Cavalry Chapter 6 Part 1/2 (LONG!!)

No, I didn't totally discard this and leave it in one corner. In fact, I'd been brainstorming about what kind of plot Cavalry should have. I don't want aimless I-fight-you you-fight-me we-kill-him kinda thing.

Brace yourself.

The only thing that can kill a fighter is another fighter.
~Russet's ramblings

The more Nova thought about this whole wild goose chase thing, the funnier it seemed. First, they were caught in a crossfire against two Fable girls with exclusive Fable shirts they were murderously angry weren’t too happy about. Then Reck broke his sword. Then this insane dude with a grappling hook goes to momentarily pwn them both with his… Grappling hook. And now they’re running away from his submachine gun of doom.

‘Nova, are you mumbling to yourself?’ Reck said, still over her shoulder.

‘What makes you think so?’ The blonde woman said, scowling, sprinting up a long, long flight of stairs.

‘The way you’re whispering things about insane idiots and Kav damned grappling hooks.’

‘Be quiet before I drop you down the stairs.’

‘Nay, you’d never do that, you sweet little girl—’

He felt her grip slackening a notch.

‘OKAY! OKAY! STOP!!!’ He yelled, clinging onto her.

Nova simply scowled in return, resuming the pace.

Why was she still piggybacking Reck anyway? He seemed sober enough. He didn’t break his arm or anything…

Nova looked up to count the amount of steps left to the top. Five.

She was wondering why the man from Fable hadn’t caught up with them yet despite his speed. Maybe he knocked his head on a pole or something? Or maybe he took a detour to converge paths with them? At the thought, Nova started paying attention to her peripheral vision lest he tries to ambush them from some unexpected direction.

Nova reached the last step, and then, something rather nasty crossed her mind.

‘Heigh ho!’ She said, and dropped Reck onto the ground, literally throwing him. He screamed as he threw his arms out, attempting to soften the impact with his hands, which did almost nothing to prevent the bruise on his forehead.

‘NOVA!! Yurith’s balls—’ Reck cursed, picking himself up from the ground, glaring at Nova.

She was laughing, unsheathing her sword, shaking the ache from her cramped shoulder, his moans of pain oddly satisfying.

‘You had it coming to you,’ she chortled.

He was not amused.

And then, a flicker of movement, from the corner of her eye. Nova started, suddenly thinking of the grappling hook guy. She snapped her vision into its direction, and saw a distant figure in the rooftops, headed straight for Reck.

‘FABLE DUDE AT 2 O’CLOCK!!’ Nova yelled, suddenly falling into seriousness.

Reck looked up upon her warning –somewhat unnerved b her sudden change in tone. Fable dude? He looked in the direction she pointed.

And caught the flash and rattle of a submachine gun, then the silhouette of a figure, flying right at him-

A spray of blood as bullets sank into his chest, and a man was upon Reck; knocking the breath from his lungs, causing him to violently fall backwards with a thump. Reck trapped his scream as it threatened to sound as he groped for his sword amidst the mindlessness of adrenaline rush, but his hand felt only air. Where was it?! He saw the man raise his sword to deliver the killing blow. No time, no time, where is it—

The man, in his eagerness to kill, had not noticed Nova as she raised her rifle, squeezing the trigger.

Her aim was true, and Reck watched as the man fell, blood exploding from his head. For a moment his body convulsed, and then his eyes rolled up into his head, and he was still.

Reck lay on the ground unmoving, stunned and shocked, his thoughts reorganizing themselves as the adrenaline wore away. It was only then that he realized that he didn’t have a sword, that he had broken it just a short while ago, and that made him stop a little. How could he have been so careless? It wasn’t as if he was a green hat! He smacked his face with a palm in disbelief. Had Nova not been there…

He remembered that the Fable guy had managed to squeeze in a few shots and looked down to examine his bullet wounds, which had already begun to numb. Nevertheless, he needed some meds before another Fable guy comes along to actually kill them. They’d thought there were only three Fable people in Town-4, and obviously they were wrong. Surely there would be more of them around. Reck extracted a silver knife from his trouser pocket and stuck it into his bullet wounds, nudging the bullets out.

‘You okay, Reck?’ Nova asked.

‘Good as day,’ he replied, still in concentration at this somewhat delicate but painless process.

‘Ohh, right. Best grab that guy’s sword later, looks okay. And then we get on my Mule and we run.’

He nodded with a grunt, watching the last bullet fall out, replacing the knife into his pocket. This process had turned to become one done so often it no longer hurt, although the first time he did it he almost fainted, from fear. Reck sniggered at the thought, but shoved the bad memories into the back of his head. He turned to pick up the fallen man’s sword, tossing it between both hands, pleased at the katana’s balance, but slightly uneasy about its weight. It seemed a little… Light.

Well, but what could he do? At least that’s one fight gotten over with. And they were both alive. That’s all good.

‘Speaking of which, where is that grappling hook guy?’ Reck asked, tilting his head, looking at Nova.

Nova stared back at him.

Froggy was just flying through the air, chasing the two, feeling euphoric as he felt the wind against his face, the gentle thrumming of his submachine gun. The pair of Cavalry fighters had just turned a corner, and were temporarily out of sight, but he was fast approaching as well.

And then, someone came along.

A vague, faraway figure, which he didn’t take into consideration. Not at first. She seemed to have no quarrel with him, walking along the road, doing nothing apart from walking. She was a fighter, clad in simple clothing- a black, long sleeved blouse and plain loose black trousers, and she was doubtless a K-styler. They all had that dark aura to them, Froggy being the notable exception. No, he didn’t have a dark look. Instead, he had those type of eyes, the ones that rang all the wrong alarm bells in you.

He soared above her, and she looked up. He smiled beneath his scarf. To that, she scowled. Tee hee hee! He thought. He’d look for her later.

Then, something like burning recognition seemed to hit her as she stared at Froggy. The stare which shifted into a glare.

He raised his eyebrows. Lolwut?

And then she moved.

Froggy was still smiling as she air-dashed towards him, watched as she scaled a wall mid-way to be level with him, running across it. Catching up.

What in the abyss? Was she trying to pick a fight? No, no no, no! He was busy, he needed to catch the Cavalry clan-

Her rocket launcher clicked into position.

Froggy discarded all thoughts of her being a friendly and screamed as he leapt.

The wall behind him exploded, accompanied by the screams of the civilians inside, and he was thrown forwards by the shockwave, losing his stability. He made his grappling hook let go, and he fell from the air, tucking his grappling hook gun back into its holster, pulling his submachine gun from its holster. He landed gracefully on the ground in a crouch, running a few more feet before finally turning around once more.

She was in the air, flying towards him, her launcher flashing.

Froggy yelled instinctively, air dashed away frantically, and the ground where he had been on moments prior was hit with an explosion. Whirling back to face her, he rolled sideways while firing continuously. Oh, I've always hated rockets…

She briefly switched to her sword, air dashed to avoid the bullets as they whizzed past her, before slash shooting at him once more, frustration showing on her face –that dodgy, pesky little–!. He evaded the rocket, rolling backwards, still shooting at her.

She scowled, fired again, while he was still rolling.

An intense wave of heat, then he was thrown away by the blast that appeared right behind him. He tumbled into an alley with a squeal, flopping onto his stomach, white light flashing behind his eyes. He shook his head. Alright, might as well! Still slightly stunned, he scrambled to his feet, suddenly uncoordinated, his sword hissing out of its baldric as he air dashed further into the maze.

Connie growled as the man disappeared behind the walls, ducking into the allies, which were a pain to fight in with a rocket launcher. She reluctantly switched to a machine gun, running in behind him, a string of curses under her breath. You wouldn’t have expected it from such a sweet, angelic looking little girl.

Yes, dodgy, pesky little bastard indeed. He was bounding from wall to wall, consistently wall climbing. Running. She fired, the weapon drumming a pleasant, steady beat as she sprinted after him, trying to land some shots, but well, he was too dodgy for that. New bullet holes added themselves to the sea of other holes in the walls which were goodness knows how old.

A sharp corner, stairs leading downwards. That guy got away, kind of. He can run, but he can’t hide.

She’d recognized something, something in his face. She was absolutely sure it was him. Her heart started to hammer in her chest as her mind shifted from the instinct of battle to more rational thoughts. Memories. Disjointed, fragmented, but still there, playing over and over again. How Funny managed to destroy her entire life and turn it upside down. Anger coursed through her veins. It burnt. Oh, yes it burnt.

But she was going to use that fire. Yes, obliterate that man, Froggy, once called Funny. An odd name, which everyone in that town knew. When they existed.

However, she saw no signs of recognition on his face. Instead, in his eyes… There was an odd glint, and she detected something she couldn’t put her finger on exactly. The way it played all over her, sparkling.

Well, no time to worry about that. Darting out from behind the wall, she loosed a rocket at the corner’s edge, and seeing that the explosion hit no one, she proceeded forth.

And then Connie heard a single thud–

(OMG IT'S AN ANIMATION)

Spade couldn’t believe what just happened just after the blast. The old lady was just there! Unhurt! Could she be… Wonder Woman in a new awesome realistic old lady costume? Just look at her and you'll seriously wonder! She broke glass with a “shh”! And after such a big explosion, she’s still nonchalant and everything!

Those were the silly thoughts he had that led to him (somehow) fainting. He suspected that it was there purely as a gag by his sadistic author, but for fear of divine wrath, decides not to comment further.

He’d fainted right in the middle of the streets just before this big gun fight, wherein he managed to scramble underneath a truck for cover, though he still nearly died with all the bullets ricocheting about. It’s terrifying to watch all the bullets whizzing about and watch one fly right at you, and you could do nothing about it, except the bullet stopped short of your face by like half an inch and so you feel relief washing over you. Then you see two other bullets flying right at you, and you could do nothing about it, except the bullets stopped short of your face by like half an inch and you feel more relief washing over you. And the process repeats itself. How terrible. Somehow he was still alive.

Then this crazy insane guy comes by with this grappling hook, and chased the two fighters from the Cavalry away. And then you realize, hey, there are two other Fable people who’s also sniffing out for you and they just can’t wait to turn another human being into a blood cake salad.

Not surprising, then, that Spade felt horrible. Horrible, terrible, and above all, scared. He had his weapons and all, but that’s two people there against one.

He crawled out from underneath the truck, daring not to straighten himself, but maintained a nice crouch as he crept away from the area, wondering momentarily at how deserted the place looked.

Where’s the police? Civilians?

Well, the non-fighters in Astra got this great protecting mechanism to gunfights between fighters, and that’s… Hide. Hide, bolt your doors, tape your windows, and cower under the table, he’d discovered. And it seemed that in this particular town– Town-4—the police were simply big darned cowards.

Okay, that explains it, then. He continued tiptoeing.

Rae and Vicelin were actually aware of Spade’s presence. Acutely aware. They stared as Spade snuck out of the truck and continued on his tippy toes, walking across the road, trying not to attract their attention… Except they were already staring at him, so all his attempts were futile and idiotic because it was futile.

They had no bullets. All wasted on the Cavalry guys. Therefore they could do nothing, and did nothing else apart from staring at the idiotic man, who was completely oblivious to the two pairs of eyes on his back. No words were exchanged. No words were needed. Rae and Vicelin had only managed to stare for five seconds before they were doubling over with fits of laughter, albeit silent ones.

‘Oh dear Kav, you know, we should sneak up on him and pop some mini firecrackers just to see his expression,’ Vicelin suggested, a manic grin on her face.

And then stopped, something suddenly lighting up her eyes.

Rae looked back. And pondered. And smiled a broad smile.

PART 2/2