Takao escorted the wounded through the fires on the airstrip as rebel troops advanced closer to them. They were nearly at the main base, a few recovered troops fired off shots at the rebels. One man looked ahead through the smoke of the fire, seeing a silhouette approaching.
'Hey, there's another coming!'
Aiming their guns, the squad readied to fire. Out of the smoke, a stained trench coat flew through the wind as the dirty boots stepped towards them all. The Chimera had an eerie smirk as his hands moved into his coat to pull out a long, old and dirty shotgun. 'Alright... I'm a little tipsy here... But I think I can take you lot...'
The squad opened fire quickly. Dodging quickly, the Chimera lunged at the group, aiming his barrel up to one of their heads and fire it off, leaving the man's head with a huge bloody dent in the side. Collapsing, the man had died instantly. The Chimera loaded the gun again and fired another to the arm of a second soldier before leaping up to throw a spin kick to his neck, cracking it immediately. Backing away, the squad had been compromised. The Chimera had closed the distance almost instantly. Reaching into his coat again, the Chimera glanced up at yet another soldier, quickly launching a fire axe at his head.
A large crack appeared in the man's skull as blood sprayed from the wound. 'Nice!' Firing off another shot, the Chimera grinned gloomily with blood hitting his cheek. Takao rushed over, knife in hand as he watched the team be massacred, every shot fired another body in the pile.
Upon finishing the group off, the Chimera glanced over his shoulder and stepped back, swiftly dodging a swing from Takao. 'Huh? You another Chimera?' Looking across as the drunkard, Takao nodded politely. Grinning more, the Chimera pointed with the axe in hand.
'I'm guessing you're sixth gen, old timer, huh?'
Nodding again, Takao took up a fighting stance. 'I may be sixth, but I can still kill just as efficiently as a fifth.' Eyes widened, the Chimera nodded to himself. 'Nice... Nice... So what's your name, old timer?' Grunting slightly, Takao spoke. 'Tsuji Takao, also known as C6-889.' Scoffing, the Chimera groaned. 'Oh don't hit me with that code shit, old guy... Anyways, I'm seventh gen... Name's Tashiro Jiro!'
Pacing around, Takao observed his opponent's form before throwing a quick jab. Tashiro dodged back and swing the axe, aiming for the old Chimera's head. Stepping to the side, Takao twirled the knife and injected it straight into Tashiro's throat. The wound looked small, yet was almost fatal for the Chimera. Looking up at the wounded Chimera, Takao bowed. 'My apologies, I'm not too refined on this stuff. I won't miss next time, it'll be a quick death to you.'
Tashiro grunted slightly, blood leaking from his lips. He swung the axe up, missing widely, stepped back and lunged a knee forth. Takao sld back, spun the knife to point downwards and imbedded it into the Chimera's artery. Tashiro took a note of how his opponent didn't show any sign of emotion. He was fighting a brick wall for an opponent, yet he could see weaknesses forming.
Grabbing Takao's hand, Tashiro stomped his foot down to eject the knife before swinging with his free hand, hitting the old Chimera's chest, pushing him back. The two engaged in a quick melee, Takao blocked most hits whilst Tashiro just took each hit. Gripping the axe tightly, Tashiro threw it, aiming for Takao's head. Dodging, Takao felt the axe cut his left ear off, yet he lunged forth, still going for the kill. Tashiro dodged a few swings of the knife, glancing around for a chance to attack.
Finally, eyes widened, he dodged low, twisted around, flinging his coat up to distract Takao. 'Hey, Oldie... How's your healing?' As he asked, Tashiro twisted back around with a grin, aiming a pistol he grabbed from a corpse hidden behind him. Firing off two shots, The Chimera ran in for a killing blow.
The two bullets had hit Takao in the neck. As Takao recoiled, Tashiro spun around, sending a kick into the old Chimera's stomach. Still upholding his grin, Tashiro fired another shot into Takao's chest, threw a punch to his face then shot threw more times into his stomach. Falling back, Takao coughed up blood, looking up as Tashiro threw the gun to the side.
'Alright Oldie, I'm gonna kill you know...'
Smiling a little, Takao closed his eyes. 'You may want to look up...' Eyes widened, Tashiro's face shot upwards to see three aircrafts approaching. Two of them moved along the airstrip and went past them, heading to land in the base hangar. The third slowed down above the two, a bright light shone down, causing Tashiro to cover his eyes. Suddenly, bullets tore through the air from a mounted machine gun at the helm of the ship. It appeared as a hybrid between a plane and a helicopter in a sleek bone white colour with the orange highlights. Running along the airstrip, Tashiro seeker a good spot to get atop the ship, dodging bullets with haste. Takao got up slowly, recovering as he waved over to the ship pilot.
Tashiro eventually found himself ducked behind a destroyed tank, peering over the edge to check where the ship was. He couldn't destroy it, his only way out was to just retreat. Takao looked around for the rogue Chimera as the ship hovered above, shining a light over any signs of movement. Sighing, Takao looked up to the ship and signalled that he could handle the rogue from there. Through the window of the cockpit, the pilot gave a thumbs up, turning the ship around slowly.
From seemingly nowhere, a sudden flash of darkness flew atop the ship, throwing a circular device down and leaping off, disappearing just as quick. Wincing in confusion, Takao watched as the device began to beep aggressively. Eyes widening, he watched as the device exploded, taking the ship in a hail of fire. As the ship crashed down, joining the ocean of fire along the airstrip, Takao heard a sudden sound of footsteps behind him. 'Hey, Get back here!' The figure dashed away, looking back to reveal their mask to him before vanishing in the fire. Stopping in his tracks, Takao panicked until a sudden click sound rang out behind him.
'Well, guess luck was on my side, Oldie.'
Closing his eyes and looking back, he knew that Tashiro was aiming the shotgun at him. The shot rang out through the empty, burning base. Silence followed for a moment, Tashiro stared ahead at the Chimera, his head falling back down to reveal his face
Majority of his left side was torn off, revealing the bones underneath. Bits of flesh dripped down onto the brown coat. Opening his mouth slightly, the old Chimera muttered, 'Yeah... Seems that way...' He fell to his knees, then fully to the ground, unmoving.
Sighing again, Tashiro reloaded his gun and began making his way to the base, where the other two ships had gone. He thought of the figure that saved him, he smirked to himself. 'So you decided to come out tonight...'
Chapter 20- end