...

Kimberley steps out of the shower, after drying herself with a towel and wrapping it around her body. She walks into her room to find a note left on her bed. ‘You started this! I am going to end it! P.S Anything goes, but hands off my Shelby! ~John’ Kimberley laughs to herself as John is referring to the hot sauce she put in his sandwich. She puts on her black cargo trousers and tank top and begins to prepare for the operation. She throws her glocks into holsters and flings them around each of her thighs knowing that if her armor was to be broken she could still fight without it. Walking past her mirror she notices her hair is getting a bit too long.

“Argh, seriously?” She says to herself, she walks out the room with a pair of scissors and into Emily’s room. “Hey I need a favor.”

“He. Just. Won’t. Die.” Emily mutters. Kimberley drops her arms down to her sides and walks over peering into the screen where Emily is playing a game. She takes the controller out of Emily’s hands and defeats the boss within minutes. “Wait. What?! What sorcery is this!”

“I played it before. Now you think you can cut my hair shorter for me? It is going to become a nuisance if it isn’t.” Kimberley asks.

“Sure, how do you want it?” Emily asks taking the scissors from her and making a box using her fingers.

“Just the same it is but shorter, say… About down to here.” Kimberley says while moving her hand down the top of her neck.

“Yes! I can see it now.” Emily shouts.

“You are way too into this.” Kimberley says as Emily begins to cut her hair. A few minutes later and her hair is cut, her hair going over her right eye and the rest falling to the side. She moves her hair out of the way of her eye with a purple clip and looks at herself in the mirror. “Perfect. Thanks.”

“No problem, my mother was a hairdresser.” Emily explains. Kimberley stands up fist bumps Emily’s fist. “Ouch! Not long before the operation, better get ready. I completely lost track of the time!” Emily says lifting her arm to check the time.

“Might want to take some extra mags, I heard this is going to be a tough one.” Kimberley informs Emily while catching a glimpse of her sniper rifle. “How are you feeling by the way? How’s the arm?”

“My arm? Oh right the buck shot. It’s fine now, healed pretty quickly, got some cool scars though.” Emily says showing her arm to Kimberley.

“Huh, alright if you say so. But if I see anything going south for you in the operation I am dragging your a*s out of there. No pun intended.” Kimberley says seriously.

“Okay, that’s understandable.” Emily says lifting her rifle and checking the bolt action. Kimberley walks back out and performs some last minutes armor checks. Merik, Jason, and Nate are sat in the recreational room ready and waiting to go down to the C-130. Bill walks in and leans on the door way.

“Merik, Jason, Nate. Come with me please.” Bill says firmly. The boys follow Bill down to his lab where they find three new items Bill has been developing for the past week. “Merik. My first gift is for you. It will allow you to bend light around you making yourself invisible for a short duration of about ten seconds. My second gift is for Jason. I made some changes to your armor, it now has some thrusters to help you get round quicker.” Bill says handing the inventions to Merik and Jason, Merik is now handing what looks like a spark plug that will slot into the ports on the back of his armor. ”Finally Nate. For you I modified your stars to be controlled while flying through the air.” “Thanks Bill.” The three say leaving Bills lab. Jason plugs Merik’s new mod in and the three make their way to the C-130.

John runs his fingers down his M24 on his dresser, the weapon seems ancient compared to Emily’s M40A3, he has not even brought it to the range since he joined Salvation. He flings his duffel bag over his shoulder and walks out to the hall where Kimberley is locking her room.

“Emily give you a haircut?” John asks while locking his door.

“Yeah. Didn’t know your mother was a hairdresser.” Kimberley says walking down the hall and waiting for John.

“Yeah, she was, retired now actually. Living it up in the mountains with my a*****e of a stepfather.” John says walking down the hall with Kimberley.

“I take it you are not on good terms with him.” Kimberley says looking down at her boots as she walks.

“Not really. Well being that he is the one who kicked me and Emily out at the age of eighteen, her at sixteen with literally no money. She didn’t have a lot of choice in job options as you could probably tell.” John explains, they begin to make their way down the stairs and towards the hangars.

“So… You both signed up then, to be cannon fodder for the big man.” Kimberley says.

“Yeah. You know the rest of the story, got out, joined Salvation.” John says. “Can’t tell you how many times I got into a fight with that a*****e, which is partly the reason he kicked us out. He thought it acceptable to attempt to slap Emily when she failed in science, I knocked him on his a*s, broke his arm in the process. Two weeks later we were kicked out.”

“Huh, well. We are your family now. Living life as it comes at us, fighting for an unknown cause. To be honest, I really don’t mind it.” Kimberley says with enthusiasm.

“Yeah. Try not to get too beat up on mission, yeah?” John says.

“I don’t plan on it.” Kimberley says. They both approach the C-130 meeting Emily halfway down the line of aircraft hangars each storing different kinds of aircraft; jets, helicopters, C-130’s, the works. They all enter the cargo plane and Emily brings out a pack of playing cards.

The engines begin to spool up, and the ramp raises. Allison has been sat on John’s shoulder for five minutes.

“Check-mate!” Allison shouts clenching her fists.

“What? Wait, are you playing chess with Nate!?” John asks while looking over at Nate who looks rather frustrated holding an iPad.

“He doesn’t seem to know when to quit!” Allison says happily still clenching her fists. She lowers her arms and whispers to John.

“Wait, who beat Nate at chess? He said he was once a champ you know. About six years ago I think...” Merik says.

“Allison did, sounds like a few times actually.” John says.

“Huh, he’s lost his touch, I blame TV.” Merik says sitting next to John. About mid way through the flight John, Kimberley, Emily, and Merik are playing a game of Texas hold’em.

“Hmm… I am going to go all in here.” John says shoving all his chips into the pile.

“Really? Care to make a wager if one of us loses?” Kimberley asks with a devious smile.

“Sure.” Merik says with confidence hoping no one calls his bluff.

“It ain’t luck, it’s destiny…” Emily mutters under her breath with her legs crossed as if she was in a school assembly, her eyes lit with concentration while studying the two cards that lie in her hand.

“Alright, if I win and John loses, he has to buy me tickets to the Deadpool movie next year for me and a friend.” Kimberley says.

“Fine. If I win, you have to wash my car.” John says leaning towards her with confidence.

“Fold.” Emily says throwing her cards face down on the table. “Was hoping I could bluff my way through this but you guys seem to have good hands.” Merik holds a straight face.

“F**k.” Merik says before folding. “I’m out. I don’t even want to know what you had planned for me…” Kimberley and John stare at each other placing down both sets of cards not looking at each other's cards. John peers down at her cards and Kimberley does the same.

“What! You have to be kidding me!” John shouts looking at her royal flush compared to his straight. Kimberley jumps up clenching her fists.

“Yes! Feel free to get me the tickets whenever!” Kimberley shouts. The microphone comes on from the cockpit.

“Settle down you lot, this is your get off, get in the RHIB and prepare to be dropped.” Titus says. Emily picks up her rifle and throws it over her shoulder, she hops in the boat and sits at the front. Kimberley hops in and attaches her carabiner to the side of the RHIB.

“Never been in a boat.” Merik says jumping in.

“Come on let’s sing a song!” Jason says

“Oh god please don’t.” Nate says jumping into the RHIB

“I’m on a boat! I’m on a boat! Take a good hard look at the motherfucking boat!” Merik and Jason sing in harmony. Nate groans.

“This better not be a common thing with you guys.” John says throwing his metal case in the boat and jumping in attaching a carabiner to the wheel, John places his hands on the wheel and puts on a USMC cap. The boat drops out of the back of the C-130.

“Holy s**t!” Kimberley screams as the boat falls through the air. The boat crash on the water releasing a huge splash from the drop.

“I’m falling through the air!” Merik sings before they hit the water. John rises after bracing for the impact, fixes his cap and pushes the throttle forward 45 knots, skipping across the surface high up on its plane, towards the oil rig. They arrive at the boarding platform. They release their carabiners and get off the RHIB one by one. John is the last to get off. He bends down and opens his case to take out his Scar H and unfolds the stock.

“Alright, let’s make some noise.” John says. A helicopter is heard and they all crouch down searching the sky for an aircraft. Suddenly an MI-17 transport helicopter appears beneath the clouds and lands on an landing pad. Several figures emerge from the dust that surrounded the rotor. Chatter is heard from the group that emerged from the dust.

“British, deep. Guy’s pretty sure that’s Tristan…” Merik says holding his staff behind his back.

“Oh s**t you sure it’s him?” Kimberley says

“How many British dudes do you know that would own a Russian transport chopper? plus I smell tea. earl grey...” Merik replies.

“Alright guys. We are going to do what we came here to, and as a plus, we are going to kill this mother f****r. ‘Rah?” John says.

“I call killing him.” Merik says with excitement.

“Why do you get to kill him...?” Jason says sadly.

“Cos I called it.” Merik says childishly.

John kneels down and brings out an old map of the oil rig and notices that it has had quite a few improvements.

“I am going on ahead solo, you guys decide amongst yourselves what you are going to do…” John says kneeling up and clenching the fore grip of his rifle, he jogs off towards the entrance.

“What's the plan chief.” Nate says

Jason lifts his foot and stomps onto the main deck.

“Hmm.” Jason says softly “I’ma check something out.” Jason activates his armor and jumps into the water, five minutes later Jason jumps back out to find everyone else has headed inside “Maybe not then… Let's go...where is everyone?” Jason lets out a large groan and moves inside.

“Allison, do me a favor and scan the facility, I want to know what has been built within the past six months.” John says peering around a corner.

“All enhancements are on your hud now.” Allison says.

“What the? That can’t be right.” John says. “This would mean that it goes underwater, the pressure would simply be too much… Let’s check this out.”

Emily climbs up a tower, pulls out her knife and penetrates a guards lower spine piercing organs while doing it, the guard falls to the floor and she kicks him off into the water below passing by a window. She brings out her rifle and peers down the scope across the rig.

“I found out why we haven’t encountered a lot of resistance fella’s. All the fuckers are lining up and saluting Tristan on the higher floor.” Emily says over the radio frequencies installed in the suits.

“Nice eye South. I got something too, I will let you all know when I find out what…” John says entering an elevator leading underwater.

“Anyone know, how do I get to the higher floor?” Merik asks

“The hallway on your left, last door on the right leads to a stairwell.” John says.

“On my way over to it, load up the map on my HUD pleases and thank yous.” Jason says only just heading inside after getting distracted by a couple of fishing boats in the distance. Merik launches himself into the meeting hall on the higher floor where Tristan is giving his followers a talking to.

“Peekaboo!” Merik shouts knocking down the door.

“Who the hell are you!?” Edwin, one of Tristans executives, shouts. Tristan begins to laugh.

“That’s the Horseman! Did you not do your homework Edwin?” Tristan says while still laughing “Have no fear, there is no way only one member of Salvation can take down all of you guys. Especially you Edwin.”

“B***h I could do!” Merik shouts “There’s like fifty of you! Talk about easy.”

“Oh really… Well how about we put that to the test. If you can take down all of these men I’ll let you in on a little something I know about you.” Tristan says turning to sit down in his chair.

“Challenge accepted.” Merik says leaning forward and switching his staff to the halberd, he charges forward piercing two of the fifty through the chest making them fall to the ground slowly bleeding out.

“Two!” Tristan shouts while beginning to laugh. Merik begins to get angry and activates the enhanced strength mod on his armor and switches to his cutlass and slices through another thirteen.

“Fifteen! That's more like it Horseman! Show them the power of the apocalypse!” Tristan shouts still laughing. Merik switches from the great sword to the axes and cuts through ten more before jumping back to the door.

“Half way Horseman!” Tristan says after taking a sip of tea. Suddenly the roof collapses, and a figure drops down and kneels.

“Tristan…” Octavia says unsheathing two blades. “You-son-of-a-b***h!” She screams and lunges towards him.

“They are fond of their fairy lights.” Kimberley says looking around at the dimming lights. The alarm sounds and red lights appear. “No doubt Merik’s handiwork…” Out of nowhere a body drops past one of the windows.

“They are rather pretty, be better if they were a light blue.” Nate says. Kimberley laughs and continues down the hall.

She approaches the door which reads ‘Security room’ in Russian. Kimberley shoots the door knob off and kicks in the door. She throws a knife into a guard on the left, she then puts a bullet into the one on the right. Kimberley removes her knife from the guard's neck.

“Aw, my knife is blunt now…” Kimberley says looking sad. Kimberley pulls out a device Bill had given her before hand to deactivate the systems.

“Erm, Nate. How do I use this thing again, do I put the thing in the thing?” She attaches the wires to the control panel.

“Plug the thing into the whatsit and type in the code?” Nate says.

She types in a code and the power comes back online in the lower levels of the facility.

“Alright time to stop those alarms and flashing lights...” Kimberley says to herself, she sits behind the computer and logs into the network. She deactivates most of the systems around the facility. The elevator opens and John walks through the corridor. The lights suddenly vanish, John presses a button on the side of his helmet and a flashlight turns on, on his helmet.

“Allison, any heat signatures?” John asks, lifting his rifle scanning the empty halls and rooms as he passes them.

“None… I don’t like this John.” Allison says.

“Yeah, me neither…” John says. John walks into a large dark room. Emergency lights suddenly turn on, in the lower laboratories, he turns off the flashlight and disables his helmet to get a better look around the room. “What the hell is this place…?”

“John! Heat signature!” Allison shouts. John’s helmet forms around his head and he hears a sound behind him, he turns to find a fist flying towards him.

“Oh shi-” John shouts before flying across the lab. He stands up and looks at the machine he sees in front of him. Before him lies a fully operational mech, armed with miniguns, rocket launchers, pretty much any weapon you could name.

“Oh for the love of my rifle…” John mutters. He raises his rifle and sprays at the machine being piloted by a crazed man. The mech sprints towards John ignoring the 5.56mm rounds pinging off the armor. The pilot of the mech was given strict orders to preserve the lab as much as possible, therefore refusing to use any of the big weapons. The mech moves into punch John again, but he dodges it grappling onto the side of the fist and swinging himself on top of it, he releases an entire mag into the window of the mech, with no prevail. He dives off and makes a run for the elevator.

“Oh f**k, oh f**k, oh f**k, oh f**k!” He shouts diving into the elevator and mashing the surface level button. The doors close and begins to elevate. The mech tears off the doors beneath the elevator and begins to climb up the shaft. John hears it.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me!” He screams firing multiple rounds into the bottom of the elevator. The elevator reaches the surface floor and John rolls out of it and breaks into a sprint onto the outside platforms. Jason is stood outside of the elevator.

“Eyy up what’s down there?” Jason asks.

“Get back! I am not prepared for this s**t!” John shouts stopping and aiming at the elevator awaiting the mech to crash through it.

“North? You alright?!” Emily shouts down the radio seeing John in her sights aiming at the elevator.

“Can’t talk right now!” John screams down the radio back to her.

“You have multiple personnel approaching your position, you handle whatever you are and I will keep them off you!” Emily says, she moves her rifle to face John's vicinity and loads a round into the chamber of her rifle. The mech crashes through the elevator door way throwing the elevator at John.

“Son-of-a-b***h!” John shouts diving out of the way, throwing himself over the railing. Before he can pull himself up the mech breaks into a sprint towards John, when Jason appears and side kicks the side of the mech throwing it into a wall. Jason activates the empowered gloves on his armor and takes the mini gun off the mech.

“North, You seem like you could use a hand.” Jason shouts. John throws himself back over the railing.

“Good timing Demon!” John shouts back checking the magazine of his rifle. Multiple soldiers run to the railing and pin John down behind a sandbag wall, multiple shots are fired in quick succession and they are collapsing to the floor.

“You’re all clear North. Gotta say I am impressed you have put up this much of a fight against a mech.” Emily says.

“Why? Were you losing faith in me sis’?” John asks, while dodging an RPG the mech had launched at him.

“Demon! Let him come at me! Be ready to follow up!” John shouts over to Jason. The mech turns towards John and breaks into a sprint, John does the same John raises his fist, the mech goes to punch John.

“Allison! Put all power in my suit to my fist now!” John screams.

“Done!” Allison replies. John and the mech lock fists sending a shockwave throughout the facility. John and the mech are locking fists.

“Demon! Now!” John screams. Jason runs and slides underneath John’s and the mech's arms and uppercuts the mech sending it miles away from the facility into the depths of the sea. John collapses to one knee, the armor deforms around him and he clings to his shoulder.

“North man are you okay!?” Jason shouts.

“Yeah, yeah. I just need a minute, pretty sure I broke a collarbone…” John says with a smile and a beaten up face with sweat running down him.

Octavia cuts a guard in half and dives towards tristan who matches her blades with a baton, he kicks her back and lunges towards her releasing attacks towards her body and face. She dodges it all and punches him in the face with her blades in hand. Edwin lunges at Octavia with a combat knife, she deflects the knife with her blades in a cross, Edwin and Tristan jump out a window, Octavia breaks into a sprint to follow them. Merik activates the poison gas modification, killing the last twenty-four guards as they fall to the ground coughing and gasping for air. Merik activates the invisibility mod to get closer to Tristan and Edwin without being noticed. Octavia chases them to the helicopter pad where Tristan throws down a red flare. She charges, Edwin get’s between them, she punches him and roundhouse kicks him to the other end of the pad.

“Come on Octavia, this is getting tedious…” Tristan says with a smug smile.

“Die you f**k!” Octavia screams and propels herself forward kicking Tristan in the face, he grabs her leg and flips her to the floor. She rolls herself back avoiding the bullet from Edwin. Tristans escape arrives hovering above the oil rig, a rope ladder drops out of one of the door and Tristan latches on to it. The MI-17 starts to ascend, Edwin runs off the edge of the platform diving for the end of the rope ladder he latches on as Merik becomes visible again, switches his staff to the bow and sends an arrow into Edwins right leg.

“F**k!” Merik shouts “So what now?” The russian helicopter begins to fly away and disappear into the clouds. Octavia falls to her knees dropping her blades. Sweat running down her head. Her face emotionless, she is still trying to get to grips with what had happened.

“So close… So f*****g close… To ending this! Ending all of this!” Octavia says smashing her fist on the platform. Titus appears in the sky piloting a UH-60 blackhawk helicopter, he lands on the platform, they all return to Texas within a few hours. Not a single word is said among them on the trip back, the sound consumed by the rotors of the helicopter.