Soldiers Of Fortune (For Crim)

"I remember you..." Alexis managed to mutter, shifting backwards just a little before getting to his knees, the man of his nightmares, the reason he was a trained killer for the majority of his young life, speaking to him in a new voice that was like death speaking before you took your last breath, sending enough chills through his small frame to cause goosebumps to form on his pale skin.

"I remember all the training I went through with you, all the pain, all the people that I killed at your whim," He added, slowly getting to his feet, shaking hand touching the rifle hanging off his back. "I could never forget you."


Mitch didn't think anyone else was going to come through the door he had burst through to leave the building, spotlights on him through the fading twilight, crouching as far as he can behind building supplies and armored cars that were unfortunately locked. Snipers on the rooftops were good, one bullet just missing his arm as he raced along the complex yard for another building to hide in.

He saw Rache leave out of the corner of his eye and started spraying bullets to keep the focus on him.

Every single weapon trained on him was instantly cocked as Alexis brushed his hand across the rifle at his back, fingers on triggers and aim deadly with precision. They weren't fucking around with him.

"Ah. Is that all you remember?" He questioned, furrowing his brow slightly, though his lips remained up-turned in that sneer of his. "Violence won't be necessary, either, Alexis." He added, lifting a hand as if to say 'stop' before gracefully returning the hand to it's place behind his back. He was wide open, save for the Soldier's behind him. So confident, Lynch was.

Rache was fast, moving across the grounds, lurking in the shadows, until he found somewhere covered he could reside. Mitch's actions aided him greatly, and he only hoped the tall blond was still alive, managing to avoid the snipers and find cover as he had. Slipping into a garage silently, he slunk around the shadowed forms of what could only be vehicles.

Jordan searched the pockets of the uniform as she moved, sliding down the wall and leaving a rather conspicuous smear of blood as she did so. Nothing. There was nothing of use in the pockets, which only disappointed her.

The hand that brushed the butt of the rifle on his back returned to the front, Alexis un clipping the belt and letting the gun drop to the floor with a clatter, knowing full well at this range, he had no chance of getting the gun around and ready to fire before he was riddled with bullets. But without the gun, he might have a chance to at least aim a punch to the Scriosta leader's head before he was taken down.

So he stepped back half a step, his trademark move before lining up an attack as he spoke. "No, I don't remember anything else but that," He half growled, clenching his fist by his side before he made his move, launching towards the leader, fist raised high in the air.

The not so gentle giant had made it to a small warehouse on the other side of the complex yard, bullets flying and following him at every angle as he ducked into the vehicle maintenance area, all sorts of cans and tools to fix the cars, armored and civilian looking ones... and where there was cars, there was fuel to make them go. Which, to Mitch, meant things exploding. He liked this.

Yes, Alexis was right. And he would have landed a rather nasty punch to Lynch's face, had the man not been genetically altered himself. Catching the teenagers fist in his palm, wrapping his fingers around the knuckles tightly, and twisting, the man's sneer only growing wider. Oh, how he loved this.

"Now, now. Was there really any need for that?" He asked, the sarcasm dripping from his words as he forced the boy onto his knees, threatening to break the hand, the wrist-- everything up to Alexis' shoulder with one quick flick of his own wrist. "I don't understand why you would treat your own Father this way." Of course. This lunatic considered himself Father to those he 'created'.

Rache, having gone unnoticed, remained still, stopping and thinking in the garage he'd found himself in. He needed to just stop. To just think for a moment. They had no way of contact each other, no way of sending any sort of message. All he could do was hope that Alexis had managed to get himself out as Mitch had, that Jordan had gone down fighting, if she had at all, and that Mitch was still alive

Pain coursed its way across the boy's face as his hand was caught, twisted back on him and forcing him to kneel before the crisp white clad man he had tried to attack, the sarcasm eating away at the teen's reserve, shifting a little on his knees away from the grip to ease the searing pain racing up his arm. "Would a Father treat his son like this?" He sneered in return, lashing out with his other hand as a retaliation against the mixed feelings he was now fighting against in the pit of his stomach, reminding himself that his loyalties now resided with Rache.


Whistles were a good way to gain attention of those he was hoping were around, sharp ones that sounded like birds in the rooftops were good as Mitch made molotov cocktails and rigged the petrol cans up with flame torches for welding, working quickly and keeping an ear out for a return call or gunfire depending on who was in here with him.

Lynch's movements were fast, his free hand coming around to his front to snatch at Alexis' other fist, now having quite a tight hold on both of the boy's hands.

"Come on, little Bird. I taught you better than this." He cooed, leaning back and tossing the boy aside with one sharp movement, being sure not to break anything. "Though I suppose Aurel would have undone a lot of what I did to make you great." With a quick glance over his shoulder toward one of the several guards at his side, Lynch stepped back to allow the larger man through. The Soldier, reaching into one of the pouches on his vest, stepped over to Alexis, leaning down to grab the boy's hair in his fist before crouching.

Retrieving a rather large syringe from the pocket, he forced the teenager's face into the ground, not even bothering to brush the boy's hair aside before driving the point of the needle into the side of his neck, compressing the liquid until the cannister was empty.

Lynch's sneer turned into a triumphant grin. "Then again, we can always use an inside operative."


Rache's ears perked at the sound of the high-pitched whistle, his eyes darting up from the spot on the ground he'd been staring at. That was Mitch-- it had to be Mitch. He went to stand, the sudden sound of gunfire outside that signalled one of the others had managed to find their way out causing him to pause a moment. The gunfire continued-- someone was out there, but he couldn't worry about that now. Letting out a low whistle that rose in pitch before ending in a high flick of noise, he crouching behind one of the vehicles and listening silently for the shuffle of movement.


Jordan had merely opened the door an inche when the bullets hit the steel, forcing it shut once more. Her eyes closed as she leant heavily against the door, breathing laboured, paining her with every intake. Why had she even bothered? Ducking closer to the ground, gun still in hand, the Soldier swung the door open and literally rolled across the ground, finding herself sitting up, back against an armoured vehicle and a numbing pain exploding from every point in her body. That was when even she heard the whistle, a small smirk splitting her pained features. Well, she promised she'd give them Hell.

Swivelling around as best she could, lifting herself and taking aim over the hood of the car, Jordan let loose a barrage of bullets, even knowing that her rifle wouldn't do shit from this distance. At least, maybe, it'd let whoever was inside the garage know that someone other than those fucking snipers was out there.

The brunet's arm burned as he hit the ground, the same sort of pain you would get from your arm falling asleep, but on a much larger scale, starting to get up before he was scruffed by the hair, the large body keeping him down as the needle was inserted into his neck and injecting him with god only knew what. Alexis could feel the liquid race through his veins, nearly causing him to vomit as he gasped, eyes wide in shock.

"A-Aurel...?" He questioned, doing his best to try and get up, despite the hand in his hair holding him down. He didn't mean Rache, did he?


The returning whistle could have only come from his glorious leader, who was hiding the garage with him, and by the sounds of it, at the other end of the building, Mitch finishing up his happy little explosion time and trailing the petrol behind him as he raced to the other side, gunfire outside being ignored for the moment, as happy as he was to hear it.

"Rache, you got a light?" He called out, hearing the door at the end he just ran from bust open and heavily booted footsteps follow close behind, their two man party just crashed by the Scriosta troops. "Kinda need one, anything flammable would be good right now."

"Oh." Lynch replied, almost cheerily. "Yes, I suppose he does go by another name now." The Soldier kept Alexis against the ground, almost tempted to sit on him, but refraining. "Rache, I believe it is now. Yes, that does sound familiar." He tapped his fingers on his chin absently, as if in thought.

"Oh, I wouldn't try to struggle too much, little Bird." The man added, as if an after thought. "Soon enough you'll be back under my wing where you belong."


It was sudden, the bullet piercing her skull, rocketing straight through the Soldier's head and lodging in the ground behind her. The expression left on Jordan's face wasn't pain, but one of slight surprise, as her body jerked back with the force of the bullet, only to collapse against the cement, blood readily pooling beneath her.


"Do I look like I have anything on me?" Rache questioned, tapping himself down quickly to double check. Nothing, not even a lighter. He took a few steps back, his mind whirring for something-- anything. "Keep tracking that shit." He ordered, backing up a few steps more before turning for the door. "Follow me and keep down."

The idea was that they'd trail fuel outside, the sniper would shoot at them, catch the fuel, and light the place up. The young leader only hoped the theory worked.

Aurel, was a very nice name, Alexis concluded, keeping it as a focus point to try and fight against whatever was given to him, hissing at the nickname he was given. Lynch never had pets, never favoured one Soldier over another, to the naming was odd to the brunet, as if he was special and singled out. Lynch made it sound like he would sing a tune at the snap of his fingers like the good little songbird he used to be.

Slowly, his movements and struggling stopped, laying face down on the cold floor as his body fell numb, breathing shallow and sharp eyes flitting from the scraps on the floor to the markings on the wall until the lids slid shut, conscious still but tired, wishing he could continue to fight off the mild compliance he felt towards the terror in the white suit.


Mitch complied as he followed his leader out the back door and into the spray of sniper rounds, the area a lot less quiet for some reason, no random firings of machine gun to keep them company. Maybe the person had ducked into cover? That maybe turned into unlikely as the pair turned a corner, the fuel catching at one end, the blond dropping the canister quickly, more in shock at the sight of Jordan's body pooling blood from her head rather then the need to dump the fuel before he caught alight also.

It was a bullet to the arm that got him moving again, out of sight and not bothering to watch the explosions light up the new night's sky, flames licking the air above the now burning garage, Mitch a few thoughts away from becoming a berserker.

Lynch's grin softened slightly, to a smug smile, as he crouched down in front of the boy, leaning toward him so Alexis could hear his next words.

"You will kill Aurel for me, Little Bird." He murmured in the teenager's ear. "And you will bring me his head on a silver platter." The grin returned as he stood, folding his hands behind his back once more. "But first, you must run back to your little friends, only until the time is right." With that, the Soldier released Alexis' hair, only to cop him in the side of the face, hard, with the end of his gun. They had to at least make it look like he put up a fight.


Rache had paused at the sight of Jordan, but not nearly as long as Mitch had. Crouched, pressed back against the side of the car that she had also taken cover behind, the young leader turned his gaze from the corpse to the blond giant, concern in his eyes.

"You have to keep calm." He ordered, rather sternly. Their escape depended on Mitch's head remaining in the game. The bright flames just behind them, exuming thick, black clouds of smoke, should have been enough cover for them to slip away, but he needed Mitch to be focused. "This is probably the only chance we're going to have of getting out of here without being seen." He stated, reaching over and clapping a hand to Mitch's shoulder, trying to get him to focus just on him. Just on his words. "You've gotta stay with me, Mitch."

Alexis's eyes snapped open as he was hit, Lynch's orders forgotten in the midst of his mind, snarling as he started to get up again, wiping blood from the cut newly formed on his forehead, flicking the blood on his fingers at the hems of the man's crisp white suit, a few droplets splashing the edges before he swung back to return the hit to the Soldier.

Once that was done, he kicked the Soldier away and backed up to the door behind him, eyes on Lynch with a small nod, he was gone.

The blond giant nodded a few times in understanding of what was being said to him, for him to calm down, to focus and to get out with their lives. Rache needed him, everyone needed Rache, so the calming began until Mitch saw the lanky, bleeding form of Alexis dart out of the detention center, pointing him out to his leader.

"Look! The midget's alive! Get him over here, I'll get this piece of shit started..." He said, tapping the side of the car they were hiding behind, standing quickly to slam an elbow through the double pained glass window, unlocking the door and keeping low as he slid into the front seat, beginning to hot-wire the car.

Lynch's smug look never faltered, nor did his stature shift as Alexis darted away, leaving an unconscious Soldier behind.
"Clean up, will you? This place is a mess." He ordered, giving a vague gesture to the general area around them before turning and striding off, holding his chin high.


Rache's gaze caught on Alexis, and he quickly stood, though stooped in order to at least stay out of sight. Letting off a high-pitched whistle, he began waving and attempting to grab the teenager's attention, stepping back a bit when Mitch opened the door. His gaze slid down to Jordan after a moment, and he paused, stooping down to pull her away from the car and lay her in a more dignified position off to the side. There was no point in taking a corpse with them, and this was the least he could do, he thought as he closed her eyelids and stepped back toward the car, careful of how he moved and where he stepped.

"This thing should get us out." He murmured, looking the car over before looking back toward Alexis to make sure he'd seen them.

"Yeah, this bullet riddled piece of shit should get us out and at least to somewhere a little more able to hide us, where ever that might be..." Mitch mumbled, wires sparking the engine to life, sliding into the driver's seat and still keeping his head down as more bullets were let loose at them.

Alexis's stiffened at the whistle, spotting Rache waving at him at the other end of the complex yard, shaking his head at the wonderful distance he would have to dodge bullets before he got to the car, quickly ducking behind a low wall. If he was going to make it, it was going to have to be in a straight line, with some fancy moves.

Taking a few steps back, the nimble teen got a run up before beginning a combination of back flips and twists as a gymnast would in competition until he got to the car, yanking the back door open and leaping into the seat, slamming the door shut and dusting off his dirt covered hands. "Move, move move! Get us out of here!" He shouted.

Rache himself was already in the car, climbing into the very back of the large vehicle in order to scope out any sort of weapons they could use, his eyes snapping up as Alexis barrelled into the back seat.
"Get us out of here Mitch." He agreed, climbing back over the backseat and strapping himself in, urging Alexis to do the same.

The gunfire continued, bullets attempting to shatter windows, denting the roof and bonnet of the car, only until they were out of the compound. Rache would have expected a whole convoy to be following them after this, but he knew Lynch too well. He didn't waste time if he didn't see a point, and if the three of them had managed to escape then there was truly no reason. Though.. It was still something of concern. They didn't even try to chase them.

Sitting back, almost relaxing, he glanced over to Mitch in the front seat, examining his expression.

"We should head back to base." He stated, almost defeatedly, with a low sigh.

The giant had no expression on his face whatso ever, just concentration in trying to get them out of the compound and far away as possible, mind racing on everything that had happened and what they needed to do next in order to get home. They still had no cash, no passports, nothing to get back to base with, but he'd soon fix that with the midget's help the moment they got to a small town they could hide in for a night and switch cars over in.

Alexis strapped in quickly, the seat belt having saved his life before in the earlier crash, he didn't doubt that they were helpful, sitting silently with a nice little stream of blood flow from his forehead, his brunet hair hiding most of the bruising that went with the needle being shoved roughly into his neck and the force that he was hit in the face with, but it covered most of the left side of his face.

"Rache, when we hit a town, you need to find a mobile phone. Steal one and pinch some food if you can. Midget, your job is to stock up on bottled water and a few snacks and stuff, clean shirts too if you can. I'm gonna get a new car for us," Mitch said finally, turning at a turn pike for the highway to god knows where. They also needed to know where they were to get back home from and how long it would take them.

Alexis nodded, not asking about Jordan. He gathered what had happened and hoped she died fighting.

Rache nodded. He was relatively used to taking orders, even though he supposedly the Leader of this operation, and didn't pay any mind when Mitch took over.

"Yes, this car is a little conspicuous." He murmured. The bullet holes were like a big ass neon sign saying "we're here". Sinking down against the seat, the young leader fiddled with his seatbelt. Now that they weren't in direct life-threatening danger, he could slow down and, well, he didn't want to think at that point in time.

"I know this isn't the time, but we need to find somewhere to just.. relax a little." No, it really wasn't the best time. But something in the back of his mind was telling him that they all needed to just get away, just for one night.

" I know a place..." Alexis piped up after a while, staring at the scenery whizzing by as Mitch borke every speed limit along the highway, which had no cars on it for miles, stopping at a gas station and Mitch telling them to go grab what they were after.

After they exited the car, Mitch broke down a little, tears streaming down his face before breaking the steering wheel off, setting it beside him on the passenger seat, getting out and going about finding a new car, a small pick up, parking out the front of the gas station to wait for the others.

Alexis, after he got out, headed up to the house hidden behind the gas station and leaped over the fence into the back yard, grabbing a few shirts and trousers hanging on the line for them to change into, then breaking into the back of the garage attached to the station, looking for the storage room for the food and drinks, grabbing as many bottles of water as he could before jumping into the very cramped back seat, mainly built for tool boxes and such, waiting for Rache.

After exiting the vehicle, Rache stood outside the gas station for a few long moments, his eyes on the windows. He hadn't exactly had to break into anywhere for a long, long while, but he could see what he needed from where he stood. Heaving a sigh, the young leader took to the window, sussing it out a moment before putting his elbow through it. There was no alarm-- which was lucky, though unnerving. Climbing in through the shattered glass, he rummaged through the different aisles, grabbing a bag from a rack and stuffing it with food, finally picking up a disposable mobile on his way back out.

He climbed into the front seat of the pick up, tossing the bag of food into the back seat with Alexis. Fiddling with the box, he glanced at Mitch from the corner of his eye.
"I'm sorry." He said, rather quietly, before turning his attention back to freeing the phone from the infuriating packaging.

"It's fine," Mitch replied, starting up the engine to their new ride and driving off, a full tank to take them to where ever they needed to stop, the man's breath shaky as he spoke, looking in the mirror at the teen. " How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay, really tired, and sticky for all this blood, but okay," He answered, holding out bottles of water for each of them to take. God only knew when the last time they ate was, or drank.

Rache hadn't really noticed how thirsty he was until he'd taken the first mouthful of crisp bottled water, eventually downing about half of the container's contents before finally putting the lid back on.

Deciding it was probably best to stay silent, the young leader sunk back into his chair and leaning against the door. They had a long trip, and now was probably the best time to stew in their own thoughts, try and simmer, calm, until they really needed their heads back in the game.

The drive was quiet, a deadly hush as they got closer and closer to the city, the giant's face sinking into one of tired and slight sadness, taking the phone from Rache and pulling over to the side of the road, getting out to stretch his legs a little from being cramped in the car for so long.

"Here, we might want to get out and change out of our bloodied clothes now," Alexis said, handing over a shirt that might fit his leader. "I think we should hide somewhere that's got nothing to do with people we know... I don't know, I'm just tired. My head is splitting in two..."

Shifting on his side on his little back seat, laying out so he could rest a little more, the teen cursed to all the gods that he'd kill that bastard the next chance he got, picking strands of hair off his face and closing his eyes.

Rache watched Mitch for a long moment, only to turn his gaze on Alexis and take the clean shirt with a thank you. Climbing out of the car, he pulled the bloodied mess of a shirt he'd been wearing off over his head, using his bottled water to attempt at cleaning the dried blood from his skin before pulling the clean shirt on. It was just that little bit tight, but he could deal with it.

"That's a good idea." He admitted. Bringing anyone else into it was bad enough, but at least if they went somewhere they knew no one it was less likely that this would happen again.

At that moment, his mind went to the Aufstand; had they gotten everyone out? Was anyone hurt? He couldn't help but feel uneasy at the thought. If it had been a trap to lure them out-- lifting a hand to his face, Rache attempted to turn his mind elsewhere. It'd been a long day, and night. They'd lost a friend, and the mission was a complete failure.

He just couldn't help but wonder if he was even suited to be the leader, making mistakes like this.

Crawling out of his little hiding spot, Alexis decided that he needed fresh air and to change also, grabbing two bottles, one to drink and one to clean his face free of his dried blood, shedding his clothes down to his underwear and cracking open the water, drenching his face and scrubbing it clean, turning the side mirror around to see the bruising. Face blackened already all the way down to his shoulder, cut still a little open and he knew it would scar, the teen rubbed his face dry and crawled into one of the stolen shirts, a light grey business shirt and a pair of pants.

Throwing Mitch's stolen shirt over the bonnet of the car at him, Alexis went back to poking his bruising, moreso the pinprick where the needle went in. "Anyone would think you're a bit vain about your looks, midget," Mitch joked, shrugging into a tank top since the shirt would never have fit him.

Rache watched, standing back, as Alexis analysed his face and the damage done. It looked like he'd had a run in with the back end of a gun-- multiple questions had already popped up in the back of his mind, but the leader put them down to his slowly growing paranoia, and ignored them.

"Come on, I've seen you do worse than just check out a bruise, Mitch. Give the kid a break yeah?" He called over the car, at least attempting to lighten the mood. Everything seemed to have calmed down considerably, almost as if nothing had happened. But something had definitely happened, and it was taking a toll on all of them.

The giant shook his head, throwing the mobile over to Rache. "I've got money and passports out of here, you might want to call Natal and see what the situation is down there before we go heading back there."

It was true, and it would be better if they went back to an empty base still stocked out with weapons and food, then somewhere new and unfamiliar. Even Alexis agreed that it would be better to go back there rather then the place he was thinking of.

"Hey, where are we sleeping tonight, or in the near future? I'm not feeling so good," The teen asked, slipping back into the back seat.