The Terror of The Inferno

Waves of electric energy washed up and down her body. Heart pumping in overdrive, she slipped off her heavy suit helmet then propelled herself at a high-speed across the road into the opposite dwelling where the d-merc disappeared into.

Pivoting on her heels she grabbed her pistol and took off after him.

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Hunter waited for him to reach the middle of the floor before he appeared out of the darkness, throwing a punch that landed with a solid thud in the d-mercs face and sent him flying.

With a confident smile Hunter strode forward ready to inflict pain on the merc. By now he was standing and wiped his face clear of blood that was from a tiny cut on his lip.

Both of them pounced simultaneously, sweeping forward violently to engage their opponent.

Hunter threw a wicked left hook that was easily dodged. The merc dropped, his body lunging low, and

whipped out his leg to connect with Hunters, sweeping it out from under him.

Hunter found himself sprawled on his back, his opponent was quick, lightning quick.

He had to spin away as the merc came at him on the ground, he scrambled up onto his feet but immediately came back at the merc.

They countered and pressed each other but neither of them gave ground, both their faces were swollen and their hands were covered in red with each other's blood that ran freely down their faces.

They were both puffing now, and the sweat stung his eyes, and so he didn't see the leg until it landed into his midsection. He doubled over in pain, the foot came at him once again but this time he grabbed it.

And the merc was fast—unbelievably so, but still not quite fast enough to snap his leg back before Hunter griped his ankle and heaved.

Hunter wasn't very surprise when he used the momentum to carry himself over into a flip, but didn't land with grace as he staggered about.

Even before he landed Hunter pressed the advantage and hurled himself into a flying kick, but at the last moment the merc straightened up from his staggering posture and caught Hunter mid air, with a grunt he heaved and threw Hunter face first onto the ground.

The merc pressed him down, pinning Hunters' arms, his knee hard between his shoulder blades. Hunter spat out dirt and sand as he twisted his head to breathe and get a reprieve from the bloody hand constricting his throat.

He was sure he felt his ribs snap, as his whole body contorted in agony, but the merc wasn't done, he flipped Hunter over and pushed him against the roof wall.

Every movement was an agony he had to endure, he stood on the edge of consciousness as he sat there facing his opponent

Pain rioted through his body, but he tried to focus. Through his blurred vision he thought he saw the merc pick up his rifle that was previously lying on the ground. But the lack of oxygen was too great, his body was exhausted, and his mind a blur of pain.

The d-mercs's voice rasped overhead. "Welcome to Hell." Hunter lifted his eyes and saw the barrel of his own sniper rifle baring down upon him.

Hunter closed his swollen eyes shut.

Oh, shit.

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Veronica heard the shot ring throughout the building with a sharp clarity, she ran up the stairs as her brain scrambled to explain the significance of the one shot.

Breaking through the door she came to a stop as she saw Hunter lying against the side of the wall his face was contorted in pain.

The mercenary stood up, his hands red with blood as his face bled from various cuts on his face.

"Stop right there or I'll shoot." Though she didn't have her helmet on, her voice boomed across the small distance as if she was on speaker. He stopped short and turned to her.

His gaze was steady and unafraid as he watched her. Like a man who'd had a gun pointed at him before. A lot.

Blood ran down his face from cuts, his face was swollen and he held his left hand in an awkward manner indicating Hunter had done a number on him.

Yet despite his injuries, she wasn't entirely fooled: here was a predator—quiet, elegant, and lethal.

The sniper rifle he held to Hunter's head stayed completely steady, no movement at all, unlike her own pistol which shook with tremors.

She tightened both her hands on the grip of her pistol and willed them to stay still.

Her mind ran furiously on how to handle the situation, she was already sure that Hunter was fine because he twitched every now and then. Still she didn't dare take her eyes off the merc, who She deliberated while he patiently waited, giving her the ball.

"All I want is the databix, after that you can leave and we won't bother you."

His face immediately took a look of dubious disbelief, he waited a bit, boring into her eyes as if to see the truth of her words, and after a brief silence he asked. "How do I know, I can trust you."

"Back then you could have killed me but you didn't, I'm willing to give you the same chance, I will let you go and we'll forget about beating the crap out of my team mate and setting us up."

Hunter grunted, some sort of objection of course but for once Veronica was glad he was in pain and couldn't fuck this up.

Veronica tapped her foot against the metallic looking board next to her, "Here is your escape vehicle, all I need is the databix and we're even, just drop it and you can leave."

His reply came in the form of a smile, deliberately cold, deliberately ruthless. Lightning lit up the night sky, throwing his whole face in momentary relief. A moment later thunder boomed, close enough to shake the ground. But the storm beyond sector nine paled in comparison to decisions they were both about to make.

"The board first, I have to believe I can trust a grunt who can keep fighting out of the discussion."

When she looked at him with incredulity he shrugged and said "My psychiatrist said I have trust issues." The amusement was obvious in his voice and the wry look on his face made her feel as if he knew she understood.

Here was soldier with no gun, but a warrior none the less, hardened by countless battles, she deduced he was easily underestimated, heck she'd nearly done that herself but the look in his eyes, his behavior, even the blood hands told her he used that underestimation to his advantage.

Nodding her head she turned the board on hover with her foot, and kicked it forward slightly as it moved forward on its small anti-grav drive.

When the board reached him, he looked at her face again and sighed this time. He picked up his backpack and upended the contents onto the ground. Veronica could see various colored databix in the jumble, but she focused on the black one they were looking for.

Just as he grabbed his board to leave a shot rang out, he grunted and dropped to one knee.

His response was immediate and as violent as the storm beyond them, with his good hand he grabbed a tube of nanoids, but instead of applying them to himself he lunged and injected them into Hunters arm that held the pistol.

Before Veronica could raise her gun again he had already straightened up, and just as she shot he'd already jumped into the air and performed a somersault, with fluid movements he landed on his board as her shot went wild and as he turned towards her once again light flashed from his hand.

'Stun gun in his hand.' Was her last coherent thought before the electricity hit her like a bucket of ice water, and she was completely unprepared for it.

She jerked and flopped as it slammed into her, and she felt electric shocks running continuously from her head to her toes. Just when she thought she couldn't stand it another second, her body jerked as ice and searing heat simultaneously ran through her body.

She dropped to her knees; she'd lost all awareness of her surroundings as savage pain tore into her body over and over again.

The unbearable pain was indescribable as heat tore over her skin and felt like it was being boiled, while ice froze her bones to the marrow. She couldn't catch a breath as the pistol fell from her now useless fingers.

But after what seemed like hours it slowly began to dwindle in level.

For a moment, she continued to fight it, too immersed in the wave after wave of vicious pain to simply let go. The world faded around her and her lids fluttered, but she hung on tenaciously as she heard Hunters bellow of pain in the far edges of her mind.

But she wasn't up for it as she simply let go and fell into the sweet darkness.