Chapter 73, A lost battle

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I finish off with the Southerners and look over at Blake closing the door to the van. He comes running over and looks conflicted. Sweat clings to Blake - his black hair sticking to him. I've lost track of time. I don't even know how long this fight has been lasting but it's been a while.

"What did you tell him?" I ask. I know it eats at my hacker to know that he betrayed Blake. I didn't think he'd learn to care for his fake leader and I'm sorry he had to go through that. I don't want Blake making it harder for Jack than it already is.

"I told him he'll get my forgiveness once he lives through today. I need him to hold on," Blake says - surprising me. Even though the betrayal hurt Blake, he still cares. Blake is a good guy. I really hope he believes that one day.

"Thank you," I reply.

We're about to head back to the real fight, but I watch in horror as Southerners come running in. One of them has a bazooka and aims it at us. I pull Blake with me when I jump out of the way. We land behind a car and stay there as the bazooka gets fired and the running footsteps of the Southerners pass us.

I look up when they're gone. With it still being dark we were fortunately not seen.

My world stops when I notice a bright flame behind me. I look over my shoulder to witness what the bazooka hit...

The van...

The van Jack was in...

Fire and smoke flies into the dark morning sky from what is left of the van. There's no way Jack survived the attack... I already smell burnt flesh and I suppress the vomit. No matter how much I want to believe Jack got out or something... I've seen enough death to know this is another.

There goes an inner gang member...

I feel my emotions come flooding me. The thought of not hearing any Game of Thrones references from Jack or just knowing he won't get to see the last season or spy on the gang with his hacking skills or dress as the Knight King or be there to give me whatever advice he can or eat Frost Flakes cereal or make any of us laugh and feel like a whole family and, and what what am I going to tell the others and...

Focus Xavier.

The hardest part of being a leader - especially during battle, is to move on. Death is just another inevitable factor. I can't let it effect me. If I break down right here for getting one of my inner gang members killed, I'll mess up and get killed as well.

Jack would want me to live. Not mess everything up while mourning.

Gritting my teeth and refusing to let any tears come out, I crush a bit of my soul to turn my back to that wrecked and burning van.

It kills me, but I manage to turn away. Heavy breaths fill me and it doesn't help when I see Blake's expression. He stares in shock back at the van. A moisture coats his eyes and the reflection of the wreckage is right there in his silver eyes. 

He didn't get to forgive Jack...

Jack died without Blake's forgiveness...

I don't say anything. I just grit my teeth harder and remind myself I'm wearing a maroon watch. Don't feel, don't feel, don't feel. Move on. Be strong. Fight. Fight for Jack. Fight for everyone that's already died today. Just fight.

 I look up with a violent determination. The South is going to pay.

Without any further hesitation, I storm towards the thick of the fight. Up ahead, I spot Jane fighting off five Southerners at once. She flips and slides and kicks her way past the men in a dance you can see is of a true leader that was trained for years. I'm not even sure if Marigold could move around those men like Jane does. Marigold was trained once a week. Jane was trained everyday.

I grab a fallen gun from a Southerner's corpse and aim it at the four remaining men surrounding Jane. With a raging calm precision, I shoot the men down with one shot each before nodding at Jane and moving on. There's a group of Southerners taking Nessa and Daniel on and I run towards them.

Nessa is standing to the side and watching Daniel try to fend off the attacks coming their way.

"You know, Bagpipes, I'd love for you to for once in your life not be a useless piece of shit," he complains after getting a few hits.

Nessa picks at her nails and says in a bored tone, "Ye know, Man Whore, I'd love for ye to for once in yer life not be a whiny little bitch."

Daniel swings a hard left at one of the attackers and he spins to the side - blood flinging from his mouth and right onto Nessa's black heels.

There's a moment where Daniel looks back and forth at Nessa and the Southerners in shock before he says, "Now you guys should leave."

Nessa stands up in a slow rage while staring down at her heel that's cover in blood. "Okay," she says quietly - somehow grabbing the five southerner's attention. "Which. Fookin'. Beetroot. Bled on mah damn gucci heel?"

The Southerners actually look scared for a second as they glance among each other.

"Not snitch'n?" Nessa asks with a fire in her brown eyes.

The Southerners stay quiet.

"Okay. Then ye all die today," she growls. I swear her red hair catches on fire in that tight bun she has it trapped into. Within a split second, Nessa reaches for one of her heels while Daniel quickly gets out of the way. Nessa pulls something out of her heel and chucks it at the men. There's a small gas explosion, but before the Southerners can even react to it, they are already choking on the deadly gas and falling to their knees.

I get there just as they all die.

"There's too many of them," I tell my friends, "With the surprise explosions they took out half of our men. Find Paul and figure out a way to get a chunk of these Southerners sent to hell. We're losing if we don't do something now," I instruct Nessa and Daniel.

They nod and are off to find Paul. They don't even know Jack is dead... I'm not sure how to even tell them.

I look up ahead to find some Sterling members struggling against a mob of Southerners. 

Deciding I should help, I run up towards the fight. It's still dark, but in the distance, you can see the promise of the sun coming soon. I push my strength to run up the hill towards the chaos - my combat boots stomping down onto the wet road, but the sound is drowned out by all the screams of death and gunshots and explosions around me.

I get to the fight and immediately spot a target. Just when the Southerner turns to me, I jump towards him and bring my fist crashing down into his nose - breaking it in the process. He crumbles to his one knee - holding his broken nose with the blood flowing out and I swipe a kick across his neck that could either break it or just send him to sleep. Either way he's lying motionless on the cold pavement. 

One of the Southerner's friends turn to me with a hand gun and I duck backwards - my arm reaching out to stop me from falling onto the pavement as a bullet flies over me. In the arched position, I bring my leg up to kick the attacker's gun out of his hand and make it fly into his face. He stumbles a few steps back at the hit and I use the opportunity to back flip back onto my feet and go in for a left right, left, left, right uppercut and roundhouse kick that sends the Southerner to join his fallen friends.

I look up and it's Gareth and his son, Falco, that's fighting the Southerners. With only the fire of burning trucks and cars to light a view, Gareth and his son are almost hard to spot with their dark skin. It makes for a better fight since in their black clothes, they can sneak up and disarm their opponents with ease. Gareth has a head wound I notice when the blood dripping down his face is clear. Except for a slight limp, Falco seems fine though.

A second attacker tries to take Falco out from behind and I quickly go to intercept him. I grab one of the fallen guns and swing it like a bat across the Southerner's face. He goes down without even a second shot and Falco turns to me to thank me with a  smile just as he finishes up with his opponent.

The three of us take down quite a few Southerners and just when I think things might be going well, the fight turns again.

From the South, Three trucks and half a dozen heavy armed cars come driving in. By the car in the front, a huge man has his body hanging outside - only one of his legs perched on the top of a ledge in the side of the car and his one arm holding on keeps him from falling. Even from this distance I can put two and two together. Huge man. Hazel hair. Wild smile.

That's one of the Southern Leaders.

The trucks make a stop and the South has reinforcements running our way. I look to my side and Gareth and Falco stand their ground - ready to take the fight on. I look back ahead of me with the same determination and raise my fists.

The Southern leader comes strolling our way while his men run past him towards the battle behind us. When the huge man is close enough, he smiles even wider.

"Ahh, the infamous Xavier Jilten, Northern leader. It's nice to finally meet you. I only briefly saw you during the Annual Masquerade a couple years back. You know? The one where I set Isabella on fire and killed the true Northern leaders," he says.

In clench my fist, my nails digging into my flesh and drawing blood.

"Bastard," I growl.

"What was that?" he asks when he's only a few meters away. "Oh right. It's probably rude to not introduce myself. I'm Jason Brass. Previously known as Jason Wessils, but after the merge with my new brother, we both changed our last names to Brass. I feel like it's appropriate for a new name. New name, new game after all."

"You talk too much," Gareth exclaims before running forward with a vengeance. 

Gareth is an experienced fighter. With age and being a third generation gang member, he fights Jason Brass with precision. 

But Jason Brass is born into this life. Every muscle, every instinct is bred for this.

Gareth goes in with a bluffing right hit while his left hand moves to make the real blow into Jason's side. Jason however is too aware of everything. Almost bored, Jason sends a right arm to block the surprise blow and even snakes his arm around Gareth's outstretched arm to lock it into a position that could break his arm at the socket. While Gareth yells out in pain, Jason brings his left hand up for an upper cut. I watch in horror as I notice the light from the fires around us flickering across something shiny on his knuckles. A knuckle duster.

Jason gets Gareth right in the Jaw, but Sterling's second in command can't even fall down in pain before Jason breaks his arm and lets go. Gareth is unconscious before he even hits the ground.

And Falco attacks in rage.

But all Jason has to do is take two steps forward, block Falco with one knuckle duster and hit his head with the other. Falco spits out blood when he falls next to his father. He's wise enough not to get back up.

I grit my teeth in frustration, but remind myself to stay calm for this.

Jason takes two steps and I take three to meet him in a clash. 

From what I've seen, Jason assesses his opponent's attack first, so I don't attack, I shove him with my shoulder which surprises him. He's a big guy to try and shove (and that's coming from me) so when he shifts ever so slightly, I'm only motivated more.

Angered, Jason brings a swing with his left hand - that brass knuckle duster threatening to remove a couple of my teeth. I duck down in  alarm, but Jason knees me in the face just as I do it. 

My head spins at the contact and I stumble back. I wipe my nose and there's blood, but fortunately nothing is broken yet. With a bit of space between Jason and me, I test out my new theory and come back up with a spinning kick. Jason grabs my leg with one hand and brings down his brass fist onto my shin with the intent to break my leg.

I yell out in pain and flip my body over to slip out of his grip - landing awkwardly on my good leg. I try standing on my other leg and it works. He still hasn't broken any body parts of mine.

Frustrated with my hard bones, Jason comes in for more.

With my theory proven correct, I know that Jason works in paired attacks. He always has a second move lined up. So like a chess game, I figure out I'd have to have 3 moves lined up to outnumber him.

Jason has his right fist come flying down to me, but I pick up on the muscle in his leg tensing, so I block the blow to my head with my left arm - wincing at the pain, and just as Jason's leg comes moving up, I jump onto it - propelling myself away while getting enough leverage to spin in the air and kick Jason's jaw.

I put all my strength behind the kick and thank whoever is listening for my combat boot to send Jason falling back. I lose some balance myself and roll across the floor before gaining a hold and crouching on one knee - facing Jason while he's on his back.

Too cocky, I dive forward and aim to plant my foot into Jason's head, but he turns just in time and gains enough momentum from the turn to swing himself into a flip and land onto his feet. He's quite agile for his size. His fists with those brass knuckle dusters are ready for more and this time, Jason Brass doesn't look bored.

He looks thrilled.

I come in with a plan - now that I've figured him out, but Jason's smile is ready. When I throw in a paired left and right, Jason doesn't do a right and left dodge as I expect. He dodges right twice - coming up to my side and sneaking in a knuckle duster blow that I make the mistake of blocking with my hand.

I step back in pain and look down at my hand. I try closing it in a fist, but my fingers aren't moving. Worried, I look up to see Jason coming back with a fourth move and bringing his other knuckle duster down on my head - I dodge but he still gets me and I fall down hard - my injured hand only gets injured more and my head throbs at the blow.

I look up and Jason comes walking over with a gun that he picked up.

"I've killed a Northern leader before. I'll do it again," Jason smiles and aims the gun at my head. I can barely focus on him with all the black dots swimming in my vision. 

When I can focus more, I stare up in panic. No moves left. No smart games. 

It's checkmate.

All around me Sterling members and Northerners are dying. The South are just too many. We aren't going to win this one. We've already lost. I've failed. I've failed. I breathe in a last breath and accept my fate - silently apologizing to the world for failing. Apologizing to Marigold. Apologizing to everyone I've let down.

Jason starts squeezing the trigger and I close my eyes at the loud bang that goes off.

Dead.

I'm dead.

But... 

But why am I still feeling pain?

I open my eyes and Jason  his holding his hand in pain - the gun he had has clattered to the other side. In confusion, I look to my left - to the ocean view with the sun finally rising.

And of course Marigold would stand there - bathed in the glorious morning sun with a gun aimed at Jason. She's wearing a black leather pants and a silver armored jacket that turns gold with the bright sun behind her. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail and flying behind her like a golden halo. I melt when her wild ocean eyes are fixed on me.

"I see things have been going South for you?" Marigold smirks.

HEY GOLDIES!

AHHHHH AMBER MADE AN APPEARANCE! HOW????? WHEN???? WHAT???? Find out in the next chapter lol.

Who is Happy Amber is back?

Who likes my fighting scene and thinks this battle is epic?

Who is disappointed in me for making you think Jack actually lives only to kill him in the next chapter lol.

I'm so evil.

^ but I made up for it by making Amber save Xavier so stop complaining.

~ Holly Shmit

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