The Pale War

by Max Jager

  Korzen just gave Alerius a slight head shake with a disconcerting smile. "The mission. Sad choice agent."

  Before Korzen could move a muscle, Alerius reacted fast knowing that this conversation was at a close. He quickly brought up his handguns and shot Benjamin right in the head! Benjamin's head snapped back and a shot of dark colored blood spewed from the bullet wound. Alerius then shot the two bodyguards and the scalb guard in the corner. He then kicked over the gambling table. It fell to the floor and he backed up his spine against it before one body hit the floor.

  The gambling chips went everywhere. Falling over Benjamin's dead corpse. The two heavily armored bodyguards were slumped against each other. They were over Benjamin both dead. The normal guard laid against the wall bleeding profusely from the large hole in its stomach. It wasn't dead. It was favoring the hole in its stomach with its hand over the large wound. It groaned a bit and tried to pick up its rifle. Alerius flipped his arm in its direction and sent two shots right into its chest. The armor did little to stop the bullets. It soon died.

  Korzen knew exactly what had happened and he knew he could have stopped it. He also knew exactly what Alerius was going to do before he did it. He knew because any experienced rogue would have done the exact same thing in Alerius's position. Korzen didn't stop it though. He wanted to test this rogue. He had heard that the Red Firius was the best of the new generation. He wanted to test his skills one-on-one.

  Korzen ducked down behind the other side of the table pushing Benjamin out of the way so he could also lean against the table on the floor. The two of them were back-to-back against the table. Each one wondering what the other was going to do.

  Alerius looked at the table slightly turning his head, trying to hear more then see. Suddenly, the two scalbs from outside busted in and before either one of them could say a word, Alerius blasted both of them away!

  He aimed his two handguns right at the majority of their bodies and wasted the remaining clips into them. They both convulsed at the barrage of bullets as each impact destroyed their anatomy. They were pushed back several feet before Alerius's guns ran out of bullets. Alerius ejected the clips and threw the guns down on the floor in front of him knowing he didn't have any more ammo. The two scalbs' bodies collapsed down on to the floor almost in slow motion scaring the hell out of everybody else in the bar.

  The entire bar's populist went screaming out the front door. Knowing that a gunfight had broken out and not one of them wanting to get hit. The only one who stayed was the nebron who was still passed-out right near the door.

  Alerius looked down at Dark's body which laid at his feet. He was still a little hurt that Dark was dead. He didn't let it bother him though. He just scooted farther away from Dark's body and turned his head slightly again to listen to Korzen.

  Korzen was breathing somewhat rapidly. He began to laugh just a bit. "Hey, your faster then I thought. Didn't expect that from you. Very nice."

  Alerius decided to stay silent. He didn't know what to do now. He knew that if he ran for the door, Korzen would probably jump up and blast him. If he tried to fight Korzen, he would probably be shot before he could landed a punch.

  Korzen from the other side decided to speak again. "So, your out of options right now."

  Alerius got this surprised look on his face. How could he possibly know that? Could he read minds too? No. Alerius figured that Korzen had examined the situation as if he were Alerius too. Alerius also figured that since Korzen had had the same training they both moved and thought very much alike. That was why Korzen knew why Alerius was out of options. Rogues had special training but all had the same type of training. Alerius suspected that his own training was s little tougher then Korzen's; himself being part of the new generation but the main, concentrated, focus was the same.

  Alerius began to turn his head in every direction now believing to even have a chance of survival he needed a gun. He thought about crawling over to one of the dead guards outside the small room but Korzen would probably hear him and blow his brains out through his eye sockets! Alerius knew the only way he was going to get his hands on a gun was if he got one of the guns closest to him but that was on the other side of the table. Alerius rolled his eyes now fully comprehending what a real predicament he was in.

  "You know kid, I can wait here all day but I know you can't."

  Alerius got this confused look on his face.

  "You probably got a mission time frame, right?"

  Alerius let out a sigh of realization. He knew that he only had about two maybe two and a half hours before the mission time was up and the Osiris left Scalobore's orbit. What was he to do? Korzen was holding all the cards!

  "See me, I don't have a mission time. I have no preset time limit to kill you or the Leyline. You were the hellions' biggest concern though. I was ordered to kill you first before it. The Leyline took a backseat to you. That should make you feel a little confident. I know you have to move some time though. The clock's ticking Firius!" Korzen had this huge grin on his face.

  Alerius thought of something not really listening to Korzen's rant. That was the key to his plan too. If he could get Korzen to rant on, he just might be able to sneak past him to the other side of the table and get the scalb's guard's gun on the opposite end.

  "So, what did they say to you when you went for retirement?" Alerius asked.

  "Oh yeah, you really care." Korzen said sarcastically and quickly.

  Alerius let out a grunt of frustration in his mind. It didn't work. Alerius was not good at this. He was not good at engaging people in conversation. He was much better at "engaging" people with a gun. Alerius figured that the retirement angle was the way to go he just didn't know how to get Korzen there. He tried one more time.

  "Come on, you're telling me they just didn't care?"

  "No I meant you, what are you up to agent?"

  Alerius rolled his eyes in frustrated again. Now Korzen was starting to get suspicious. This was going nowhere fast. Alerius frustration was starting to become evident. "So you're telling me they just didn't give a damn! I don't believe you!"

  "Damn it! I was talking about you! Jesus! You know, back in my day we knew how to listen to superior commanders! We just didn't meander around on the battlefield! What he said could be the difference between life and death. Back in my day…"

  Korzen continued on and Alerius was getting tired of him talking. He was about ready to get up and knock him out and he didn't care if he got shot. If he escaped from Korzen's psycho babble it probably would be better. Hell couldn't be that bad. He went to jump up!

  Korzen was still going on about not listening when Alerius realized, with a flash in his head that actually surprised him, he had unknowingly put Korzen on a rant. If the fate of the mission wasn't at stake he probably would have kicked himself for not realizing it sooner!

  Alerius slid over to the right side of the table and looked behind it. There, he saw Korzen, still going on about something he didn't even care about. All he caught was something about guts, blood, horses and the year 2022. He wasn't paying any attention at all. Alerius then saw right in front of him the dead scalb guard with a vise like grip on the assault rifle. He crawled over extra quietly, not having to go too far, and began to delicately pry it from his hands. He took extra care moving the first finger.

  He slightly nudged it with his index finger. Soon, it was off the gun and he got to work on the next one. Before he did though, something registered in his head. He didn't hear Korzen's voice anymore. It wasn't registering at all. Maybe he was just so in-tune with what he was doing that his brain just wasn't picking up on the sound. Alerius looked in Korzen's direction.

  No, he had stopped. He was looking right at Alerius with this surprised and confused look on his face. Alerius had an exact replica also on his. They were staring each other down wondering what in the hell the other was doing. They were both confused and in a state of shock. Probably for the same reasons too.

  Alerius was the
first to move. He quickly grabbed the gun and dragged the whole body of the heavy pig right into the air. Korzen let out a cascade of bullets on the floor and each one missed by a micro hair. He actually felt the wind off the bullets as they came buzzing by. The scalb's dead body took one in the upper shoulder as Alerius literality swung him to the other side of the table.

  The scalb was on the other side and Alerius too was on the safe side of the table. He tore the gun from the scalb and flattened himself against the metal table. He could hear on the other side a whole slew of obscenities coming from Korzen. Alerius didn't care though, he got what he wanted. He held the rifle close to his chest as he thought of what to do next.

  Alerius got a plan in no time flat. It seemed that Korzen was still ranting on at Alerius. Which gave Alerius a perfect opportunity to surprise him. He grabbed the dead scalb's body and slung it over the table.

  The dead body flew into the air and landed right in front of Korzen. Korzen shouted out from the other side of the table, "What the hell is this?"

  Alerius didn't wait around to see if he was going to say anything else. He pulled himself up and began to run for the door opening. It took him only two long strides before he was out of the room.

  By this time, Korzen had already looked over the table and saw that Alerius was in the bar heading for the front doors. Korzen stood up and yelled out, "Get back here!"

  Alerius was almost to the two doors when he heard shots being fired. He felt four of them whiz on by him. It was like life had been put into slow motion as he ran for the doors. He blasted out of the doors like diving for cover. He rolled out onto the dusty street of Dead Grave and began to desperately look around for some means of escape!

  His attention was turned to the automotive repair shop. He ran over to it and blasted inside. Inside, he saw a hover bike of some sort in top condition. He went over to it and got on. He fit the rifle in the back between an exhaust pipe and some other metal parts on the bike. He grabbed the two handle bars of the bike and knew that the left one was the throttle.

  There was a small yellow button on the left and he pushed it. The bike took a few times to kick start but when it did, it popped into the air and the engine in the back was spouting out this blue fire. The two exhausts were also spitting out fire but they were more yellow in color. Alerius revved the bike and the three fires in back exploded with power. He then revved it one more time and raced out of the shop.

  He blasted out into the street and Korzen was already out there waiting for him. Korzen began to run at him firing as he went until his gun clicked empty. At that point, Korzen holstered the gun and began to dart for Alerius.

  Alerius began to turn the hover bike and was about to head out of town the exact way he came in. Suddenly, Korzen grabbed the bike with one hand and was holding it back. Alerius looked behind the bike and saw this. He saw Korzen had his fingers imbedded deep into the metal of the bike holding it back! Alerius had never seen such power! Even for a rouge it was mind boggling strength! To be able to put your fingers through metal and then hold a vehicle in place while it was running! Alerius was in the grip of shock! He turned the throttle as much as it would go! The bike spit out massive amounts of fire and Korzen planted his other hand into the bike pulling on it with all his strength. Alerius was still locked on with his eyes at this amazing strength that Korzen was portraying!

  Alerius began to kick Korzen and that's were he made his biggest mistake! Korzen grabbed Alerius's leg and threw him off the bike! The bike sped away from him and stopped near the outskirts of town slamming into the Dead Grave name sign.

  Alerius was thrown at least ten feet in the air and landed hard on the dusty road. His chest caved in on him and his legs twisted up into a mangled mess. Alerius was hurting.

  Korzen walked over to him and picked him up with one hand. He put him back on his feet and slammed his fist right into his throat. Alerius went back down onto his knees and held his throat with both hands choking for air. All rogues were strong but this kind of strength was ridiculous! Alerius then was pulled back up to his feet again…by his hair!

  He watched as a fist was coming straight for his gut but he blocked that quickly. He jumped back about five feet and went into a defensive hand-to-hand stance. This had now become a fist fight! Korzen watched Alerius jump back and when he went into his combat stance, Yellow Korzen just chuckled.

  Alerius knew what he was chuckling about. Alerius was trained skillfully in hand-to-hand combat but against a veteran like him he didn't stand a shot in hell of winning. They had both been trained almost identical but with so much experience on the field, getting into so many fist fights with actual demons, learning other bare handed techniques in the universe, and having the unmatched strength that he did; not only was Alerius out matched, he was out classed!

  Korzen walked straight up to Alerius and Alerius went for a technical, sideways, karate chop right to the chest. Korzen grabbed the palm of Alerius's hand and slammed his other hand right down on his wrist almost breaking it! Alerius pulled his hand away and the only reason he was successful at that was because Korzen let it go.

  Alerius then went for a sideways kick but Korzen blocked that with both hands and stood poised for his next move.

  This was ridiculous! Alerius knew that he was just toying with him. If Korzen really wanted to, he could probably kill him right then. Why he was toying with him Alerius had no idea. Probably because somewhere deep down in Korzen's soul was a little part that was still an agent of good. He was still working for the right side. Highly doubtful but it was still a chance.

  Alerius used the very same leg that was blocked by Korzen's double-handed block and swung it around all the way to the other side of Korzen's body. It was a spinning back kick but Korzen just blocked that one to. Alerius fell onto the ground not being able to keep his balance from the power of the two blocks.

  Alerius began to turn around since he landed face first but by the time he was staring at the sky, a foot was placed firmly on his throat. Alerius choked out at the pressure but he couldn't move. He struggled to free himself but the more he struggled the more he choked against the boot. Alerius watched as Korzen leaned down, the pressure on his throat ever increasing. Korzen was about ten inches away from Alerius's face. "I think its time we end this charade, how about you?"

  In a choked voice Alerius said, "Lets."

  Alerius suddenly punched Korzen right in the ankle of the crushing foot as hard as he could! Korzen stepped off favoring his heel. He hobbled backwards away from Alerius. Alerius choked and coughed as he quickly got up. He ran at Korzen and jumped in the air. He delivered a swinging back roundhouse kick right to Korzen's chest and the turncoat agent was driven eight feet across the ground, backwards.

  Alerius landed on his feet and ran towards the bike on the outskirts of town. He reached it quickly and hopped on. He mimicked the actions in the shop only this time he took off on the bike and sped for the bridge.

  By the time he was long gone, Korzen was back on his feet laughing at himself for letting the kid agent get the upper hand. Suddenly, about five hover vehicles came from behind Korzen. Four were the shielded one-person crafts like before and each had a scalb on it, armed heavily looking like one of Benjamin's bodyguards. The last one was a hovercraft that seemed to get as much air as the others. It was made for two and looked like a hovercraft with an open canopy and two big gun barrels on both sides. Making four barrels in all. In the vehicle were two scalbs also looking very menacing like the others.

  Korzen took out a radio from under his coat and pointed in the direction Alerius took off in. He looked at the small platoon of scalbs, "Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Go…get…him!"

  The hover armada took off and Korzen stayed behind. He pushed a button on his small radio and held it in. "Yellow Korzen to HSB (Hellion Space Blitzkrieg) 4497 do you copy?"

  No answer.

  "Yellow Korzen to HSB 4497 do you copy, somebody talk to me?"

  A
deep sinister voice came over the radio. It was extremely dark and sounded like the Devil himself! "This is Dark Wing 9 of the HSB 4497. We copy you Yellow Korzen. What is your status, and it better be good! You know that The Flaming Meteorite is with us?"

  Korzen looked away from the radio disgraced at what he had done. "Yes I know that the last Oadin is with you! He got away!"

  The dark, deep voice over the radio shouted back, "What? You were told to eradicate the rouge, what the hell happened?"

  Korzen looked down from the radio again.

  "I'm waiting!" The voice said.

  "He was a lot better then I expected! Not a big deal I will get rid of him!"

  "You'd better! High Command made a deal with you now they will fill out their part of the bargain if you keep yours!"

  "I know that! Just make sure that you do as your told!"

  A low and demonic growl came over the radio. "Don't worry about us! The Osiris will be gone as soon as we get to Scalobore's atmosphere. It will be our pleasure to demolish that freight! As will the entire planet! Now you'd better…"