Goodbye To A Hero.

A Story by NamelessBeast.

Basically, I have a character called Cap who keeps popping up. He's adopted Runt, typical Alpha Project style. And this is what happens.

"Get down, Runt!" Cap's voice boomed from somewhere ahead of him. Runt threw his body to the ground, completely surrendering to his training.

Runt couldn't see anything through the smoke, dust and dim light. His throat was coated in the disgusting powder that filled the air and he was pretty sure he was going to suffocate. He crawled forwards, careful to keep his semi automatic in a firing position in case he needed it. The M4A1 was virtually useless, he had used almost all his ammo getting up here, but it was all he had for the moment.

He ducked his head down and stopped moving the second he heard gunfire. He knew where it was coming from, and why they were aiming for him... Goddamn it. They were still trying to separate Cap from the rest of the Alphas, and that meant killing Runt. The team downstairs was almost no problem, but Runt was a threat. He was close enough to end the fight.

Runt coughed, turning his head to the side and pushing his cheek to the floor. He should be wearing a helmet for this fight, but this was meant to be a stealth mission so he only had a black balaclava. Which could mean his death. "Brilliant." he grumbled to the floor as cold concrete chips dug into his face.

"Runt. Run, get out of h-" Cap's voice was cut off and there was a heavy thud. Runt felt the adrenaline flood his system for the second time since entering the building. Nobody hurt Cap while he was around. He pulled himself up and dived to the wall, pushing his body flat against it. Bullets hit the wall opposite him, being aimed through the windows from the room he had his back to.

Any sensible person would have waited for the rest of the team to get there. But, Cap was in there. He needed to get in.

Runt pulled his M4A1 to his chest and shuffled to the left, moving out of the way of any stray shots. He checked the ammo he had left. Not much, but enough. He worked out he had three opponents, each with a pistol and probably a knife or two on them. They were used to fighting up close and would never be as good as Runt was with a bigger gun. That was his advantage.

"Cap. Floor." he called out, resting his head against the wall. Three, two, one. There was a sharp cry. Action time. Runt dived around the corner and shot the first man through the skull. The second got a shot at him but missed, Runt took him down with two shots to the chest. Red flowers blossomed on his shirt and he fell limp. Not dead yet, but there was no time to finish him.

Cap was lying on the floor, blood pooling around him with a knife in his chest. The other man was sprawled on the grey console in front of him, a bullet through the back of his head. Cap had always been brilliantly accurate.

Runt fell to his knees beside Cap, checking him over. Other than the knife wound, there were two bullet holes in him. One at his knee, completely shattering his knee cap, and one in his shoulder. "Hey Cap." Runt smiled weakly, knowing there was nothing he could do. He didn't know enough, he didn't know how to save Cap. And even if he could, he wasn't big enough to get Cap out of the building. Cap was easily twice his size, and he was a lot heavier than Runt could lift.

"Runt, get out." Cap growled. His face was pale and he was having a hard time breathing. He lifted himself up onto his non damaged arm. He coughed hard and spat out a mouthful of blood. He wiped his face with his hand, blood was smeared across his skin, he was coughing up blood. The knife had gone into his lungs... He was losing blood a lot quicker than Runt had expected. "Get out. Leave me. Go."

"No, Cap... I can't do that. You know I can't do that." Runt shook his head, his hands fumbling with the body armour Cap was wearing. Tears sprang to his eyes, threatening to fall. "I can't leave you."

"Runt, get a goddamn grip." Cap snapped, "You've got to go. You can't fix this. Take the data and go."

Runt shook his head; he couldn't talk now, words weren't enough. He was watching the man that he thought of as a brother, die right in front of him. He couldn't do anything to show Cap how much Runt owed him. Runt owed him his life, his entire existence was due to this man... How could he say that with words when he couldn't even stop Cap's pain? "Not going anywhere."

"Stubborn b*****d." Cap smiled weakly, lowering himself to the ground. He shut his eyes, looking at peace in a way Runt had never seen him before. "You take care of them boys, yeah?"

"Y-Yeah." Runt nodded, his heart thumping hard enough to hurt. He couldn't let Cap die, not here and not now. But that didn't matter, it was happening.

"And tell them I'm proud of you all, Sammy."

Runt swallowed, tears falling silently. He hadn't heard his name for so long, he had almost forgotten it. "I will, Cap."

"Call me Carter." Cap's voice faded, his body relaxed and his breathing stopped. His face was smeared with blood and scarred, worn by time and stress, but Runt thought that he could see the young man Cap used to be under all the years. He pulled his gloves off and took the woven leather bracelet from his wrist, he placed it in Cap's hand and stood up.

He walked to the console, the blank screens reflected him. His cheeks were wet and he was covered in dust and dirt. He looked different. It didn't matter. He threw the body of the man at the console to the floor and stepped over him. He downloaded the data from the console onto the disk that Cap had already loaded up. He took the disc out and shoved it into its case.

His radio fuzzed, "We cleared this floor." Buzz said, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Cap cleared this floor. He's..."

"We heard the conversation. We know."

"Come and collect his body. I can't."

"Okay, boss."

"And bring more ammo. I am going to kill everyone in the building and then burn it to the ground."

"You ca-"

"Let him." Another voice cut in, Alistair. "We need to kill everyone here anyway. And he needs to let off some steam."