Fully Alive: Chapter 22, a short story by HarrySaintcrow. Date added: 2011-09-11. Times viewed: 739.
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- Intro: Its a bloody battle as Kira and Lance fight through the remaining forces to stop Imhoff from ressurecting Arkham
Chapter 22
The last door on the right was massive to say the least. The heavy wooden planks were at least half a foot thick with iron bindings and hinges. It gave Lance a minute of resistance as he blasted it off its hinges. Kira already had her shield in place around them as more guards opened fire. Kira held the shield while Lance sent a shockwave through the dirt floor of the cavern. More guards were knocked off there feet as Lance pulled his throwing knives and began to throw with incredible speed and power. The knives left his hands faster than any eye could catch leaving only a slight glimmer before being imbedded in a guards face.
“Break!” Lance shouted. Kira dropped her shield and rolled to the side as Lance rolled to the opposite side avoiding the massive fireball that exploded where they had once been. Kira brought her gun up and emptied it into anything that moved. She could see the slightly raised portion of floor in the back of the chamber where a black coffin sat with Amy behind it being held by a man dressed all in black with blonde hair. She pushed her way towards the man cutting through anything in her path with her sword.
. Kira came in hard at the first attackers using a blast of air at the guard’s legs to scatter them in every direction. All semblance of a strategy flew out the window as everything went into complete chaos. Guards started coming at Kira with swords and knives drawn, ready for blood to spill across the floor; of course she felt that she was happy to oblige them. She brought her blade across parrying the first guard’s sword then back up to slash his throat in a quick movement. She spun to her left dropping to her knee under another of her opponent’s sword slicing across his stomach and spilling his guts across the floor. She stopped her spin, still on her knees, parried another strike sending the guards sword out wide, as she reversed her momentum for a straight thrust into his heart. She spun the opposite direction back up to her feet and with the grace of a ballet dancer, kicked her next opponent in the knee making him overbalance in his swing. Recognizing the easy kill she brought her sword down hard on the back of his neck severing it instantly.
The soldiers formed a tight wall around their commander some of them spreading out to shoot at their attackers from different angles. Lance made directly for the human shield but as they got ready for the assault he veered off to the right back towards the wall but was grazed by a bullet on his side. He growled in anger and grabbed the guard that had opened fire by his face. Still holding onto his face, he slammed him into the wall, spun in place, and launched him at the human wall. The guards didn’t know what to think but couldn’t move out of the way fast enough and were scattered by the human meat missile. Lance thought to himself.
“That’s how you make a door.” Lance ran straight for Imhoff thinking to get him away from Amy, he saw Imhoff raised his hand for another blast. Lance slowed just a hair, enough for him to slam his foot hard on the floor rising up a small wall of earth in just enough time to take the hit of the fireball. The wall exploded but Lance just kept coming at a full run. Imhoff smiled.
“Too late.” He yelled as he made to cut Amy’s throat. Lance knew he wouldn’t make it in time and anything he could throw at Imhoff would hit Amy as well, maybe even drive the blade in. fortunately, he didn’t have to. A blast of air nailed Amy sending her out of his reach across the room. Imhoff turned to see Kira standing a dozen feet away from him. Distracted, he didn’t have time to get his hands up to try and stop Lance who just barreled him over locking his arms tightly around Imhoff,
Imhoff tried to concentrate through the intense beating Lance rained down as he used every part of his body to head butt, kick, and tear at Imhoff. Finally Imhoff managed to concentrate through the pain as he ignited his whole body in flame. Lance yelled out and slammed his forehead into Imhoff’s nose breaking it. he jumped off patting his burning clothes to snuff out the fires as Imhoff stood up slowly, missing part of his ear and bleeding all over his face.
“So I guess you’re a hand to hand man as well.” Imhoff said. Lance just smiled.
“Well I can’t help it I just love crushing people with my bare hands. I get a hard on from it.” He said.
“Your resolve is truly disturbing my friend. Are you certain you are on the right side; you sound just like the sort of monster that would be fought by the High Covenant?” Imhoff said.
“I don’t kill kids, asshole. That little piece of information makes it easier for me to rip your spine out.” Lance said still smiling. Imhoff shuddered slightly.
“Enough Talk.” Imhoff said.
In the ensuing pause between the two Kira had blown past Lance and Imhoff to scoop up Amy. She spun around only to realize all the rest of the guards were blocking her from the exit, she set Amy down and motioned for her to stand back. Kira looked at the men for a moment and simply smiled that casual smile she’d seen on Tim’s face many times before.
“Alright boys, who’s first?” she asked mockingly. Two of them came running at her, she stepped to her right barely missing a sword tip aimed at her head while bringing her own sword across slicing his armpit making him drop his sword and grab his side. She spun to her left dropping to a crouch slicing her next opponent across the stomach. Quickly rising to her feet she blasted the group directly in front of her giving herself some room to work. Two more came at her from opposite sides thinking they had her at a disadvantage. One came at her thrusting forward with a knife while the other came down in a downward swing with a sword but at the last moment she rolled back from in between them causing one to stab the other in the chest while the other sliced the other’s head down the middle. with only four guards left she thought that they might actually win this fight, but deep down she knew the battle was far from over.
Instead of crashing in to each other they came at each other in measured steps. Imhoff assumed the stance of a pugilist boxer while Lance went into a form of Muay Thai. Suddenly Imhoff came at Lance with a flurry of punches sending Lance back on his heels; he blocked and dodged for his life not expecting the incredible speed that his opponent had. Finally he got his foot up and snapped it into Imhoffe’s chest stunning him and giving Lance the chance for an offense. He snapped off punches and more kicks as Imhoff ducked and weaved trying to get inside Lance’s reach. He managed to side step to the side and leaned in just pasted Lances guard and shot off a combination of hooks to the body. Lance brought his arms down to protect his body just in time to get a solid hook to the jaw that sent him almost spinning on his feet then stumbling backward. Imhoff, thinking he had this fight won, pressed the attack and tried to throw a haymaker and take Lance’s head off. What he got was a forearm to his face, blinded for a moment he lurched backward then felt Lance’s hands grab the back of his head clinching it in between his arms getting his eyes open fast enough to get hit in the face by a knee not once, but twice but Imhoff got his arms up in time to block the third. Lance would not be deterred as he just slammed his knee in his gut then forearmed him in the side of the head sending him sprawling to the floor.
Imhoff looked up at Lance through swollen eyes and to Lance’s amazement got back up to his feet. Both men were bloodied and battered, barely able to stand another round of fighting. Lance spit a mouthful of blood on the floor.
“Well I’m thoroughly impressed; you’re a tough son of a bitch.” He said. Imhoff just smiled showing a couple of missing teeth.
“I shall take that as a compliment.” Imhoff said.
“Don’t, I’ve met tougher.” Lance said.
“Well, I will say it will be a shame to see you die, but I must really get my actors into place.” Imhoff said.
“Actors?” Lance asked out load, but his question went unanswered. Imhoff came at him again with renewed vigor and furiously sent strike after strike at Lance. Lance kept up the pace but he had no opening for attack. Amy had taken refuge around the black coffin seeing as no one had come near it since the fighting. She could see the doorway form where she was but the four men attacking Kira were keeping the fight in front of the door. Imhoff and Lance were near the back of the chamber which left her and the coffin somewhat in the center. She closed her eyes hoping that something would make it all stop when she felt something around her. It was the same feeling she’d had when she touched someone. She also felt something in the air around her and knew who it was.
Tim exploded through the doorway taking the four men on Kira with the explosion and completely passing them. Tim ran past Kira giving her only a second glance to see if she was alright then focused on Imhoff. Lance and Imhoff kept up the fight but it was just what Imhoff had waited for. With a slight pull of his will, he took in a short breath and blew it out. Flames erupted suddenly in Lance’s face and blinded him for just a moment. Imhoff took the moment to send a solid thrust kick into his sternum sending him flying away from him. Tim jumped on the coffin using it for a higher vantage keeping his momentum going straight for Imhoff; Tim had him dead to rights; which was exactly what Imhoff had planned for. Something shot out from the wall behind Imhoff just as he ducked Tim’s attack. Tim saw the spear coming for him in a slow motion but he had already committed to the leap and could not reverse it. The spear hit him square in the chest and came out the other side but the momentum carried it further and dragged Tim along with it to send him crashing into the coffin.
“No!” Kira screamed as she got to her feet and ran straight for Tim. She could see Imhoff walking to Tim’s body sitting aside the coffin and anger flooded her system. Her blade was in her hand before she knew it and she charged the German. Something slammed into her and sent her sprawling to the floor. She looked up but found nothing there. She got up again and tried to get to Tim but an invisible wall kept her from going any further. She could only watch as Imhoff leaned down and said something to Tim.
“That was the plan the whole time, wasn’t it?” Tim asked as he struggled to breathe. Blood trickled down his chin as he coughed up the red liquid.
“Nein, we were going to use the little oracle, but when we heard you were not truly dead, we could not resist a sure thing.” Imhoff said.
“Sure thing.” Tim repeated.
“Yes, a precog witch may or may not open the seal, but the bearer of it will defiantly. So I decided to put on a little show and reel in the best key.” Imhoff said with a smile. “And I do believe we have a perfect match, even with your new abilities.” Tim couldn’t turn to see what was happening but he knew enough without looking. The blood from his body that had splashed on the coffin was now running through the etchings in the coffin. Each small runnel was now being filled and he could feel the pull of the seal on his will. That was the burden on the bearer. Tim could feel darkness pulling at the edges of his vision and he knew he was loosing blood fast. He was about to fall into the darkness when he felt something pull the spear from his chest with a sickening suction like noise. Fire shot through his chest as the pain was excruciating. Imhoff picked Tim up by his coat and held him to his full height. “Now that you have served your purpose, I have no use for you.” He said before tossing Tim through the shield and out onto the dirt floor. Kira ran to him and collapsed to his form trying to put pressure on the wound.
“Jesus, not again.” She said.
“Not exactly.” Tim said through bloodied lips.
“Stop talking we’re going to get you out of here.” She said. She vaguely saw Amy out of the corner of her eye come near her and Tim but she kept a slight distance from them.
“Listen, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine I just have to concentrate.” Tim said as he took Kira’s hand from the wound. She tried to resist but then she saw what he was trying to show her. The wound had now stopped bleeding and already she could see new skin forming over the hole. She stared mouth agape as the wound healed faster then anything she had ever seen. “I told you, I cannot be killed as long as you live.”
“How are you doing this?” she asked.
“I’m not, you are.” Tim said. “The closer you are to me the stronger our power is, but I’ll still need a minute. Somebody has to stop Imhoff before he resuscitates Arkham.”
“But I can’t get through the shield.” Kira said. A bright red light now engulfed the coffin as the last remnants of the seal finally fell away from it.
“Actually, that’s not true.” Amy said. Kira looked at her puzzled. “Since Imhoff threw Tim through the shield his blood became part of the shield. You should be able to pass through since his blood runs through you too.” She said.
“Sink or swim time, Kira.” Lance said. He had managed to limp over to them while Amy had spoken. “You’re the only one who can get in and stop him.”
“But what if I can’t?” she asked.
“You can angel.” Tim said. “Don’t worry; we’ll be right behind you.”
Imhoff opened the coffin and took a step back seeing the mummified corpse of Arkham lying in his coffin. There were only bones with tanned skin clinging to them left. Imhoff produced a large vial of blood and Lance recognized it as the roman’s blood.
“Now Kira!” Lance yelled. Kira nodded and took off at a dead run with her sword drawn ready for a killing blow. Imhoff yanked the silver knife from Arkham’s decayed chest and tossed it aside. Kira burst through the shield and immediately everything went upside down for her. Her stomach seemed to try and leave her body through her mouth and she collapsed to her knees.
“Skipping through a shield that isn’t yours is quite a nasty business for such a young witch.” Imhoff said before dumping the entire container of blood into the coffin. Kira stood shaking on her legs ready to kill Imhoff even if Arkham was coming back. Imhoff tossed the container away as he turned to face her. “I see they send a woman to do a man’s job; Typical American.”
Kira came at him with everything she had but Imhoff was ready and still able to overwhelm her. He easily disarmed her and tossed her sword back through the shield. He grabbed a handful of her hair and slammed her face into the side of the wooden coffin. Blood exploded from her nose and for a moment she could only see stars in her eyes. Imhoff yanked her back onto her feet then punched her in the stomach hard enough to fold her in half. She collapsed gasping for breath as Imhoff let her go and went back to the spear lying on the ground. Amy went over to Lance who was still trying to get his legs to cooperate. She took his hand and before he could say anything he felt something run through his mind as if someone were pulling on it. Amy let go of his hand and his mind returned to normal. He looked to see Amy’s eyes had gone completely white before she ran to the shield and put her hands on the invisible wall. Kira was near the shield enough for her to hear Amy.
“Put your hand to mine.” Amy said. Kira turned slowly to her and without asking why she put her hand up to the shield to match Amy’s. She felt a warm sensation travel through her body and something else run through her mind. She managed to get to her knees and steadily she looked at the coffin and where Imhoff was now standing, ready to strike again with his spear. She looked back to Amy then back to the coffin and a sick smile came to her.
“Thank you.” She said before she pulled her will through her and reached out to the only element within in the shield that could help her. Air would only fuel Imhoff’s fire but water would extinguish it. Of course there was only so much moisture in the air so she took the only liquid she could find, the blood running over Arkham’s body.
Imhoff already knew something was up as he began to come after her. Kira pulled the moisture to her and watched the blood flow out of the coffin and towards her.
“What are you doing?” Imhoff screamed. The blood gathered in front of her as she remembered how to compose and control the water, but she knew it wasn’t her memories she was using. Imhoff came at her at a dead run and before he could raise his spear he watched the blood in the air form a spear of its own. The blood froze in this form and shot at Imhoff, hitting him through the heart and nailing him to the floor. Kira just sat there on the ground with her back to everyone, completely exhausted. She smiled knowing she had done well, but her smile faded quickly as she noticed the hand gripping the side of the coffin. Despite having no blood, Arkham was still living and climbing from his coffin.
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