Something Painful

Ed and Dev made their way down the fire escape. Either Melisa had never surveyed the building enough, or the Others didn't figure that they would ever try to use it in a situation such as this.

            "Damnit!" Ed yelped and fell down to the floor below while he had been climbing down.

            "Your arms acting up again?" Dev asked as he jumped down and gave Ed a hand to get up.

            Ed nodded but quickly stabilised himself and retrieved an arrow from the quiver around his back. "Let's work our way around back. I have a feeling that they may be waiting right around the corner," Ed said.

            "Good idea," Devon replied and started heading the other way around.

 

Just as they turned the corner of the building, they could see another van coming in from the side entrance of the building. Ed aimed without thinking, and let an arrow rip through the air. The broad head of the arrow allowed for the tires to burst, causing the van to sway left and right out of control before it tipped over, hopefully taking out one or two Others agents.

            As they made their way further around the building, a couple of agents kicked the back of the van open and got out. Fortunately for Ed and Dev, they were a bit dazed.

            Devon tackled one of them before they could even make sense of what was going on. As the other saw this,, he lifted his sub-machine gun, but could not even aim properly as an arrow pierced through the unprotected part of his body armour on the neck.

            Devon turned around, and just as the agent that he had tackled tried to get up, he slammed his foot into the agents stomach, then continued to grab his head with both hands, then giving it one quick twist, breaking his neck.

            Ed, who stood a few feet away, nodded at him and prepared another arrow. As he did, though, he dropped the arrow and cursed loudly. Another pain had shot through his arm. He attempted to pick the arrow back up, just as a huge agents rammed into him, spear-tackling him all the way up against the wall.

            Devon ran in their direction while unsheathing one of his swords. The huge agent saw this however, turned around and dodged Dev's swing flawlessly. He then grabbed Dev by the neck and started applying pressure.

            "Remember me?" the huge man asked in a Slovakian accent, the continued to wink at Dev as he laughed viciously while choking him to death.

            "Fuck you," Dev struggled to say and kicked him where most men would find extremely uncomfortable. Though he merely made a quick sound indicating that he did feel it, but did not mind it.

            "I promised that I would kill you," the man said and laughed again. Dev tried his best to pry the man's fingers loose from his neck.

            "Hey asshole," Ed then said from right beside him.

            In the short struggle Dev had put up with the huge man, he had completely forgotten about Ed. Probably thinking that he had managed to out him down for good. Now, he looked straight down the slope of a pistol, aimed at his head.

            "Remember me?" Ed asked mockingly, and pulled the trigger. "Damn git..."

            "Thanks," Dev said as he felt at his neck while picking up his sword and sheathing it. "You remember him?" He then asked rhetorically, not expecting a serious answer.

            "'told me that I would never be able to shoot again, after breaking my arm all those years ago."

            Dev did not know what to make of Ed's reply, so he merely shook Ed's hand and then the two of them headed further around the building.

 

They made it to the front of the building, where Ian had managed to hold the line for quite a bit. By the looks of it, only three agents tried to go inside, all of whom lay face down on the ground, where the sliding doors had been shot to hell. Ian's one sword was stuck to one of the supports next to where the door used to be, indicating that he had at least attempted to make it out before the third van had arrived.

            "Where the hell were you two!" Ian exclaimed from behind the reception desk where Melisa used to hang out a bit too much, now that Devon thought about it.

            As if to answer his question, Dev pulled out his sword and cut at the nearest agent, who was completely oblivious of the two of them coming around the back, and beheaded him on the spot.

            Ed, who's bow had been broken in the spear-tackle from earlier, gave off a few shots with the pistol before two more agents dropped to the ground, all of whom had been shot in vital areas.

 

Ian finally came out of cover with his remaining sword and his pistol drawn dually. He then started running toward his two partners, used the big concrete bench as a springboard and flipped over them while giving off few shots in mid-air, landing, and finally swinging the sword around and sticking it into an agent's stomach, who had managed to sneak up on them while they were creating an opening for Ian.

            "Ladies," Ian said and nodded with a grin.

            Dev pushed him out the way with a smile and walked around to the bench, where he sat down and felt at his neck again.

            "Thanks," Ed said and popped his knuckles. "You know, I do hope we still have government immunity..."

            "Why is that?" Dev asked.

            "Look around, dude, we aren't exactly average civilians who had a hard time fending for themselves."

            "Either, or. I have my Scorpions Rank as added protection," Ian joked, then walked toward Ed who had been rubbing his arm. "We are all still under protection," he finished as he took Ed's arm and popped it for him.

            "That just leaves the question: where to go now?" Dev asked, and both Ed and Ian looked at one-another. Worry in their eyes.